COUNTRY AND PEOPLE (back to top)

Lithuania is a picturesque country, situated on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea and bordering Latvia on the north, Belorus on the east, and Poland on the south. It is a country of gently rolling hills, many forests, rivers and streams, and deep clear lakes. Its principal natural resource is fertile agricultural land.

The capital of Lithuania is Vilnius, founded in the 13th century and widely known for its contrasting architectural monuments of Western and Eastern influence. Through the centuries Vilnius has remained the center of Lithuania's intellectual and political life.

The Lithuanians are a distinct group of the Indo-European family of nations, distinct from the Slavic and German branches, with their own ancient culture and language. They inhabited the Baltic shores long before the Christian era and at the dawn of European history had attained a level of civilization equal to that of many other European peoples of those days. The Lithuanian language is one of the oldest living Indo-European languages and is studied in numerous centers of learning throughout the world. Today 80% of the country's population is of Lithuanian nationality.

Contemporary Lithuanian culture represents a synthesis of ancient traditions, Christianity, and Western modernism. Christianity came to Lithuania only in the 14th century and never completely replaced the old pagan ways. Despite the changes, the old Lithuanian worldview has remained alive in contemporary cultural expression. The rich heritage of folk art and lore, of ancient Baltic mythology, of folk songs, dances, and customs remains a source of inspiration for modern creators. Colorful woven fabrics are still worn as national costumes, miniature crosses carved from wood are found in the homes, lively folk dances and songs are still performed by both young and old. The present is closely intermeshed with the past, maintaining the continuity and unique identity of the people.

ECONOMY (back to top)

Until recently, because of the country's resource base, Lithuanians have been a farming people. During the period of independence(1918-1940), the productivity of private agriculture at least doubled and Lithuania was in a position to begin an intense industrial development on the basis of internal economic resources. The occupation by the Soviet Union and World War II drastically slowed and altered the course of economic growth.

The Soviets sought to exploit the existing economic resources through forced collectivization of agriculture and industrialization. Lithuania is among the developed areas of the world, with 69% of the population living in the cities and 22% of the labor force employed in agriculture, while the rest earn their livelihood from industrial, scientific, and commercial activities. Nevertheless, Soviet policies of development, partly geared to the political and military purposes of the Soviet Union, denied the Lithuanian people a standard of living comparable to that of Western societies.

Today, Lithuania is in the process of dismantling a Soviet imposed command economy. An intensive program of privatization has turned over 90% of the housing stock and 80% of small, retail enterprises to private owners while state industrial enterprises are being sold off to private investors. An extensive program of one-time, state issued vouchers has given the population an opportunity to become owners of property and capital. The country has adopted laws favorable to foreign investors and once again has a convertible currency, the Litas. Although 64% of the labor force is still employed by the state sector, the number of new private companies continues to grow, expanding the free market sector. During this difficult period of transition, Lithuania has been able to maintain a positive trade balance by increasing its trade relations with Western nations. A network of private, commercial banks exists, able to engage in international operations. Major international donors and lenders are providing general support to Lithuania as it restructures its economy and many Western nations, including the United States are providing bi-lateral technical assistance to Lithuania.

HISTORY (back to top)

Because of its geographic location, Lithuania has suffered from many major Eurasian movements throughout history. Starting with the Tartar invasion from the East and the Teutonic onslaught from the west in the 13th and 14th centuries, and ending with the First and Second World Wars, Lithuania has been frequently cast into the midst of conflict. It had to withstand crushing forces from all sides, but never lost its determination for survival.

The year 1236 A.D. is generally designated as the beginning of the Lithuanian state. Separate principalities were united by Mindaugas, a powerful duke, who was converted to Christianity in 1251 and two years later became the nation's first king. During the next 200 years, the Lithuanian state extended its borders deep into Slavic territory, reaching the Black Sea on the south and the Baltic Sea on the west. Lithuania's political importance reached its zenith under Vytautas the Great, who is regarded as the most outstanding personality in Lithuanian history. He was a man of vision and wisdom, a promoter of commerce and industry, a builder of roads, and a champion of racial and religious tolerance. Vytautas the Great elevated the Lithuanian state to a rank equal to the greatest European powers of the period.

