Free Republic

Ctirad Masin, who died on August 13 aged 81, was a leading member of a Czechoslovak group that took up arms against the communist state before fighting its way to freedom across the Iron Curtain, eluding the biggest manhunt in the history of the Soviet bloc. The ruthlessness and daring of the “Masin Gang”, as they were known, continues to divide opinion in the Czech Republic, with some regarding them as resistance heroes, and others (including around half the Czech population, according to a recent poll) regarding them as murderers. Ctirad Masin Masin, his brother Josef, and their friend Milan...

An Atheist Finds Christ I was orphaned from the first years of life. Being brought up in a family in which no religion was recognized, I received no religious education as a child. As the result of a bitter childhood, which included knowing poverty in the difficult years of World War I, at age fourteen I was as convinced an atheist as the Communists are today. I had read atheistic books, and it was not just that I did not believe in God or Christ—I hated these notions, considering them harm­ful for the human mind. So I grew up in...

A statue of US President Ronald Reagan will be unveiled in Budapest on June 29 in a ceremony to be addressed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and former US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice, the Hungarian government said on its portal. The ceremony will mark the 100th birth anniversary of the 40th President of the United States. The 2.2-metre bronze statute, to stand near the US Embassy in Szabadsag Square, is by Hungarian sculptor Istvan Mate and is being erected by Hungary’s Ronald Reagan Memorial Committee, which was set up in Hungary for the centenary. “During his presidency of the...

German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg on Wednesday called on Berlin to honour Ronald Reagan by naming a square or a street after the late US president. “I would welcome naming a street after this great honorary citizen and it would be evidence that the gratitude of (the city’s left-wing government) didn’t stop at (leftist student leader) Rudi Dutschke,” Guttenberg told daily Bild. Guttenberg and other conservative politicians are upset that the German capital has no plans to mark what would have been Reagan’s 100th birthday on February 6. The former US president, who died in 2004, famously demanded Soviet...

Most (good) history books correctly portray the collapse of communism as due to the efforts of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II. But there were other subversive elements at work, not the least of which was rock and roll, which bled through the Iron Curtain at an unstoppable level. In Seven Events that Made America America, I examined rock’s part in not only providing a source of hope and optimism for those youth locked under communism’s grip, but also how it became a subversive force within the East Bloc. Through interviews with American rock and rollers of...

Guitars, keyboards and drums did not topple the Berlin Wall. But for the young people who helped bring down Communist regimes across Eastern Europe in the fall of 1989, pop music was a profoundly subversive force, inspiration and vital tool of protest for challenging and undermining a totalitarian state stricter than any parent. Now middle aged, some of the musicians who played in ostracism during those last gray years of Communist rule gathered in New York over the weekend for the festival Rebel Waltz: Underground Music From Behind the Iron Curtain. Performing at Le Poisson Rouge in the West Village......

Cold War: The White House has announced our absence at ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Meanwhile, Russia has been practicing a nuclear invasion of an abandoned Poland. The Berlin Wall has been a famous backdrop for American presidents sounding the battle cry of liberty in the struggle against tyranny. It was there that John F. Kennedy expressed our solidarity with the encircled residents of that outpost of freedom with his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner." And it was there that Ronald Reagan, with a defiant "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," voiced our...

USSR, 1959: I am a "young pioneer" in school. History classes remind us that there is a higher authority than their parents and teachers: the leaders of the Communist Party. The story of young pioneer Pavlik Morozov is required reading. Pavlik reported his father to the secret police for disobeying government regulations. His life exemplified the duty of all good Soviet citizens to serve their government. From the first year in school, all of us are made aware of our ethnicity (ethnic Russian, Jewish, Asian, etc.) and class (proletariat, intelligentsia), around which society is structured. This inherent divisiveness makes it...

Participants in a very eventful picnic gather for its 20th anniversary at the Austro-Hungarian border. Twenty years ago Wednesday, Hungarian Border Guard Arpad Bella was standing in front of that gate in his summer uniform, pistol at his side, awaiting the arrival of a special delegation of Austrian visitors. Bella’s men had been told to be on the lookout. Meanwhile, reformers within Hungary’s Communist Party had given local democracy activists permission to organize a symbolic event on the border — a “pan-European picnic” in which they would share food, wine and declarations of cooperation with their Austrian neighbors. With foreign...

Bishop Schneider of Kazakhstan standing in the sanctuary at Assumption Grotto, July 20th, 2008 following the 9:30am Mass. The bishop delivered the sermon at all Masses that weekend and went to Sts Cyril & Methodius to celebrate Mass the following Saturday. It was during his July visit that he went to EWTN where he appeared in a televised Mass, and recorded the program to be aired this Wednesday. Bishop Athanasius Schneider, ORC of Kazakhstan will be featured on EWTN Live with Fr. Mitch Pacwa this coming Wednesday night, December 17th. If you don't have cable, watch it online if...

