Lithuania prospers as an independent state. 1939 Hitler and Stalin carve up Europe in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Moscow hands Vilnius back to Lithuania. 1941 Nazis occupy Lithuania. Most of Lithuania's 250,000 Jews are killed.
Soviets occupy Lithuania again.
Over 500,000 Lithuanians are either deported, forced into exile, jailed or shot. 1987 First open protests against Soviets. 1989 Lithuanian Communists vote to break with the Soviet Party, a daring, even dangerous move at the time. 1990-91 Lithuania declares independence , the first Soviet republic to do so.