Examine individual changes

'{{short description|Sculpture in Washington, D.C., U.S.}} {{Other uses}} {{Infobox monument |monument_name = Victims of Communism Memorial |native_name = |image = Goddess of Democracy front a.jpg |caption = ''[[Goddess of Democracy]]'' replica |coordinates = {{coord|38.8984|-77.0120|region:US_type:landmark|display=inline,title}} |location = {{flagicon|United States}} [[Washington, D.C.]] |designer = Thomas Marsh |type = [[Statue]] |material = |length = |width = |height = |begin = September 27, 2006 |complete = |open = June 12, 2007 |dedicated_to = |map_image = United States Washington, D.C.#USA |map_caption = Location within [[Washington, D.C.]] |map_width = 150 |extra = |website = {{URL|victimsofcommunism.org/memorial}} }} The '''Victims of Communism Memorial''' is a [[memorial]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] located at the intersection of [[Massachusetts Avenue (Washington, D.C.)|Massachusetts]] and New Jersey Avenues and G Street, [[Northwest, Washington, D.C.|NW]], two blocks from [[Union Station (Washington, D.C.)|Union Station]] and within view of the [[United States Capitol|U.S. Capitol]].<ref name="Memorials">{{cite web| title=Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington, D.C.| date=24 July 2011| publisher=dcMemorials.com| url=http://dcmemorials.com/index_indiv0000002.htm| access-date=2011-07-25}}</ref> The memorial is dedicated "to the more than one hundred million victims of communism". The [[Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation]] says the purpose of the memorial is to ensure "that the history of communist tyranny will be taught to future generations."<ref name="legislative">{{cite web| title=About the Foundation| url=http://www.victimsofcommunism.org/about/| publisher=Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation| access-date=2011-07-25| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728155348/http://www.victimsofcommunism.org/about/| archive-date=2011-07-28}}</ref> The Memorial was opened by [[President of the United States|President]] [[George W. Bush]] on June 12, 2007. It was dedicated on the 20th anniversary of President [[Ronald Reagan]]'s "[[tear down this wall]]" speech in front of the [[Berlin Wall]].<ref name=Bush>{{cite press release| url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/06/20070612-2.html| title=President Bush Attends Dedication of Victims of Communism Memorial| publisher=Office of the [[White House Press Secretary|Press Secretary]]| date=12 June 2007| access-date=2011-07-25}}</ref> The Memorial features a {{convert|10|ft|m|0|adj=on|spell=in}} bronze replica from photographs, of the ''[[Goddess of Democracy]]'', erected by students during the [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre]].<ref name="Polish">{{cite web| title= Victims of Communism: Memorial| url=http://www.polishsite.us/index.php/emigration-and-genealogy/polonia-in-usa/353-victims-of-communism-memorial.html| publisher=The Polish Site| date=3 July 2007| author=Richard P. Poremski| access-date=2011-07-26}}</ref> The monument's design and the statue are works of sculptor Thomas Marsh.<ref name="SI">{{cite web| title=Victims of Communism Memorial, (sculpture)| year=2007| publisher=Smithsonian Institution Research Information System| access-date=2011-07-26| url=http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=13M815I050713.2493&menu=search&aspect=Keyword&npp=50&ipp=20&spp=20&profile=ariall&ri=&term=Victims+of+Communism+Memorial+&index=.GW&aspect=Keyword&term=&index=.AW&term=&index=.TW&term=&index=.SW&term=&index=.FW&term=&index=.OW&term=&index=.NW&x=10&y=10#focus}}</ref> He led a project in 1994, to re-create the ''Goddess of Democracy'' in [[Chinatown, San Francisco]].<ref name="Sioux">{{cite news| url=http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/news/article_24796728-a6d7-5453-90a7-69510c08a3d9.html| title=Sioux City native creates centerpiece to Victims of Communism Memorial | author=John Quinlan| work= Sioux City Journal | date= 15 June 2007| access-date=2011-07-26}}</ref><ref name="NR">{{cite news| url=http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/221251/long-marsh/interview| title=The Long Marsh | date=12 June 2007| work=National Review| author=John J. Miller| access-date=2011-07-26}}</ref> The inscription reads: (front) "To the more than one hundred million victims of communism and to those who love liberty", and (rear) "To the freedom and independence of all captive nations and peoples"<ref name="Polish"/> ==Background== A bill, H.R. 3000, sponsored by [[United States House of Representatives|Representatives]] [[Dana Rohrabacher]] and [[Tom Lantos]] and [[United States Senate|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. It was backed by prominent conservatives including [[Lev E. Dobriansky]], [[Grover Norquist]], [[Zbigniew Brzezinski]], and [[Lee Edwards]].<ref name="Smith">{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Dinitia |title=For the Victims of Communism |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/23/arts/for-the-victims-of-communism.html |access-date=4 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=23 December 1995}}</ref> Because of 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 had 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. After raising over [[United States dollar|US$]]825,000 for construction and maintenance costs, the groundbreaking ceremony was held September 27, 2006.<ref name="memorial">{{cite web| title=Victims of Communism Memorial| url=http://www.globalmuseumoncommunism.org/content/victims-communism-memorial| publisher=Global Museum on Communism| access-date=2011-07-26| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009011200/http://www.globalmuseumoncommunism.org/content/victims-communism-memorial| archive-date=2011-10-09| url-status=dead}}</ref> ==Dedication ceremony== [[File:President Bush dedicates the Victims of Communism Memorial.jpg|upright=1.2|thumb|[[George W. Bush]] speaking at the memorial's dedication ceremony]] On June 12, 2007, the memorial was officially dedicated. Among the hundreds of invited guests were people from many countries who suffered hardships under [[Communist state|Communist regimes]], such as [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]] poet [[Nguyen Chi Thien]], [[Chinese people|Chinese]] [[political prisoner]] [[Harry Wu]], [[Lithuania]]n [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] journalist [[Nijolė Sadūnaitė]] and others.