Our Way to Freedom

The Restoration of Independence in 1991Gelvonai Secondary school

Lithuania 2013

Until mid – 1988, all political, economic, and cultural life was controlled by the Communist Party of Lithuania. Lithuania as well as people in two other Baltic republics, distrusted the Soviet regime even more than people in and gave their own specific and active support to Mikhail Gorbachev’s program of social and political reforms known as PERESTROIKA and GLASNOST.

Sąjūdis

Sąjūdis (Reform Movement of Lithuania) is the political organization which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was established on June 3, 1988 and was led by Vytautas Landsbergis. Its goal was to seek the return of independent status for Lithuania.

Today, Sąjūdis is still active in Lithuania, but it has lost almost all its influence. The popularity of Sąjūdis lessened as it failed to maintain unity among people with different political beliefs and was ineffective coping with the economic crisis.

The Baltic Way

The Baltic Way or Baltic Chain was a peaceful political demonstration that occurred on August 23, 1989. Approximately two million people joined their hands to form a human chain spanning over 600 kilometres across the three Baltic states – Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian, republics of the Soviet Union.

The Baltic Way brought important changes to the history of the world. It is a historic symbol that is alive in the collective memory, enriching the understanding of the sense and values of solidary and freedom of expression.

January 13th

The January Events took place in Lithuania between January 11 and 13, 1991 in the aftermath of the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania. 14 civilians were killed and around 140 injured. The events were centered in its capital, Vilnius.

The Vilnius TV Tower is a symbol of the struggle for freedom and independence for the whole Lithuanian nation. The Tower was a witness of the tragic events in the night of 13 January 1991, when the following 13 people were killed at the foot of the Vilnius TV Tower.

List of victims• Loreta Asanavičiūtė• Virginijus Druskis• Darius Gerbutavičius• Rolandas Jankauskas• Rimantas Juknevičius• Alvydas Kanapinskas• Algimantas Petras Kavoliukas• Vytautas Koncevičius• Vidas Maciulevičius• Titas Masiulis• Alvydas Matulka• Apolinaras Juozas Povilaitis• Ignas Šimulionis• Vytautas Vaitkus