tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17758878321701340962023-06-20T21:13:08.446-07:00communist holocaustUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1775887832170134096.post-12954585068582548452014-04-06T05:39:00.000-07:002014-04-06T05:39:29.721-07:00Big Brother is watching you in communist East Berlin <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> Museum offers fascinating details of methods of the Stasi </span></span></div>
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<img alt="Stasi: The Exhibition of the GDR Secret Police offers a fascinating insight into the work of the secret police in the former East Germany. Photo: Daniel Bardsley" src="http://www.praguepost.com/images/Museum_lg.jpg" /></div>
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It sounds like something straight out of a sinister novel or a spy film: a workplace where the state security is keeping tabs on everyone, where malign rumors are spread by those up above, and where anyone is in danger of being singled out for punishment.</div>
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Yet this is exactly the situation many employees faced when the Ministry for State Security (MfS) or Stasi was active in the former East Germany.</div>
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In a world of paranoia and mistrust, workers were considered a possible danger to the communist regime, especially after a workers’ uprising in 1953.</div>
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Fascinating details like these are described at a small state museum in Berlin titled Stasi: The Exhibition on the GDR Secret Police. Free to the public, the permanent exhibition in the former communist part of the city details methods, from the bizarre to the brutal, employed by the authorities to keep tabs on their own people.</div>
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It was said that the Stasi placed its own officials into companies and reported back to headquarters on activities.</div>
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“The MfS tried to sound out the workers’moods, monitor work discipline and find scapegoats when factories failed to achieve production targets,” one signboard at the museum notes</div>
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“The MfS would spy on anyone at work suspected of making comments that were critical of the regime. It also selectively spread misinformation to isolate ‘hostile negative elements’ from their colleagues.”</div>
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The tactic of isolating potentially threatening individuals by ruining their reputations was said to have become more widely used from the 1970s onwards as an alternative to the violence and arrests employed earlier. It was all about stifling dissent and freedom of thought.</div>
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“Friendships were destroyed and professional careers ruined without the victims even realizing why,” a notice says.</div>
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Many of these methods were employed well beyond the workplace.</div>
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Residents of East Germany, which lasted from 1949 to 1990, could not even escape Big Brother during their holidays.</div>
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Holidays were organized by the government, and citizens were largely restricted to travelling domestically or to other Eastern bloc countries.</div>
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Yet there were still concerns, the museum notes, that East Germans would have contact with Westerners and could possibly pick up dangerous ideas from them.</div>
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“For this reason the MfS ensured that all tourist traffic was monitored and kept under surveillance by the secret police,” a notice says.</div>
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Travel agencies were infiltrated with “officers on special assignments,” while tour guides acted as informants. Fellow state security officials helped keep tabs on travel groups visiting the other Eastern Bloc countries.</div>
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The Stasi also kept a close watch on sportsmen and women and was desperate to stop them from escaping to the West. As a deterrent, it would continue to “persecute” those competitors who sought asylum overseas. Security officials also worked to ensure that evidence of doping was not unearthed by the relevant sports authorities.</div>
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It seemed as though there was no area of life that was left alone by the MfS, with the arts another field that was closely monitored.</div>
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According to the museum, there were plenty of informants in the underground arts scenes, and some spheres of the arts world, among them rock bands, self-publishing and free-artist groups, were kept under particularly close watch.</div>
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The museum is run by the <a href="http://www.bstu.de/" style="-webkit-transition: background 0s ease 0s, color 0.2s linear 0s; border: 0px; color: #0099cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: background 0s ease 0s, color 0.2s linear 0s;">Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic</a> and is located at Zimmerstraße 90, 10117 Berlin.</div>
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The Stasi museum is not the only offbeat exhibition in the German capital. Just a short walk away is the <a href="http://www.mauermuseum.de/" style="-webkit-transition: background 0s ease 0s, color 0.2s linear 0s; border: 0px; color: #0099cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: background 0s ease 0s, color 0.2s linear 0s;">Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie</a>, which takes its name from the former border crossing and details the history of the Berlin Wall as well as discussing contemporary human rights and democracy issues.</div>