Calling the post-Soviet world situation “an international disaster,” Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged that U.S. policy “be directed toward supporting Prime Minister Putin's dream of eventually restoring Russian hegemony over Eastern Europe.” “A strong Soviet Union provided a counterbalancing force to offset U.S. imperialism,” Schumer contended. “In its absence, President Bush has been free to bully the world.” The New York senator argued that the “mutually assured destruction of the Cold War era helped keep American aggression in check. Now, there’s no telling what new atrocities will be perpetrated by this country.” As a start, Schumer insisted that all U.S....

(On This Day In History) June 26, 1948 : Berlin Airlift Begins In response to the Soviet blockade of land routes into West Berlin, the United States begins a massive airlift of food, water, and medicine to the citizens of the besieged city. For nearly a year, supplies from American planes sustained the over 2 million people in West Berlin. On June 24, 1948, the Soviet Union blocked all road and rail travel to and from West Berlin, which was located within the Soviet zone of occupation in Germany. The Soviet action was in response to the refusal of American...

Russian news agencies quoted sources at the transport and communications ministries as saying air, rail, road and sea links to Georgia would be cut, as would postal services. A transport ministry spokeswoman refused to comment. Putin, speaking after a meeting of security officials, accused Georgia of committing "state terrorism with hostage-taking" by arresting the Russian officers and charging them with spying.

Polish admirers of Ronald Reagan say they will erect a statue of the late US president in Warsaw to thank him for helping to end communist rule. They say the 3.5-metre (10.5ft) stone and bronze statue will stand opposite the US embassy in the Polish capital. "The statue is a way for his legacy to live on," said Janusz Dorosiewicz, a businessman behind the private project. In 1989, Poland became the first nation in Eastern Europe to defeat communism. Reagan died in 2004 at the age of 93. "This is an entirely private initiative undertaken by Poles in Poland,...

A core component of the United States' foreign policy since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US has been educational reform in Muslim countries to check the influence of extremist ideologies and fundamentalism. International obligations under the United Nations Security Council's anti-extremism resolutions also require curricular reform. Pakistan, as the birthplace of the Taliban and home to many a militant Islamic movement, finds itself at the center of policy debates and projects on curbing extremism and promoting "moderate Islam" through education. A growing pile of policy proposals in the United States, including a recent report from the US Institute...

Reprinted from NewsMax.com In Lithuania With CheneyChristopher RuddySaturday, May 20, 2006 If the Russian press is to be believed, Dick Cheney's speech in Vilnius, Lithuania, on May 4 ushered in a new Cold War. As someone who loves history, it is nice to know that I was one of the handful of people who can say "I was there" for that momentous speech. But the moment was far from gratifying on a philosophical level. My visit to the conference of former Soviet republics and allies that met to hear Vice President Cheney – along with several European leaders – underscored...

National PR-ity // Moscow drafts a plan to influence the United States The Kremlin has taken up the promotion of Russian interests in the United States head-on. The key role will be given to the Russian-U.S. Council for Business Cooperation (RUCBC) whose supervisory board will include high-ranking officials from the Russian president’s administration, ministers and prominent public figures. The Russian government asked the Finance Ministry to find sources to finance the NGO. However, it has already been suggested that big business contribute for the council’s activities. The first donation is expected to amount to $50 million. Work has in progress...

Churchill's speech defined the world order for the next 40 years In his "Iron Curtain" speech, delivered exactly 60 years ago, Winston Churchill brilliantly defined an era. The speech may also have lessons for the present. It was a heroic but troubled time. The world was in turmoil after the most terrible conflict in human history. On 5 March 1946 Churchill was no longer the UK's prime minister but he still enjoyed a giant reputation around the world. So US President Harry Truman himself travelled 1,000 miles to Fulton, Missouri, to hear Churchill give a speech after receiving an...

In one of the most famous orations of the Cold War period, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill condemns the Soviet Union's policies in Europe and declares, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent." Churchill's speech is considered one of the opening volleys announcing the beginning of the Cold War. Churchill, who had been defeated for re-election as prime minister in 1945, was invited to Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri where he gave this speech. President Harry S. Truman joined Churchill on the platform and listened intently to his...

Westminster College announced late on Monday that Chris Matthews, host of the MSNBC program “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” will be a keynote speaker during the 60th anniversary festivities of Sir Winston Churchill's “Iron Curtain” speech. “We are very pleased that Mr. Matthews has accepted our invitation to join us for this momentous occasion,” said Rob Havers, executive director of the Churchill Memorial and Library. “His extensive experience in world affairs and his personal interest in Churchill should combine to make a fascinating presentation for our Saturday evening event.” Matthews, also host of the NBC show, “The Chris Matthews Show,” will...