D.C. memorial honors victims of communism

WASHINGTON – Washington, the city of monuments and statues of long-dead warriors and politicians, gained another memorial on Tuesday.

This one, however, is not a commemoration of a specific event or luminary, but rather the terrors of communist regimes that stretched across the globe and spanned decades. The memorial in memory of the millions killed under communist regimes is a 10-foot bronze replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue that student demonstrators erected during the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing in 1989.

President Bush, in a dedication address Tuesday, highlighted the bravery of those who had been victims of oppression and the magnitude of the number of lives that were lost.

“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 before drawing connections between communists and current-day terrorists. “Like the communists, the terrorists and radicals who attacked our nation are followers of a murderous ideology that despises freedom.”

Lee Edwards, chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, said the Vietnamese community in the U.S. was instrumental in helping raise the $1 million needed to build the memorial.

The dedication was the culmination of a 14-year effort by the foundation. The choice of the Goddess of Democracy – one that was originally based on the Statue of Liberty – “symbolizes both the worst about tyranny and the best about freedom and democracy,” Edwards said.

But for some, the completion of this memorial, a short distance from the Capitol, raises questions about the process by which organizations can build memorials in Washington and about what types of historic figures or events should be memorialized here.

Because the memorial invokes Tiananmen Square, the Chinese Embassy complained about its construction, calling it an “attempt to defame China.”

The approval process for creating a monument or museum in a city replete with them includes 24 steps, spans three federal agencies and requires congressional and presidential approval. It often takes years and requires private groups to raise millions of dollars.