Sometimes Miracles Do Happen

This stone, which says "miracle" in Lithuanian, marks the end point of the Baltic Way in Cathedral Square

On August 23, 1939, the foreign ministers of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a Non-Aggression Pact that became known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.  In addition to signing a public agreement to not attack each other, they signed secret protocols dividing up Poland between the two countries.  The secret protocols also assigned the independent Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to the Soviet Union — and were the basis for the subsequent Soviet occupation and annexation of these countries in 1940.

On August 23, 1989, the popular fronts (soon-to-be independence movements) in the Soviet republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia called on their citizens to protest the illegal annexation of their countries fifty years earlier by forming a human chain from Tallinn through Riga to Vilnius.  Approximately 2 million people stretched out over 600 km (370 miles) in a peaceful protest.  At the time, it seemed like it would take a miracle for these countries to regain their independence.  But just six months later, Lithuania declared its independence.  Today the Baltic countries are commemorating the 20 year anniversary of an event that demonstrated that the Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians were willing to peacefully stand up for their human rights and take on a superpower to regain their independence.