National Mall and Memorial Parks, Washington, D.C.

— National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. —

"These voices cry out to all, and they're legion," President George W. Bush, June 12, 2007"

The Victims of Communism Memorial enshrines the more than 100 million men, women, and children struck down by 20th century totalitarian communist regimes.

Communist leaders attracted countless millions throughout the world with their "big lie" promises of a classless, egalitarian society free of poverty and oppression. But in fact communist dictators wielded centralized authority and employed brutal measures to crush all those who rebelled against the suppression of their freedoms.

Imprisonment and executions were used with devastating effect as were deportation, famine, and forced labor. Millions of innocents died in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Memories of their sacrifice endure in the hearts and minds of families and friends.

The memorial offers no image of repression or despair. Rather, it features a universally recognized symbol of hope inspired by the "Goddess of Democracy" statue erected by Chinese students in Tianamen Square in 1989. Like the Statue of Liberty, the memorial reminds us of the power of freedom to combat and ultimately overcome tyranny.

The estimated deaths from communism over thirty nations on four continents are staggering. They include: U.S.S.R., 20 million; China, 65 million; Vietnam, 1 million; North Korea, 2 million; Cambodia, 2 million; Eastern Europe, 1 million; Latin American, 150,000; Africa, 1.7 million; Afghanistan, 1.5 million; the international communist movement and Communist parties not in power, 19,000. (The Black Book of Communism. Harvard University Press, 1999)

[Photo captions, lower middle :]
"Hungarians burn a Stalin portrait, November 1956"
"An angry Khmer Rouge soldier"
"A raft of Cuban refugees is rescued, August 1994"
"Goddess of Democracy" [Tianamen Square, 1989]

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