Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is a non-profit educational organization
in the United States
, established as a result of an Act of Congress
in 1993 with the purpose to commemorate "the deaths of over 100,000,000 victims in an unprecedented imperial communist holocaust". Its name is derived from the Victims of Communism Memorial
in Washington, D.C.
In 1991, Senator Steve Symms
and Representative Dana Rohrabacher
introduced concurring resolutions in the United States Congress
urging the construction of "an International Memorial to the Victims of Communism at an appropriate location within the boundaries of the District of Columbia and for the appointment of a commission to oversee the design, construction and all other pertinent details of the memorial." In 1993, Rohrabacher and Senator Jesse Helms
sponsored amendments
which authorized such construction into the FRIENDSHIP Act. The Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton
on December 17, 1993.
According to Title IX, Section 905 of Public Law 103-199, the National Captive Nations Committee
, Inc. (NCNC) was to establish an independent organization to construct, maintain and operate the Victims of Communism Memorial
in Washington, DC, as well as to collect the contributions for the establishment of the memorial and to encourage the participation of all groups suffered under Communism.
, was established by the NCNC due to a caveat in the establishing law that required that no government funds be used to construct the memorial. The original plans for the Foundation included raising $100 million for a museum and memorial. The museum, originally planned to be housed in the Tariff Commission Building in Washington, DC, was to have a Hall of Heroes featuring statues of notable anti-communists, a section of the Berlin Wall
, a re-creation of a gulag
, and a large statue of the Goddess of Democracy. By 1999 only $500,000 had been raised. Major donors to the Foundation include the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy
, Eagle Publishing Chairman Thomas L. Phillips, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Earhart Foundation
. The Foundation annually presents its Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom at an event which honors opponents of communism, and has been used to raise funds for the construction of the memorial.
The memorial was dedicated on June 12, 2007 - the 20th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan
's "Tear down this wall
" speech in Berlin
. The unveiling of the statue in Washington DC brought international press attention to both the Victims of Communism Memorial and the Foundation.
An ongoing project of the Foundation is the internet
-based Global Museum on Communism. Among other exhibits and facitities, the Museum provides an interactive registry to collect the personal stories of the victims of communism.
The honorary Chairman of the Board is George W. Bush
, former President of the United States
. The chairman is Lee Edwards
. Its chairman emeritus is Lev Dobriansky
(deceased).
The national advisory council includes David Manker Abshire
, Robert Conquest
, Dennis DeConcini
, Bob Dole
, Edwin Feulner
, Paul Hollander
, Jack Kemp
(deceased), William Eldridge Odom
, Richard Pipes
, Rudolph Rummel, John K. Singlaub
, and George Weigel
.
The international advisory council includes Sali Berisha
, Yelena Bonner
, Vladimir Bukovsky
, Emil Constantinescu
, Brian Crozier
, Árpád Göncz
, Václav Havel
, Mart Laar
, Vytautas Landsbergis
, Guntis Ulmanis
, Lech Wałęsa
, Armando Valladares
, and Harry Wu
.
Educational organization
Educational organization has multiple meanings according to the field and setting in which it is being applied.In educational psychology, educational organization is organization within the scope of education...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, established as a result of an Act of Congress
Act of Congress
An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by government with a legislature named "Congress," such as the United States Congress or the Congress of the Philippines....
in 1993 with the purpose to commemorate "the deaths of over 100,000,000 victims in an unprecedented imperial communist holocaust". Its name is derived from the Victims of Communism Memorial
Victims of Communism Memorial
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 Station and within view of the U.S. Capitol...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Background
Steve Symms
Steven Douglas Symms was a four-term congressman and two-term U.S. senator from Idaho. He was among the most conservative members of the Republican Party...
and Representative Dana Rohrabacher
Dana Rohrabacher
Dana Tyron Rohrabacher is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 45th and 42nd, serving since 1989. He is a member of the Republican Party...
introduced concurring resolutions in the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
urging the construction of "an International Memorial to the Victims of Communism at an appropriate location within the boundaries of the District of Columbia and for the appointment of a commission to oversee the design, construction and all other pertinent details of the memorial." In 1993, Rohrabacher and Senator Jesse Helms
Jesse Helms
Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001...
sponsored amendments
Amend (motion)
-Explanation and Use:-Main Motions:Any main motion and any motion to amend may be amended. However, a motion to amend a motion to amend may not be amended, due to the overly complex parliamentary situation that would frequently result.-Secondary Motions:...
which authorized such construction into the FRIENDSHIP Act. The Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
on December 17, 1993.