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Exhibits range from a video of the former American President Ronald Reagan giving his celebrated “Tear Down This Wall” speech in front of the Brandbenburg Gate to a Volkswagen Beetle adapted so that a person could fit into a concealed space and be smuggled into West Berlin.</div>
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /><br />Read more: <a href="http://blogs.praguepost.com/travel2/38104-big-brother-is-watching-you-in-communist-east-berlin#ixzz2y6pNpKGd" style="-webkit-transition: background 0s ease 0s, color 0.2s linear 0s; border: 0px; color: #003399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: background 0s ease 0s, color 0.2s linear 0s;">http://blogs.praguepost.com/travel2/38104-big-brother-is-watching-you-in-communist-east-berlin#ixzz2y6pNpKGd</a> </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1775887832170134096.post-12206818711181300332011-05-30T23:46:00.000-07:002011-05-30T23:46:13.892-07:00Ethiopia: “Never, Ever Again” Memorial Held to Commemorate Red Terror Era<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Source: <a href="http://www.ezega.com/News/NewsDetails.aspx?Page=heads&NewsID=2881">Ezega</a><br />
By Seble Teweldebirhan <br />
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Addis Ababa, May 4, 2011 (Ezega.com) – The Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum organized a 5-Day Event during April 26-30 named “Never, Ever Again” to commemorate victims of the Red Terror (Key Shiber).<br />
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The museum started the memorial celebration by dedicating the first day, Tuesday, for children. Children were given a tour in the museum with an explanation of the Red Terror and what happend at the time. The second day was titled “No Women No Cry”. Women from different walks of life shared their experiences and survival stories during and after the red terror. <br />
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Thursday was a symposium titled “Then and now: similarities and differences in grassroots revolution”. Different speakers who had been through revolutions in the past shared their experiences, and the stories of Red Terror were told by those who had experienced it first hand. <br />
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What went wrong at the time and what was the lesson from that experience were the issues the symposium tried to address. On Friday and Saturday the Museum had a musical tribute to the martyrs, honoring family and friends. “Tezta” an all day contemporary fine art exhibition and films that memorize Red Terror were also parts of the five-day event. <br />
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The Museum was established in March 2010 by the ‘Red Terror Martyrs’ Families and Friends Association. It permanently exhibits pictures, materials, documents and the remains of the victims that tell a story that is probably still in the memory of the present generation. The display begins from the time when students revolt against the Hailesellasie rule and shows how this revolution was stolen from the students by the military. <br />
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Pictures at the musim demonstrate the 17 years of brutal rule of the Derg and its leader Mengistu Hailemeriam. From the time the Emperor was detained by the military administration up to the time the regime ordered the killing of the 60 high officials and families of the Emperor is displayed and supported by photos and documents signed by Mengistu Hailemariam himself and his closest officials. <br />
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Some of the pictures of the victims of the red terror and the remaining of their bodies are on display permanently at the museum. <br />
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Red Terror (Key Shiber) (1978-79) is remembered as a brutal period in Ethiopian history with torture and mass murder of Ethiopians by the then military regime Derg led by Mengistu Hailemariam. <br />
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Though the terror still has its controversies and disagreements when it comes to the question of responsibility, it is undeniable that thousands of men, women, and youth were murdered, tortured and multilated in the most inhuman way under the guise of building a better Ethiopia. <br />
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According to the report by Amnesty International, around half a million people, most of them young students, were killed at the time. <br />
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Mengistu Hailemariam, who lives in Zimbabwe as a fugitive, repeatedly denied any responsibility for the terror. He blames the opponents of his regime who started the killing of Derg officials by calling their action “White Terror”. The response from the military regime for the ‘White Terror’ was handing out guns to ordinary people who were considered to be “Abyot Tibeka” or ‘Guards of the Revolution’. <br />
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Mengistu was found guilty of genocide in absentia in January 2007 and sentenced to life in prison.<br />
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Seble Teweldebirhan is Addis Ababa based Reporter for Ezega.com. She can be reached by sending email through this form.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1775887832170134096.post-64862779665313477772011-05-22T21:57:00.000-07:002011-05-22T21:57:45.757-07:00katyn massacre memorial in katyn<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Katyn" src="http://news.discovery.com/history/2010/04/07/katyn-278x225.jpg" title="Katyn" /> <span class="caption"> </span><br />
