[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 24]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 32641]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  FREEDOM CAPTIVATES THE HUMAN SPIRIT

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                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 16, 2009

  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, last week I spoke at a moving exhibit at the 
Heritage Foundation which featured a collection of 50 paintings by 
Ukrainian artist and gulag survivor Nikolai Getman.
  Mr. Getman spent eight years in a Siberian gulag. Following his 
harrowing experience he secretly undertook to chronicle his time in the 
Soviet forced labor system because he said he was ``convinced that it 
was my duty to leave behind a testimony to the fate of the millions of 
prisoners who died and who should not be forgotten.''
  These 50 paintings are the fruit of 40 years of work on the part of 
Nikolai. They are a powerful testimony of one's man's triumph over 
totalitarianism. They ought not be relegated to the annals of history. 
While the Soviet Union no longer exists, those who seek to suppress 
freedom, be they in North Korea, China or Egypt, are still with us.
  I submit my remarks from the Heritage Foundation event:
  ``Experience and the record had convinced me that communism is a form 
of totalitarianism, that its triumph means slavery to men wherever they 
fall under its sway, and spiritual night to the human mind and soul.''
  These words were spoken by famed Communist party member, Soviet spy 
and ultimate defector, Whitaker Chambers.
  In testimony before the House Unamerican Activities Committee, 
Chambers said that in spite of what he knew to be true of communism, he 
believed he was ``leaving the winning side for the losing side'' but 
that was ``better to die on the losing side than to live under 
communism.''
  Of course we know that Chambers' fear proved to be untrue. That 
communism, as Ronald Reagan predicted, was destined for the ``ash heap 
of history.'' That the gulags of that era, depicted before us tonight, 
were destined to be relics of the past.
  Ronald Reagan modeled how to confront repressive regimes like the 
Soviet Union. He spoke truth to power. He boldly pressed the Soviets to 
respect the fundamental human rights of their own people. He raised the 
cases of dissidents by name.
  He did this because of a fundamental belief that the US. constitution 
was a ``covenant we have made not only with ourselves, but with all of 
mankind''
  Reagan once said, ``Coersion, after all, merely captures man. Freedom 
captivates him.''
  Indeed freedom captivates the human spirit and ultimately triumphs 
over tyranny whatever form it takes.

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