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On August 23, the Prime Ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia: Algirdas Butkevičius, Valdis Dombrovskis and Andrus Ansip issued a joint statement on the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian Regimes:

“Today is European Day of Remembrance for victims of Stalinism and Nazism. Today the world commemorates the victims of the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century.

On 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union led by Joseph Stalin and the German Reich ruled by Adolf Hitler entered into a secret pact to divide and conquer Europe.

The totalitarian regimes occupied freedom-loving European nations and a reign of terror was unleashed.

Communism and Nazism took the lives of millions of people. In the Baltic States, no families were left untouched by the violence of these malicious regimes. Misery affected all ethnic and social groups.

We remember the victims of the totalitarian regimes and honour those who fought against tyranny and oppression. We also commemorate the most vivid expression of the Baltic nations’ desire for freedom.

On 23 August 1989, two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stood hand in hand in the Baltic Way from Vilnius through Rīga to Tallinn in order to demand the restoration of their independence, which had been robbed by the Soviet regime.

Our peaceful aspiration for freedom was stronger than the Soviet might, because justice was on our side.”

In 2008, the European Parliament designated the 23 August as the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarianism, in order to preserve the memory of the victims of mass deportations and exterminations by the Soviet and Nazi regimes.

Nowadays, the European Day of Remembrance, also known as the International Black Ribbon Day, is observed not only in the European Union but also in the countries outside the EU, including Canada, Georgia, and the United States.