Righting Wrongs in Eastern Europe

One of the most painful aspects of the transition process in East-Central Europe is the attempt to address some of the serious human rights abuses that occurred in the name of communism as well as during the post-communist era. The first half of this book examines the human rights violations from the late-1930s, through to the collapse of the regimes in 1989/90, showing that human rights abuses were also characteristic of many of the stridently anti-communist regimes which held power during the late 1930s and early 1940s, as well as of the coalition governments which were formed in the aftermath of World War Two. In the second half of the book, the author traces the policies that have been adopted or proposed by recent administrations with a view to righting the wrongs of the communist regimes.