053. Renouncing honours

Russia first occupied Lithuania and introduced a program of “Russification,” an attempt to eliminate Lithuanian language and culture in favor of Russian culture, in the mid-19th century. After 22 years of independence from Russia, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939 reintroduced the Soviet Union’s dominance over Lithuania—as well as the other Baltic states: Estonia and Latvia. The Soviet Union publicly stated that Lithuania had joined the USSR willingly, although secret protocols of the pact disputed this. Following World War II, the Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania.

The history of Native American and government interactions in South Dakota is riddled with animosity.  In the mid-1900s the Native Americans were mortified by the atrocities committed against their people by the federal government and began to create a plan for protest.  In 1968, two hundred members of the American Indian community met to discuss issues of police brutality, high unemployment rates, unjust prosecutions, and other government policies regarding the Native American population.  At this meeting they launched the American Indian Movement (AIM).