Mr. Speaker. today. we commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Soviet occupation of Estonia. Latvia. and- Lithuania and the 24th anniversary of the start of the horrible mass deportations from these three Baltic countries. In 1940 the governments of these states. acting under duress and force. submitted to the arbitrary. Machiavellian demands of the U.S.S.R. whose army had occupied the countries. The barbaric treatment of these people by the Soviets was incredible in its atrocity. The history of the mass executions and mass deportations is a matter of public record. In the period immediately following the occupation. in Lithuania alone. resistance leaders estimated some 400.000 deaths and deportations by the Soviet secret police. The men. women. and children of Estonia. Latvia and Lithuania were slaughtered mercilessly. deported to Siberia en masse in cattle cars. or sent to other parts of the U.S.S.R. for "reconstruction work." The Soviets had destroyed the great social and economic progress made by the Baltic States during their 20 years of independence between the two world wars. This period of independence witnessed remarkable progress for these dynamic people. Many beneficial land reforms were instituted.
Keywords matched
deported deportations