<span class="caption">Names of 22,000 Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's secret police in 1940 are carved on the wall of the memorial in Katyn, Russia. </span><br />
<em class="photo-credits">AP Photo</em><br />
<em class="photo-credits">Source: <a href="http://news.discovery.com/history/russia-poland-katyn-massacre.html">discovery</a> </em><br />
<ul><li><b>Russia's Vladimir Putin and Poland's Donald Tusk honored 22,000 Poles murdered by Soviet forces.</b></li>
<li><b>Soviet propaganda had blamed Nazi Germany for the massacre.</b></li>
<li><b>Tensions remain between the Poles and the Russians, but both sides urge reconciliation.</b></li>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1775887832170134096.post-51368695329278703792011-05-22T21:54:00.000-07:002011-05-22T21:54:55.541-07:00katyn massacre victims memorial<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="insetContent embedType-image imageFormat-DV"><div class="insetTree"><div class="insettipUnit"><img alt="[STALIN-SUB]" border="0" height="394" hspace="0" src="http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/WO-AD496_STALIN_DV_20101126202156.jpg" vspace="0" width="262" /> <cite> </cite></div><div class="insettipUnit"><cite>Agence France-Presse/Getty Images</cite> <div class="targetCaption">A visitor paid respects in September at a monument in Kharkiv, Ukraine, dedicated to Polish officers murdered in the Katyn massacre.</div><div class="targetCaption">Source <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704008704575638990227283162.html">WSJ</a> </div><div class="targetCaption"><br />
</div><div class="targetCaption">MOSCOW—Russia's parliament accepted Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's responsibility for the 1940 Katyn Forest massacre of 22,000 Polish prisoners—a declaration that Poland's leaders welcomed, cautiously, as a step toward justice for an atrocity that still poisons the two countries' relations. </div></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1775887832170134096.post-1385335228252159002011-05-22T21:52:00.000-07:002011-05-22T21:52:18.028-07:00Russian parliament admits guilt over Polish massacre<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;">Symbolic acknowledgment of culpability over Katyn murders in 1940 signals Russia's willingness to face up to its past</div><ul class="article-attributes" style="text-align: justify;"><li class="byline"> <a class="contributor" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/tomparfitt"> Tom Parfitt</a> in Moscow </li>
<li class="publication"> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/">guardian.co.uk</a>, <time datetime="2010-11-26T18:28GMT" pubdate="">Friday 26 November 2010 18.28 GM </time> </li>
</ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div data-global-auto-refresh-switch="on" id="article-wrapper" style="text-align: justify;"> <div id="main-content-picture"> <img alt="A memorial dedicated to the Polish officers murdered in the Katyn forest in 1940" height="276" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/11/26/1290791432019/A-memorial-dedicated-to-t-007.jpg" width="460" /> <div class="caption">A memorial dedicated to the Polish officers murdered in the Katyn forest in 1940. Photograph: Dario Thuburn/AFP/Getty Images</div></div><div id="article-body-blocks"> In a symbolic admission of guilt, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/russia" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Russia">Russia</a>'s parliament has declared that <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/joseph-stalin" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Joseph Stalin">Joseph Stalin</a> ordered his secret police to execute 22,000 Polish army officers and civilians in 1940, in one of the greatest mass murders of the 20th century.<br />
Today's acknowledgment of Stalin's personal culpability over the Katyn massacre comes amid a cautious thaw between Moscow and Warsaw, whose recent relations have been thorny at best. It was also seen as a sign that Russia may finally be ready for muted self-scrutiny over its totalitarian past.<br />
Mikhail Gorbachev admitted in 1990 that the NKVD was to blame for the massacre, after a half-century of the Soviets blaming it on Nazi troops. However, there has never been a formal statement which implicates the Soviet leadership in such explicit terms.<br />
Officials in Warsaw greeted the declaration positively. "It is a good step, an important sign," <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/poland" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Poland">Poland</a>'s speaker of parliament, Grzegorz Schetyna, told reporters. It would ensure a "better atmosphere" for Russian president Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Warsaw next week, he added.<br />
The 21,768 officers, doctors, policemen and other public servants – captured by the Red Army when it swept into Poland after the outbreak of the second world war in 1939 – were mainly shot in Katyn forest near Smolensk in western Russia and in several other places.<br />
The current improvement in ties accelerated after Poland's then president, Lech Kaczynski, and 95 other people including scores of high-ranking government and military figures, died in April when their plane crashed on landing at Smolensk. The passengers were on their way from Warsaw to attend an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the massacre.<br />
In the wake of the crash, Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, made unequivocal statements about Soviet responsibility for the Katyn massacre and urged reconciliation. Historian Natalya Lebedeva, a Russian member of the two countries' intergovernmental commission on "especially complex questions", told the Guardian that Putin's words had helped the healing process. "Both Russia and Poland realise it is time to stop the confrontations," she added.<br />
