Not Meant to Honor??? - What Are They Thinking?

What comes to your mind when you read that a statue or a bust of an individual is to be unveiled?  I know for myself, that when I read about such an unveiling, I typically think that the statue or bust being unveiled is meant to honor the individual whose likeness is being presented, in a rather solid degree of permanence, for future generations to admire.

Consider the above statement, then ask yourself what in the world is the National D-Day Memorial Foundation doing unveiling a bust of Josef Stalin at the D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA?

A bust of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is in place at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, just in time for Sunday’s 66th anniversary of the World War II invasion of Normandy.

The National D-Day Memorial Foundation went ahead with plans to place a bust at the memorial over protests from some veterans and volunteers.

Here’s the National D-Day Memorial Foundation’s take on this.

Foundation officials said the bust is not to honor Stalin, who is believed to have had roughly 700,000 citizens executed during late 1930s.

Not meant to honor, and only “roughly” 700,000 citizens executed?  Are these foundation officials addled?

Here’s Dr. Lee Edwards’, of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, statement.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, statues of Joseph Stalin have been torn down all over Europe and even in the former Soviet Union itself. The world is closer than ever before to a consensus on the evils of communism and Stalin’s primary role in the worst crimes of the last century. And yet a statue of Stalin is included in the National D-Day Memorial, to be dedicated in Bedford, Virginia, this Sunday, June 6.

Near the statue of Stalin, a plaque catalogues Stalin’s crimes against millions of people both in Russia and throughout Europe. But no mere plaque can justify the inclusion of the statue which dishonors the heroic individuals who sacrificed so much on D-Day and in the Cold War.

A bust of Joseph Stalin has no place in a memorial whose purpose is to salute the brave soldiers who made D-Day a vital victory in the crusade for freedom.

Stalin bust in place at D-Day Memorial in Bedford

I hope some surviving Band of Brothers conducts a nighttime raid on this offensive bust, and then melts it down for bullets.

Via The Corner.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 06/05 at 06:46 AM

  1. This is nigh on unbelievable.  The 700,000 figure is incredible. I guess it hinges on how you define “executed.” Perhaps the millions on millions of his additional victims were mere murders.

    Of course the USSR was one of the Allies.  That historical fact certainly deserves regretful mention, but no homage to the one tyrant of the last century who topped Hitler in making misery.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/05  at  11:35 AM

  2. Remember the image of the soviets blowing up the swastika on top of the Reichstag (I think thats where it was)

    I suggest the same.

    I’m offering 6:5 on a a Ho Chi Minh bust at the Vietnam Wall.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/05  at  11:56 AM

  3. Then, of course, there is that damn Lenin statue in Seattle.  Why doesn’t some enterprising individual behead that abomination?

    Posted by John Venlet  on  06/05  at  01:30 PM

  4. Why am I not seeing a problem with this? A bust is a three dimensional figure of a person that held a paramount point in WWII. Would a two dimensional figure be better? How? I live in a 3d world and always have, haven’t you? John added the *unveiling* part, why I don’t know. The link stated the foundation had already *unveiled* a bust of FDR, who left an tragic legacy to the victims of the US that holds to this day and yes that is more horrific, to me, than anything Stalin did. Perspective, ladies and gentlemen, perspective.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/05  at  07:32 PM

  5. the foundation had already *unveiled* a bust of FDR, who left an tragic legacy to the victims of the US that holds to this day and yes that is more horrific, to me, than anything Stalin did.

    Well, Don, at least you haven’t left yourself open to charges of moral equivalence here. 

    To leave aside your acceptance of the memorial display and further elaborate my own evaluation of its propriety and wisdom, allow me to present the text of the plaque that accompanies the Stalin bust:

    In memory of the tens of millions who died under Stalin’s rule and in tribute to all whose valor, fidelity, and sacrifice denied him and his successors victory in the cold war.*

    By such logic, why don’t they just display a bust of Hitler to commemorate all his victims and pay tribute to all those whose valor, fidelity and sacrifice on D-Day helped deny him and his henchmen victory in WWII?

    *http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/state_regional/article/some_protest_stalin_bust_at_d-day_memorial/21685/  - Sorry. Can’t get this embedded in the text.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/05  at  11:20 PM

  6. Linda - I still don’t see the problem with a likeness of Stalin.

    I guess, I kind of agree with this:

    “He’s a necessary addition,“ McIntosh said in a 2009 interview. “He certainly was a fact of life and a major ally during the second World War ... There’s nothing about the presentation that’s going to be flattering of Stalin.“

    Now this, from the same article:

    Annie Pollard, a Bedford County supervisor who has volunteered at the memorial, said Wednesday it has been a source of controversy in Bedford and she feels its presence is “a slap in the face to all these other people we honor and remember.“

    “I just don’t think it belongs on the hill with them,“ Pollard. “To me, he (Stalin) is just a murderer. I just can’t see how he fits in with the memorial. They are people we want to remember. He’s someone I’d rather forget.“

    ...is just downright silly. As if NOT having the statue would eliminate the historical fact of Stalin’s presence in WWII and his heinous crimes and treatment of others. It will not.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/06  at  06:11 AM

  7. Lets not forget the millions of Ukraine farmers that were systematically starved or shot under Stalin’s reign.

    “In 1932, Soviet leader Josef Stalin unleashed genocide in Ukraine. Stalin determined to force Ukraine’s millions of independent farmers - called kulaks - into collectivized Soviet agriculture, and to crush Ukraine’s growing spirit of nationalism.

