Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland has claimed that in the West, the media and academics have forgotten the crimes of Communism. In some cases, they have been totally forgiven.
Ms Holland’s new film Stalins’s Shadow: the Holodomor, tackles the subject of the 1933 famine in Ukraine, which many have claimed was a purposeful act by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. The film revolves around the work of Welsh journalist Gareth Jones, who was the first to expose the famine.
One of Poland’s most renowned directors, Holland has made three films about the Holocaust in the past, but in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, noted that communist atrocities are treated much differently.
“There have been few reports of the crimes of Communism. Unlike Nazi crimes, which entered the world consciousness, Communist crimes were forgotten, and even forgiven,” Holland told the newspaper.
“It is complicated. This comes from sympathy for the communist utopia, and also for Russia,” she said. Holland added: “It is complex because the unspoken and the simplifications of history lead to lies. It was a reason to make this film. The other was journalism.”
The United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) has removed a social media post that defended the right of Antifa to “freedom of expression” and “peaceful assembly” after a massive backlash. https://t.co/K3ruryeHk6
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) June 21, 2020
Holland went on to champion investigative journalism, saying: “If investigative journalism, concern for the facts and the description of reality disappear, democracy has no chance. Under Communism, many journalists served as ‘useful idiots’, out of ideological submission or out of interest.”
“The situation has gotten even worse today when the press is in a fragile economic situation. Newsrooms have less money for serious and independent journalism that requires time and resources, and the quality has dropped,” she said and claimed that some journalists have manipulated public opinion during the Wuhan coronavirus crisis.
Holland is not the only central or eastern European figure to allege the West has forgotten or forgiven the crimes of Communism.
In 2017, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán made similar allegations, saying: “Many in the West today are still making excuses for the crimes of Communism; even the European Union itself is reluctant to unequivocally condemn them.”
In recent days, the United Nations has even chosen to defend the Anarcho-Communist group Antifa, posting support for the group on one of the organisation’s Twitter accounts. After a massive public backlash, the UN removed the tweet.
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