The growing power of Russia and the centuries-long struggle to protect themselves against foreign threats led Lithuanians to enter into a union with Poland. In 1569 the Lithuanian and Polish Commonwealth was formed, headed by a single king elected by the nobility of both nations. In most other respects the administrations of the two countries remained separate and distinct. The union, however, did not prevent the decline of the state, which continued for the following two centuries. The principal reason appears to have been a rise of the nobility to power without a strong, united central policy. Wars and internal strife weakened the Commonwealth to such a degree that at the end of the 18th century it was partitioned by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. With the last partition in 1795, most of Lithuania fell to Russia, an occupation which lasted until 1915. During the period of Russian rule, Lithuanians experienced many serious economic, cultural, and political hardships. A number of revolts against the Czarist occupation were staged by various segments of the Lithuanian population. In 1865, after the second major revolt, the printing of Lithuanian books using the Latin alphabet was outlawed by the Russian administration. This prohibition fueled a tremendous Lithuanian national revival before the ban on printing books was lifted in 1904.

Lithuania again became a victim of its powerful neighbors. The collusion of Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany in the infamous Nazi-Soviet pact of August 23, 1939, led to the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. On June 15,1940, in complete Violation of international law and mutual treaties of non-aggression, the Soviet Red Army invaded and occupied Lithuania. A puppet Soviet administration was quickly imposed and formalities of the forcible incorporation of Lithuania into the USSR were concluded on August 3,1940.

The democratic world denounced the illegal Soviet and Nazi acts in and against Lithuania. A number of Western democracies× the United States, Great Britain, France, Canada, Australia, the Vatican, and others-never recognized the incorporation of Lithuania into the USSR. According to international law, Lithuania's sovereignty was temporarily suspended but had not been abolished.

World War II (back to top)

On June 22, 1941, Hitler's Germany invaded its former partner, the Soviet Union. The Lithuanian people at that moment revolted against the Soviet occupant and, before the German armies occupied the country, declared the re-establishment of independent Lithuania. A Provisional Government was formed and began the task of reconstruction.

The aims of the Lithuanian nation, however, were contradictory to Nazi Germany's plans for Europe. On August 5, 1941, the Provisional Government was forced to cease functioning. In its place, a German occupational regime was established.

Lithuania was occupied once again, and the people experienced all the atrocities of Nazi rule. The Jewish population was ruthlessly exterminated. The Lithuanian people were to be relegated to a servant class and Germanized. Although the Nazis sought Lithuanian cooperation in the war, their ultimate aims were not accepted and the Lithuanian people rejected in principle the Nazi rule as inconsistent with the norms of civilization and national independence. A resistance movement against the German occupation emerged and stifled the German efforts to integrate Lithuania into the war effort. Thus the Lithuanians refused to form an SS legion to fight the on-coming Red Army, even though Soviet occupation was as undesirable as the Nazi one.

A youth challenges Soviet security forces on Sept. 28, 1988, with the then illegal tricolor of free Lithuania during a mass demonstration against the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939.

Lithuania During the Cold War (back to top)

In the summer of 1944, as the German armies retreated, the Soviet Red Army again began the occupation of Lithuania. The second Soviet regime sought to remold Lithuania into a subservient Soviet republic and this involved extensive use of terror to deal with national resistance.

From 1944 to 1952, well organized military units of the Lithuanian resistance movement waged a protracted guerilla war against the Soviet military occupants in which about 50,000 lives were lost on each side. A large Soviet military force and massive deportations of innocent civilians to Siberia (10% of the population) were used to contain the resistance movement.

The late 1950s and the 1960s were relatively quiescent years when Soviet-type institutions were established and collectivization of agriculture and industrialization were carried out. However, during the 1970s a national and religious dissent, unrivaled in intensity in all of the Soviet Union, emerged again and revealed deep seated opposition to the Soviet system.

