THE VICTIMS OF COMMUNISM WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN
By Edgar B. Anderson
LAIKS Latvian Newspaper, December 16-22, 2017, Volume LXVIII, Number 47
On November 7-9, 2017, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOCMF) held a conference titled “Reflections on a Ravaged Century” at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., to mark the 100 years since the Bolshevik coup that convulsed Russia and led to the formation of the U.S.S.R. Prominent scholars such as Alan Charles Kors, Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes, Lee Edwards, Paul Hollander, and Jonathan Brent made presentations. Other speakers included journalist David Satter, Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, former Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis, Latvian Parliament member Edvins Snore, former Czech President Vaclav Klaus, and many others.
L to R: Panel: The Failure of Marxism and the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Dr. Russell Roberts, Hoover Fellow and host of EconTalk podocast; Dr. Alan Charles Kors, Henry Charles Lea Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Pennsylvania; Dr. Paul R. Gregory, Hoover Fellow and executive producer of "Women of the Gulag;" and Dr. Marek Chodakiewicz, Professor of History, The Institute of World Politics
On the final evening of the Conference several hundred supporters, diplomats, members of Congress, and other anti-Communist allies gathered at Washington’s Union Station for VOCMF’s Centennial Commemoration Dinner and the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom Ceremony. This year’s two honorees were the Russian historical, educational, and human rights NGO known as Memorial Society, which works to preserve the memory of the millions of victims of Communism, and former Soviet political prisoner and Israeli statesman Natan Sharansky. Author and historian Niall Ferguson offered keynote remarks.
L to R: Elena Zhemkova, Executive Director, Memorial Society; Natan Sharansky, former Soviet political prisoner and Israeli statesman; Edvins Snore, Latvian Parliament member and director and screenwriter of "The Soviet Story;" Andris Teikmanis, Ambassador of Latvia; Vytautas Landsbergis, former President of Lithuania; and Piotr Wilczek, Ambassador of Poland
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation has erected a monument modeled after the papier mache “Goddess of Democracy” statue created by student protestors in Tiananmen Square in 1989. The monument is dedicated to the estimated 100 million people who have perished under Communism and is located at the intersection of New Jersey and Massachusetts Avenues and G Street, N.W., two blocks from Union Station in Washington, D.C. VOCMF Chairman Dr. Lee Edwards explained to me that major financial help for the monument came from the Latvian-American community. The VOCMF is developing educational programs about Communism for teachers and students and is planning the construction of a museum in Washington to remember those who have suffered under Communist regimes.
The Victims of Communism Memorial was dedicated by President George W. Bush on Tuesday, June 12, 2007. June 12 was chosen because it was the 20th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s famous Brandenburg Gate speech in which he said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Two years after the Reagan speech, the Berlin Wall came down, and two years after that, the Soviet empire dissolved. 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.”
The VOCMF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and has bipartisan backing in Congress. The organization is most deserving of your support. You may send donations to The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, 300 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Suite 900, Washington, D.C. 20001, telephone 202-629-9500. For further information, please see the VOCMF website at victimsofcommunism.org and follow the organization on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victimsofcommunism/
Edgar B. Anderson is a graduate of Stanford University and Stanford Law School. He represented Laiks at the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Democratic and Republican National Conventions and the 2017 Presidential Inauguration. He lives in Los Angeles.
Comments