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ACAT SPEAKERS BUREAU
Request a speaker - see form below “You and your team are one of my favorite guests. We learn so much.” - radio talk show host "The presentation was incredible and really hit home the dangers of communism. I look forward to working with you in the future." - Leadership Institute |
Recent Engagements
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ACAT makes survivors of communism available to the public free of charge:
See our roster of speakers below.
If we can be of assistance, do not hesitate to contact us. Be sure to tell us if you have any particular topics in mind.
- By phone for student papers (middle school on up)
- By conference call or Web meeting for interested groups, and
- In person in the Washington, D.C. area for school classes and assemblies, as well as for other interested groups
See our roster of speakers below.
If we can be of assistance, do not hesitate to contact us. Be sure to tell us if you have any particular topics in mind.
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- China
Sichuan province was the birthplace of our speaker, in 1966. She was arrested four times and held as a prisoner of conscience in a labor camp for one year. In the camp, she was physically and mentally abused, and subjected to attempted brainwashing and electroshock treatment. She fled China in 2001 for Australia, wrote a book about her experiences, and eventually settled in the United States. In addition to her harrowing personal story, she can speak to:
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- Vietnam
“I vow to expose the atrocities and barbaric acts the communist rulers of Vietnam committed against its people - burying them alive and running over their exposed heads with bulldozers; murdering small farmers and stealing their land; killing small children in the most evil way. The manner in which the communists killed innocent people then is similar to the way ISIS kills people today. That is an accurate comparison.” Our speaker was born in Saigon in 1947. Her father was a Colonel in the South Vietnamese Army. After the war, he was sent to a reeducation camp not unlike the concentration camps of Nazi Germany or the Soviet gulags in Siberia. Many hundreds of thousands of people were sent to these camps - teachers, lawyers, engineers, military officers, government officials, and other educated people whom the North feared were a threat to its rule. More than 183,000 people died in the camps from starvation, beating, torture, and hard labor. “I want to give those victims a chance to tell the horrific Truth they experienced under communist rule,” our speaker says. “By the Grace of God, my dad was released after eight years and we brought him to the U.S. to be reunited with my mom,” our speaker says. Her father’s younger brother was not so lucky – he was killed by the communists, his body thrown into the Saigon River. Our speaker was brought to the United States in 1967 by two Christian families to attend Indiana University at Bloomington where she earned a B.S. degree in Business Administration. Her late husband, an American, fought the advancement of communism in Southeast Asia while in the U.S. Army. Beyond her family’s story and the reeducation camps, our speaker can elaborate on:
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- Czechoslovakia
Born in 1935 in Czechoslovakia, our speaker studied ceramic sculpture at the School of Art & Design and earned her degree in Art History at Comenius University. She worked as a sculptor-restorer of baroque castles, then later as an editor and broadcaster at Slovak Radio for the communist government. While there, she developed youth programming and live broadcasts on dramatic and literary themes. Her time there ended when the Soviets occupied the country and took over the station. Realizing the hopelessness of the situation, the family left for Austria and from there to Paris where they waited for their visa to the USA. In March of 1969, they landed in New York City. In the short video below, our speaker discusses the perils of broadcasting under communist rule, where even a simple children’s fairy tale can get you in trouble Beyond her personal experiences, she can speak on:
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- Belarus / Lithuania
Our speaker was born in Belarus and grew up in Lithuania. She emigrated to the United States in 1989 with her family, just as the Soviet Union was collapsing and the republics were gaining independence. She is a government procurement law and policy analyst, and President of Tactical Insight, LLC. She has a BA in Political Science and Rhetoric/Communications from Hofstra University. She holds a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, and has performed post-graduate work in Government Contracts Law and Intellectual Property Law at George Washington University Law School. She lives in Alexandria, VA with her husband and daughters, and spends her free time in local politics and animal rescue. In addition to her family’s story, she can speak to:
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- Ukraine
Our speaker was born in Ukraine. He had relatives who were imprisoned in Soviet gulags. His family fled communism at the end of World War II and he eventually ended up in Chicago. In a mid-life career switch in 1985, he joined the SAAOR (Soviet Area Audience and Opinion Research), Radio Liberty’s research unit in Paris, where he coordinated interviewing work with Soviet citizens and emigrants in Western Europe. The work provided unique information and insights into Soviet citizens’ attitudes on crucial issues and developments in the USSR. Our speaker can discuss the following topics, in addition to his family story:
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- Cuba
Born in Cuba, our speaker arrived in the U.S. in 1967 after first living in Canada and Europe. His experiences in America include acting, narration and, since 1994, documentary film-making. He has written over 300 articles which have appeared in, among other places, the Washington Post, Washington Times, Washington Enquirer, Houston Chronicle, Accuracy in Media, Newsmax, and FrontPage Magazine. His stories about the early days of the Cuban revolution and the suffering of ordinary Cubans thereafter are riveting. He returns often to some favorite themes:
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Soviet stamp commemorating the Bulgarian Revolution
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- Bulgaria
Born in the oldest town in Europe, our speaker has a good memory of the communist regime in Bulgaria. Unable to jump over the Iron Curtain, he kept educating himself about freedom by reading forbidden literature such as "The Gold of the Party", "Gulag", and "Animal Farm" and analyzing the situation in communist Bulgaria. He attempted to exercise his entrepreneurial skills by creating and running a company during the post-1989 period, but realized that the Bulgarian communists had effectively remained in power and would not allow anyone outside of the "Party" to succeed in any business. He migrated initially to Malta and later to the U.S. to follow his dream of living in a free country. He continues to educate people in the West about the real face of communism. In his presentations, our speaker returns often to these themes:
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Soviet stamp commemorating the Bulgarian Revolution
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- Bulgaria
Our speaker emigrated from her native country at the height of the Cold War (1986), posing as a member of the military in making her nerve-wracking escape. She was accompanied by her soon-to-be husband, a former member of the communist party who had become disillusioned with communist rule and defected. Our speaker has been very active in theater ever since as an award-winning actress, director, choreographer, puppeteer, producer and published and produced playwright. From her life’s experience, she speaks authoritatively on:
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