Res. No. 419
Title
Resolution recognizing February 16th annually as Lithuania Independence Day in the City of New York.
Body
By Council Members Holden, Van Bramer, Gjonaj, Ulrich, Vallone and Rivera
Whereas, Lithuania, the southernmost of Europe's Baltic states, is situated west of Belarus, between Latvia and Russia, bordering the Baltic Sea1; and
Whereas, Lithuanian lands were first united around 1236 until 1569, when Lithuania and Poland formally united into a single dual state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; and
Whereas, The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth existed until 1795 when its remnants were partitioned by surrounding countries, the bulk of which was assumed by Russia2; and
Whereas, Lithuania remained a part of the Russian Empire when the Great Seimas of Vilnius, a major assembly held in December 1905 in Vilnius, Lithuania, convened following violent clashes between demonstrators and government troops to demand political autonomy within the Russian Empire3; and
Whereas, In April 1915, German troops launched a military offensive against Russian troops in western Lithuania, and captured Vilnius in September 1915; and
Whereas, Lithuania remained under German military occupation during World War I4 until February 16, 1918, when the Council of Lithuania signed the Act of Independence of Lithuania, which restored it as an independent state5; and
Whereas, Despite recognizing Lithuania's independence under the Treaty of Moscow in 1920, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ("Soviet Union" or "USSR") invaded Lithuania and compelled the country to be incorporated into the USSR in 19406; and
Whereas, In 1941, the USSR carried out mass arrests and deported thousands of Lithuanians, who were deemed to be harboring anti-Soviet attitudes, to Siberian labor camps and other forced settlements in remote parts of the Soviet Union7; and
Whereas, Early on during World War II (WWII), on June 22, 1941, Nazi German...
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