Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.That’s why the Alberta government is marking one of the darkest days in 20th Century history by commemorating ‘Black Ribbon Day’ — the 85th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.For those who don’t know — or simply forgot — on August 23, 1939 the foreign ministers of Germany and Russia signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact that set the groundwork for the invasion of Poland and the start of the Second World War a week later on September 1.In a statement, the UCP government said it plans to mark the ignominious event with a special event in the rotunda of the Legislature on Friday. “On the 85th anniversary of Black Ribbon Day we pause to look upon the horrific events of the past and renew our resolve to forever honour the victims of tyranny,” said Legislative Assembly Speaker Nathan Cooper.“People from around the world observe Black Ribbon Day and we stand with them to uphold the importance of freedom from oppression now and for the generations to come.”.The events marking the prelude to the world’s deadliest conflict are well documented and continue to reverberate to this day.On August 22, Joachim von Ribbentrop flew to Moscow to finalize the treaty, which the Soviets had sought before with Britain and France. The so-called Hitler-Stalin pact, signed the next day, guaranteed peace between the parties and was a commitment neither government would aid or ally itself with an enemy of the other. In addition to the publicly announced stipulations of non-aggression for the next 10 years, the treaty included the Secret Protocol, which defined the borders of Soviet and German spheres of influence across Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland which would later make up the Iron Curtain..‘Black Ribbon Day’ originated in the protests held against the Soviet Union in western capitals, including Ottawa, in the 1980s that led up to the Baltic Revolutions in the countries directly affected by the deal and its aftermath starting in 1989. That’s when two million people joined in a human chain spanning the Baltic states and linking the capitals of Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. The demonstrations are widely regarded as the beginning of the end of the Iron Curtain in Europe.In 2009 the European Parliament formally recognized August 23 as the European day of Remembrance for the Victims of Stalinism and Nazism which was briefly even acknowledged by Russian president Vladimir Putin..He backtracked in 2014 and called the treaty as "necessary for Russia's survival." Then in February 2021, the State Duma voted in favor of a law to punish the dissemination of "fake news" regarding the Soviet Union's role in the Second World War, including claiming that Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union held equal responsibility due to the pact.
