LITUANUS LITHUANIAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES   Volume 32, No. 4 - Winter 1986 Editor of this issue: Antanas Dundzila ISSN 0024-5089 Copyright © 1986 LITUANUS Foundation, Inc.

CRITICAL DATES AND EVENTS

1939 August 23 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed. Secret protocols divide Poland and the Baltic States between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; Lithuania is foreseen as a German "sphere of influence."

September 1 Germany invades Poland. World War II begins. September 17 Soviet Union invades Poland. September 18 Vilnius occupied by the Red Army.

September 29 Secret protocols of a new Nazi-Soviet agreement assign Lithuania to the Soviet Union.

October 10 Under Soviet pressure, Lithuania signs a Pact of Mutual Defense and Assistance with the Soviet Union. Soviets give Vilnius back to Lithuania.

1940 June 14 Soviet ultimatum to Lithuania demanding formation of a pro-Soviet government and stationing of large numbers of Red Army troops in Lithuania.

June 15 Red Army occupies Lithuania.

June 17 Formation of a "People's Government" in Lithuania.

June 30 In Moscow, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov informs Acting Lithuanian Prime Minister Vincas Krėvė of Soviet decision to annex Lithuania.

July 11-12 Arrests of about 2,000 potential opposition leaders.

July 14-15 Elections to the "Lithuanian People's Assembly" staged. Aided by massive vote fraud, the "Lithuanian Union of Labor" wins 99.2 percent of the vote.

July 21 In orchestrated proceedings, the "People's Assembly" produces an "application for admission to the Soviet Union."

August 3 The Supreme Soviet of the USSR accepts the Lithuanian "request for admission to the Soviet Union." Lithuania is annexed.

October 9 Underground resistance leaders confer in Kaunas, seeking to unify all resistance groups. Later, the unified resistance is known as the Lithuanian Activist Front (Lietuvių Aktyvistų Frontas), or LAF.

November 17 Exiled Lithuanian political leaders in Berlin also form a Lithuanian Activist Front. The Berlin LAF maintained contact with and advised the LAF in Lithuania.

1941 June 14-22 Deportation of over 30,000 Lithuanians to Siberia. Affecting all groups of society, the deportations were intended to instill terror and submission.

June 22 Germany invades the Soviet Union. About 100,000 Lithuanians participate in revolt against Soviets.

June 23 Formation of Lithuanian Provisional Government. Restoration of independence declared. Germans never recognize the Provisional Government.

July 28 Reichskomissariat Ostland — official German occupational administration of the Baltic States and Byelorussia established.

August 5 Provisional Government declares itself involuntarily suspended and disbands.

1941-1944 About 170,000 of Lithuania's 200,000 Jews murdered by Nazis.

1943 January-February German defeat at Stalingrad.

March German mobilization efforts for a Lithuanian SS legion fail. All institutions of higher learning in Lithuania closed. Forty-six prominent Lithuanians shipped to Stutthof concentration camp.

November 25 Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania (Vyriausias Lietuvos Išlaisvinimo Komitetas) formed, uniting various underground resistance groups.

1944 February Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force formed under Lithuanian General Povilas Plechavičius, with German approval.

May 15 General Plechavičius arrested, and the Territorial Defense Force dissolved. The Lithuanians had refused to integrate into the German Army.

June 6 Allied landings in Normandy.

July Red Army re-enters Lithuania. Some 60,000 Lithuanian refugees eventually reach Western Europe.

1944-1952 Guerilla warfare in Lithuania; armed resistance to Soviet rule.

1945 January 28 Reoccupation of Lithuania completed with the fall of the Baltic sea port of Klaipėda.

May 7 Germany surrenders. War in Europe ends.

July 15-August 2 Potsdam conference; breakdown of Western-Soviet cooperation.

August-September 60,000 Lithuanians deported to Siberia.

1946 February 40,000 Lithuanians deported.

April 23 First conference of Lithuanian guerilla leaders.

June 10 United Democratic Resistance Movement (Bendras Demokratinio Pasipriešinimo Sąjūdis) formed, to coordinate passive and active resistance.

October-November Formation of a "national guerilla command."

1947 January 12 National conference of guerilla leaders rejects passive resistance strategy.

February First postwar elections to Soviet Lithuania's Supreme Soviet.

February 18 First postwar Lithuanian collective farm established.

1948 Spring Juozas Lukša-Daumantas, guerilla leader, reaches the West, writes book, "Partizanai už geležinės uždangos" (Partisans Behind the Iron Curtain).

May 70,000 Lithuanians deported.

1949 February 16 Guerillas form a new resistance center, the Movement for the Freedom Struggle of Lithuania (Lietuvos Laisvės Kovų Sąjūdis).

March 40,000 deported. Summer 40,000 deported.

1951 Collectivization of agriculture effectively completed.

1952 End of unified guerilla command, order given to "demobilize." Active armed resistance effectively ends.

COMPILED BY EDVARDAS TUŠKENIS