A joint resolution designating June 14, 1989, as "Baltic Freedom Day", and for other purposes.
PL 101-39 (S.J.Res.63), enacted 06/19/1989

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PUBLIC LAW 101-39—JUNE 19, 1989 
103 STAT. 79 
Public Law 101-39 
101st Congress 
Joint Resolution 
Designating June 14, 1989, as "Baltic Freedom Day", and for other purposes. 
Whereas the people of the republics of Lithuania, Latvia, and 
Estonia (hereinafter referred to as the "Baltic Republics") have 
cherished the principles of religious and political freedom and 
independence; 
Whereas the Baltic Republics existed as independent, sovereign 
nations and as fully recognized members of the League of Nations; 
Whereas 1989 marks the 50th anniversary of the infamous Molotov-
Ribbentrop Pact in which the Soviet Union colluded with Nazi 
Germany, thus allowing the Soviet Union in 1940 to illegally seize 
and occupy the Baltic Republics and to incorporate such republics 
by force into the Soviet Union against the national will and the 
desire for independence and freedom of the people of such 
republics; 
Whereas due to Soviet and Nazi tyranny, by the end of World War 
II, 20 percent of the total population of the Baltic Republics had 
been lost; 
Whereas the people of the Baltic Republics have individual and 
separate cultures and national traditions and languages which are 
distinctively foreign to those of Russia; 
Whereas since 1940, the Soviet Union has systematically imple-
mented Baltic genocide by deporting native Baltic peoples from 
Baltic homelands to forced labor and concentration camps in 
Siberia and elsewhere; 
Whereas by relocating masses of Russians to the Baltic Republics, 
the Soviet Union has threatened the Baltic cultures with extinc-
tion through russification; 
Whereas through a program of russification, the Soviet Union has 
introduced ecologically unsound industries without proper safe-
guards into the Baltic Republics, and the presence of such indus-
tries has resulted in deleterious effects on the environment and 
well-being of the Baltic people; 
Whereas the Soviet Union, despite recent pronouncements of open-
ness and restructuring, has imposed upon the captive people of 
the Baltic Republics an oppressive political system which h£is 
destroyed every vestige of democracy, civil liberty, and religious 
freedom; 
Whereas the people of the Baltic Republics are subjugated by the 
Soviet Union, are locked into a union such people deplore, are 
denied basic human rights, and are persecuted for daring to 
protest; 
Whereas the Soviet Union refuses to abide by the Helsinki accords 
which the Soviet Union voluntarily signed; 
Whereas the United States stands as a champion of liberty, is 
dedicated to the principles of national self-determination, human 
rights, and religious freedom, and is opposed to oppression and 
imperialism; 
June 19,1989 
[S.J. Res. 63] 
103 STAT. 80 
PUBLIC LAW 101-39—JUNE 19, 1989 
Whereas the United States, as a member of the United Nations, had 
repeatedly voted with a majority of that international body to 
uphold the right of other countries of the world to self-determina-
tion and freedom from foreign domination; 
Whereas the Soviet Union has steadfastly refused to return to the 
people of the Baltic Republics the right to exist as independent 
republics, separate and apart from the Soviet Union, or to permit 
a return of personal, political and religious freedoms; and 
Whereas 1989 marks the 49th anniversary of the continued policy of 
the United States of not recognizing the illegal forcible occupation 
of the Baltic Republics by the Soviet Union: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That— 
(1) the Congress recognizes the continuing desire and right of 
the people of the Baltic Republics for freedom and independence 
from the domination of the Soviet Union; 
(2) the Congress deplores the refusal of the Soviet Union to 
recognize the sovereignty of the Baltic Republics and to yield to 
the rightful demands for independence from foreign domination 
and oppression by the people of the Baltic Republics; 
(3) June 14, 1989, the anniversary of the mass deportation of 
Baltic peoples from their homelands in 1941, is designated as 
"Baltic Freedom Day", as a symbol of the solidarity of the 
people of the United States with the aspirations of the enslaved 
Baltic people; and 
(4) the President is authorized and requested— 
(A) to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the 
United States to observe Baltic Freedom Day with appro-
priate ceremonies and activities, and 
' 
(B) to call upon the Soviet Union, the Federal Republic of 
Germany, and the Democratic Republic of Germany to 
renounce the acquisition or absorption of the Baltic Repub-
, 
lies by the Soviet Union as a result of the Molotov-Ribben-
trop Pact. 
Approved June 19, 1989. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S.J. Res. 63: 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 135 (1989): 
Feb. 28, considered and passed Senate. 
June 13, considered and passed House.