<ref name="Monika">{{cite web| author=Monika Bončkutė| url=http://www.lrytas.lt/?data=20070614&id=11817208641180235078&view=4| title=Monumento komunizmo aukoms atidarymo iškilmėse-ir kovotojai už Lietuvos laisvę| date=14 June 2007| publisher=Lyrtas.com News| access-date=2011-07-26}}(In Lithuanian)</ref> During the opening ceremony, President George W. Bush referenced millions of those unnamed who suffered under Communism: {{blockquote|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 [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union|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 [[Katyn massacre|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.<ref name=Bush/>}} 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."<ref name="RFE">{{cite news| title=U.S.: Bush Dedicates Memorial To Victims Of Communism| url=http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/06/89ea315d-2c46-4c40-a890-ae59f312b6d1.html| author=Heather Maher| publisher=Radio Free Europe| date=13 June 2007| access-date=2011-07-26}}</ref> Bush equated communism to the threat of [[terrorism]] then facing the U.S.: "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 [[Expansionism|expansionist]] ambitions and pursues [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] aims."<ref name="Post">{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/12/AR2007061201125.html |title=The Toll of Communism |first=Omar |last=Fekeiki |page=C01 | date=June 13, 2007 | access-date=May 27, 2010}}</ref> On the first anniversary, there was another ceremony by the International Committee for Crimea.<ref name="Crimea">{{cite web| title=The First Anniversary of the Victims of Communism Memorial| url=http://www.iccrimea.org/reports/vcmemorial-anniversary.html| date=25 June 2008| publisher=International Committee for Crimea| access-date=2011-07-26}}</ref> On June 9, 2011, a second commemoration ceremony was held with representatives of ethnic and religious groups who suffered under communist regimes.<ref name="Human">{{cite web| title=Victims of Communism Remembered at June 9 Wreath Laying| url=http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=43964| date=7 June 2011| author=Neil W. McCabe| publisher=Human Events| access-date=2011-07-26}}</ref> == Criticism == [[File:Goddess of Democracy DC side.jpg|thumb|Statue by Thomas Marsh]] [[Andrei Tsygankov]] of [[San Francisco State University]] criticized the statue as an expression of the [[Anti-Russian sentiment|anti-Russia]] lobby in Washington. He depicted it as a revival of Cold War symbolism.<ref>Andrei P. Tsygankov. Russophobia: anti-Russian lobby and American foreign policy. Macmillan, 2009. p.55</ref> Russian politician [[Gennady Zyuganov]], leader of the [[Communist Party of the Russian Federation]], also criticized the memorial, attacking the U.S. and referencing "the blood of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Serbs in Kosovo, Guantanamo Bay, as well as CIA prisons in Eastern Europe [that] are part of the black list of crimes of the [[Globalism|globalists]]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsru.com/russia/13jun2007/zyuganov.html|title=Новости NEWSru.com :: Зюганов назвал Буша символом государственного терроризма|work=newsru.com|date=13 June 2007|access-date=17 April 2015}}</ref> The statue drew criticism from the Chinese embassy in Washington because the memorial evokes the Tiananmen Square protests.<ref name=":0" /> A [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China|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.<ref name="Reuters">{{cite news|date=13 June 2007|title=China blasts Bush tribute to victims of communism|publisher=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-usa-communism-idUSPEK20924820070614|access-date=2011-07-26}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|title=New DC memorial dedicated to communism's victims|work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |first=Leora |last=Falk |date=June 12, 2007|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070612monuments,1,2433167.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed}}{{Dead link|date=July 2011}}</ref> == See also == * [[Anti-communism]] * [[Cold War]] * [[Communist terrorism]] * [[Crimes against humanity under communist regimes]] * [[Criticisms of communism]] * [[Criticisms of Communist party rule]] * [[Great Leap Forward]] * [[Great Purge]] * [[Gulag]] * [[List of public art in Washington, D.C., Ward 6]] * [[Mass killings under communist regimes]] * [[Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance]] * [[Museum of Soviet occupation (disambiguation)|Museum of Soviet occupation]] * [[Red Terror]] * [[Political repression in the Soviet Union]] * [[Soviet war crimes]] ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== {{Commons category|Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington}} * [http://www.victimsofcommunism.org/ Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20101213221048/http://www.globalmuseumoncommunism.org/ VOCMF Global Museum on Communism] * Quin Hillyer, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070713162936/http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=11552 "The Victims of Communism Memorial"], ''[[The American Spectator]]'', June 8, 2007 * Philip Kennicott, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/12/AR2007061202211.html "The Meaning of a Marker For 100 Million Victims"], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', June 13, 2007 * Bill Van Auken, [http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/jun2007/stat-j14.shtml "Bush, Democrats resurrect anticommunism in service of US “war on terror”"], ''[[World Socialist Website]]'', June 24, 2007 {{Washington DC landmarks|state=collapsed}} {{Public art in Washington, D.C.|state=collpased}} [[Category:2007 sculptures]] [[Category:Anti-communism in the United States]] [[Category:Bronze sculptures in Washington, D.C.]] [[Category:Memorials to victims of communism]] [[Category:Monuments and memorials in Washington, D.C.]] [[Category:Outdoor sculptures in Washington, D.C.]] [[Category:Political repression]] [[Category:Sculptures of women in Washington, D.C.]] [[Category:Statues in Washington, D.C.]]'