美国总统布什在华盛顿举行的共产主义受难者纪念碑落成仪式上的演讲 (中英全文)
谢谢你们大家来参加今天的共产主义受难者纪念碑落成仪式。请各位就座。
爱德华兹博士，谢谢你的溢美之辞。还有兰托斯议员，再也没有比你更伟大的自由之友了；罗赫拉巴切尔议员，你也一样。捷克和匈牙利议会的议员们，大使们，尊贵的来宾们，更重要的是共产党压迫的幸存者们，今天，在这个历史性的日子里，能与你们在一起，我感到万分荣幸。（掌声）
此时此地，在曾经抵抗邪恶和帮助推翻一个帝国的人们的陪同下，我代表美国人民自豪地接受为共产主义受难者纪念碑落成仪式揭幕。（掌声）
20 世纪将被作为人类历史上死亡最惨重的世纪载入史册。这一残暴时代的记录被铭刻在了这座城市的纪念碑上。然而，直到现在，我们国家的首都却没有一座纪念极权共产主义 --- 这一意识形态夺走了估计高达1亿无辜的男人、女人和孩子的生命——受难者的纪念碑。因此，我们在此集会，纪念那些消逝在共产主义的手里的生命，并为这座将他们的苦难和牺牲铭记在全世界的良心里的纪念碑举行落成仪式，
建造这座纪念碑花了十多年的时间，其在我们首都的落成是两个杰出的美国人热情和决心的确切证明。列夫· 杜布里亚斯基，他的女儿葆拉在这儿（掌声），请向你的父亲转达我们最良好的祝愿，还有李· 爱德华兹博士。（掌声）他们在前进的道路上面临挫折和挑战，但他们从未放弃，因为在他们的心中，他们听见了那些受难者的呐喊声：“请记住我们”。
这些声音对所有人呼喊，它们不计其数。那些死于共产主义名义下的冤魂的绝对数目骇人听闻，因此在很大程度上要确切的计算死亡人数几乎是不可能的。根据学者的研究估计，共产主义在中国和苏联夺走数千万人生命，在北朝鲜、柬埔寨、非洲、阿富汗、越南、东欧和世界其他地方，也有数百万人受难。
在这些数目字背后，隐藏着一个个家破人亡、梦想破碎的人性故事，他们的生命被那些追求极权主义权力的家伙无情地消灭。其中一些共产主义的受难者是世人皆知的，他们当中有一个名叫劳尔· 瓦伦贝格的瑞典外交官，他从纳粹分子的手里解救出了10万名犹太人，却被斯大林密令逮捕，投入莫斯科卢比扬卡监狱，在那儿他人间蒸发。他们当中有一个名叫波佩卢兹科的波兰神父，他让华沙的教堂变成团结工会地下活动分子的避难所，但最终他惨遭秘密警察的绑架、殴打并被淹死在维苏拉。
这些牺牲者的幽灵常徘徊在历史当中 --- 在他们背后，还有数百万或更多的籍籍无名的人死于共产主义的毒手。他们有在斯大林的大饥荒中活活饿死的无辜的乌克兰人，有死于斯大林清洗的俄国人，有将全部家当装上牛车背井离乡被流放到北极这一苏联共产主义死亡集中营的立陶宛人、拉托维亚人和爱沙尼亚人。他们有在大跃进和文化大革命中死于非命的中国人，有在波尔布特的杀戮战场中被屠杀的柬埔寨人，有为了投奔自由试图挖掘柏林墙而被射杀的东德人，有在卡廷森林被屠杀的波兰人，有在“红色恐怖”中被屠杀的埃塞俄比亚人，有在尼加拉瓜桑地诺独裁政权中被谋杀的摩斯基多印地安人，有为逃离暴政而溺死在海上的古巴人。我们从来都不知道那些死难者的人的名字，但在这个神圣的地方，无名的共产主义受难者的名字将被祭献于历史，永远被铭记。
我们为这座纪念碑举行落成典礼，因为我们对那些死难者负有义务，去铭刻他们的生命，尊崇他们的记忆。捷克作家米兰· 昆德拉曾经将反抗共产主义的斗争形容为“记忆对抗遗忘的斗争”。共产党政权不仅夺走了受难者的生命，他们还企图盗窃他们的人性，抹杀他们的记忆。随着这个纪念碑的落成，我们要恢复受害者的人性，恢复对他们的记忆。随着这个纪念碑的落成，我们记述了共产主义无辜的无名受难者，他们活在我们的心中，他们再也不会被遗忘！（掌声）
我们为这座纪念碑举行落成典礼，因为我们有义务让未来子孙记录下20世纪的罪行，并保证未来不再重蹈覆辙。在这个神圣的地方，我们回顾冷战的重大教训，那就是：自由是宝贵的，不可随意被剥夺；邪恶是真实的，必须被反抗；如果再有机会，那些在冷酷和憎恨驱使下的家伙还会犯下磬竹难书的罪行，夺走成千上万人的生命。
我们回顾这些历史教训极其重要，因为给20世纪带来生灵涂炭的邪恶和憎恨今天依然存在于这个世界上。我们在2001年911事件中看到了这张面孔。同共产党一样，那些袭击我们国家的恐怖分子和激进分子都是冷血的意识形态的追随者，他们鄙视自由，压制异己，野心勃勃，谋求建立极权统治。同共产党一样，我们新的敌人相信，可以通过滥杀无辜来实现他们激进的目标。同共产党一样，我们新的敌人对自由人民不屑一顾，声称我们这些享有自由的人是懦弱的，声称我们缺乏捍卫自由生活方式的决心。同共产党一样，那些暴力的伊斯兰激进主义的追随者注定要灭亡！（掌声）
我们将坚定不移地推进自由的事业，我们将确保，未来的美国总统再也不会站立在今天这个地方，为21世纪被激进分子和极端分子谋杀的上百万人举行纪念碑落成典礼。
我们相信自由的力量，因为我们已经看见自由战胜了历史上的专制、暴政和恐惧。爱德华兹博士说里根总统去过柏林。他清楚记得里根总统的演讲。他说：“推倒这堵墙吧”，两年后，柏林墙倒了。中东欧的人民终于从令人窒息的压迫中解放出来。恰逢里根总统演讲20周年纪念之际，我们为纪念碑举行落成仪式，这座纪念碑反映了我们对自由力量的信心。
设计这个纪念碑塑像的人们完全可以为这个场地选择一个描述镇压的形象，比如曾隔离东西柏林的柏林墙复制品，或者冷冰冰的前苏联古拉格集中营，或者白骨堆砌的红色高棉杀人场。然而，设计者选择了一个希望的形象 --- 一位女神手持自由的火炬。她让我们想起了共产主义的受难者，也让我们想起了战胜共产主义的力量。
正如同我们的自由女神像一样，她提醒我们，自由之火在每个人的心中燃烧，她是一盏再也不能被暴虐的恐怖主义分子或专制暴君扑灭的明灯。她提醒我们，只要屠杀上千万人的意识形态仍然存在，只要其仍在苟延残喘，那么与这股比死亡强大的力量作斗争将继续进行。（掌声）
她提醒我们，自由是我们创世主的礼物，自由是所有人类天赋的权利，自由将最终取得最后的胜利！（掌声）
我感谢你们每一个人为这座纪念碑，为自由事业作出的贡献；我感谢你们为保存死于共产主义恐怖统治的受难者的记忆作出的贡献。愿共产主义受难者的灵魂安息吧，愿那些继续遭受共产主义苦难的人们寻找到他们的自由，愿给予我们自由的上帝保佑这座伟大的纪念碑吧，保佑来参观她的所有人。
