Victims of Communism honoured in Washington, D.C.
On 12 June, the Ambassador of Lithuania to the United States Rolandas Kriščiūnas attended the annual ceremony to honour the victims of Communism.
Unlike in previous years, there was no joint meeting this year and no wreath laying ceremony was held at the Victims of Communism Memorial due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation organized an online event – the 13th Annual Roll Call of Nations Wreath Laying Ceremony – to honour the victims of Communism around the world.
The Ambassador delivered a speech thanking the leadership of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation for their effort to carry out the important mission, to tell the truth about the Communism and about crimes against humanity committed by totalitarian communist regimes.
This year, the Foundation presented the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom to the Cuban dissident and opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer. The leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) is a political prisoner. The medal will be presented to members of his family. The U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, ambassadors of the EU member states, Canada, Georgia and other countries also gave speeches at the event.
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation awards the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom each year to individuals who have demonstrated a life-long commitment to freedom and democracy. Professor Vytautas Landsbergis, Chairman of the Supreme Council – the Reconstituent Seimas, was among the first laureates.
In 2018 in Washington, D.C., the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom was presented to the former President of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus. In 2010, the medal was awarded to the Signatory to the Act of Independence of Lithuania, Member of the Seimas (Parliament) Emanuelis Zingeris.
Laureates also include such personalities as John Paul II, the former President of the Czech Republic Václav Havel, the former President of Poland Lech Wałęsa, other prominent dissidents in Central and Eastern Europe, and in other countries that have fought against Communism.
Social media
