Mange europæere ved ganske enkelt ikke, hvordan tilværelsen var under de totalitære systemer, og hvis man ikke forstår totalitarismen, har man en naturlig tendens til at se bort fra forbrydelser begået under sådanne systemer og i stedet betragte dem som begivenheder, der fandt sted i historiens løb.
Many Europeans simply do not know what life was like under totalitarian systems, and someone who does not understand totalitarianism has a natural tendency to disregard crimes committed under such systems, seeing them instead as events which took place in the course of history.