上帝保佑大家。（掌声）
President Bush Attends Dedication of Victims of Communism Memorial
Washington, D.C.
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10:35 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. Please be seated. Dr. Edwards, thanks for your kind words. Congressman Lantos -- no better friend to freedom, by the way; Congressman Rohrabacher, the same. Members of the Czech and Hungarian parliaments; ambassadors; distinguished guests; and more importantly, the survivors of Communist oppression, I'm honored to join you on this historic day. (Applause.)
President George W. Bush addresses his remarks Tuesday, June 12, 2007, at the dedication ceremony for the Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington, D.C. President Bush, in recalling the lessons of the Cold War said, “ that freedom is precious and cannot be taken for granted; that evil is real and must be confronted.” White House photo by Joyce Boghosian And here in the company of men and women who resisted evil and helped bring down an empire, I proudly accept the Victims of Communism Memorial on behalf of the American people. (Applause.)
The 20th century will be remembered as the deadliest century in human history. And the record of this brutal era is commemorated in memorials across this city. Yet, until now, our Nation's Capital had no monument to the victims of imperial Communism, an ideology that took the lives of an estimated 100 million innocent men, women and children. So it's fitting that we gather to remember those who perished at Communism's hands, and dedicate this memorial that will enshrine their suffering and sacrifice in the conscience of the world.
Building this memorial took more than a decade of effort, and its presence in our capital is a testament to the passion and determination of two distinguished Americans: Lev Dobriansky, whose daughter Paula is here -- (applause) -- give your dad our best. And Dr. Lee Edwards. (Applause.) They faced setbacks and challenges along the way, yet they never gave up, because in their hearts, they heard the voices of the fallen crying out: "Remember us."
These voices cry out to all, and they're legion. The sheer numbers of those killed in Communism's name are staggering, so large that a precise count is impossible. According to the best scholarly estimate, Communism took the lives of tens of millions of people in China and the Soviet Union, and millions more in North Korea, Cambodia, Africa, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Eastern Europe, and other parts of the globe.
