Victims of Communism Memorial
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The Victims of Communism Memorial is a memorial in Washington, D.C. at the intersection of Massachusetts and New Jersey Avenues and G Street, N.W., two blocks from Union Station and within view of the U.S. Capitol.
According to the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, the intended purpose of the memorial is "that the history of communist tyranny will be taught to future generations."[1]
The Victims of Communism Memorial was dedicated by President George W. Bush on June 12, 2007,[2] the 20th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan's "tear down this wall" speech in front of the Berlin Wall.
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[edit] Background
A bill, H.R. 3000, sponsored by Representatives Dana Rohrabacher and Tom Lantos and Senators Claiborne Pell and Jesse Helms, to authorize the memorial passed unanimously on December 17, 1993 and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, becoming Public Law 103-199 Section 905. Due to delays in establishing the memorial, the authorization was subsequently extended through Section 326 of Public Law 105-277, approved October 21, 1998, until December 17, 2007. The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation has the duty of funding and directing the first stages of planning the memorial.
In November 2005, the National Capital Planning Commission gave approval to the monument's design, featuring a 10-foot (3 m) bronze replica of the Goddess of Democracy erected by students during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. The monument's design and the statue are works of sculptor Thomas Marsh. Its stated purpose is "to commemorate the more than 100 million victims of communism." [3] After raising over US$825,000 for construction and maintenance costs, the groundbreaking ceremony was held in September 2006.
The statue drew criticism from the Chinese embassy because the memorial evokes the Tiananmen Square protests. The embassy called its construction an "attempt to defame China."[4]
[edit] Dedication ceremony
On June 12, 2007, the Memorial was officially dedicated. Among the hundreds of invited guests were people from many countries who suffered certain hardships under Communist regimes, such as Vietnamese poet Nguyen Chi Thien, Chinese political prisoner Harry Wu, Lithuanian anti-communist journalist Nijolė Sadūnaitė and others.[5] During the opening ceremony, President George W. Bush named some of those who suffered from Communism in anonymity:
| “ | They include innocent Ukrainians starved to death in Stalin's Great Famine; or Russians killed in Stalin's purges; Lithuanians and Latvians and Estonians loaded onto cattle cars and deported to Arctic death camps of Soviet Communism. They include Chinese killed in the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution; Cambodians slain in Pol Pot's Killing Fields; East Germans shot attempting to scale the Berlin Wall in order to make it to freedom; Poles massacred in the Katyn Forest; and Ethiopians slaughtered in the "Red Terror"; Miskito Indians murdered by Nicaragua's Sandinista dictatorship; and Cuban balseros who drowned escaping tyranny.[2] | ” |
President Bush also said, "We'll never know the names of all who perished, but at this sacred place, communism's unknown victims will be consecrated to history and remembered forever. We dedicate this memorial because we have an obligation to those who died, to acknowledge their lives and honor their memory."[6] Bush went on to equate Communism to current terrorism and extremism facing America today. He claimed:
| “ | Like the Communists, the terrorists and radicals who have attacked our nation are followers of a murderous ideology that despises freedom, crushes all dissent, has expansionist ambitions and pursues totalitarian aims.[7] | ” |
[edit] See also
- Anti-communism
- Communist terrorism
- Cold War
- Criticisms of communism
- Criticisms of Communist party rule
- Great Leap Forward
- Great Purge
- Gulag
- History of communism
- Red Terror
- Reeducation camp
[edit] References
- ^ "Legislative history", at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
- ^ a b "President Bush Attends Dedication of Victims of Communism Memorial", Office of the Press Secretary, the White House, June 12, 2007
- ^ "History of Communism", at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
- ^ Leora Falk. "New DC memorial dedicated to communism's victims", Chicago Tribune, June 12, 2007.
- ^ Monika Bončkutė. Monumento komunizmo aukoms atidarymo iškilmėse - ir kovotojai už Lietuvos laisvę. 2007-06-14
- ^ "U.S.: Bush Dedicates Memorial To Victims Of Communism", Radio Free Europe, June 13, 2007
- ^ The Washington Post The Toll of Communism
[edit] External links
- Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
- Quin Hillyer, "The Victims of Communism Memorial", The American Spectator, June 8, 2007
- Philip Kennicott, "The Meaning of a Marker For 100 Million Victims", The Washington Post, June 13, 2007