According to Title IX, Section 905 of Public Law 103-199, the National Captive Nations Committee
National Captive Nations Committee
The National Captive Nations Committee is an anti-Communism advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.. It was established in 1959 according to by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, which introduced the Captive Nations Week, with the purpose to maintain the Captive Nations List...
, Inc. (NCNC) was to establish an independent organization to construct, maintain and operate the Victims of Communism Memorial
Victims of Communism Memorial
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 Station and within view of the U.S. Capitol...
in Washington, DC, as well as to collect the contributions for the establishment of the memorial and to encourage the participation of all groups suffered under Communism.
Activities
The Foundation, chaired by Lee EdwardsLee Edwards
Lee Edwards is a distinguished fellow in conservative thought at the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation...
, was established by the NCNC due to a caveat in the establishing law that required that no government funds be used to construct the memorial. The original plans for the Foundation included raising $100 million for a museum and memorial. The museum, originally planned to be housed in the Tariff Commission Building in Washington, DC, was to have a Hall of Heroes featuring statues of notable anti-communists, a section of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
, a re-creation of a gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
, and a large statue of the Goddess of Democracy. By 1999 only $500,000 had been raised. Major donors to the Foundation include the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy
Taiwan Foundation for Democracy
The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy is an non-profit organisation headquartered in Taipei. Originally proposed by the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Foundation's purpose is to promote democracy around the world...
, Eagle Publishing Chairman Thomas L. Phillips, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Earhart Foundation
Earhart Foundation
The Earhart Foundation is a private charitable foundation that funds research and scholarship. It was founded in 1929 by oil executive Harry Boyd Earhart.- History :...
. The Foundation annually presents its Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom at an event which honors opponents of communism, and has been used to raise funds for the construction of the memorial.
The memorial was dedicated on June 12, 2007 - the 20th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
's "Tear down this wall
Tear down this wall
"Tear down this wall!" was the challenge from United States President Ronald Reagan to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy the Berlin Wall....
" speech in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. The unveiling of the statue in Washington DC brought international press attention to both the Victims of Communism Memorial and the Foundation.
An ongoing project of the Foundation is the internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
-based Global Museum on Communism. Among other exhibits and facitities, the Museum provides an interactive registry to collect the personal stories of the victims of communism.
People
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, former President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. The chairman is Lee Edwards
Lee Edwards
Lee Edwards is a distinguished fellow in conservative thought at the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation...
. Its chairman emeritus is Lev Dobriansky
Lev Dobriansky
Lev E. Dobriansky, Ph.D. was a professor of economics at Georgetown University, U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas and anti-communist advocate...
(deceased).
The national advisory council includes David Manker Abshire
David Manker Abshire
David Manker Abshire has served as a Special Counselor to President Reagan and was the U.S. Ambassador to NATO from 1983-1987. Currently David M. Abshire presides over the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. In July 2002, he was elected President of the Richard Lounsbery...
, Robert Conquest
Robert Conquest
George Robert Ackworth Conquest CMG is a British historian who became a well-known writer and researcher on the Soviet Union with the publication in 1968 of The Great Terror, an account of Stalin's purges of the 1930s...
, Dennis DeConcini
Dennis DeConcini
Dennis Webster DeConcini is a former Democratic U.S. Senator from Arizona. Son of former Arizona Supreme Court Judge Evo Anton DeConcini, he represented Arizona in the United States Senate from 1977 until 1995....
, Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
, Edwin Feulner
Edwin Feulner
Edwin John Feulner Jr. is President of the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, a position he has held since 1977....
