The National Socialists invaded and occupied Lithuania In 1941 and held the country until the end of World War II. when the Soviet Union once more absorbed it. Although their tongue is the oldest living language in Europe. more than half of the people who live in Lithuania cannot speak it. This is because thousands of its people fled from the country after the Communist took it over and thousands of others were deported to Siberia and elsewhere and replaced by peoples from other parts of the vast Soviet Empire. Despite Communist efforts to silence the Lithuanian language and obliterate Lithuanian culture. the story of this unhappy land will continue to be told. It will be told by such brave individuals as Simas Kudirka. who tried in vain to defect from Soviet tyranny. It will be related by refugees who have been dispersed all over the world. It will be repeated by the more than 1 million persons of Lithuanian descent who live in free America. Their newfound loyalty to the United States does not preclude them from speaking for the cause of freedom for Lithuania and other conquered nations.
Keywords matched
deported refugees