Baltic Way

In 1989, on the 50th anniversary of the 1939 signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact, in which Stalin and Hitler divided Poland between their two countries (the Soviet Union also got the 3 Baltic nations), more than 2 million Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians formed a continous human chain stretching 400 miles from Vinius through Riga to Talinn.  This non-violent protest was to assert to the world their demand for national identity and independence. Soviet policy was to secularize and homogenize society, repressing nationalities in the name of building a communist bloc.

On the bus ride from Vilnius to Riga, Latvia's capitol, our Odysseys Unlimited tour guide Ieva (Eve) showed us a video of that pre-independence event, now referred to as the Baltic Way.
She also has explained some basic national distinctions: Lithuania is the largest, Estonia the smallest; Lithuania is primarily Catholic, Estonia Lutheran, Latvia a mix of the two being in the middle. Lithuania has the smallest Russian-speaking population (7%), Latvia next (20%), Estonia the most (30%). Lithuania is more like Poland, Estonia more like Finland.
The Baltics were economically stronger during their years of independence between the world wars, wealthier at that time than the Scandinavian countries. WWII and 50 years of Soviet control meant disaster for their economies compared to western Europe.

Eve is Latvian and in our walking tour of Riga today showed us the communal apartment she grew up in under Soviet rule. In the 1970's her 4 member family had two rooms of what had been her grandmother's 7 room apartment before it was collectivised, sharing the bathroom with 2 men (one a drunk, the other a drug addict) and an older woman factory worker.