D.C. Museum Conveys Communism’s Evils, Human Aspirations for Freedom
By • November 30, 2023 One Comment 933
It’s a somber recounting of history. One all too familiar in light of current events.
Totalitarian regimes, arbitrary imprisonment, subjugation by ruthless megalomaniacs. Just several of many sins against humanity you will find on display at The Victims of Communism Museum (VCM). It is one of Washington’s most unique and informative exhibits, situated adjacent to the lobby of an office building at 900 15th Street, NW — near McPherson Square Metro Station.
While not as familiar to the public as D.C.’s other renown museums, VCM’s galleries convey the complex history and appalling atrocities committed in the name of communism. From Lenin, Mao, and Stalin to Pol Pot, Ceausescu, Castro, and Kim Il Sung, it’s a rogues gallery of dictators whose notorious deeds will forever stain the pages of history. But VCM also highlights many heroes who opposed this failed ideology — heroics sure to capture hearts and humble souls.
Operated and managed by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC), VCM’s intimate exhibit space and conference areas serve as research and educational outlets “commemorating more than 100 million victims of communism around the world, and those pursuing religious freedom from totalitarian regimes.” Visitors can view films and participate in state-of-the-art interactive exhibits recounting the lives of communism’s victims and survivors.
Chartered by Congress in 1993, followed by dedication of the Victims of Communism Memorial in 2007 (near Union Station), the Foundation opened VCM in June 2022 as the “first museum in the world dedicated to describing communism’s history and its current global reach.” With the Berlin Wall’s demise in 1989, the Soviet Union’s breakup in 1991, and subsequent advancement of democratic movements throughout Eastern Europe, it appeared that communism might indeed wind up on the “ash heap of history” — as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once confidently predicted. Yet events in China, Russia, North Korea, and elsewhere remind us that its deceitful doctrines and totalitarian practices linger on.
Victims of Communism Memorial, Washington, D.C. Wikipedia photo.
VCM’s dimmed and dark red exhibit spaces contain photos and stories portraying communism’s history of human rights abuses, mass starvation, and other forms of merciless tyranny. Charting its origins and ascendency through much of the 20th Century, texts and photos document regimes that ruined millions of lives, and resisters whose courage and steadfast commitment to freedom inspired millions more.
The museum exhibits also highlight those who fought against global communism.
Those resisters include freedom fighters such as Hungarian Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty — imprisoned for opposing communism, but resolute in advancing humanity’s desire for liberty; Milada Horakova — a Czech politician who helped lead resistance to Nazi occupation, only to face eventual execution for opposing Prague’s communist regime; and Sim Peng Tan — a Cambodian refugee who used a portable radio’s “broadcast silence” as a makeshift compass pointing him towards Thailand, and eventual freedom.
Diaries, clothes, trinkets, and other personal effects are also on display, including a Polish child’s stuffed animal she clung to while being whisked away to a Soviet gulag. A particularly salient section, in light of current events, is the “Holodomor” (Ukrainian for “Death by Hunger”), which recounts the forced famine and starvation this “breadbasket of Europe” endured in the 1930s as a result of Soviet leader Josef Stalin’s ruinous collectivization policies. Small wonder today’s Ukrainians know what is truly at stake.
VCM leaves visitors with a profound respect for those who resisted communist oppression, and reminders that representative democracies require constant oversight and participation by attentive citizenries. How fitting the Foundation’s headquarters are in Washington, for it was our Nation’s Capital — and Georgetown in particular—where many policymakers, diplomats, and journalists gathered to challenge and expose communism’s dangers both at home and abroad. Dinner tables and salons from the Alsops, Bohlens, and Harrimans to the Grahams, Bradlees, and Kennedys fostered opinions and strategies that helped define the United States as — in President Kennedy’s words—“the keystone in the arch of freedom.”
Stark reminders of communism’s evil distortions and totalitarian brutality, coupled with an appreciation for our republic’s system of checks and balances on potential abuses of power. Pertinent messages for these uncertain and turbulent times.
VCM is operated and managed by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (https://victimsofcommunism.org/), an educational, research, and human rights nonprofit authorized by Congress. The VOC Memorial’s dedication was held on June 12, 2007, the 20th anniversary of President Reagan’s famous Berlin Wall speech. It is located at the intersection of Massachusetts and New Jersey Avenues, and G Street, NW — two blocks from Union Station. The Victims of Communism Museum is located at 900 15th St., NW, Washington, DC 20005. Operating hours are 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, go to: www.vocmuseum.org.
Where the UMW once toiled…. The irony is unbelievable. This is the same building where the United Mine Workers and our comrade, Richard Trumpka, once had as headquarters. Many members were socialists, some were communists, even some Republicans (of many varieties). Given that Reagan — lauded as a “great” leader at this museum — was a himself former union leader and throughout his Presidency sought to crush the unions, the irony borders on the Kafkaesque.