(22 Aug 2009) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of exterior Lithuanian parliament
2. Mid of parliament sign
3. Set up shot of Lithuanian member of parliament Vilija Aleknaite-Abramikiene looking at Molotov Ribbentrop exhibition
4. Mid posters of Stalin and Hitler
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Vilija Aleknaite-Abramikiene, Lithuanian member of parliament:
"Stalin had no right to occupy independent states, he had no right to apply the laws of the occupying country to the citizens of other country, he had no right for torturing or turning our people into slaves in Siberia."
6. Set up of former Lithuanian freedom fighter Albinas Kentras
7. Mid Kentras puts video into machine
8. Close up Kentras watching video
9. Various of Kentras' own video of Baltic Chain shot on August 23, 1989
10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Albinas Kentras, former Lithuanian freedom fighter:
"And information was very essential at that time. Lithuania needed support from other countries and we got it."
11. More of Kentras' own video of Baltic Chain shot on August 23, 1989
12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Albinas Kentras, former Lithuanian freedom fighter:
"I wish that the Moscow Kremlin acquired civilised qualities and disclosed the secret documents showing where our killed freedom fighters are buried."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
This weekend the Baltic countries are marking two important events in their history - the 70th anniversary of the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact, which led to their occupation by the Soviet Union, and the 20th anniversary of the Baltic Chain, which led to their eventual independence in 1991.
On August 23, 1939, German and Soviet Foreign Ministers Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyacheslav Molotov signed a pact of non-aggression between their two countries.
But the pact also contained the so-called "secret protocols" under which Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union divided Central and Eastern Europe.
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were given to Stalin and in June 1940 all three countries were annexed by the Soviet Union. Apart from a 3 year occupation by the Nazis, the Baltic states remained part of the Soviet Union for the next 50 years.
In July this year, delegates at the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) annual parliamentary meeting in Vilnius voted to condemn both Stalinism and Fascism for starting World War 2.
The resolution was proposed by Lithuanian conservative MP Vilija Aleknaite-Abramikiene.
For her, Stalin and Hitler bear equal responsibility for starting the war, but Stalin caused more suffering to the people of the Baltic states.
"Stalin had no right to occupy independent states, he had no right to apply the laws of occupying country to the citizens of other country, he had no right for torturing or turning our people into slaves in Siberia", she said speaking on Thursday, ahead of the anniversary.
Albinas Kentras was just a boy when the Soviet Union invaded Lithuania. After the war he became a "forest brother", the name given to those who fought against the Soviet occupation. He was arrested and spent two years in KGB prisons.
On August 23, 1989, on the 50th anniversary of the Pact, millions of people joined hands across all three Baltic countries calling for an end to Soviet occupation. It was called the Baltic Chain.
Kentras filmed the event, the first steps made by the Baltic states towards independence from Moscow.
"Information was very essential at that time and Lithuania needed support from other countries and we got it", he said.
"Then we can bury them. They are our heroes."
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