Dangerous precedent: Lenin's statue to be erected in the German city of Gelsenkirchen

The Platform of European Memory and Conscience  expressed its concern regarding the announced erection of a statue of Vladimir Lenin in the German city of Gelsenkirchen. Many members of the German public heavily criticised initiative by the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD), which stands for the erection of the statue.

Original text of the statement by the Platform:

Lenin created the Soviet totalitarian state, killing millions during his reign. His successors and followers, believers in Marxism-Leninism, are responsible for many times more deaths. Even today people are killed in the name of this ideology. Commemorating Lenin in a public space is offensive to the memory of all victims of Communism and painful for their relatives. 

The Platform commends the efforts of the local authorities of Gelsenkirchen to prevent the erection of the statue and calls on the German government to undertake the necessary steps to avoid further commemoration of mass murderers. We also appeal to the European community to adopt appropriate measures to stop the promotion of totalitarian ideologies.

DW reports that a member of Germany's national parliament, Marco Buschmann (Free Democrats - FDP), a Gelsenkirchen local, was highly critical of the plan.  "A Lenin statue would be a disgrace for Gelsenkirchen," Buschmann wrote. Gelsenkirchen's administrative court lifted city orders to halt construction in March. The MLPD in a press release said then: "A few weeks before his 150th birthday, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin has once again won a great victory."

Just two years ago a statue of the founding father of the communist ideology Karl Marx was erected in the German city of Trier to mark 200 years since Karl Marx was born there. Statue was donated by China. Historian Toomas Hiio had wrote an article "Grim spectre of Karl Marx’s teaching" for our portal about this sad case.