Speech #980057919

Fortythree years ago. under the pretext of an imminent Nazi threat. the Soviet Union invaded Lithuania as it began to draw the infamous Iron Curtain on the Baltic States. The dawn of Russification in Lithuania initiated a chapter of violent oppression as hideous as any in history. During a 4day period in 1941. June 14 to 18. over 34.000 Lithuanian men. women. and children were deported or liquidated. Over the decade spanning the years 1941 to 1951. some 700.000 Lithuanians were victimized under a Soviet policy of virtual genocide. Though the terrorism of the Stalin era has subsided. the more sophisticated methods of domination by terror practiced by todays Soviet regime are every bit as thorough and brutal as those under Stalin.