The rise of Gorbachev to Soviet leadership and his ambitious plans to "restructure" society produced a dramatic loosening of political controls and the emergence of mass national and democratic movements throughout the Soviet Union. Enraged by more than four decades of violent suppression and denigration of their culture, the Lithuanian people rose up in peaceful protests to an extent unprecedented in postwar Soviet history. Condemnation of the Nazi-Soviet pact turned out to be the focal point of their struggle to regain independence. On August 23, 1988, more than 200,000 people gathered in Vilnius to mark the 49th anniversary of the pact. A year later the Lithuanians joined the Estonians and Latvians to form a human chain of protest that stretched from the Gulf of Finland to Vilnius. An official parliamentary commission of the Lithuanian legislature×´he Lithuanian Supreme/Council× declared that "the realization of the illegal German-Soviet agreements of 1939 -1941 constitutes an international crime" and that the subsequent Soviet annexation was " against the will of the citizens of Lithuania." (In December of 1988 the Congress of the Soviet Union also acknowledged the illegality of the Nazi-Soviet pact).

Numerous political, cultural, and ecological organizations emerged to express and develop a nation-wide rebirth of democratic sentiment and to support the realization of national self-determination. The largest Lithuanian popular movement, known as Sajudis, unambiguously voiced its demand for independence on February 16, 1989. As a broadly based democratic movement, Sajudis, went on to win a commanding majority of seats in the Lithuanian Supreme Council (parliament) during the elections of February 24, 1990, and used that electoral mandate to re-establish Lithuania's independence on March 11,1990. But the celebration of liberty was cut short a week later when the Soviet Army, at the direction of Mikhail Gorbachev, began a low-intensity war against Lithuania's institutions hoping to crush the occupied country without a major military commitment.

For 18 critical months the serious work of state-building was delayed as the Lithuanians struggled to survive economic blockades, military intimidation, seizures of government buildings, and murders of government employees by special Soviet forces׍ the "OMON." The people of Lithuania did not falter even when the Soviet Union unleashed a vicious military assault the night of January 12-13, 1991 known as "Bloody Sunday" in which 13 unarmed Lithuanian civilians were killed defending Lithuania's radio/TV transmission tower and parliament from Soviet paratroopers and tanks.

A furious battle for world public opinion raged on as the government of the Soviet Union attempted to isolate Lithuania's parliament and people from international support. Journalists and reports world-wide, as well as the governments of Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden deserve special accolades for their support of Lithuanian freedom as does Boris Yeltsin, who as President of the Russian Federation recognized Lithuania as an independent country on July 31, 1991.

The Cathedral of Vilnius, a national shrine, used by the Soviets as an art gallery, is again the focal point of Lithuania's Catholics. In the background×´he castle of Gediminas, founder of Vilnius

A Member of the Global Community Again (back to top)

After Mikhail Gorbachev met his own demise during a failed coup d'etat by Soviet hardliners in August,1991, governments throughout the world acknowledged the legitimate, democratically-elected government of Lithuania and reopened their embassies in Lithuania.

On September 17,1991, Lithuania was admitted as a full member of the United Nations.

The people and government of Lithuania were now free to turn their full attention to reform of their economic system and social institutions, except for one major obstacle-the continuing presence of Soviet occupation troops, now under the control of the Russian government. After laborious negotiations and a great deal of international pressure, the last foreign army units left Lithuania on August 31,1993.

The social, political, and economic life of Lithuania is now governed by a new Constitution based on western democratic principles and adopted in a national referendum on October 25, 1992. Lithuania is also a member of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Council of Europe and a signatory of numerous international conventions. It participates in various international assistance programs offered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank, the United Nations and numerous bi-lateral aid programs.

The people of independent Lithuania look forward to contributing to the solution of global problems facing the world community as they work to strengthen their own democratic institutions, create a prosperous free-market economy and develop their talents.

A scene in the legislature on March 11, 1990, when the Supreme Council declared the reestablishment of Independence of the Republic of Lithuania.   The Soviet emblem is being covered.