Five people holding hands in a line on a road, with trees and a car in the background.
Story

The Baltic Way: the day holding hands changed the world

by
Beth Daley (opens in new window) (Europeana Foundation)

On 23 August 1989, two million people held hands to form a human chain over 600 kilometres long linking three capital cities - Tallinn in Estonia, Riga in Latvia and Vilnius in Lithuania. This peaceful political demonstration became known as 'The Baltic Way'.

The Baltic Way was a massive demonstration for freedom, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the signing of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact betwen Hitler and Stalin, which had paved the way for the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States.

Traffic jam on a highway with numerous vintage cars and a bus.
A biplane flies low over a rural road where a large group of people stand, some waving. Cars are parked along the roadside, and trees line the horizon.

One in four people in the three Baltic States took part - young and old, in some cases several generations of the same families.

A line of people holding hands along a road, with some holding Lithuanian flags.

The chain publicised their cause to the world and symbolised solidarity. It was the biggest demonstration in the history of the Soviet Union and the turning point for the struggle for freedom of the Baltic States, with each state showing its desire for independence.

Women stand in a line holding large, framed photographs of men in uniform at an outdoor memorial event with flowers on the ground.
A line of people stands on a road holding hands and waving Lithuanian flags.
Black and white photo, a group of people stand outdoors holding hands with raised arms.
A long line of people stand on the side of a highway, holding flags, in front of a forested area.
A group of people standing in a row outdoors, each holding hands raised in the air.
A large group of people dressed in red and black formal clothing line up along a street, holding hands, with a flag at the front.
A black-and-white image of people standing in a line holding hands, with an overexposed effect creating multiple reflections.

Within six months of the protest, Lithuania became the first of the Republics of the Soviet Union to declare independence

23 August is now an official day of remembrance known as Black Ribbon Day or the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism.

The photographs in this blog are personal mementos, contributed by people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania who took part in collection day events held in 2013 and 2014 where people shared their memories of 1989 and the Fall of the Iron Curtain. Explore more Baltic Way memories from this crowd-sourced collection, or the entire 1989 collection.**

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