Estonian govt supports establishment of virtual museum of Communism

24.10.2007

TALLINN, Oct 24, BNS - The Estonian government is planning to allocate from its reserve 56,500 kroons (EUR 3,610) in support of the establishment of a world virtual museum of Communism.

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation this August handed over an appeal to the Estonian embassy in the United States to give financial support to the establishment of the world virtual museum of Communism, a spokesman for the government said.

The mission of the new museum would be to educate the present and future generations, providing information about the history and legacy of Communism, showing crimes of Communism and remembering its victims. The Estonian government has repeatedly condemned the crimes against humanity committed under Nazism and under Communism.

This summer Estonia also supported with 65,500 kroons the erection of a Victims of Communism Memorial on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The memorial was erected in the memory of more than a hundred thousand victims of Communism.

In a conversation between US President George W. Bush during Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves's working visit to the United States in June the idea of the establishment of a museum of crimes of Communism was raised next to that of the Victims of Communism Memorial.

Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8862, sise@bns.ee