One might conjecture that when the Red Army "liberated" Lithuania from German hands during the early stages of World War II. the long Russian dominance of this area had developed an "appetite for those latitudes" which the Russian Bear satiated by declaring Lithuania a "constituent republic" on August 3. Lithuanians whose Constitution. like ours. had granted them the freedom of choice had no choice in their "constituent republic" status. Those who protested were "relocated" in Siberia80.000 Lithuanians fled their own homeland seeking sanctuary60.000 were found in East Germany and were deported to Siberia. During the period 1945 to 1946. 145.000 Lithuanians were deported to Siberia and in March 1949 in answer to a passive resistance to collectivization of their farmlands. 60.000 more Lithuanians were deported. It is difficult to ascertain the specific fate of Lithuania during the time of Soviet domination. for the first Western observer was allowed into Lithuania in 1959more than 19 years after the Russians had declared the country a "constituent republic." One could assume that because of the strategic location of Lithuania. which makes it a nearly perfect missile site. the country was kept off limits to Western observers. but is it not also possible that the Russian Bear has been hiding beneath its dark shadow something more terrible than weapons of war. an enslaved peoplea captive nation? On July 27. 1922. the United States of America recognized the independent Republic of Lithuania and has never recognized that nations domination and engulfment by the Soviet Union.
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deported