ION  Bugan                                                                 The Cold War Veterans’Association

Exilat  Roman                                                                                           for

Fost Detinut Politic                                                    FREEDOM  AND  HUMAN  RIGHTS

1961-1988          Founder  and  President

                                                                                                 ION  Bugan

                                                                                             Michigan  U.S.A.

                                                                                   E;mail buganion@hotmail.com

                                                                                                  Phone (616) 361-9007

 

 

 

 

 

 

                         AMNESTY  INTERNATIONAL  MEETING .

 

                                                              

                                     The University   of  Michigan.

 

 

 

 

          Starting ; from  the fundamental  concept, that all people are born equal  in rights and dignity , forbidding  anyone to impose his or her points of view and ideas  through  force, oppression and dictatorship, it is not pleasant to remember the years of the cold war  which  suppressed  the lives of millions of people in prison  and forces  labor  camps.

 

          In our  world, appeared a social  malady ; Communism . It polluted people’s  minds with the dogmatic , Marxist-Leninist –Stalinist   demagogy , the  last disciple , Stalin , being one of the most odious criminals of  the   world…

 

          After the Second World War , the countries occupied by Russia suffered  very  much . The communist parties started  to establish  themselves.

 

          They planted  fear ,  horror and death. They demolished  churches , and nationalized  factories and the peasants’land. People who opposed the  communist parties were taken by the secret police during the night and disappeared without  a  trace .

 

          In 1961 ;   I protested against the communist dictatorship in my country  romania . I  was arrested, tortured   and condemned to prison. There I  met the most courageous people of my country ; generals , officers , pastors ortodox , catholic , romano-catholic , greco-catholic , partisans , doctors and engineers ,

Teachers , journalists, who fought  for human rights . The  majority  of   them  perished .

 

          I  survived  because I was  young ---26  years  old . Maybe God wanted  things to happen this way, so I can tell the whole world the  message of those who fought  against communism, who lost their lives and took their  stories with them to the pits were  buried  in .

 

          I bring you the  message of fighting  for social rights , equality, and  democracy, hoping that those “ mistakes” committed under communist  dictatorships  will never  happen again on our planet. I say “mistakes” from  modesty, for they are crimes against  humanity, examples that are useful  for  our children and future  generations.

 

          The fight against communism was an American-European and the actions  of the whole, but we ,the  political prisoners were  on the front line, in the middle hell.

          For my life , I would like to thank Amnesty International  and the American Government, and all the people who cared  for us and brought my  family and me here to America.

 

          I  speak to you today  as a  veteran  and a survivor of the cold war, having met the fright  and  horror of 27 years  of  dissidence  and 12 years  of  prison   executed  under the Romanian  communist  regime .

 

 

                              God  Bless  America  and  Romania !

 

Mentionez ;  totul  se  pastreaza  in  arhiva  Universitatii  Michigan, Oxford , si Lech  Walesa Institute  Poland , pentru studii si docomentari  istorice , departament East  Europe .

 

                                                            November  4  ,  2007