1. Our Way to Freedom
The Restoration of
Independence in 1991
Gelvonai Secondary school
Lithuania
2013
2. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. List of victims
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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
