[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 156 (Monday, November 8, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H11683]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 MAY FREEDOM AND LIBERTY CONTINUE TO FLOURISH THROUGHOUT CENTRAL EUROPE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to commemorate the 10th 
anniversary this week of one of the most astounding events of the 20th 
century, the collapse of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, and the 
collapse of Communism throughout central Europe.
  What started as a ripple, solidarity's triumph in Poland in June of 
that summer, Hungary opening its border with Austria that summer, led 
to a deluge of East Germans streaming across the Berlin border and 
eventually tearing down the symbol of oppression in Europe, the Wall. A 
few short weeks later came the Velvet Revolution that changed 
Czechoslovakia.
  One of my most cherished possessions that I keep on my desk here in 
Washington is a chunk of that Berlin Wall with some of the graffiti 
paint still on it, coincidentally, shaped like Wisconsin. I was able to 
knock out this piece with a sledgehammer while I was in Berlin on 
October 3, 1990, celebrating the reunification of both Germanys.
  Today, the political map of Europe looks completely different. As 
this map depicts, Mr. Speaker, democracy has been flourishing and 
sweeping across Europe. The countries shaded in blue are those 
democratic nations that existed before 1989. The purple-shaded area are 
those countries that have evolved into democratic nations since the 
revolutions of 1989. Obviously, we still have some work to do in 
Belarus and down in the Balkans and Serbia, as represented by the red 
countries shown on the map.
  Now, 10 years later, the events seem preordained. But at the time, no 
one could predict these events or know how to respond to them. Today, 
many want to claim credit. But the most important wall that fell was 
not even visible. It was the wall of fear inside people. It is 
difficult to describe the role that fear plays to maintain a 
totalitarian state.
  Mikhail Gorbachev, however, changed the dynamics by sending out 
messages that his rule would not be sanctioned only by guns and tanks. 
His policies of Glasnost and Perestroika showed that not only would he 
not oppose reforms, but actually encourage them.
  As a third-year law student, I watched with rapt attention, as the 
rest of the world did, to the unfolding of these events during 1989. It 
came at a critical point in my life. I was feeling a little 
disillusioned, a little bit cynical about our own democratic process in 
this Nation. So I went to central Europe a few months after the 
resolutions, lived out of a backpack, and traveled throughout the 
capitals of central Europe to see these changes first hand.
  While traveling there, I met the real heroes of the revolution. 
People who restored my hope for the institutions of democracy. They 
were students about my age who were on the front lines of the 
demonstrations, literally staring down the barrel of guns and Soviet-
made tanks, not knowing if they were going to succeed or suffer another 
Prague Spring like in 1968 or Budapest in 1956.
  History later showed that in the case of the Velvet Revolution in 
Czechoslovakia, velvet to symbolize the smooth and peaceful transition 
of power that took place, the Communist Politburo voted just five to 
four against ordering a massacre.
  When I spoke to those students, they remembered two distinct things 
about the demonstrations: how cold they were during the candle light 
vigils that took place all night, and how scared they were knowing the 
history of previous reform attempts in their own country.
  They did not have weapons to fight back with, only their courage. 
They knew they were risking it all, but they chose to do so for the 
sake of their own future. And they prevailed.
  It is a magnificent irony of history today that one of the most 
oppressive Communist regimes throughout central Europe, Czechoslovakia, 
would later be led by former poets and playwrights in the country, one 
of whom was Vaclav Havel. He was one of the key leaders of the Velvet 
Revolution. He was the first democratically elected leader of 
Czechoslovakia since Mazaryek and Eduard Benes before the Second World 
War. He was also one of the founders of Charter 77, the moral blueprint 
for change in Czechoslovakia. He helped form the Civic Forum, the 
political alternative to the Communist regime, but not before he was in 
prison four times as a political dissident.
  In fact, during one of his stays in prison, he became deathly ill. 
The Communist authorities, afraid they were going to have a martyr on 
their hands, went to him and told him that the people in New York who 
give out the Obey awards were willing to host him so he could direct 
his own play on Broadway as well as receive proper medical attention 
and care.
  He asked them one question, if he went, would he be allowed to return 
to Czechoslovakia. They could not give that assurance. So he said I 
will stay instead. The rest, as we now know it, is history.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I want to pay a special tribute and wish a special 
anniversary to a few students who inspired me. To Andreas of Dresden, 
Peter of Krakow, Jitka, Ladka, Ivana, and Paulina of Prague, happy 
anniversary and thank you for showing with your courage that there are 
some causes and ideals greater than oneself worth risking everything 
for. May freedom and liberty continue to flourish throughout central 
Europe.

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