Mr. President. on June 14. 15. and 16. 1941. the Soviet Union forcibly deported close to 40.000 personsyoung and old. men. women. and childrenfrom their homes and loved ones in Lithuania and shipped them off to slave labor camps in the remote areas of Siberia and the Arctic. On the anniversary of these inhuman crimes. it is only fitting that we in the Senate should pay tribute to the brave Lithuanian people who have endured so much. In the interval between World War I and World War II the Republic of Lithuania made an admirable record. Its constitution guaranteed to all citizens the basic freedoms of speech. assembly. religion. and communications. and economic and social progress was made. With the outbreak of World War II. the Lithuanian people bravely resisted the aggressions of both Hitler and the Soviet Union. however. they were gradually engulfed. In 1939 the Soviet Union forced a mutual assistance treaty upon the country. on June 15. 1940. the Soviet demanded immediate formation of a friendly government and occupied the country. on August of that year the Baltic States were deprived of their independence and incorporated into the U.S.S.R. by means of force and fraudulent elections. and on June 14. 1941. the Soviet police began the deportations. Thousands of persons were executed when the Soviet forces retreated in haste under German attack. and when the Soviets retook the country in 1944 new waves of mass deportations followed. The United States have never recognized the forceful incorporation of Lithuania and her neighbors by the U.S.S.R. We have denounced this crime of aggression and consistently refused to recognize the Communist claims to these people and their territories.
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deported deportations