12 June 2007
Bush Dedicates Memorial to Victims of Communism
President urges democracies to stand against terrorism
Washington – The new Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington stands as a reminder that freedom is precious and cannot be taken for granted, President Bush says.
In a June 12 speech at the unveiling of the memorial, Bush said the Cold War taught that "evil is real and must be confronted; and that given the chance, men commanded by harsh and hateful ideologies will commit unspeakable crimes and take the lives of millions.” These lessons continue to resonate today as nations fight violent Islamic radicalism and other forms of terrorism, he continued.
Joined by members of parliament from Hungary and the Czech Republic, former dissidents and foreign ambassadors, Bush dedicated the monument to the memories of the millions killed by communism, from China to the former Soviet Union, Cambodia to Ethiopia, Cuba to Nicaragua, and North Korea to Vietnam.
“These voices cry out to all, and they're legion. The sheer numbers of those killed in communism's name are staggering,” Bush said. He invoked the memories of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who rescued 100,000 Jews from the Nazis only to be arrested by the Soviets after World War II, and Polish clergyman Father Jerzy Popieluszko, who was killed by authorities for supporting Poland’s anti-communist Solidarity movement.
The memorial, a 4.2-meter-tall bronze replica of the “Goddess of Democracy” statue built by Chinese students during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, was the brainchild of historian Lee Edwards and former ambassador Lev Dobriansky, who spent more than a decade raising nearly $1 million to complete the project on a site near the U.S. Capitol.
The dedication ceremony was held on the 20th anniversary of former President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 speech in Berlin in which he called on then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall that separated the city and had divided a continent since the end of World War II. Bush noted that the wall would finally fall two years later, liberating the people of Central and Eastern Europe and changing the world.
In all, as many as 100 million innocents perished at the hands of communism, Bush said, helping to make the 20th century “the deadliest in human history.”
“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,” he said.
The president drew parallels between communism and terrorism.
“Like the communists, the terrorists and radicals who attacked our nation [September 11, 2001] are followers of a murderous ideology that despises freedom, crushes all dissent, has expansionist ambitions and pursues totalitarian aims,” Bush said. “Like the communists, our new enemies believe the innocent can be murdered to serve a radical vision.”
But Bush added that terrorists, like communist regimes before them, are doomed to failure because they underestimate the power and attraction of democratic freedoms, and the commitment of the United States and its allies to preserving and extending liberty to all. (See related article.)
“By remaining steadfast in freedom’s cause, we will ensure that a future American president does not have to stand in a place like this and dedicate a memorial to the millions killed by the radicals and extremists of the 21st century,” Bush said.
A transcript of Bush’s remarks is available from the White House Web site.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
