Baltic Way 1989 Achieving the Unthinkable - Documentary by Kristine S.
At 7pm on August 23, 1989 about 2 million people joined hands forming a human chain spanning 600 kilometres, or almost 400 miles. The inhabitants of the Baltic states, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, joined hands in a peaceful protest demanding restoration of their independence. This became known as the Baltic Way. The Baltic Way in 1989, through leadership and non-violent protests, drew global attention to Baltic struggles and contributed to the eventual renewal of the Baltic states’ independence.
The Baltic states - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - are small countries in Europe on the Baltic Sea. Before World War II, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were independent prosperous nations. On 23 August 1939, the Secret Treaty of the Foreign Ministers of the Soviet Union and Germany, known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, was signed. It led to the occupation of the Baltic states followed by the war and mass genocide against the Baltic nations. Hundreds of thousands of people, including families with children, were deported to labour camps in Siberia where they were executed, or had to flee their homes never to return.
The Baltic nations lived under Soviet rule for 50 years. In the Soviet Union freedom of speech and thought was restricted. The Soviet Union denied the existence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact for 50 years and insisted that the Baltic states had voluntarily joined the Soviet Union. In the ‘80s people started to gain access to more information. The first protest began in the Baltic states. National movements in each of the Baltic states started to gain wide support of the population. People found out about the secret pact and realised that they had been deceived for 50 years. The idea to organise a protest in the form of a human chain came to the leader of the Estonian national movement, Edgar Savisaar. On the 50th anniversary of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact people would join hands along the road linking the capitals of the three nations: Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Because the Kremlin had started to paint the people of the Baltic as terrorists and extremists, the goal of the organisers was to show the world that the Baltic people are peaceful nations and all they wanted was freedom. By joining hands they would draw global attention to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and demand the re-establishment of the independence of the Baltic states. It was unprecedented; something like that had never been done before. The leaders of all three national movements discussed the idea on 15 July 1989, little over one month before the actual event. On 12 August, only 11 days before the event, the decision was made to move forward with the Baltic way. The organization of the Baltic Way couldn’t be kept secret. The Soviet government at the time found out that the Baltic Way was being organized; but they didn’t believe that it would succeed and become such a powerful event.
The Baltic Way was a huge undertaking and required a lot of coordination. The entire length of the road had to have people standing and required careful calculations of how many people are needed to pull this off. No segment of the road was left uncovered. There was no Internet, no social media or cellphones at the time to spread the word. This event was only possible due to the popular support of entire nations. The nationalist fronts in each country had branches in almost every city and town and the largest workplaces. As word got out about the Baltic Way, people rallied around the idea. Groups were assigned to the sections of the road. People organized buses and other transport. A lot of families didn’t own their own car so they had to carpool with friends or neighbours. People had to be in their spots at least 30 minutes before the actual time of 7 p.m. when everybody would join hands at once. The result was more significant than anyone expected.
[Liana Eglite, Embassy of Latvia, Washington DC, participant in the Baltic Way:] People from all walks of life, almost all of Latvia participated. Older people, young people, even babies that had just been
1 born, their parents were bringing them, but even older people who had difficulty walking or were not in good health, they made the effort to go and participate and find the place where they were needed so the chain would not be broken.
The Baltic Way was a positive, non-violent example for other countries to follow. During the Baltic Way people carried national flags and sang national songs that had been forbidden for 50 years. People realized that they could be prosecuted for this. Yet they knew they couldn’t stand up to the mighty army of the Soviet Union and their only option was solidarity and a peaceful protest. People participating in the Baltic Way held candles tied with a black ribbon because it was the 50th anniversary of the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the black ribbon represented sorrow.
[music] The Baltics are waking up, the Baltics are waking up Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia!
[Aija Celma-Evans, Director, Latvian School of Washington DC, participant in the Baltic Way:] We had that moment of – I think it’s a total happiness when you feel that everybody feels the same way and they are all united. It was a wonderful thing.
[Uve Hodgins, Vice-President, Latvian National Youth Association of Canada, participant in the Baltic Way:] So, there was a huge sense of pride, and a sense of being very fortunate being there to actually witness history taking place. So, it was an honour, a sense of pride, and something that is hard to describe with words.
The Baltic Way drew global attention to the Baltic struggles for independence and attracted global international publicity. News headlines all over the world were focused on the impressive and important action of the Baltic states. Newspapers paid special attention to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and its consequences in Eastern Europe. Hundreds of journalists were filming the Baltic Way and it was broadcast by all major news channels of the world. The Baltic problem was no longer just a political and diplomatic issue. It had gained a wide support in Western society. Solidarity demonstrations supporting the Baltic Way took place in Berlin, Bonn, Moscow, Melbourne, Stockholm, Toronto and elsewhere in the world. After the mass protests in the Baltic region, similar movements sprung up all over the former Soviet Union, including Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova.
The Baltic Way was part of a larger movement that eventually led to the Baltic states’ independence. The Soviet Union didn’t want to crackdown too severely on the participants of the Baltic Way and nationalist movements; yet it became increasingly evident that allowing these national movements to run their course would spell disaster for the Soviet Union, which would completely collapse if all its republics were to demand independence. That’s exactly what happened in the next few years following the Baltic Way. On March 11, 1990 by 120 votes to zero, the Lithuanian parliament passed the Act of the Supreme Council on the restoration of Lithuanian independence. Estonia and Latvia followed, also declaring independence in 1990. The Baltic nations achieved the unthinkable: freedom, by the use of mere people power. The independence of all three Baltic states was recognised by most Western countries by the end 1991. By January 1992 the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. The Russian army started to pull out of the Baltics. The Baltic countries became part of the European Union and NATO in 2004, thus strengthening their ties with the West.
The Baltic Way has been inscribed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World register. It is recognised as one of the 193 moments of global significance.
The Baltic Way is significant to me in a personal way: my mom was a teenager at the time and was standing on the bridge in Riga alongside my aunt and baby cousin. My grandfather was deeply
2 involved in the early national movements in Latvia. Despite the possible repercussions, they had no doubt in their minds that they wanted freedom for their country. If not for the Baltic Way, I might not be here today. As other countries in the world fight wars, the Baltic Way is a good example of a peaceful way to impact the fate of a country.
Editor’s Notes: Although the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact was not a secret to the wider world at the time of its signing, a protocol attached to it was. This protocol divided up Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Poland and parts of Romania into German and Soviet spheres of interest. The UNESCO Memory of the World Register has grown through various accessions over the years; it includes a total of 348 documents and document collections at the end of 2015.
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