Baltic Chain Day

Today was 'Baltic Chain' day.

The day--August 23, 1989--when 2 million people joined hands to make a human chain stretching from Tallinn, Estonia to Vilnius, Lithuania to peacefully protest Soviet annexation of the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania.

August 23 was chosen as it was also the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany which secretly divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence and led to the occupation of the Baltic States in 1940.

The picture of the picture above--taken in Vilnius at Gediminas Castle--gives some idea of the scale and solidarity of the protest. The Soviets mounted an intense propaganda effort to discredit the movement, but took no immediate military action.

The Ribbentrop Pact was declared 'null and void' by the Soviet Congress of People's Deputies in December, 1989.

In March, 1990 Lithuania was the first of the occupied Baltic states to declare their independence. The Soviets invaded Vilnius in early 1991 beginning a stand-off that lasted until September, when the crumbling Soviet Union agreed to grant independence to the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia.