The commemorative ceremony for victims of communism and nazism will take place at the Victory Monument of the War of Independence in the Baltic capitals on Thursday, LETA/National Broadcasting.

Speeches at the ceremony in Tallinn will be given by minister of internal affairs Ken-Marti Vaher, minister of defence Urmas Reinsalu, MEP Tunne Kelam, Latvian ambassador in Estonia Karlis Eihenbaums as representative of the diplomatic corps as well as the Archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Andres Põder.

A viewing of the documentary by Jaan Kolberg “Rahva vabadus” (“Freedom of the People”) will take place in the Museum of Occupations. A traditional public meeting with speeches will be held in Hirvepark.

On August 23, 1939, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed, forming a basis for annexing and occupying of independent countries and initiating a chain of events whereby a wide range of crimes of communism and nazism were committed. Since the year 2008, August 23 has been a day for commemorating victims of the crimes of communism and nazism in the European Union.

Victims of the Stalinist regime in the former Soviet Union reached 20 million people, however, unlike the crimes committed by the Nazis, most crimes committed during by the Soviet war criminals have been left unpunished.

Today is also the 73rd anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the 23rd anniversary of the Baltic Way.

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is also known as the Hitler-Stalin or the Nazi-Soviet Pact, and the official name of the pact is the "Treaty of Non-aggression between the Third German Reich and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics". This pact was signed on August 23, 1939 by then Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. The agreement was in force until June 22, 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

Although the pact was officially a non-aggression agreement, the pact included three secret protocols, dividing Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania into German and Soviet spheres of influence.

According to the secret protocols, Finland, Estonia and Latvia were assigned to the Soviet sphere of interest. Poland, on the other hand, was cut in half and divided between Soviet and German spheres of influence. Lithuania would be in the German sphere of influence, however, a second secret protocol signed in September 1939 allocated the majority of Lithuania to the Soviet Union. On the other hand, a part of Romanian territory was also annexed by the Soviet Union.

On June 17, 1940, Soviet tanks occupied independent Latvia, carrying out its division of the sphere of influence mentioned in the pact, thus ending Latvia's independence.

As an answer to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, on August 23, 1989, more than a million people joined hands forming the Baltic Way – a human chain of more than 600 kilometers long stretching from Tallinn to Vilnius going through Riga and across the River Daugava. Three nations near the Baltic Sea joined their hands jointly demanding public recognition of the secret protocols of Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and the renewal of the Baltic States' independence.

Lithuania marks a 25 year anniversary of a very important event: on August 23, 1987 the Lithuania Liberty League (Lietuvos Laisves Lyga) organized the first public anti-Soviet rally next to St. Anne's Church in Vilnius.

"The courage of those people who gathered there 25 years ago inspired us all to seek freedom. Today the Baltic Chain and the Black Ribbon Day symbolises our opportunity to decide on our own about the destiny of our State. Let us actively cherish and respect our freedom by joining the life of our country," said Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite.

The rally participants 25 years ago for the first time publicly spoke the truth about the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and its secret protocols by which the two dictators – Hitler and Stalin – split Eastern and Central European countries into their spheres of influence in 1939. The participants of the Vilnius rally publicly condemned the shameful agreement and its outcomes to Lithuania's statehood and called for the liquidation of the outcomes.

Nearly 3,000 participants chanted "Freedom, Freedom!", sang freedom songs and the national anthem of independent Lithuania. The news about the rally was widely spread both in Lithuania and foreign countries.

After 2 years, 2 million of Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians gathered for a human chain spanning above 600 kilometres – the Baltic Chain (Baltic Road) to show their wish and determination to be free.