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Anniversary of the Wujek mine pacification

Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska   The protest in the Wujek mine began 3 days after the introduction of martial law in Poland  and receiving information that the head of the company’s Solidarity Jan Ludwiczak was arrested. The Pacification of Wujek on December 16, 1981 intended to break the Solidarity union after the introduction of martial law in Poland in 1981.   Pro-Solidarity […]

The Iron Curtain, Churchill’s speech 75 years ago

    By Patrick van Schie   On March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill gave a speech  in Fulton, a city in Missouri, USA. The British war leader, Prime Minister until more than six months earlier, received an honorary doctorate from Westminster College in Fulton. He began his speech in a Churchillian way by saying that […]

Soviet invasion of Poland

By Beata Bruggean-Sekowska   On September 17 about 1 million troops of the Red Army crossed the eastern borders of Poland starting the red invasion of Poland. It was sixteen days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. The invasion ended on 6 October 1939 with the two-way division and annexation of the entire […]

Recent Posts

Witnessing communism in Grūtas park

Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska Grutas park in Lithuania is a unique place which cannot be missed if you are interested in history and especially in communism and communist propaganda. It is an impressive 2km long exposition park where about 90 monumental sculptures of communist leaders, dictators from the Soviet times are displayed. While walking you cannot miss the […]

Lenin as the founder of repressive and murderous communism

Patrick van Schie A century ago, on January 21, 1924, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, died. His embalmed body still lies in the mausoleum on Red Square in Moscow. Communists still revere him; and not just the elderly. The British Marxist Student Federation (MSF), for example, states on its site: “Lenin was without […]

Lithuanian hero crashed by a Soviet tank

By Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska   “Doctor, will I live?” These were the last words of Loreta Asanavičiūtė, a 23 year old Lithuanian freedom defender, who was run over by a Soviet tank on January 13 1991. On this day armoured Soviet forces drove through peaceful crowd which gathered to protect the symbol of Lithuania’s independence – […]

January 13: Commemoration of the victims of the Soviet military aggression in Lithuania

  By Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska On the 13th of January, Freedom Defenders’Day is celebrated in Lithuania to commemorate victims of the Soviet military aggression of 1991. The candle, as symbol of the memory, is lit on this day across Lithuania and by the Lithuanian communities abroad. On 13 January 1991 armored Soviet forces drove through peaceful […]

November 11, Polish Independence day in communist Poland

By Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska   On November 11, 1918, Józef Piłsudski (Poland’s Chief of State) took over the authority over the Polish army from the Regency Council (in Polish: Rada Regencyjna or Rada Regencyjna Królestwa Polskiego. It was a semi-independent and temporarily appointed highest authority, head of state, in partitioned Poland during World War I). He […]

Witold Pilecki and the first ever comprehensive report on Nazi Germany’s Auschwitz atrocities

By Beata Bruggeman-Sękowska On September 19, 1940 Witold Pilecki, a member of the Secret Polish Army, let himself get caught and arrested by German policemen in Warsaw in order to be sent to Auschwitz death camp. His intention was to infiltrate the camp, set up a resistance network there and gather information about the death […]

Soviet invasion of Poland

By Beata Bruggean-Sekowska   On September 17 about 1 million troops of the Red Army crossed the eastern borders of Poland starting the red invasion of Poland. It was sixteen days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. The invasion ended on 6 October 1939 with the two-way division and annexation of the entire […]

AMERIKATSI, Armenian submission for Oscars about Soviet harsh reality

By Beata Bruggeman-Sękowska   ”AMERIKATSI” (meaning “American” in Armenian) has been selected by Armenia as its submission for the Best International Feature Film category for the 2024 Academy Awards. The film tells a story of Charlie who escapes the Armenian genocide as a boy by fleeing to the United States. He returns in 1947 and […]

Ryszard Siwiec: first self-immolation against communist oppression

By Beata Bruggeman-Sękowska On September 8, 1968, Ryszard Siwiec committed suicide by public self-immolation in protest against the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. He set himself on fire during the nationwide harvest festival at the Stadion Dziesięciolecia (stadium) in Warsaw, Poland in the presence of the leaders of the Polish United Workers’ Party, diplomats and 100,000 spectators. […]

Elektrėnai Soviet purpose built town in Lithuania

By Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska     Born and spending my childhood and teenage years in occupied by totalitarian communist system Poland I have been researching the subject of communist oppression, communist rule and visiting many places related to it for my various publications both for the European Institute on Communist Oppression as well as for my Central and Eastern […]

June 17, 1953: workers against the so-called “workers’ state” GDR

The first major popular uprising against communist oppression in Central/Eastern Europe by Patrick van Schie Between 1954 and 1990, June 17 was the Tag der deutsche Einheit in West Germany, which is then celebrated on October 3 – the day of reunification. With this, the West Germans commemorated until 1990 that on June 17, 1953, […]

Launch of the 2nd part of ‘’Siberian Exiles’’

By Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska   On May 13th at the Nederlands Fotomuseum a launch of the ‘’Siberian Exiles’’ part 2 by a talented documentary photographer Claudia Heinermann took place, a very special project devoted to the oppression of communism, abuse of power and crimes against humanity. In part 2 of the trilogy Claudia Heinermann follows the […]