A resolution passed by the European Parliament in Strasbourg on September 19, 2019, titled "On the importance of preserving historical memory," has elicited a strong reaction.  The resolution expressed concern about the efforts of the current Russian government to "whitewash the crimes committed by the Soviet totalitarian regime." The E.P. resolution has ignited a fierce battle over memory, particularly over interpretation of the start of World War II.  Its most controversial statement is that the war, the most devastating in European history, was started as an immediate result of the notorious Nazi-Soviet treaty on non-aggression, more commonly known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 23, 1939.  The pact divided Europe and the territories of independent states between the two totalitarian regimes, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and paved the way for the outbreak of the war.  Response to the resolution was quick...(Read Full Article)