Moscow and Warsaw have clashed in the past decade over Poland's admission to the EU and Nato, and over US plans for missile defence sites in eastern <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/europe-news" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Europe">Europe</a>.<br />
However, Eugeniusz Smolar, a senior fellow at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, said that the Kremlin now felt it had to engage with Warsaw as a major economic power in the region.<br />
A change to pro-Russian leadership in Ukraine and the prospect of Russia joining the US missile defence shield also helped. "On a human level, Poles were also very touched by so many Russians coming to our embassy in Moscow to show sympathy after the Smolensk disaster," he added.<br />
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</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1775887832170134096.post-2581052964707361382011-05-22T21:45:00.000-07:002011-05-22T21:45:33.332-07:00Colombia: UN rights office condemns leftist rebel massacre of farm workers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden prose clearfix"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">source: <a href="http://reliefweb.int/node/183157">reliefweb</a> </div><div class="field-item even">The United Nations human rights office in Colombia has condemned the massacre of 14 farm workers in the northwest of the country and warned leftist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - Popular Army (FARC-EP) that they were incurring war and could be subject to the International Criminal Court (ICC). <br />
The workers were shot dead on 23 August in Valdivia municipality of Antioquia province in an attack which the authorities attributed to members of FARC-EP's front 36, the office noted. "The Office warns that with killings like that of Puerto Valdivia, the FARC-EP members are indulging in conduct that constitutes war crimes," it said in a statement issued in Bogota, the Colombian capital. <br />
"Moreover, murders of this type, by their generalized and systematic character, would possess the characteristics of crimes against humanity, and thus those responsible could be subject to the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice," it added. <br />
It called on the FARC-EP secretariat to "publicly assume the responsibility that arises from this atrocious act and odder its members to refrain at all times from attacks against the civilian population." <br />
Hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to have been killed and millions displaced in four decades of fighting in the Andean country between leftist guerrillas, government forces and right-wing paramilitaries.</div></div></div><span class="source-disclaimer-name">UN News Service:</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1775887832170134096.post-17462726612175721862010-11-14T19:11:00.000-08:002010-11-14T19:11:34.598-08:00Over 45,000 people visit “Red Terror” Martyrs Memorial Museum<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="float: left; padding: 8px;"><img alt=" " height="135" src="http://www.waltainfo.com/resource/cem.jpg" width="180" /></span>Source: <a href="http://www.waltainfo.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23770&Itemid=134">waltainfo</a> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Addis Ababa</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">, October 13 (WIC) –</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">More than 45,000 people have reportedly visited the “Red Terror” Martyrs Memorial Museum over the past seven months. </span></span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div><div align="justify" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: black;">Museum Administrator, Yohannes Gebre Hiwot told to WIC that 2,000 of the visitors are foreigners, while the remaining are Ethiopians, including students.</span></span></div><div align="justify" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div align="justify" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: black;">He said the “Red Terror” Martyrs Memorial Museum was established to remember Ethiopians who were massacred by the Derg regime.</span></span></div><div align="justify" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div align="justify" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: black;">Moreover, the museum was established to implant the spirit of unity, peace and tolerance among the new generation, Yohannes indicated.<span> </span></span></span></div><div align="justify" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div><div align="justify" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: black;">The museum consists of photos and bodies of the victims, weapons used by the fascist Derg regime, as well as documents, and newspapers remembering the victims.</span></span></div><div align="justify" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div align="justify" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: black;">According to Yohannes, people can visit the museum for free.</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1775887832170134096.post-24859486587240764712010-11-14T19:03:00.000-08:002010-11-14T19:03:51.199-08:00The Red Terror Martyr’s MemorialSource: <a href="http://thevelvetrocket.com/2010/05/08/the-red-terror-martyrs-memorial/">the velvet rocket blog</a><br />
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Located just off <a href="http://thevelvetrocket.com/2010/04/29/meskal-square-addis-ababa/">Meskal Square</a>, the Red Terror Martyr’s Memorial is a good way to get up to speed on the activities of the Derg.<br />
The Derg (or Dergue) was a communist military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Emperor Haile Selassie. Derg, which means “committee” was the short name for the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a committee of military officers which ruled the country from 1974 until 1987.<br />
And they weren’t very nice… Between 1975 and 1987, the Derg imprisoned, tortured and executed tens of thousands of its perceived opponents without trial.<br />
