Adamkus predicts history will see Nazi and Soviet crimes as equal

VILNIUS - Nazi and Sovietcrimes against humanity committed in 20th Century Europe will one day beequally condemned, LithuanianPresident Valdas Adamkus said on Saturday speaking in an international forummarking 75 years since Ukraine'sfamine of Holodomor.

"It is the last indispensable precondition for Europe'smoral and spiritual unity on the road towards mutual openness and genuinesolidarity among the nations", Adamkus said in a presidential pressstatement.

Adamkus said that history should not put the blame on specific nations, butrather on totalitarian regimes.

President Adamkus said that there will come a time when no one will"ever attempt to deny the cruelties of the Soviet regime unleashed in Ukraineand claim that 25 thousand people were starved to death per day by a mismanagedeconomy or poor harvest."

Admakus also asked people to remember the past crimes, lest they repeatthemselves.

"We will never forget the genocide that killed tens of millions ofpeople in Europe and worldwide: the brutal Soviet policy that doomed hardworking Ukrainians to famine seventy five years ago, and Communist repressionsagainst the peaceful inhabitants of the Baltic States, Hungary, Poland,Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Russia, and many other countries", Adamkus said.

The Great Famine of Ukraine, the Holodomor, began in April of 1932 andlasted until Nov. 1933.

The parliaments of 14 countries have recognized the great Ukranian famine ofHolodomor to have been a genocide. The European Parliament (EP) has also recognizedHolodomor as a crime against humanity.

The Lithuanian Seimasrecognized the Holodomor as a genocide back in 2005.

Ukraine'spresident declared year 2008 to be a year of remembrance for victims of the1932-1933 Holodomor.