    Faced by resistance to collectivization, Stalin unleashed terror and dispatched 25,000 fanatical young party militants from Moscow - earlier versions of Mao’s Red Guards - to force 10 million Ukrainian peasants into collective farms. Secret police units of OGPU began selective executions of recalcitrant farmers. 

    ...During the bitter winter of 1932-33, mass starvation created by Kaganovitch and 0GPU hit full force. Ukrainians ate their pets, boots and belts, plus bark and roots. Some parents even ate infant children.

    The precise number of Ukrainians murdered by Stalin’s custom-made famine and Cheka firing squads remains unknown to this day. The KGB’s archives, and recent work by Russian historians, show at least seven million died. Ukrainian historians put the figure at nine million, or higher. Twenty-five percent of Ukraine’s population was exterminated. “

    Mike

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/06  at  10:07 AM

  8. As if NOT having the statue would eliminate the historical fact of Stalin’s presence in WWII and his heinous crimes and treatment of others.

    Don, though I cannot speak for the other commenters, I do not think any commenter, myself included, speaks to eliminating, or denying, the fact that that bastard Stalin was a presence in WWII.

    My point, is, I do not want to see any represenation of that bastard, or any other commie fuck, in my America.

    What I do want to see is accurate, historical, documentation of the evil Stalin and his ilk unleashed on the world, rather than candy coated apologetics.

    Posted by John Venlet  on  06/06  at  10:33 AM

  9. First, here is the link I bungled in my comment above.

    And here’s a bit more from that article, clarifying what’s so objectionable about the display of the bust:

    [Memorial foundation volunteer and donor James] Morrison said he respects the importance of remembering history but the memorial’s sole purpose is to honor the valor, fidelity and sacrifice of D-Day veterans.

    “It’s not a history museum, it’s not a wax museum,“ said Morrison.

    The National D-Day Memorial is there specifically to honor people whose heroic actions in a particular operation were neither sponsored nor motivated nor materially supported by Josef Stalin.  Omitting to represent such a monster on a par with the leaders of nations who actually put men on the beaches of Normandy does not deny his role in WWII.  Insisting over the objections of Memorial supporters to feature him as part of a so-called “dark side of the D-Day story” is to pervert the purpose of the Memorial.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/06  at  11:08 AM

  10. And blast that auto-correct on this word processor that screwed up my blockquote above.  And sorry I didn’t catch it.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/06  at  11:11 AM

  11. Linda,

    Thanks for your comments.  I fixed the blasted auto-correct issues you noted.

    Posted by John Venlet  on  06/06  at  11:22 AM

  12. OK, so what do you suggest, the outright banning of any reference that YOU don’t like?

    Not trying to ruffle feathers but some of you need to get a grip. It’s a frikkin statue already. If you want to read some kind of honor in that knock yourself out.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/06  at  12:13 PM

  13. OK, so what do you suggest, the outright banning of any reference that YOU don’t like?

    Don, if you feel that I would suggest such draconian foolishness as “outright banning of any reference” which irks me, you are not thinking objectively about the words I have written.

    Posted by John Venlet  on  06/06  at  12:48 PM

  14. Maybe I misread you.
    You don’t like the three dimensional image of Stalin placed as it is.
    Would a 2 dimensional image be better?
    If not, how about a small sign with the name Stalin on it?
    Or maybe you don’t want Stalin mentioned at all.
    Where exactly do you draw the line on censorship?

    Curious, are Hitler and Mussolini mentioned at this place?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/06  at  02:43 PM

  15. Where exactly do you draw the line on censorship?

    There’s nothing even approximating a call for censorship in any of the foregoing discussion. 

    Curious, are Hitler and Mussolini mentioned at this place?

    Yes, they may be observed along with Tojo shagging flies on the Memorial’s holodeck.

    Also, their DNA has been implanted in frozen sturgeon caviar, on display in the main pavilion.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/06  at  04:16 PM

  16. Also, their DNA has been implanted in frozen sturgeon caviar, on display in the main pavilion.

    Just wunnerful.

    Sometimes I think I must be dreaming in a coma.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/06  at  04:21 PM

  17. Where exactly do you draw the line on censorship?

    Don, Linda is correct, no where, within my words, or any other of the commenters, is there any call, or hint of a call, for censorship.

    What I am calling for is condemnation.

    Posted by John Venlet  on  06/06  at  05:43 PM

  18. 1.  It’s a D-Day memorial. <sarcasm>Surely you would not fail to honor all the brave Soviet soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach.</sarcasm> It’s a stretch to include Stalin.
    2. Yes, Stalin was a major ally. It is by no means certain that we would have prevailed in a one-front war against Germany. But it wasn’t his idea to become an ally; quite the contrary. That we owe to one of Hitler’s two major screw-ups (the other being honoring his treaty with Japan). If we’re going to honor that side, let it be a representation of the Unknown Soviet Soldier.

    I’m with John: melt it into bullets, reserved for every Commie in the current regime.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/07  at  07:51 AM

  19. I hope you meant every commie in the current US regime.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/07  at  08:35 AM

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