Someone responded to the Fox column today with this link, an interesting web compendium of the known remaining statutes of Lenin in the world, which once adorned nearly every hamlet, village, town and city in the Soviet Block. Among the more interesting finds:

1) There’s a park in Grutas, Lithuania that is home to nothing but Lenin statues and communist paraphernalia. After the fall of the Soviet empire, many of the towns in Lithuania brought the statues of Lenin that were thrust upon them to this park, where they’re now permanently on display.

2) This one, which adorns the entrance to a bar in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

3) A rare “fat” sculpture of Vlad.

4) Dallas, Texas. Placed strategically in front of a billboard and burger stand. The inscripton on the plaque reads: “America Won.”

5) Vilnius, Latvia. Two statues, both now headless.

6) Freedom Park, Arlington, Virginia. Headless. Imported from St. Petersburg.

7) Seattle, Washington. This one in Seattle’s Fremont Park apparently triggered some controversy. I’m not sure I agree with the statue’s detractors. If it is indeed the only authentic, Soviet-issued statue of him in the U.S., it certainly has some historical value. It’s interesting, if nothing else. And if put in the proper context, it needn’t be a tribute.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2003 at 12:59 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.