Opinion: Foundations Contributed to the End of Communism in Europe

Writing for CNN.com, George Soros, philanthropist and financier, traces the roots of his nonprofit Open Society efforts in Central and Eastern Europe and their impact on the collapse of communism there.

Mr. Soros writes that he set up his first foundation in his native Hungary, supporting private cultural efforts to show that state dogma “was false, and by providing an alternative we could expose its falsehood.” Its success led to similar efforts in Poland, China, and the former Soviet Union.

He also expresses disappointment that Western governments did not take a greater role in those countries’ transition from closed to open societies, leaving a “bitter legacy” of anti-Western feeling in parts of the former communist bloc.