Behind these numbers are human stories of individuals with families and dreams whose lives were cut short by men in pursuit of totalitarian power. Some of Communism's victims are well-known. They include a Swedish diplomat named Raoul Wallenberg, who saved 100,000 Jews from the Nazis, only to be arrested on Stalin's orders and sent to Moscow's Lubyanka Prison, where he disappeared without a trace. They include a Polish priest named Father Popieluszko, who made his Warsaw church a sanctuary for the Solidarity underground, and was kidnaped, and beaten, and drowned in the Vitsula by the secret police.
The sacrifices of these individuals haunt history -- and behind them are millions more who were killed in anonymity by Communism's brutal hand. They include innocent Ukrainians starved to death in Stalin's Great Famine; or Russians killed in Stalin's purges; Lithuanians and Latvians and Estonians loaded onto cattle cars and deported to Arctic death camps of Soviet Communism. They include Chinese killed in the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution; Cambodians slain in Pol Pot's Killing Fields; East Germans shot attempting to scale the Berlin Wall in order to make it to freedom; Poles massacred in the Katyn Forest; and Ethiopians slaughtered in the "Red Terror"; Miskito Indians murdered by Nicaragua's Sandinista dictatorship; and Cuban balseros who drowned escaping tyranny. We'll never know the names of all who perished, but at this sacred place, Communism's unknown victims will be consecrated to history and remembered forever.
President George W. Bush addresses his remarks Tuesday, June 12, 2007, at the dedication ceremony for the Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington, D.C. President Bush, speaking on the anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s Berlin Wall speech, said “ It’s appropriate that on the anniversary of that speech, that we dedicate a monument that reflects our confidence in freedom’s power.” White House photo by Joyce Boghosian We dedicate this memorial because we have an obligation to those who died, to acknowledge their lives and honor their memory. The Czech writer Milan Kundera once described the struggle against Communism as "the struggle of memory against forgetting." Communist regimes did more than take their victims' lives; they sought to steal their humanity and erase their memory. With this memorial, we restore their humanity and we reclaim their memory. With this memorial, we say of Communism's innocent and anonymous victims, these men and women lived and they shall not be forgotten. (Applause.)
We dedicate this memorial because we have an obligation to future generations to record the crimes of the 20th century and ensure they're never repeated. In this hallowed place we recall the great lessons of the Cold War: that freedom is precious and cannot be taken for granted; that evil is real and must be confronted; and that given the chance, men commanded by harsh and hateful ideologies will commit unspeakable crimes and take the lives of millions.
It's important that we recall these lessons because the evil and hatred that inspired the death of tens of millions of people in the 20th century is still at work in the world. We saw its face on September the 11th, 2001. Like the Communists, the terrorists and radicals who attacked our nation are followers of a murderous ideology that despises freedom, crushes all dissent, has expansionist ambitions and pursues totalitarian aims. Like the Communists, our new enemies believe the innocent can be murdered to serve a radical vision. Like the Communists, our new enemies are dismissive of free peoples, claiming that those of us who live in liberty are weak and lack the resolve to defend our free way of life. And like the Communists, the followers of violent Islamic radicalism are doomed to fail. (Applause.) By remaining steadfast in freedom's cause, we will ensure that a future American President does not have to stand in a place like this and dedicate a memorial to the millions killed by the radicals and extremists of the 21st century.
We can have confidence in the power of freedom because we've seen freedom overcome tyranny and terror before. Dr. Edwards said President Reagan went to Berlin. He was clear in his statement. He said, "tear down the wall," and two years later the wall fell. And millions across Central and Eastern Europe were liberated from unspeakable oppression. It's appropriate that on the anniversary of that speech, that we dedicate a monument that reflects our confidence in freedom's power.
The men and women who designed this memorial could have chosen an image of repression for this space, a replica of the wall that once divided Berlin, or the frozen barracks of the Gulag, or a killing field littered with skulls. Instead, they chose an image of hope -- a woman holding a lamp of liberty. She reminds us of the victims of Communism, and also of the power that overcame Communism.
Like our Statue of Liberty, she reminds us that the flame for freedom burns in every human heart, and that it is a light that cannot be extinguished by the brutality of terrorists or tyrants. And she reminds us that when an ideology kills tens of millions of people, and still ends up being vanquished, it is contending with a power greater than death. (Applause.) She reminds us that freedom is the gift of our Creator, freedom is the birthright of all humanity, and in the end, freedom will prevail. (Applause.)
I thank each of you who made this memorial possible for your service in freedom's cause. I thank you for your devotion to the memory of those who lost their lives to Communist terror. May the victims of Communism rest in peace. May those who continue to suffer under Communism find their freedom. And may the God who gave us liberty bless this great memorial and all who come to visit her.
God bless. (Applause.)
END 10:47 A.M. EDT
From: http://www.whitehouse.gov
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