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Victims of Communism Memorial

Coordinates: 38°53′54.56″N 77°0′43.39″W
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Victims of Communism Memorial is a memorial in Washington, D.C. located at the

intersection of Massachusetts and New Jersey Avenues and G Street, NW, two blocks from Union
navigation Station and within view of the U.S. Capitol. The chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial
Main page Foundation is Lee Edwards.
Contents
According to the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, the intended purpose of the memorial
Featured content
Current events is "that the history of communist tyranny will be taught to future generations."[1]
Random article The Victims of Communism Memorial was dedicated by President George W. Bush on June 12, 2007,
[2]
search the 20th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan's "tear down this wall" speech in front of the Berlin
Wall.

Contents
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1 Background The Victims of Communism Memorial in
interaction 2 Dedication ceremony Washington, D.C., a replica of the 1989
Goddess of Democracy statue in Tiananmen
About Wikipedia 3 Critical reaction
Square.
Community portal 4 See also
Recent changes 5 References
Contact Wikipedia
6 External links
Donate to Wikipedia
Help
Background [edit]
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What links here A bill, H.R. 3000, sponsored by Representatives Dana Rohrabacher and Tom Lantos and Senators Claiborne Pell and Jesse Helms, to authorize
Related changes the memorial passed unanimously on December 17, 1993 and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, becoming Public Law 103-199
Upload file Section 905. Because of delays in establishing the memorial, the authorization was subsequently extended through Section 326 of Public Law
Special pages
105-277, approved October 21, 1998, until December 17, 2007. The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation has the duty of funding and
Printable version
directing the first stages of planning the memorial.
Permanent link
Cite this page 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
languages
of sculptor Thomas Marsh . After raising over US$825,000 for construction and maintenance costs, the ceremony was held in September 2006.
Deutsch
Norsk (bokmål)
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Dedication ceremony [edit]
Română
On June 12, 2007, the memorial was officially dedicated. Among the hundreds of invited guests were
Русский
Suomi people from many countries who suffered certain hardships under Communist regimes, such as
Tiếng Việt Vietnamese poet Nguyen Chi Thien, Chinese political prisoner Harry Wu, Lithuanian anti-communist
中文 journalist Nijolė Sadūnaitė and others.[3] 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 President George W. Bush dedicates the
slaughtered in the "Red Terror"; Miskito Indians murdered by Nicaragua's Sandinista dictatorship; and Victims of Communism Memorial on June 12,
Cuban balseros who drowned escaping tyranny.[2] 2007

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."[4] Bush went on to equate Communism to the threat of terrorism then
facing America: "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."[5]

Critical reaction [edit]

The Chicago Tribune reported 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." The chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, Lee
Edwards, said he was not aware of any official complaint.[6]
In response to criticism of China at the dedication ceremony, a Chinese foreign ministry speaker accused the US of pushing a "Cold War" thought
and meddling in China's internal affairs, and issued a formal protest.[7]

See also [edit]

Anti-communism
Cold War
Communist terrorism
Criticisms of communism
Criticisms of Communist party rule
Great Leap Forward
Great Purge
Gulag
History of communism
 Mass killings under Communist regimes
Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance
Museum of Soviet occupation
Red Terror
Reeducation camp

References [edit]

1. ^ "Legislative history" , at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation

2. ^ a b "President Bush Attends Dedication of Victims of Communism Memorial" , Office of the Press Secretary, the White House, June 12, 2007
3. ^ Monika Bončkutė. Monumento komunizmo aukoms atidarymo iškilmėse - ir kovotojai už Lietuvos laisvę . 2007-06-14
4. ^ "U.S.: Bush Dedicates Memorial To Victims Of Communism" , Radio Free Europe, June 13, 2007
5. ^ Fekeiki, Omar. "The Toll of Communism" . The Washington Post: p. C01.
6. ^ Falk, Leora (June 12, 2007). "New DC memorial dedicated to communism's victims" . Chicago Tribune.
7. ^ http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2007-06/13/content_6238272.htm

External links [edit]

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
Bill Van Auken, "Bush, Democrats resurrect anticommunism in service of US “war on terror”" , World Socialist Website, June 24, 2007

v   • d  • e Landmarks of Washington, D.C.

Adams Memorial ∙ African American Civil War Memorial ∙ Albert Einstein Memorial ∙ Daniel Webster Memorial ∙
District of Columbia War Memorial ∙ Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial ∙ George Mason Memorial ∙
James A. Garfield Monument ∙ Jefferson Memorial ∙ John Ericsson National Memorial ∙ John Paul Jones Memorial ∙
Korean War Veterans Memorial ∙ Lincoln Memorial ∙ Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove on the Potomac ∙
Memorials National Japanese American Memorial To Patriotism During World War II ∙ National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial ∙
National World War II Memorial ∙ Navy–Marine Memorial ∙ Oscar Straus Memorial ∙ Peace Monument ∙ Robert A. Taft Memorial ∙
The Extra Mile ∙ The Three Soldiers ∙ Theodore Roosevelt Island ∙ Titanic Memorial ∙ Ulysses S. Grant Memorial ∙
United States Navy Memorial ∙ Victims of Communism Memorial ∙ Vietnam Veterans Memorial ∙
Vietnam Women's Memorial ∙ Washington Monument
Planned
Adams Memorial ∙ Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial ∙ Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial
Memorials

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception ∙ Healy Hall ∙ Islamic Center of Washington ∙ Jefferson Pier ∙
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ∙ Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool ∙ Outdoor sculpture in Washington, D.C. ∙
Other
President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home ∙ Smithsonian Institution ∙ United States Capitol ∙
United States Supreme Court Building ∙ Washington National Cathedral ∙ White House ∙ Zero Milestone

Categories: Monuments and memorials in Washington, D.C. | Memorials to victims of communism | Anti-communism in the United States |
Political repression | Bronze sculptures | Outdoor sculptures in Washington, D.C. | 2007 works

This page was last modified on 22 February 2010 at 04:42.

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