the starvation of the Ukrainian Holodor, Prague 1968, Budapest 1956, the countless labour camps of the Gulag Archipelago, Lubjanka, Pagari Steet and the Batterei prison in Tallinn, the KGB, a half century of repression, suppression, oppression, stagnation and isolation.
Although there are no words, prose, essay nor collection of books or tomes that suffice to adequately express with regard to this history our horror, our sorrow and, indeed, our anger, an excerpt from Carson's “The world in the grip of an Idea” gives understanding for the breadth of our need to memorialize the heroism of the victims of Communism.
“To all those who have been deprived…pressured, intimidated, coerced, beaten, or tortured…
…to those who have lost their lives…
None knows their exact number, except God, and attempts to arrive at a figure for them are fated to be no better than informed estimates. One thing we do know , the total number of dead is an awesome and awful number. It is probable that more than 100 million souls have been dispatched by purges, murders, intolerable conditions of imprisonment and labor, famine, in transit to prisons, and such like. Numbers, however, are but abstractions; they can convey but little of the anguish, heartbreak, disorientation, fear, and misery that have surrounded all this.
To those who have been interrogated by the Soviet secret police, who have brought discredit to every combination of letters of the alphabet which have been attached to them, to those placed on the “conveyor” and tormented in session after session to wring confessions from them, to those who were beaten, isolated from human contact in tiny cells and made to endure unbearable tortures, and most especially to those who endured it or died rather than betray others with false confessions. To those who suffered ignominious death by being shot in the back of the head with a pistol.
To those who died in transit to remote slave labor camps.
To those of many religious faiths—Jews, Moslems Christians—who have suffered for their beliefs…
To the victims of Soviet aggression in Eastern Europe, who endured so much, first from the Nazis and then from the Communists.
To the victims of Communism as it spread around the world, and more particularily to refugees of many lands and to all people displaced by the ideological whims of the rulers of this century… to the Cambodians, Laotians, Vietnamese, Angolans, Letts, Finns, and all who experienced the onslaught of communism.
And to individuals everywhere (all of us) who have… suffered as the assault upon custom, tradition, convention, norms, and civility, which is the underlying thrust of revolution in this age, has produced a wave of obscenity, vulgarity, and assorted atrocities on the mind and spirit of man.
May the evocation of the memories of the atrocities of our era raise such a gorge in the throats of all decent people that they will forever be unable to swallow the Idea of any significant portion of it”
A tall and substantial memorial to the Victims of Communism will be raised next summer in our Capital city on the parliamentary grounds in a spacious park like setting beside the Superior Court House. The memorial will cost $4 million to build. To date, over $2.6 million has been raised through private and government funding. A national design competition to select an artist will begin in February of 2014. Phase 1 of the project, the Memorial (monument) is expected to be completed by the fall of 2015; Phase 2, the commemoration plaza, could be completed at the same time depending on funds raised or shortly thereafter. Government partners include: Prime Minister's Office, Canadian Heritage, Public Works and Government Services Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Department of Foreign Affairs, National Capital Commission. Partner orgaanizations include the Central and Eastern European Coucnil (CEEC), Canadian Polish Congress, Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Estonian Central Council in Canada, Latvian National Federation in Canada, Council for Human Rights In North Korea, Vietnamese Canadian Federation to name a few.
The Tribute to Liberty (TTL) has received permission from the National Capital Commission to allow benefactor recognition in the memorial for 999 donors who have donated $1,000.00 to the Tribute to Liberty. If there is someone that you wish to be recognized in the memorial please contact the Estonian Central Council in Canada at estoniancentralcouncil@gmail.com or send a cheque Payable to the Tribute To Liberty and identification of the person, couple or organization that you wish to be recognized to:
Estonian Central Council (EKN)
958 Broadview Ave, suite 202
Toronto ON M4K 2R6
