lithuania awakening

In 1987 small protests occurred in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. The government did not approve of these, so the organizers of the activities had to get in touch with a contact in Brooklyn, New York. Then a radio station in New York would put the news on the radio. Many people thought that the demonstrations were set up by the Russian Security to filter out the opposition to law and communism; therefore, many people refrained from attending. In accordance with the demonstrators, artists and writers were allowed to express feelings more openly. Lithuanian’s wanted a history and called for a study of Lithuanian heroes, but soviets wanted communist heroes. There were four main historical establishments in Lithuania: Vilnius Pedagogical Institute, Vilnius University, Institute of Party History, and Institute of Party History of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. These historic

In January 1990, Lithuanian Communist Party declared independence from Moscow. Also, Lithuanian voters elected new republican legislature in February. The Legislature elected Vytautas Landsberg, chairman of Sajudis. This position could be considered to be the President of the Republic Lithuania. Gorbachev said that Lithuania’s act of declaring independence was illegal, and he encouraged Russians in the republic to rebel. Soviet troops took over buildings of the Lithuanian Communist Party and expelled leaders, replacing them with new Moscow supporters. Many Lithuania’s lost hope, and thought the Russians would never leave, but as Vytautas Bogusis said early in the struggle, “Freedom is never granted as a gift by one nation to another. Freedom is always won at the price of great sacrifices.” Now Lithuanians would have to fight even harder.

On October 7, 10,000 joyful people had poured into Gediminas Square by 9:00 a.m. Shortly after the band and the pom-pom girls marched through the square, the Mayor Vileikis led the crowd in rising the tricolor flag and the singing of the national hymn. The festivities ended at 10:50 with everyone happy because the government had to take action to make Lithuanian the official language and to legalize the symbols of the republic. After disputes with the authorities, the leader of the Lithuanian Communist Party resigned, and new leaders, who were willing to work with Sajudis, took hold of the party. On October 22 a church that the communists had turned into the Museum for the History of Atheism was changed back to a church. At this point anything seemed possible.

In the 1940's there existed secret protocols by which the Soviet Union and Germany split up the Baltics between themselves. The government denied any knowledge of the protocols, and justified this by saying that no records of the protocols existed in the Russian Archives. There was a radio broadcast about the protocols, but the Russians jammed the frequency, so the people did not hear it. The Initiative Group asked the Authorities if they could hold a rally on August 23 and if the party would publish the protocols. The Freedom League said that they would go wherever Sajudis was going on the 23rd because their goals were the same-an independent Lithuania. On August 20, Vytautas Landsbergis appeared on TV to advertise for the demonstration at Vignis Park. On the 23rd, the official soviet news agency published the protocols as done during the Nuremberg trials. 150,000 to 200,000 people arrived at Vignis Park to hear many leaders speak of the reform occurring and the needs still not met for Lithuania. This demonstration appealed more to intellectuals than to average citizens. The next night the TV aired parts of the demonstration, but left out key points and speeches which severely criticized the government. Sajudis complained about this, and the whole tape was played on late night TV in mid October. By September, there were Sajudis support groups in 34 of the 44 rayons, or districts, of Lithuania. Observing the power

Some topics in this essay:
Vignis Park, Soviets League, Gediminas Square, Freedom League, Sports Palace, Soviets Lithuanians, Independence Day, LFL Sajudis, Sajudis Lithuanian, Vilnius August, communist party, lithuanian freedom, freedom league, gediminas square, lithuanian freedom league, institute party history, institute party, lithuanian flag, lithuanian communist, vignis park, party history, national hymn, lithuanian communist party, soviet socialist republic, met gediminas square,