Today the U.S. Senate commemorates this occasion with a special order at the request of the distinguished chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. I believe that my colleagues in this esteemed body are only too familiar with the tragic fate of this small. proud nation on the Baltic Sea and that of her noble people: The treacherous pact between Hitler and Stalin in 1940 that handed the free Republic of Lithuania over to the Soviet Empire. the armed resistance of Lithuanian patriots and suppression by the Red Army that followed. the deportation of thousands of Lithuanian citizens to Siberia. and the almost complete suspension of basic human rights that is inevitably the consequence of a Communist takeover. As we are all well aware. Soviet prop. aganda has consistently portrayed the Baltic nations as "brotherly republics" that welcomed the Soviet overthrow of the socalled "Bourgeois Forces of Reaction." Of course. actions speak louder than Soviet propaganda. especially when backed by bayonets. so the Kremlin embarked upon a strenuous campaign to eradicate the Lithuanian nation. culture and religious heritage: The Russification process with which captive nations within the Soviet Empire are all too familiar.
Keywords matched
deportation