Victims of political repressions claim compensations for their tribulations

Holocaust victims file $40 billion class-action suit against the US government
 
Political prisoners went on hunger strikes in the Soviet Union 30 years ago on October 30th. The prisoners protested against violation of human rights in the USSR. October 30th is now celebrated in the country as the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions.

The public relations committee of Moscow said there were 26.7 thousand victims of political repressions living in the city, including 4.5thousand of those, who had experienced the nightmare of camps. About 800 thousand Russian citizens have suffered from political repressions, the human rights center Memorial calculated. The number included the actual victims and their children. Spokespeople for the center believe that the state does not pay enough attention to the problems of those, who suffered from the political oppression.

About a thousand people came to take part in the meeting, which took place on the Lubyanka Square in Moscow on October 30th. Grigory Yavlinsky, the leader of the Yabloko party, told reporters that he had victims of Stalin's repressions in his family too, which was the reason of his participation in the meeting. Vladimir Lukin, the human rights plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation believes that political repressions had become the symbol of horrendous genocide that the insane communist gang had committed against the multinational Russian nation.

Spokesman for the Moscow's public relations committee, Alexander Chistyakov, stated that the authorities could not grant due honors to the people, who had suffered from the Soviet repressions. The official added, though, that the Moscow government expressed its gratitude to them for “keeping the historical truth of those events.”

Spokeswoman for the Moscow government Ludmila Gromova stated that the previously eliminated benefits for the victims of political repressions would be compensated. According to Gromova, the Moscow authorities have provided apartments to 507 political victims since 1994. Six hundred more families are still in the line waiting for their homes.

Victims of political repressions in the West have their own history. They can be found in various historical eras – from inquisition to fascist regimes in Italy and Germany. However, the situation in Western countries changed after WWII: if they talk about “victims” they imply people of one specific nationality.

Over six million Jews were killed in death camps. However, Gypsies, Slavs and other nations fell victims of the dreadful genocide too. Argentina gave shelter to thousands of European Jews when WWII was over. Many of their relatives settled there before, as they emigrated from Russia and East Europe at the end of the 19th century. The Jewish diaspora of Buenos Aires is the largest in Latin America; it counts about 180 thousand people, presumably of the middle class. Jews are leaving Argentina now, though, due to the long-standing setback of the Argentine economy.

The International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims has its divisions in 70 countries of the globe now. The commission has established numerous consulting centers and free hotlines, which provide any kind of helpful information to their clients. Victims of the Holocaust are currently suing the US government to make it pay $40 billion of compensation to the survivors of Oswiecim. The class-action suit from the victims of Nazism has been sent to the court in Washington DC, the Berliner Zeitung reports.

Subscribe to Pravda.Ru Telegram channel, Facebook, RSS!

Author`s name Olga Savka