The entrance to the Red Terror Martyr’s Memorial:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-42.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6867" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-42.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (42)" width="500" /></a><br />
A memorial on the grounds of the memorial:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-41.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6866" height="666" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-41.jpg?w=500&h=666" title="red terror martyr's memorial (41)" width="500" /></a><br />
We’ve heard “Never, Ever Again” many times before, haven’t we? It always happens again. And again. And again… It seems to be human nature.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">****</div><div style="text-align: center;">And so it begins again in Ethiopia in 1974.</div>On 12 September 1974 Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by Derg forces – In this photograph hanging in the museum, <a href="http://thevelvetrocket.com/2010/05/03/haile-selassies-gannata-leul-palace-and-the-1960-coup/">he appears in has last picture, being hustled away to a military prison</a> in the back of a VW Beetle:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-2.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6837" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-2.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (2)" width="500" /></a><br />
Emerging as the leader of the Derg was Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam who rode the wave of popular opposition to Selassie’s regime, as well as the Marxist-Leninist ideology of left-wing students.<br />
On 20 December 1974 a socialist state was declared. Under the adage “Ethiopia First” , banks businesses and factories were nationalized along with urban and rural land. Viewed as raising the status of Ethiopia’s peasants, the nationalization program was initially highly praised internationally, particularly by Unesco.<br />
In the meantime, internal political debate degenerated into crude violence. In 1977 the Red Terror campaign was launched to suppress all political opponents. At a conservative estimate, 100,000 people were killed and many more fled abroad.<br />
The hijacking of the popular revolution, the dawn of military rule and the suspension of democratic and civil rights:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-5.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6839" height="666" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-5.jpg?w=500&h=666" title="red terror martyr's memorial (5)" width="500" /></a><br />
Tanks parading through the streets of <a href="http://thevelvetrocket.com/2010/04/29/pictures-and-scenes-of-addis-ababa-ethiopia/">Addis Ababa</a> to demonstrate the power of the Derg:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-7.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6840" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-7.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (7)" width="500" /></a><br />
The Derg unleashed the Red Terror because it considered itself powerful beyond measure and that its opinion alone represented the “absolute” truth about Ethiopia. Anyone that did not conform to its kind of “truth” was a counter-revolutionary and subversive.<br />
All of the photographs below are hanging in the museum. I apologize for the glare on some of the photos, but the light in the museum was not even sightly conducive to quality photographs. <br />
Door-to-door searches to hunt down opposition members:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-18.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6850" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-18.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (18)" width="500" /></a><br />
The fate of anyone perceived to be a subversive or opposition member during the door-to-door searches:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-26.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6855" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-26.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (26)" width="500" /></a><br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-27.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6856" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-27.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (27)" width="500" /></a><br />
And a display of the door-to-door search findings as recorded by the state-controlled media of Ethiopia:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-19.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6851" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-19.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (19)" width="500" /></a><br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-20.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6852" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-20.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (20)" width="500" /></a><br />
The fate of printing presses and other instruments of free speech:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-8.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6841" height="666" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-8.jpg?w=500&h=666" title="red terror martyr's memorial (8)" width="500" /></a><br />
For those that survived their initial capture by the Derg – public confessions. Coerced by torture, the public confessions planted the seeds of psychological terror, mistrust and destruction:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-23.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6853" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-23.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (23)" width="500" /></a><br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-24.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6854" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-24.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (24)" width="500" /></a><br />
