Press release, 15 June 2015
Your Excellency President of the Republic of Lithuania,
President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania,
President of the Supreme Council Reconstituent Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania,
Your Excellencies foreign ambassadors,
Dear colleagues, members of the Government and of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania,
Signatories to the Act of Independence,
Dear former deportees, political prisoners, dissidents and all freedom fighters,
Dear guests,
June brings not only summer. Every June we mark two painful days in the history of Lithuania, i.e. the Day of Mourning and Hope on the 14th of June and the Day of Occupation and Genocide on the 15th of June. These days mark the most painful things that happened to our nation over the entire 20th century.
Seventy-five years have passed, and we still mourn and will continue to mourn our losses, something that was barbarically destroyed over the 50 years of occupation.
Mass deportations of Lithuanians to the depths of Russia started in June 1941. More than 130,000 out of 156,000 people who had been included on the lists of deportees by the Soviet genocide organisers were deported to Siberia and the Northern regions, were one in five of them died.
The figures are enormous. What lied behind the statistics was the entire world of sufferings and horror. It was a mother whose child was ripped from her hands... A husband and father who was separated from his family for the rest of his life... Children left to their own fate... Deprivation, unbearable life and deaths... Those who were not deported and remained in Lithuania went through pain over their relatives; they were being persecuted, suffered fear and humiliation, and lost everything they had earned and created over their lives. Those who were the bravest were trying to rescue their nationality, culture and language and, by all means possible, tried to help Lithuania to survive.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let us observe a minute of silence in tribute to those who perished, were tortured and died in exile or the KGB prisons. To those who, despite the occupation and the threat of deportation, fought and died for Lithuanias freedom, hoping and having faith that their sacrifice would not be for nothing.
Thank you.
Dear guests,
The cruel occupation of 1940 and the cynical and planned genocide of the Lithuanian nation is a painful historical truth.
It irreversibly and substantially changed our nations life. The life of a nation which once, for more than two decades, lived an independent life, built its own state, introduced modern innovations, and brought to the world a talented generation of scientists, literary creators, and artists.
With the help of the intelligentsia, the first independent Lithuania built a civil society which had a rather strong sense of ownership of their language and culture; they were learning about the majestic history of the Lithuanian nation and had a strong sense of their national identity and respect for freedom as an essential value of humanity.
That society gave birth to and raised a generation which would have rather chosen an honourable death than blind slavery. After the occupation, the partisan resistance movement lasted for a whole decade, later to be followed by unarmed underground resistance combined with the activities of secret organisations, determined priests, and broadminded people. They were all inspired and led all the way to the restoration of Lithuanias independence by the unbreakable spirit of the nation and the living historical memory.
Moreover, the world itself witnessed that the strength of a small country and its fight gave the fatal impetus for the events of the late 20th century when the Soviet Union, a huge empire marked by lies, aggression and loss of the human soul, collapsed.
We can take pride in our strength from those times when we fought for the right to stay ourselves and be free. Despite the fierce repression and imposition of the Soviet ideology, the Lithuanian spirit could not be broken.
Just like the sun in our national anthem by Kudirka, which banished the darkening clouds around, so did the unity of our nation and its desire for freedom banish the depressing and long occupation. We are here as an independent country in a progressive, democratic and peaceful family of European nations. We are respected and visible, and our voice is heard in the world. We draw strength from our past and share the strength with those who desperately need it today.
Thank you.
