Baltic Chronicles: A Time of Difficult Decisions (1989)

Newsreel from 1939: views of the Moscow Kremlin.

A passenger plane from Germany lands at a Moscow airport.

German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop descends the plane.

A guard of honor at the airport.

First Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.P. Potemkin greets Ribbentrop.

Soviet and German diplomats during a meeting.

Ribbentrop gets into a car.

Meeting between V.M. Molotov and Ribbentrop in the Kremlin. V.M. Molotov signs the Non-Aggression Pact between the USSR and Germany. I.V. Stalin during the signing of the treaty.

Ribbentrop signs.

Stalin's face.

A photograph of Ribbentrop, Molotov, and Stalin in the Kremlin, published in the newspaper "Pravda", the text of the report on the signing of the Non-Aggression Pact.

Picketers with the national flags of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia on a bridge in Riga.

Interviews with protesters talking about the forty-nine years of Russian occupation, a Latvian flag with a mourning ribbon.

Newsreel from 1940: a workers' demonstration on the streets of Riga in June 1940. Workers of Riga greet the Red Army.

Demonstrations and rallies on the streets of Riga demanding annexation to the USSR. The release of political prisoners from Riga prison, the people of Riga greet them.

Open prison cell doors.

Shackles and batons of guards thrown on the floor.

Freed prisoners in prison uniforms among the rally participants.

Demonstration in Riga with a portrait of Stalin.

Views of demonstrations and rallies in Riga (above).

A speaker reading a resolution, a panorama of the mass rally (above).

An activist tells the story of the fate of one of the Latvian political figures sitting nearby.

An interview with a former leader of the underground Communist Youth Union of Latvia (both live and off-camera).

Newsreel from 1940: A. Ya.

Vyshinsky speaking from a balcony in Riga during a rally, views of the rally (above).

A meeting of the new Latvian government headed by A. M. Kirhenstein.

Vilis Lacis at a government meeting.

A convoy of trucks moves down a Riga street on the day of the new Saeima elections, July 14, 1940. People in the back of trucks.

A line at a polling station.

Distribution of ballots.

A ballot of candidates from the Latvian Working People's Bloc.

A voter drops a ballot into the ballot box.

People dance in the street after voting at a polling station.

Newsreel from 1940: a workers' demonstration on the streets of Riga in July 1940. A session of the People's Saeima on July 21, 1940, views of the session hall, deputies applauding the adoption of the decision on Latvia's accession to the USSR. The demonstration column passes the Saeima building.

Demonstration on the streets of Riga.

Panorama of the rally in support of the decision of the People's Saeima.

A meeting of the delegation of the People's Saeima in Moscow.

Delegates ride in an open car through the streets of Moscow.

The session hall of the 7th session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Applauding delegates.

Stalin I.V., Zhdanov A.A., Malenkov G.M., Khrushchev N.S. and other leaders of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) enter the session hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace.

The faces of the applauding deputies.

Molotov V.M. informs the deputies from the rostrum about the accession of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to the USSR; the deputies listen to Molotov's report.

Members of the Plenipotentiary Commission of the People's Saeima of Latvia enter the meeting hall.

Prime Minister of Latvia A. M. Kirhensteins speaks from the rostrum (synchronously, in Latvian).

Deputies rise and applaud.

Molotov V. M., Mikoyan A. I., and Kaganovich L. M. applaud from the presidium.

An interview with a teacher of party history in front of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia (synchronously and off-camera).

The national flag of Latvia with a black ribbon flies in memory of the victims of repression.

Residents of Latvia stand hand in hand in the middle of the road during the "Baltic Way" action.

Interviews with participants of the action (synchronously).

Members of a Latvian family give an interview, speaking about the Russian occupation (synchronously).

Participants in a rally in Riga give interviews (synchronously).

Newsreel footage from 1941-1944: the entry of Nazi troops into Latvia.

Wehrmacht units march through the streets of Riga.

A rally at which two flags hang – fascist and Latvian.

Soldiers and local residents destroy USSR symbols.

Destruction of Stalin's sculptures.

Burning Riga in October 1944. Soviet troops march through the streets of liberated Riga.

Residents greet the soldiers with flowers.

Girls and women embrace soldiers passing in formation.

A Soviet officer holds a girl in his arms.

Red Army soldiers carry bouquets of flowers presented to them.

A rally at the Freedom Monument in Riga in 1989 (top).

Interview with a Russian resident of Riga (synchronously).

One of the participants in the rally of Russian residents of Latvia speaks, protesting the adoption of anti-Russian laws.

A strike by Russian workers at the port in May 1989. First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia, J. J. Vagris, addresses the strikers, attempting to engage in dialogue; the strikers ask him questions.

A television interview with A. V. Gorbunov, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR (in Latvian) is broadcast; television studio equipment is available.

A picket is held outside the building of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR. Picketers give interviews about Latvia's sovereignty and the restoration of its independence.

A discussion between two picketers takes place, with women arguing.

Participants of the "Baltic Way" action stand along the roadside (panorama).

Participants of the action give interviews (synchronously).

Panorama of the workshop of the Ogre Knitwear Factory.

Interview with a worker who came from Ukraine about tensions in interethnic relations and a local Russian worker (synchronously and off-camera).

Workers of the factory answer a journalist's question about their nationality and affiliation with political movements, give interviews about the political situation (synchronously and off-camera).

Interview with a Russian worker, a participant of the Popular Front (synchronously).

Newsreel from 1950: a demonstration in Riga on July 21, 1950, in honor of the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Soviet system in Latvia.

Representatives of different regions of Latvia walk in national costumes.

Demonstration columns move across the square.

Red flags above one of the demonstration columns.

Portraits of Lenin and Stalin at the head of one of the columns.

The leaders of the republic are on the podium.

Views of demonstration columns, demonstrators waving bouquets of flowers.

Members of sports societies of the Latvian SSR march past.

The demonstration moves past a tribune with the coat of arms of the Latvian SSR. The demonstration columns move across the square.

Representatives of Riga's industrial enterprises march past.

Girls in national costumes walk in front of the tribune.

A celebration at the Riga stadium.

A meeting of the Founding Congress of the Latvian Workers' Union.

A congress delegate speaks from the tribune (synchronously and off-camera), faces of the congress delegates.

A demonstration of members of the Latvian Workers' Union on the streets of Old Riga, banners with slogans in the hands of the demonstrators.

Latvian flags lead the demonstration.

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Police disperse the demonstration, detain its participants, and force them onto a bus.

An interview with Archimandrite Alexander (Kudryashov), Bishop of Daugavpils and Vicar of the Riga Diocese, about the church's role in reconciling interethnic conflicts (synchronously).

Archimandrite Alexander before the beginning of the church service; parishioners cross themselves.

The rite of kissing the cross.

Archimandrite Alexander walks to the altar.

Candles in the hands of children participating in the "Baltic Way" campaign at sunset.

Participants of the campaign with the national flags of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Russia around a bonfire (panorama).

Faces of the participants of the campaign (panorama).