Remembering the Berlin Wall: Honoring the Victims of Communism

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - Nov 7, 2014) -  Rev. Dr. Michael Balcomb, president of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification USA issued the following statement today:

"On the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall this Sunday, let us honor the 50 million victims of communism -- and the millions of heroes, many unsung, who risked their fortunes and their lives for the sake of others.

One of them was the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Rev. Moon had a great vision of the end of the communist regime from the early 1980s. In 1985, the Professors World Peace Academy, founded by Rev. Moon, declared the imminent "Fall of the Soviet Empire" at a conference in Geneva. The Unification-student movement, led by Rev. Moon's eldest son, the late Hyo Jin Moon, held the first mass rally at the Berlin Wall under the theme "The Wall Must Go" (Die Mauer muss Weg) just two months after President Ronald Reagan gave his famous speech demanding the same thing. The Washington Times, founded by Rev. Moon, urged the Reagan Administration to remain resolute.

Yet, all this time, Rev. Moon was thinking a step ahead. It would be little use if the physical barriers came down but the social, emotional and spiritual barriers remained. So, he worked behind the scenes to open doorways into Russia and Eastern Europe, through exchanges of journalists, students and academics. He encouraged Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to stand strong in his campaign for glasnost and perestroika and told him that he would be remembered as the great patriot of Russian history. He put into practice Jesus' teaching of loving and forgiving one's enemies, so that by the time the Wall came down, 25 years ago Sunday, there were very few enemies left.

Rev. Moon's missionaries planted the seeds of peace in all the countries of the former Soviet Union from 1991. After 25 years there are many vibrant Unificationist congregations there. In the Republic of Ukraine, Rev. Moon's vision is bearing fruit. On Nov. 9, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. the end of the Wall in Germany and the advent of the Family Federation for World Peace in Ukraine, will be the explored by the leader of the Unificationist community in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. Pastor Mykhailo Ilin, 42, will tell his story at 11:00 a.m. to members of the New Hope Family Church (7009 Varnum St.) in Landover Hills, Maryland.