On August 23, 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty, widely known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (MRP). The pact's secret protocols divided Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Romania up between them, which would lead to the occupation and annexation of the Baltics by the Soviet Union less than a year later.

In the 1980s, August 23 began to be observed as Black Ribbon Day on the initiative of affected refugee and diaspora communities and organizations in Canada and other countries in the West.

First proposed by Canadian Estonian Markus Hess in 1985, Black Ribbon Day and the use of black ribbons to commemorate the victims took off the following year.

In 1986, the newly formed International Black Ribbon Day Committee accepted David Somerville's suggestion to observe it on the anniversary of the signing of the MRP on August 23. The Toronto-based international committee organized a nationwide campaign promoting Black Ribbon Day in Canada, as well as established further organizing committees in nearly two dozen cities worldwide.

That year, Black Ribbon Day demonstrations were held in 21 Western cities, from Stockholm, London, Toronto and New York to Los Angeles, Seattle and even Perth, Australia. The movement continued to expand, and by 1991, Black Ribbon Day demonstrations were held in 56 cities worldwide.

MRP protests reach the Baltics

By 1987, Black Ribbon Day and MRP protests had spread to the Baltics themselves, and against the backdrop of Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika reform policies in the Soviet Union, these protests were officially sanctioned by Soviet authorities for the first time a year later.

Still under occupation, Estonia first adopted its declaration of sovereignty in November 1988, with Lithuania to follow suit in May 1989 and Latvia that same July. Despite these landmark actions, however, the Baltics still weren't free.

Amid growing tensions, protests, strikes and petitions approaching the 50th anniversary of the signing of the MRP, plans began to form in 1989 for a much larger-scale protest on August 23. While the exact origin of the idea to form a human chain remains unclear, several sources attribute the decision to a trilateral Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian meeting held in Pärnu on July 15; an official agreement was signed in Cesis, Latvia on August 12.

The Baltics' respective popular fronts – Estonia's Rahvarinne, Latvia's Tautas fronte and Lithuania's Sajudis movement – organized the Baltic Way protest in less than six weeks.

Organizers mapped out a route through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, linking together the capitals of Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Buses were organized to help transport participants from across each country to designated locations along the route, ensuring there would be no gaps in the chain. Radio broadcasts were organized for the day of the event to help coordinate participants, and Estonia even declared the day, which fell on a Wednesday, a public holiday.

On August 18, just days before the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the Baltics' planned mass protest, an extensive interview was published in Pravda, the Soviet Union's official daily paper, in which Alexander Yakovlev, a Soviet official and the chair of a commission formed to investigate the MRP and its secret protocols, admitted that the secret protocols were real.

This admission forced Moscow to drop its firm long-standing position that the pact's secret protocols did not exist or were forgeries, which in turn served to undermine Soviet claims that there were no occupations, and that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had all voluntarily sought to join the Soviet Union.

2 million strong

On Wednesday, August 23, participants in the Baltic Way traveled to their designated positions along the more than 670-kilometer route, carrying radios, Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian flags, and signs bearing slogans and messages of protest.

In Estonia, the route stretched northward from the Lilli border checkpoint at the Latvian border, making its way through the countryside via Karksi-Nuia, Viljandi, Türi, and Rapla before reaching Tallinn.

That evening, at 7 p.m. local time, participants held hands or linked arms for 15 minutes, forming a nearly continuous human chain stretching more than 600 kilometers across the Baltics. Later that night, the Baltic Way was followed by more local gatherings and protests.

While estimates vary, it was reported the next day that some 700,000 Estonians and one million Lithuanians had taken part in the Baltic Way. Latvia reported the participation of another 400,000, bringing the total number of protesters in the human chain on August 23 to more than two million.

A brief overview of the Baltic Way published by Latvia's Saeima in 2019.

Paving the way to freedom

News and images of this massive peaceful protest made headlines all over the world, putting a spotlight on Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania's cause and the Singing Revolution, as well as leading to increased attention and pressure from the West. The event also marked a shift in the Baltics from seeking greater freedom from Moscow to working toward full restoration of the three countries' independence.

That December, the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union accepted and Gorbachev signed off on the commission report condemning the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The following February, pro-independence candidates won majorities in the first democratic elections held in each of the Baltics' Supreme Soviets, or legislative bodies.

While efforts to restore and reinstate the three countries' independence and freedom continued in stages, on March 11, 1990, within seven months of the Baltic Way, Lithuania declared the restoration of its independence. Latvia would follow suit on May 4 of the same year, and Estonia on August 20, 1991.

Lasting legacy

The Baltic Way as a human chain demonstration would go on to see echoes in other Soviet-occupied areas, but also more recently in places including Taiwan, Catalonia and Hong Kong. On August 23, 2020, a reenactment of the Baltic Way in Lithuania also included Belarus in support of Belarusian protesters. Various smaller human chains have been organized in the diaspora as well, in honor of Black Ribbon Day and in tribute to the original Baltic Way.

Nominated in 2008 (link to PDF), documentation of the Baltic Way was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2009. That same year, the European Parliament passed a resolution confirming August 23 as the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of All Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes.

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