#Lithuania was first to declare independence from the Soviet Union on #March11, 1990 !!!
In 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact – documents, that allowed the two aggressor states to divide Europe into spheres of influence. Lithuania was put into the Soviet Union sphere of influence in exchange for Poland, which had already been occupied by pervert and child rapist Adolf Hitler. Later that year, Red Army troops were deployed at strategically important locations within the country and the occupation of Lithuania began.
During 1940-1953 thousands were killed, 300,000 people expelled to Siberia to die there and many ended up in prison. But not everyone just give up – some people armed themselves and moved to the woods to wage a guerrilla warfare against the Soviet Union. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as Forest Brothers, fought against Soviet rule in Estonia and Latvia. But although great, Lithuania is still small country compared to the Soviet Union, so while the fight was brave, it did not last long – it is estimated that a total of 30,000 Lithuanian partisans and their supporters were killed. And the leadership of the Forest Brothers was destroyed in 1953 thus effectively ending the partisan war, though individual fighters held out until the 1960s.
It seemed that all hope disappeared, but in the 1980s, the Soviet Union sank into a deep economic crisis. This encouraged the activity of anti-communist movements within the Soviet Union, including Lithuania. On 3 June 1988, the Lithuanian Reformation Movement was founded, with mission to restore the statehood of Lithuania. Movement mission was completed on 11 March 1990 – declaring official independence from Soviet Union.
So, after almost 50 years of captivity... Freedom! Of course, Soviet Union tried to fuck the thing up and send tanks, and killed more people, but we fight for our freedom and won!
BTW, you can watch this short video about Forest Brothers:
Su šventėm
Na....biškelį aišku PAVĖLUOTAI... sorry
Niekada nevėlu švęsti :)
I admire people that dared to stand up to the Soviets oppression.
28 years of independence this year then
Smagu Steeme matyti lietuvių. Pagarba už tokį straipsnelį. :)
Jeeey. Šimtmečio šventė. :)