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Happy Independence Day, Estonia!

Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska   Estonian people fought for their independence from the Russian Empire, from 1917 to 1920. The most significant day was February 24th, 1918, on which Estonia declared statehood, which is commemorated as a national holiday. Independence Day  is a national holiday in Estonia marking the anniversary of the Estonian Declaration of Independence in 1918. […]

An early sketch of the communist sanctuary

In 1891, Eugen Richter predicted what the GDR would look like more than half a century later   Patrick van Schie   Karl Marx and his followers dissected “capitalist” society (in their own way) and predicted the revolution, but Marx and his followers remained vague about what post-revolution “socialist” society would look like. One of […]

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 – […]

Recent Posts

Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska interviewed about EIOCO by Polish news

On March 18 Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska, president of EIOCO,  was interviewed by Polish news broadcasting internationally. She elaborated on the vision, purpose and the activities of our Institute. She explained that the knowledge about communism is often not correct in western Europe and that various stereotypes are perpetuated which shed the wrong light on this issue. […]

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 […]

Real life in the Soviet Union under Stalin

Disclosures by an Experience Expert in 1946-47: Victor Kravchenko’s I Chose Freedom   By Patrick van Schie   In April 1944, a senior official from the Soviet Union’s “trade delegation” defected to the United States. Victor Kravchenko, an engineer, was tasked with Lend Lease deliveries during World War II to the Soviet Union – that […]

100th anniversary of the Soviet Occupation of Georgia in 1921

Beata Bruggeman-Sękowska   100 years ago, on February 25th of 1921, the Soviet 11th Red Army entered Tbilisi, Georgia. February 25th, thus, went down in Georgia’s history as one of the most tragic dates – the Day when Georgia was ‘Sovietised’. Despite the heroic sacrifice of the Georgian people, in 1921 the First Democratic Republic […]

Kennan’s “Long Telegram” sent 75 years ago

By Patrick van Schie On February 22, 1946, a telegram arrived from Moscow at the US State Department. The author, the second man at the US embassy, apologized in advance for using the telegraphic channel. The telegram was indeed unusually long: 17 sheets of paper typed out. It would also become unusually influential. The “Long […]

Celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Day of the Defenders of Freedom in Lithuania under exceptional conditions

On Wednesday, 13 January, at 9.55 a.m., while commemorating the 30th anniversary of the defence of the restored independence of Lithuania, Lithuanian Seimas kindly invites you to watch a video recording of the celebration of the Day of the Defenders of Freedom and the Freedom Prize awarding ceremony.   During the broadcast from the Seimas […]

The 30th anniversary of the defence of the restored independence of Lithuania

Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska   On the 13th of January victims of the Soviet military aggression of 1991 are commemorated. The candle, as symbol of the memory, today is lit across Lithuania and by the Lithuanian communities abroad. On 13 January 1991 armoured Soviet forces drove through peaceful crowd which gathered to protect the symbol of Lithuania’s […]

Why do many Western intellectuals flirt with communism?

Review of: Raymond Aron, The Opium of the Intellectuals (1st publication in French, 1955) Patrick van Schie   Nowhere in Western Europe have intellectuals been so fascinated by communism and the Soviet Union as in France. It was therefore appropriate that 65 years ago – in 1955, in the midst of the Cold War – […]

Gift of the Soviet people to the Polish nation

By Agata Szostkowska The tallest building in Poland, the eighth tallest building in the European Union and in a Top-20 in Europe. There has been no more foreground building constructed in Poland after 1945 than the Palace of Culture and Science – or to give it its full title: “the Palace of Culture and Science […]

Patrick van Schie on Dutch radio about some political terms

On Monday, October 5, vice-chairman Patrick van Schie, in his position as director of the Telders Foundation, was a guest on the radio program “The Hague lobby“. The subject was the relations “on the right” in view of the approaching parliamentary elections. He also explained what classical liberalism is and that “neo-liberalism” does not exist, […]