After their “confessions”, the above individuals did not meet a pleasant fate.<br />
Below is a model of “<em>wofelala</em>” – The preferred torture technique employed by the Derg to break people’s will:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-9.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6842" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-9.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (9)" width="500" /></a><br />
And these are some of the toys the Derg torturers would use to spice things up if they grew bored with <em>wofelala</em>:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-28.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6857" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-28.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (28)" width="500" /></a><br />
One room of the museum is filled with plastic coffins. The coffins contain the personal effects of thousands of individuals dug up from mass graves – bits of clothing, combs, pens, glasses, shoes, belts, bones and much more:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-13.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6845" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-13.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (13)" width="500" /></a><br />
Paintings of some of the torture techniques and executions of the Derg line the walls of the museum in the room described above:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-12.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6844" height="666" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-12.jpg?w=500&h=666" title="red terror martyr's memorial (12)" width="500" /></a><br />
Another room contains an exact replica of a mass grave that was unearthed:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-14.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6846" height="666" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-14.jpg?w=500&h=666" title="red terror martyr's memorial (14)" width="500" /></a><br />
And the very real contents of the mass grave that was recreated above:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-15.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6847" height="666" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-15.jpg?w=500&h=666" title="red terror martyr's memorial (15)" width="500" /></a><br />
While we were visiting this room, a girl whose grandfather’s remains were in the mass grave depicted above, visited the room for the first time and suffered a breakdown: <br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-16.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6848" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-16.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (16)" width="500" /></a><br />
Photos of the disappeared:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial.jpg"><img alt="Derg victims" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6836" height="666" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial.jpg?w=500&h=666" title="red terror martyr's memorial" width="500" /></a><br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-17.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6849" height="666" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-17.jpg?w=500&h=666" title="red terror martyr's memorial (17)" width="500" /></a><br />
Red Terror only cemented the stance of those opposing the Derg. Numerous armed liberation movements arose, including those of the Afar, Oromo, Somali and, especially, the Tigrayan people. For years, with limited weaponry, they fought the military might of the Soviet-backed Derg.<br />
Whole forests were torched by the Derg to flush out rebel forces. Additionally, the Derg’s large armies, hungry and with inadequate provisions, turned their sights on the land’s natural resources and much wildlife was wiped out.<br />
The various opposition groups eventually united to form the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which in 1989 began its historic campaign to Addis Ababa.<br />
Doubly confronted by the EPRDF and the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) in Eritrea; with the fall of his allies in Eastern Europe and Russia; and with his state in financial ruin as well as his own military authority in doubt, Mengistu’s time was up and, claiming that he was going to inspect troops at a base in southern Ethiopia, Mengistu slipped out of the country on 21 May 1991. Seven days later the EPRDF entered Addis Ababa and the Derg were done.<br />
The victorious march of EPRDF forces toward the capital:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-34.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6862" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-34.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (34)" width="500" /></a><br />
The banality of evil… Derg members on trial in Ethiopia:<br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-38.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6864" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-38.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (38)" width="500" /></a><br />
<a href="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-39.jpg"><img alt="red terror martyr's memorial " class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6865" height="375" src="http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/red-terror-martyrs-memorial-39.jpg?w=500&h=375" title="red terror martyr's memorial (39)" width="500" /></a><br />
In December 2006, 72 officials of the Derg were found guilty of genocide. Thirty-four people were in court, 14 others had died during the lengthy process, and 25 were tried in absentia.<br />
