The Russian-born human rights activist became known across the globe after exposing Soviet-era practices. He went on to write a best-selling memoir entitled 'To Build a Castle' and make an unsuccessful bid for president.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/RIA Nowosti/A. Stenin
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Soviet-era dissident Vladimir Bukovsky has died following cardiac arrest at the age of 76.
He came to prominence as a critic of the Soviet regime and was declared mentally ill by the Kremlin, leading to lengthy spells in prison or psychiatric hospitals. He then went on to reveal the Soviet's widespread abuse of psychiatry and tendency to label dissidents as mentally ill, describing this as a "common tactic used in the USSR to discredit dissenters and confine them without appearing to be holding political prisoners."
Bukovsky first felt the wrath of the strict regime when, in 1961, he was expelled from Moscow State University for writing a thesis critical of the Komsomol, the Soviet Union's communist youth organization.
Just two years later he was detained as a result of possessing books prohibited in the USSR, declared mentally ill and sent to a psychiatric hospital where he stayed for nearly two years. He was arrested again and sent to prison in 1967 for being part of a street protest.
Smuggled documents to expose underhand tactics
In 1971, Bukovsky managed to extricate the psychiatric hospital records of six dissidents in order to illustrate the Soviet procedure of claiming dissidents were mentally so as to detain and discredit them.
Five years later Bukovsky eventually found permanent freedom thanks to a prisoner exchange involving the Chilean Communist Party leader Luis Corvalan.
Bukovsky ended up settling in Cambridge in the UK where he continued writing and campaigning against the Soviet government. He became an intense critic of current President Vladimir Putin and even had aspirations of usurping the Russian leader in 2008 but his presidential bid was rejected by election officials, citing his British residency.
World commemorates victims of communism
Until the fall of the Berlin Wall, around a third of the world’s population lived in communist countries. The collapse of the Eastern Bloc was followed by a worldwide rehabilitation, in which Germany had a special role.
Image: Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur
The Czech Republic: Memorial for the victims
Seven bronze sculptures stand on a white stairway at the foot of the Prague Petřin Hill. Inaugurated in 2002, the memorial was originated by sculptor and former political prisoner Olbram Zoulbek. In the inscription of the pedestal it is not only dedicated to those, "imprisoned or executed but also for all those whose life was ruined by totalitarian despotism."
Image: Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur
Germany: Hohenschönhausen Memorial
More than 11,000 people were imprisoned between 1951 and 1989 in the remand center of the GDR secret police (Stasi). Previously the grounds, in the Berlin neighborhood of Hohenschönhausen, were used by the Soviet occupying power as a special camp for alleged regime opponents. From there, the prisoners were transported to the Nazi-built concentration camp Sachsenhausen.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/P. Zinken
Romania: Remembrance of the resistance
Since 2016, this 20-meter-high memorial made up of three wings by the sculptor Mihai Buculei has stood on the pedestal of a torn-down Lenin statue in Bucharest. It is situated in front of one of the most important buildings from the Stalin era, at Free Press Square. The initiative was the idea of the Association of Former Political Prisoners.
Image: Florian Kindermann
Albania: "House of Leaves"
In Tirana, the first memorial after the overthrow of the Stalinist regimes was opened in 2017. During the Nazi era, the German occupiers had used the building as a prison. After the Communists came to power in 1945, people were tortured and killed here. Later the secret police used the "House of Leaves," which got its name because of the climbing plants on the exterior of the building.
Image: Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur
Georgia: Museum of Soviet Occupation
In Gori, the birthplace of Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator still enjoys hero status in the museum named after him – 65 years after his death and 27 years after Georgia regained its independence. Currently there are plans to overhaul the exhibition. The crimes committed under Stalin have only been a central issue at the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi since 2006.
Image: Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur
Kazakhstan: Victims of the famine
Around 1.5 million Kazakhs fell victim to the famine of 1932/33, caused by mismanagement and forced collectivism. The sculpture ensemble in Astana is dedicated to the dead. It was inaugurated on 31 May 2012, the national day of remembrance to the victims of political repression.
Image: Dr. Jens Schöne
Latvia: The Freedom Memorial
"Milda" is the nickname given to the 19-meter-high obelisk of a woman’s enthroned figure in Riga. It was erected in the 1930s, before the Soviet occupation in 1940. The statue is the central memorial for Latvians for their will to freedom and self-determination. In past decades it has repeatedly served as the starting point for protests and resistance.
Image: Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur
Mongolia: Victims of political repression
Located between Russia and China, Mongolia suffered under foreign occupation and exploitation for nearly all of the 20th century. For a long time, it was both politically and economically dependent on the Soviet Union. The museum to the memory of the victims of political repression was opened in 1996 in Ulan Bator; a year later, the memorial was added.
Image: Torsten Baar
Korea: "Bridge of Freedom"
The bridge over the Imjin River, erected at the beginning of the 20th century, is the only bridge connecting North and South Korea. It was of great military importance during the 1950-1953 Korean War. On the southern side via a wooden pier you can reach the border. Many visitors leave flags and personal messages at this place.
Image: Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur
Cambodia: Victims of the Khmer Rouge
An estimated 2.2 million Cambodians were killed during the terror regime of the Khmer Rouge. That was approximately half of the population. After the invasion, also by communist troops from Vietnam, human remains and skulls were publicly exhibited, in order to document the crimes. Even today, many mass graves have yet to be discovered.
Image: Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur
USA: Goddess of Democracy
This statue in Washington DC, inaugurated in 2007, is a replica of the "Goddess of Democracy" erected by Chinese students in 1989 during their fatal protests on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Local politicians worked alongside eastern European freedom fighters such as Vaclav Havel and Lech Wałesa to erect this memorial in the US capital.
Image: Prof. Dr. Hope Harrison
USA: The victims of Katyn
In 1940, Soviets murdered around 4,400 Polish prisoners of war – mainly officers – in a forest near the Russian village of Katyn. In Poland, the massacre is synonymous for a series of mass killings. The initiative for the memorial in New Jersey, which is dedicated to all the victims of Soviet communism, started with Polish migrants in the US.
