American Leaders Join Dozens of Nations in Remembering the Victims of Communism |
Record Number of Embassies and Human Rights Groups Join VOC to Commemorate the more than 100 Million Victims of Communism
On June 11-12, a record number of twenty-three
embassies, and twenty-six ethnic and human rights organizations
joined 10 Members of Congress and over 300 participants for the
annual Victims of Communism Commemoration on Capitol Hill, which
this year revolved around human rights in Cuba and the legacy of
communism in the post-Soviet sphere.
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Link :
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http://victimsofcommunism.org/news/
8th Annual Roll Call of Nations
By Victims
of Communism Memorial Foundation · June 12, 2015 ·
The record number
of participants from the ethnic, human rights, and diplomatic
community shows that the struggle against communism did not end in
1989, and that the consequences and legacy of this deadly ideology
continue to help shape our world today.
Wreath
Laying Ceremony
The ceremony concluded with the 8th annual Roll Call of Nations, during which twenty-three embassies and twenty-six ethnic organizations, including the American Cold War Veterans Association, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, Students for a Free Tibet, and Cuba Democracy Advocates, participated in the event, commemorating the more than 100 million victims of communism around the world. Surrounded by people from dozens of nationalities and ethnic backgrounds, the events were attended by over three hundred visitors and supporters.
23 participating embassies in 2015 VOC Commemoration
Embassy of Albania
Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria
Embassy of Canada
Embassy of the Republic of Croatia
Embassy of the Czech Republic
Embassy of Estonia
Embassy of Georgia
Embassy of Greece
Embassy of Hungary
Embassy of the Republic of Korea
Embassy of Latvia
Embassy of the Principality of Liechtenstein
Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania
Embassy of the Republic of Macedonia
Embassy of Malta
Embassy of the Republic of Moldova
Embassy of Netherlands
Embassy of the Republic of Poland
Embassy of Romania
Embassy of the Slovak Republic
Embassy of Sweden
Embassy of Ukraine
26 participating organizations:
AFGE Local 1812 representing employees of Voice of America, VOA China, and Radio/TV Marti
Albanian American Freedom House
American Latvian Associaition
Belarusan-American Association
Initiatives for China
Cold War Veterans Association
International Committee for Crimea
Crimean Victims of Communism
Cossack Congress of America
Friends of the Imperial City of Hue
Hungarian American Coalition
Hungarian American Federation
Kuban Victims of Communism
Study and Research Center on Laos and Asia, Union for Lao Nation
United Macedonian Diaspora
No Chain
The Association of North Korean Political Victims and Their Families
National Captive Nations Committee
North Korea Freedom coalition and NK in USA
Ukrainian Victims of Communism
RUSA LGBT
The World Uyghur Congress
Uyghur-American Association
Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Women's Rights Without Frontier
Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office & World League for Freedom and Democracy
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| Tiananmen-square stedents demonstration, Beijing May 30, 1989 |
History of the Memorial
Passed unanimously by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 17, 1993, PL 103-199 created The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.Co-sponsored by Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Representative Robert Toricelli (D-NJ), Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI) and Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) the legislation authorized the design and construction of The Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington, D.C. for and with the participation of “all groups that have suffered under communism.”
In 1995, Lee Edwards and Lev Dobriansky met with the National Park Service in order to begin building the monument. They received a document that outlined a 24-step program —including congressional permission, site selection, design approval, financial commitments, and the actual construction. The process also required the permission of three federal panels and a D.C. neighborhood board. As they left, a Park Service official warned: “It’s going to take longer than you think.”
The following years were ones of hard work filled with ups and downs as permissions were obtained, and plans drawn up. Initially the plan had been to raise $100 million for the construction of a museum and monument to the 100 million victims of communism. This objective confronted reality when, by the spring 1999, the Foundation had raised less than half a million dollars. Plans to build a ‘bricks and mortar’ museum had to be put off as attention was placed on the construction of a $1 million monument.
Donors and ethnic communities throughout the United States reacted favorably. Led by the Vietnamese Americans in Northern Virginia, the Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Hungarians, and other groups rallied to donate money and effort to the cause. An invitation was extended to President George W. Bush to serve as honorary chairman – and he accepted.
The crucial question of Memorial design had to be addressed. Among the dozens of suggested designs were a replica of the Berlin Wall, a Gulag barracks, a killing field in Cambodia, a boat used by the Vietnamese and the Cubans to flee their communist oppressors, a cell from the KGB Lubyanka prison in Moscow, a broken statue of Stalin, Lenin or Mao, a watchtower with armed guards and barbed wire. Two icons led the list: the Brandenburg Gate and the Statue of the “Goddess of Democracy” erected by Chinese student protestors in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
After months of debate, the board of directors unanimously selected the Democracy statue as the core of the Memorial because (1) it called to mind the Tiananmen Square Massacre and the continuing oppression in the world’s largest country, (2) It was based on the Statue of Liberty in New York, reflecting man’s indomitable desire to be free; and (3) it had become a global symbol of freedom and democracy with replicas in France, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Taiwan, Canada, and San Francisco’s Chinatown.
Thomas Marsh, a noted California sculptor and designer, was contacted and invited to submit a design. Marsh, working closely with students who had been at Tiananmen Square, had previously crafted a replica of the Democracy Statue for San Francisco’s Chinese Community. Marsh said he would be honored to create a bronze replica for The Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington and would waive his fee – a generous and unexpected offer.
The National Park Service helped the Foundation select the final location. A small island of land, unused for years, at the intersection of Massachusetts Ave., N.W., New Jersey Ave., N.W. and G Street, N.W., two blocks from Union Station and within view of the U.S. Capitol (with the majestic Statue of Freedom on top of its dome) was finally chosen.
Many groups and thousands of individuals contributed to the construction of the monument. Among them were notable donations by Pew Charitable Trusts, Phillips International, Lin and Janet Snapp, the Knights of Columbus, Norma Zimdahl, The Republic of China, and The Heritage Foundation. No government funds were sought for the memorial.
The Victims of Communism Memorial was dedicated by President George W. Bush on Tuesday, June 12, 2007. June 12 was chosen as the 20th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s famous Brandenburg Gate speech at which he said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Two years after the Reagan speech, the Berlin Wall tumbled down, and two years after that, the Soviet empire was no more.
The Memorial’s front pedestal reads, “To the more than one hundred million victims of communism and to those who love liberty.”
Its back pedestal reads, “To the freedom and independence of all captive nations and peoples.”
Widespread media coverage of the June 2007 dedication included front page articles and editorials in major newspapers and magazines as well as extensive broadcast and cable TV. Leaders from dozens of nations have since visited the memorial site to pay their respects and lay memorial wreaths.
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