Mengistu received asylum in Zimbabwe, where he remains comfortably to this day, despite being tried in absentia in Ethiopia and sentenced to death.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1775887832170134096.post-64214637224588140242010-11-14T18:55:00.000-08:002010-11-14T18:55:03.015-08:00Ethiopia inaugurates museum for “Red Terror” victims<strong>Source: <a href="http://www.afriqueavenir.org/en/2010/03/07/ethiopia-inaugurates-museum-for-%E2%80%9Cred-terror%E2%80%9D-victims/">afriqueavenir</a> </strong><br />
<strong>APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)</strong> Ethiopia on Sunday inaugurated the “Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum” for victims of the “red terror” in the 1970s under the former military regime.<br />
The “red terror” campaign is reported to have claimed thousands of lives during the regime of the former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam who is now in exile in Zimbabwe since his over throw in 1991.<span id="more-186"></span><br />
Families of the victims and survivors as well as government officials attended the inauguration of the museum located in the centre of Addis Ababa.<br />
The museum, built through the contribution of over $ 1 million from the public and business people, took three years to be completed and is quite similar to the Rwandan Genocide Memorial museum.<br />
The museum was built to remember those who were killed by the former regime because of their political stand against the government.<br />
The museum comprises various photos of those who were killed, and documents remembering the time during which thousands were killed in various prisons and in the streets of the country.<br />
Newspapers that wrote about the campaign, as well as belongings of the victims are also in the museum.<br />
Ayne Tsige, chairman of the organising committee said that the museum will be open to the public to let them know the country’s past political history.<br />
According to available information, around 100,000 people, a majority of whom were youths and students, were killed during the ‘red terror’ campaign under Mengistu’s orders.<br />
However, Mengistu has denied that he was behind this mass killing.<br />
An Ethiopian court sentenced him a couple of years ago to death along with other military officials for the charges of genocide.<br />
The current government and families of the victims want Mengistu to be extradited to Ethiopia and tried for his crimes.<br />
However, Zimbabwe has so far refused to extradite him.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1775887832170134096.post-37683589679696508242009-10-25T22:31:00.000-07:002009-10-25T22:31:09.680-07:00Massacre in Beijing's Tiananmen Square 天安門事件 (June 4, 1989)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The images are shocking. Armoured tanks plow into crowds of people, flames from burning buses light up the night sky, and bleeding bodies are rushed to hospital. For weeks student protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square have been demonstrating for political reform of China's communist government. A declaration of martial law has failed to quell the protests, and now the government has called in the military. Death is all around as the CBC's Tom Kennedy reports.<br />
<br />
The massacre begins shortly after midnight as tanks and armoured personnel carriers roll through the streets, crushing hastily erected barricades and into Tiananmen Square. After launching tear gas and using loudspeakers to order people to leave, the army starts shooting. But the protesters fight back, beating army officers or simply standing their ground. They form human walls around foreign press to make sure the story gets out to the world.</span><br />
<br />
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yyj-3S_ulvI&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yyj-3S_ulvI&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1775887832170134096.post-14986866519461627712009-10-25T22:27:00.000-07:002009-10-25T22:27:28.306-07:00Vietnam War - Hue Massacre 1968<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/26NkXQvvPMI&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/26NkXQvvPMI&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> large-scale massacre committed by the Vietnamese Communists but much less well-known than the My Lai Massacre.<br />
<br />
"What happened in Hue, physically, can be described with a few quick statistics. A Communist force which eventually reached 12,000 invaded the city the night of the new moon marking the new lunar year, January 30, 1968. It stayed for 26 days and then was driven out by military action.<br />
<br />
In the wake of this Tet offensive, 5,800 Hue civilians were dead or missing (estimate). It is now known that most of them are dead. The bodies of most have since been found in single and mass graves throughout Thua Thien Province which surrounds this cultural capital of Vietnam."<br />
<br />
The Viet Cong attacked the South on the most sacred days (Tet, Vietnamese New Year) of Vietnamese culture breaking the "Tet ceasefire agreement".<br />
<br />
<a dir="ltr" href="http://www.saigon.com/regions/hue/" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0033cc; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://www.saigon.com/regions/hue/">http://www.saigon.com/regions/hue/</a><br />
<a dir="ltr" href="http://www.kysales.com/massacre_at_hue.htm" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0033cc; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://www.kysales.com/massacre_at_hue.htm">http://www.kysales.com/massacre_at_hu...</a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1775887832170134096.post-32350715137479400092009-10-25T22:09:00.000-07:002009-10-25T22:09:23.330-07:00Roots of the Ultra Left<object width="400" height="274"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6537600&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6537600&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="274"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/6537600">Roots of the Ultra Left</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/campusreform">Campus Reform</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1775887832170134096.post-25669136087915469592009-10-25T21:58:00.000-07:002009-10-25T21:58:33.690-07:00The Soviet Government's Holocaust by Michael Chapman<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;"><b><img 36="" 384="" border="" height="" src="http://www.nodnc.com/1images/Laissez.gif" width="" /></b></span></span><br />
