IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 300 

Expressing support for the designation of August 23, 2019, as Black Ribbon 

Day to recognize the victims of Soviet and Nazi regimes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 9, 2019 

Mr. SHIMKUS (for himself and Mr. SCHIFF) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing support for the designation of August 23, 2019, 

as Black Ribbon Day to recognize the victims of Soviet 

and Nazi regimes. 

Whereas, on August 23, 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi 

Germany pledged mutual nonaggression through the 

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which divided Eastern Europe 

into two spheres of interest in their illicit bilateral negotiations; 

Whereas this notorious agreement and the Friendship and 

the Border Treaty on September 28, 1939, allowed both 

the Soviets and the Nazis to divide and occupy Poland 

in September 1939 and to occupy the three Baltic States 

of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia in June 1940; 

Whereas the United States refused to recognize the Soviet 

Union’s forcible occupation of the Baltic States, and conVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 Apr 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR300.IH HR300

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•HRES 300 IH 

sistently recognized the independence of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia through the Welles Declaration on 

July 23, 1940; 

Whereas, on August 13, 1941, the United States Government 

signed the Atlantic Charter to make certain common 

principles in the national policies of their respective countries for a better future of the world, including ‘‘the right 

of all peoples to choose the form of government under 

which they will live and self government restored to those 

who have been forcibly deprived of them’’ and that the 

people of countries may live in freedom; 

Whereas the United States Government has actively advocated for and continues to support the principles by the 

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights 

and the United Nations General Assembly resolution 260 

(III) of December 9, 1948; 

Whereas Captive Nations Week, signed into law (Public Law 

86–90) by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1959, 

raised public awareness of the oppression of nations 

under the control of Communist and other nondemocratic 

governments; 

Whereas the European Parliament resolution on European 

conscience and totalitarianism of April 2, 2009, established a day of remembrance for victims of Soviet and 

Nazi regimes to remember and commemorate their victims; 

Whereas the extreme forms of totalitarian rule practiced by 

the Nazi and Soviet dictatorships led to premeditated and 

vast crimes committed against millions of human beings 

and their basic and inalienable rights on a scale unseen 

before in history; 


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•HRES 300 IH 

Whereas hundreds of thousands of human beings, fleeing the 

crimes perpetrated by the Nazi and Soviet regimes 

sought and found refuge in the United States; 

Whereas millions of Americans of Baltic and Eastern and 

Central European descent who personally fled or whose 

families fled those regimes have made unique and significant cultural, economic, social, and other contributions to 

help build the United States; 

Whereas the members of Baltic Way, a peaceful political 

demonstration uniting two million people in their quest 

for independence of the Baltic States on August 23, 

1989, joined hands and formed a human chain from 

Tallinn through Riga to Vilnius, launching a new chapter 

in the history of the Baltic States and leaving behind the 

bitter legacy of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact; 

Whereas August 23 would be an appropriate date to designate as Black Ribbon Day to remember and never forget the terror millions of citizens of the Baltic countries, 

Central Europe, and Eastern Europe countries experienced for over half a century by ruthless military, economic, and political repression, including arbitrary executions, mass arrests, deportations, the suppression of free 

speech, confiscation of private property, and the destruction of cultural and moral identity and civil society, all 

of which deprived individuals of their basic human rights 

and dignity; and 

Whereas the memories of Europe’s tragic past cannot be forgotten and it is right to honor the victims, condemn the 

perpetrators, and lay the foundation for reconciliation 

based on truth and remembrance: Now, therefore, be it 


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•HRES 300 IH 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives supports 

2 the designation of Black Ribbon Day to recognize and 

3 honor the victims of Soviet and Nazi regimes. 

Æ 


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