International Conference “THE MOLOTOV–RIBBENTROP PACT. THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE OF THE BALTIC STATES” 28 September 1999, Vilnius, Lithuania Vilnius 2000 UDK 327(47+57:430)(091)(06) Mo-91 The map on the cover of the book is printed with the permission of National Service of Geodesy and Cartography under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania Ukmergës str. 41, LT-2600 Vilnius, Lithuania Romualdas Požerskis photos ISBN 9986-18-067-8 © The Publishing House of the Seimas, 2000 Contents Preface ............................................................................................................................7 Baltic Assembly Awards Ceremony ......................................................................9 Opening of the Conference H. E. Valdas Adamkus, President of the Republic of Lithuania.....................14 Sigitas Tamkevièius, Metropolitan Bishop (Lithuania) ...................................16 Dr. Laima Andrikienë, MP, Chairperson of the Organisational Committee of the International Conference “The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. The Present and the Future of the Baltic States” (Lithuania) .........................17 Valeriu Matei, MP, Head of the Party of Democratic Forces, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on the Relations with the European Parliament (Moldova) ........................................................19 I. The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Its Historical and Political Evaluation Janis Straume, Chairman of the Saeima (Latvia) .............................................23 Francoise Thom, Senior Lecturer, Sorbonne University (France)..................29 Stanislav Shushkevitch, First Chairman of the Parliament of the Independent Republic of Belarus .......................................................................33 Romas Batûra, Associate Professor of Pedagogical University, Chairman of Lithuanian Sàjûdis (Lithuania) ...................................................37 Dumitru Preda, Director of the Diplomatic Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Romania) ...............................................................................41 Liudas Truska, Professor of Kaunas Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania) ..............................................................................................................47 Algirdas Petrusevièius, MP (Lithuania) .............................................................50 II. The Consequences of the Occupations, Genocide, Armed and Unarmed Resistance in the Occupied States (1939–1990) Tunne Kelam, Vice Chairman of the Parliament (Estonia) .............................55 3 Dalia Kuodytë, Director General of the Lithuanian Centre for the Investigation of Genocide and Resistance (Lithuania) ..............................................................................................................60 Heinrichs Strods, Professor of the University of Latvia ..................................71 Irena Veisaitë, Chairman of the Board of the Open Society Fund – Lithuania ................................................................................................................74 Czeslaw Bielecki, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Sejm (Poland) ..................................................................................................86 Juris Sinka, MP, Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the Baltic Assembly (Latvia) ................................................................................89 Vytautas Cinauskas, MP, Vice Chairman of the Governmental Commission for the Return of Deporteers (Lithuania) ..........................................................90 Albinas Kentra, Chairman of the Lithuanian Forest Brothers Union (Lithuania) ..............................................................................................................92 III. The Tenth Anniversary of the Baltic Chain. Restoration of the Independence of the Baltic States (1990–1991) Vytautas Landsbergis, Chairman of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ............................................................................................................97 Edgar Savisaar, Chairman of the Centre Party of the Republic of Estonia ..............................................................................................................106 Romualds Ražuks, MP, Chairman of the Baltic Assembly Presidium (Latvia) ..................................................................110 Gavriil Popov, President of the International University in Moscow, Professor (Russia) ................................................................................................115 H. E. Jon Baldvin Hannibalsson, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs & External Trade of Iceland, Ambassador (Iceland) ................................................................................................................122 Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, MP, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, President of the European Liberal Party (Denmark) .....................................128 Algimantas Dziegoraitis, Lawyer (Lithuania).................................................135 Virgilijus Èepaitis, Member of the Supreme Council – Reconstituent Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, Signatory of the 11th March Act .........................................................................138 4 IV. The Future of the Baltic States: Membership in NATO, in the European Union, and Challenges of the 21st Century Laima Andrikienë, MP, Head of the Seimas Delegation of the Republic of Lithuania to the Baltic Assembly ..........................................143 Semion Sharetsky, Chairman of the 13th Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus ......................................................................................149 Trivimi Velliste, MP, Head of the Estonian Parliamentary Delegation to the Baltic Assembly (Estonia) ........................................................................156 Ivan Havlièek, the First Vice Chairman of the Senate of the Czech Republic .............................................................................................160 Jukka Tarkka, Dr., Historian and Journalist (Finland) ...................................162 Ingvald Godal, MP (Norway) ...........................................................................167 Jonas Kronkaitis, Brigadier General, Commander of the Lithuanian Armed Forces (Lithuania) ..................................................................................170 Juozapas Algirdas Katkus, Chairman of the National Security and Defence Committee of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ........176 Algirdas Endriukaitis, Member of the Supreme Council – Reconstituent Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, Signatory of the 11th March Act ................................................................................................179 Nikolaj Medvedev, MP (Lithuania) ..................................................................181 Juris Sinka, MP, Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the Baltic Assembly (Latvia) ..................................................................................................................183 Press Release .............................................................................................................186 V. Photos ..................................................................................................................189 VI. Curriculum Vitae of the Speakers of the International Conference .........................................................................................................201 5 Preface In August and September 1999, the Baltic states commemorated the tenth anniversary of the Baltic Chain. To celebrate this occasion, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia held photography exhibitions in Vilnius and Riga, an international conference in Riga, an international relay race “The Baltic Chain”, youth concerts, etc. The international conference “The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. The Present and the Future of the Baltic States” organised in the premises of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, in Vilnius on 28 September 1999 was dedicated to the same occasion. The conference served as the finale of the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the Baltic Chain and assessment of the consequences of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and its secret protocols to the Baltic states. The conference was attended by politicians, political scientists, historians from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, Iceland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, Norway, France, Finland, and Belarus, as well as signatories of the 11th of March Act, ambassadors of foreign states, leaders of parliamentary political parties of the Baltic states, mayors of major Lithuanian cities, university rectors, and representatives of the clergy. The international event initiated by the Baltic Assembly was held under the auspices of Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Mr Rolandas Paksas who was the Chairman of Honour of the conference. The conference addressed the repercussions of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact: occupations, deportations, genocide, resistance, as well as the restoration of the independence of the three Baltic states, outcome of the collapse of the Soviet Union, challenges for the European states, including the Baltic states, in the 21st century. From a six-decade perspective, the participants of the conference evaluated the consequences of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and its secret protocols to the European states and peoples in political and historical terms,