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<br />
Many critics like to pick on big government. They say it?s so huge and bureaucratic that it can?t get anything done right. That may be true. But there?s one thing that big government does well: kill people. The blood-soaked 20th century proved that.<br />
Among the most brutal big government killers of that time was the communist Soviet Union. Ten years ago this month it marked the anniversary of its collapse. That remarkable event in 1991 should be remembered as a great victory for liberty. Of course, Russia today is no Eden?it?s still in the early stages of recovery after 74 years of totalitarian self-destruction. But the terror and bleakness of communism no longer dominate every facet of life there.<br />
<br />
And the dead? The millions murdered for the State? They are resurfacing, in photographs and documents from Soviet archives, and in countless mass graves being discovered all over the vast Russian land. A cold harvest of corpses.<br />
<br />
They should not be forgotten. Tens of millions of people?women, children, fathers, families?were murdered by the biggest big government in history. The nationalized, planned economy?socialism in one country?ran itself on terror. A free market, a laissez faire economy, could not and has not done what the iron fist of the Soviet State did. And we should?we hope?learn from this.<br />
<br />
Hitler and the Nazis did not build the first concentration camps of the 20th century. Lenin and Stalin and the Bolsheviks built them. By the 1950s, hundreds of these camps?the Gulag Archipelago?darted the landscape. So-called enemies of the State, including religious (Jews, Catholics, Orthodox), were sent to the camps, along with criminals. There they were literally worked to death. A conservative estimate puts the number of camp deaths at 16 million. Many of the camps were still operating under Mikhail Gorbachev.<br />
<br />
In 1919, hundreds of thousands of Cossacks, who had served as cavalrymen in the czarist army, were murdered by the Cheka, the forerunner of the KGB.<br />
<br />
In Ukraine in 1932-33, an estimated 5 million peasants were intentionally starved to death because of a grain-quota system crafted by Soviet bureaucrats and Stalin. The people were deliberately killed as part of state planning.<br />
<br />
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt?s administration?riddled with communist sympathizers and agents, as Soviet and U.S. documents now confirm?officially recognized the Soviet government. In the mid- to late-1930s, the infamous Soviet Show Trials began. This launched the Great Terror, in which an estimated one million Russians were killed. Stalin signed execution orders daily. In one, culled from Soviet archives and published in The Black Book of Communism, Stalin signed an order authorizing the death of 6,600 political opponents.<br />
<br />
Things got so bad, reported historian Robert Conquest, that sometimes up to 200 people a day were being shot at the Lubyanka prison in Moscow. At the same time, about 6.5 million kulaks?better off peasants opposed to the state policy of collectivization?were murdered by the Cheka, according to historian R.J. Rummel.<br />
<br />
In 1939, the Soviets entered into a "non-aggression pact," i.e., treaty, with the Nazis and launched World War II. The German army invaded Poland from the west and the Red army invaded from the east. The national socialist Soviets brutalized Poland. They murdered some 15,000 Polish army officers and buried them in mass graves in the Katyn forest. They also marched more than one million Poles back to Russia and on to the Gulag. Rape was standard Soviet practice for soldiers, and countless Polish women and girls were violated and died from the brutality.<br />
<br />
After Hitler turned on Stalin in 1941, President Roosevelt and his administration started to aid "Uncle Joe" and the Soviets. A lot of the military and material aid provided?paid for by American taxpayers?was used to enforce the terror and genocide in the USSR. The aid went to Soviet state officials and departments. It was used to defend and strengthen Stalin and the Soviet government. (Lenin and Stalin had already killed more than 12 million "enemies of the state" before Hitler and the Nazis took power in 1933.)<br />
<br />
By the time Stalin died in 1953, about 25-30 million people had died as a result of government policies in the USSR. From the 1950s and through the 1980s, countless Russians continued to suffer because of State policies. "Enemies" were still sent to the Gulag or to psychiatric hospitals for "treatment." And the people, in general, had to endure a near-Third World existence because socialist planning did not work. Even today, potable water is rationed in Moscow.<br />
<br />
Neo-socialist critics, many of whom dominate America?s universities and centers of influence, often complain that the invisible hand of capitalism is ruthless?that the less advantaged suffer because of it. But compare a free market, a laissez faire economy and limited government with a Soviet style socialist economy and what does one see?<br />
<br />
Unlimited government is the most efficient killer.<br />
<br />
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Michael Chapman is a writer at the Cato Institute (http://www.cato.org/).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0