, Paul Hollander
Paul Hollander
Paul Hollander is an American scholar, journalist, and conservative political writer. He is known for his criticisms of Communism and left-wing politics. In 1956, he escaped to the west from his native country. He has a Ph.D in Sociology from Princeton University, 1963 and a B.A. from the London...
, Jack Kemp
Jack Kemp
Jack French Kemp was an American politician and a collegiate and professional football player. A Republican, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, having previously served nine terms as a congressman for Western New York's 31st...
(deceased), William Eldridge Odom
William Eldridge Odom
William Eldridge Odom was a retired U.S. Army 3-star general, and former Director of the NSA under President Ronald Reagan, which culminated a 31 year career in military intelligence, mainly specializing in matters relating to the Soviet Union...
, Richard Pipes
Richard Pipes
Richard Edgar Pipes is an American academic who specializes in Russian history, particularly with respect to the Soviet Union...
, Rudolph Rummel, John K. Singlaub
John K. Singlaub
John Kirk Singlaub is a highly-decorated former OSS officer and a retired Major General in the United States Army, and a founding member of the Central Intelligence Agency . He was a joint founder, with Congressman Larry McDonald, of the Western Goals Foundation, a conservative private...
, and George Weigel
George Weigel
George Weigel is an American author, and political and social activist. He currently serves as a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Weigel was the Founding President of the James Madison Foundation...
.
The international advisory council includes Sali Berisha
Sali Berisha
Sali Ram Berisha is an Albanian politician and cardiologist, currently the Prime Minister of Albania and the leader of Democratic Party of Albania ....
, Yelena Bonner
Yelena Bonner
Yelena Bonner was a human rights activist in the former Soviet Union and wife of the noted physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov. During her decades as a dissident, Bonner was noted for her characteristic blunt honesty and courage.-Youth:...
, Vladimir Bukovsky
Vladimir Bukovsky
Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky is a leading member of the dissident movement of the 1960s and 1970s, writer, neurophysiologist, and political activist....
, Emil Constantinescu
Emil Constantinescu
Emil Constantinescu was President of Romania from 1996 to 2000.He graduated from the law school of the University of Bucharest, and subsequently started a career as a geologist...
, Brian Crozier
Brian Crozier
Brian Rossiter Crozier is a British-based historian, strategist and journalist.Crozier was born in Australia, although he was raised in France, learning French. Thereafter his family moved to England where he would receive a scholarship to study piano and musical composition at the Trinity College...
, Árpád Göncz
Árpád Göncz
Árpád Göncz is a Hungarian liberal politician and former President of Hungary . Göncz played a role in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956...
, Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
, Mart Laar
Mart Laar
Mart Laar is an Estonian statesman, historian and a founding member of the Foundation for the Investigation of Communist Crimes. He was the Prime Minister of Estonia from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2002, and is the leader of the conservative party Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica...
, Vytautas Landsbergis
Vytautas Landsbergis
Professor Vytautas Landsbergis is a Lithuanian conservative politician and Member of the European Parliament. He was the first head of state of Lithuania after its independence declaration from the Soviet Union, and served as the Head of the Lithuanian Parliament Seimas...
, Guntis Ulmanis
Guntis Ulmanis
Guntis Ulmanis is a Latvian politician and was the fifth President of Latvia from 1993 to 1999.-Early life:Guntis Ulmanis was born in Riga on September 13, 1939. His grandfather was the brother of then-President and Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis. In 1941 Guntis Ulmanis and his family were exiled...
, Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
, Armando Valladares
Armando Valladares
Armando Valladares is a former prisoner in Cuba turned United States ambassador to the United Nations.-Political prisoner:Valladares was a Cuban Postal Bank employee . He was arrested when he refused to display a sign on his desk that promoted communism...
, and Harry Wu
Harry Wu
Harry Wu is an activist for human rights in the People's Republic of China. Now a resident and citizen of the United States, Wu spent 19 years in Chinese labor camps. In 1992, he founded the Laogai Research Foundation. In 1996 the Columbia Human Rights Law Review awarded Wu its second Award for...
.