By: Daniel Nardini
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has made a major financial contribution to the creation in Washington, D.C. of an actual brick and mortar museum dedicated to the victims of Communism. Dr. Lee Edwards, chair of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and the virtual website Global Museum on Communism, is working to build a physical museum as a memorial for all those who died and a warning that Communism as a political force in the world is still very much alive and well. How large and what type of exhibits there will be in this museum remains to be seen. Just as easily complex is how this museum will affect U.S. relations with those nations still under Communist rule. This could be a sticking point since such a museum in the nation’s capital might be a problem with American relations toward those countries where the Communist system is viewed as “the good” force.
Unlike the Holocaust Museum, which deals with the past, the Communist system is far from dead. Just as important is the fact that all of the Communist countries, and their allies, will most certainly work towards making sure such a museum never becomes a reality. Despite past decades of American hostility towards the Communist movement, there never has been a museum dedicated to the institution and crimes of Communism. This type of museum, now more than ever, will not be welcome by those Communist states that have diplomatic relations with the United States. More than that, there will be no doubt that these same Communist states that have substantial business ties with American corporate business will exert considerable pressure on those influential people within American corporate business to make sure that such a museum never becomes reality.
This should come as no surprise since all of the crimes that Communism has been accused of cannot be found in any of the textbooks in any of the Communist states, nor is it possible for their people to research and talk to those who may have survived the crimes and atrocities committed by the Communist governments of their respective lands. Such a museum, no matter where it is in the world, would provide the information, the answers and the knowledge of those crimes, those atrocities, and the dark secrets of those Communist states from the past and into the present day. The question is if such a physical museum will ever become a reality.
A Real Museum to the Victims of Communism
By: Daniel Nardini
Unlike the Holocaust Museum, which deals with the past, the Communist system is far from dead. Just as important is the fact that all of the Communist countries, and their allies, will most certainly work towards making sure such a museum never becomes a reality. Despite past decades of American hostility towards the Communist movement, there never has been a museum dedicated to the institution and crimes of Communism. This type of museum, now more than ever, will not be welcome by those Communist states that have diplomatic relations with the United States. More than that, there will be no doubt that these same Communist states that have substantial business ties with American corporate business will exert considerable pressure on those influential people within American corporate business to make sure that such a museum never becomes reality.
This should come as no surprise since all of the crimes that Communism has been accused of cannot be found in any of the textbooks in any of the Communist states, nor is it possible for their people to research and talk to those who may have survived the crimes and atrocities committed by the Communist governments of their respective lands. Such a museum, no matter where it is in the world, would provide the information, the answers and the knowledge of those crimes, those atrocities, and the dark secrets of those Communist states from the past and into the present day. The question is if such a physical museum will ever become a reality.