Speech #840022243

Lithuanian Americans. citizens of the city of New York. gathered together upon the occasion of the observance of the 37th anniversary of the declaration of independence by the people of Lithuania. at a commemoration sponsored by the Lithuanian American Council of Greater New York. at Webster Hall. in said city on the 13th day February 1955. duly noting that Lithuania had proclaimed her independence on February 16. 1918. after 120 years of unceasing struggle against foreign domination. which had brought to Lithuania a most brutal enslavement and the prohibition of the Lithuanian language press in violation of the most sacred rights of the Lithuanian people as human beings and as a sovereign nation. Lithuania had played a long and honorable part in the destinies of Europe and had been traditionally blessed with internal liberty and tolerance of religious and political beliefs. Noting that the same ruthless tyrant* returned in 1940 to forcibly enslave Lithuania again. do now and here declare the occupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union as unlawful. as are the continuing deportations under the guise of volunteer work to unknown and remote regions of the Soviet Union. and Taking into consideration the Soviet propaganda line of peaceful coexistence and noninterference in internal affairs of sovereign nations. obviously aimed at perpetuating the Communist satellite regimes over the enslaved peoples of Lithuania and other similarly situated nations of Europe and Asia. we do here and now respectfully request the Government of the United States of America to demand in international conferences. to which the Soviet Union be a party: 1. That the Soviet Union live up to its international commitments heretofore solemnized in international treaties of peace and nonaggression concluded between the Soviet Union and the Republic of Lithuania. as well as other states of central and eastern Europe. and the Soviet obligations. as signatory of the Atlantic Charter and the United Nations Charter. 2. That the Soviet occupation troops and Soviet administrative personnel be withdrawn from Lithuania and other similarly situated countries. 3.