Your Excellency Madam President,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
My Fellow Citizens,
It was seventy years to the day that Lithuania experienced its greatest tragedy of all time the start of an occupation followed by brutal murder, torture, deportation, hundreds of thousands of deaths and broken destinies.
Having fought its way to independence through the bloodshed of its volunteers, the Republic of Lithuania was to be abolished yet again in the ill-fated year of 1940. The commitment to statehood and freedom that had paved the way to the establishment of the Lithuanian state turned the people of the country into the worst enemies of the invaders.
However, this tragedy has revealed a new side to the character of Lithuanians. We now know that two decades of freedom have proved to be stronger and more powerful than half a century of occupation. The people who had matured in a free Lithuania dared and managed to preserve, cherish, and pass their values on to other generations, until national revival and recovery of freedom and independence became a reality.
Let us express our profound respect to those who cherished the freedom of Lithuania in their fights, deeds, prayers, and hopes throughout the entire period of occupation. We convey our admiration for those whose lives were shed in Lithuanias forests, in distant camps, in exile, or forced emigration. We deeply appreciate the commendable efforts of those who underwent torture, imprisonment, and defamation while living in the land of their forefathers, but neither abandoned their love for truth nor their wish for freedom. It is thanks to them that we are free today. It is thanks to them that Lithuania is a free country.
Therefore, as we look at the tricolour flag with a black ribbon, let us pay our respect to the freedom fighters, and let us remember that today marks a day of mourning, but also a day of hope; a hope that can withstand the threat of foreign armies and prepare entire generations for freedom. I am referring to the hope that turns a small nation into a proud fighter and helps to win the fight for the truth.
I express my profound respect and I bow my head to the all-time defenders of freedom and martyrs for the cause of freedom, to their sacrifices, and their feats in the name of a free Lithuania.
