{"id":121,"date":"2021-01-21T09:54:11","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T09:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.archiv.org.lv\/diaspora\/batun\/?page_id=121"},"modified":"2022-06-28T08:46:53","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T08:46:53","slug":"the-beginning-of-batun","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.archiv.org.lv\/batun\/index.php\/the-beginning-of-batun\/","title":{"rendered":"THE BEGINNING OF BATUN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BALTIC FREEDOM RALLY ON NOVEMBER 13, 1965<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“May the Freedom Rally in New York be only the beginning of a large and unceasing effort of all Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians, now living in the free world to liberate their native countries<\/em>” <\/p>

\/Norberts Trep\u0161a about the Baltic Freedom rally<\/em>\/<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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The Baltic Freedom Rally in New York on November 13, 1965 was one of the most impressive Baltic gatherings, which inspired the exile community to continue lobbying. It inspired the exile community, especially in the NY area, but also worldwide, to become a more effective financial and volunteer resour\u00adce for Baltic anti-Soviet actions. The large-scale demonstration, attended by 11,000 to 14,000 Baltic-Americans, formed the basis for the establishment of the Baltic exile organization BATUN on February 12-13, 1966.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organization of the rally and the related activities began in the summer of 1965. The main motivations were: the United States non-recognition policy regarding the Soviet occupation and annexation of the Baltic States; the Vietnam War; and the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and People (General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV)), also known as the Declaration on Decolonization, which was adopted by General Assembly in 1960.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rally was organized by exile Balts, mostly Lithuanians, who also raised the necessary funds. They were volunteers, mostly in their twenties and early thirties, graduates of American universities, and professionals who were engaged in pursuing their careers as well as volunteering in their ethnic communities. The main organizer was the Committee to Restore Lithuania\u2019s Independence, incorporated in the State of New York, headed by Anthony Mazeika, Msgr. Balkunas, Algirdas Budreckis, Anthony Snieckus, Joseph Miklovas, and Romas Kezys. The rally was fully financed by the Baltic exiles. The organizers of the rally succeeded in raising about $65,000 from the Baltic exile community, mostly from Lithuanians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Entrance ticket to the Baltic Freedom rally at Madison Square Garden on November 13, 1965. Source: LNA LVA F.2944.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Letter from Jonas Balkunas to Norbert Trep\u0161a with an invitation to participate in the mass rally on November 13, 1965. Source: LNA LVA F.2944.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Baltic Freedom Rally’s Program on November 13, 1965. Source: LNA LVA F.2944.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

With this event, the Committee to Restore Lithuania\u2019s Independence aimed to appeal to the United Nations for the restoration of the independence of the Baltic States by garnering the attention and support of the American public, and ensuring that the \u2018Baltic Question\u2019 is included in the agenda of the UN General Assembly for discussion and action \u2013 either directly or via the Decolonization Committee. During the Baltic demonstration in New York on November 13th<\/sup>, A. Ma\u017eeika, Chairman of the Lithuanian Independence Committee, pointed out that this also served to remind the world of the 25-year occupation of the Baltic States, and that the crimes of the Soviet Union needed to be investigated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Two mass meetings were organized as part of the demonstration. The first mass meeting took place in the 18,000-seat Madison Square Garden arena (on 8th Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets) in Manhattan with the participation of American statesmen and a promise of support for the Baltics. The program director, Leo Cherne, a prominent American and executive director of the Research Institute of America, read a declaration by New York City Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr.  announcing that November 13th<\/sup> had been declared to be Baltic Freedom Day in New York City. Senator Karl E. Mundt, a member of Foreign Relations Committee, and Congressman John J. Rooney, a member of Foreign Operations Subcommittee, promised to work for the adoption of a program to support the efforts of oppressed people to achieve freedom in the US Congress and to discuss what US government could done for the Baltics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the most important moment was the declaration adopted by the meeting, in which an appeal was made to the <\/a>United Nations leadership and individual governments to discuss the problem of colonialism in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania without delay, and a demand was made <\/a>that the Soviet Union grant these countries independence. The 128 prominent signatories of declaration included Richard M. Nixon (former Vice-President and future President of the United States), fifty-four US Senators and Representatives, seven state governors, six mayors of major cities, and nineteen members of the clergy. On Sunday, November 7, 1965 the signed declaration and an announce\u00adment of the rally appeared as a full-page ad in The New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The declaration adopted during Baltic Freedom rally on November 13, 1965. Source: LNA LVA F.2944.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Jonas Balk\u016bnas, the first president of BATUN, demands freedom, independence and UN membership for the Baltic States, during the demonstration in front of the UN on November 13, 1965. Photo by Binkin. Source: LNA LVA F.2944.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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After the meeting at Madison Square Garden, the demonstrators carrying Baltic flags and accompanied by music marched through the center of New York to Dag Hammarskj\u00f6ld Plaza near the UN. The route through Manhattan was strategically chosen so that the Baltic demonstrators and messages on the placards they carried would draw as much attention as possible to the fact the Baltic States were occupied. Another meeting was held in front of the United Nations. This was directed specifically at the members of the United Nations. There, Antony Mazeika and an honor guard carried the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian flags, as a symbol of the Baltic Appeal to the UN, lowered the flags before the gates of the United Nations. Overall, the demonstration went calmly. The only incident was the arrest of four Lithuanians who tried to climb over the fence at the UN.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Baltic Freedom rally’s program at Hammarskj\u00f6ld Plaza near the UN. Source: LNA LVA F.2944.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Information about the Baltic Friendship dance after the march to the United Nations on November 13, 1965. Source: LNA LVA F.2944.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ints Rupners, the former president of BATUN, in video interview talks about the Baltic Freedom rally (in Latvian). Source: Museum of the Occupation of Latvia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Dzintra Bungs, the former BATUN activist, in a video interview talks about the Baltic Freedom Rally (in Latvian) during the exhibition “Baltic Appeal to the United Nations” at the National Library of Latvia, September-October 2020. Source: Museum of the Occupation of Latvia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BATUN<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201eWe are here as average people, not as professional diplomats, not as refined politicians. We are here to declare that freedom for Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania is not just a political issue. It is not an object for clandestine deals by political operators. No one may sell or exchange the freedom of the Baltic States for some imaginary profits. No one may betray the freedom of nation, not even the United Nations.\u201d<\/em> \/Norberts Trep\u0161a at the Joint Baltic Conference<\/em>\/<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In February 1966, a group consisting mostly of young Baltic exiles estab\u00adlished an organization to continue the work initiated at the rally on November 13, 1965. It was decided that a permanent organization was needed to continue raising the Baltic issues at the UN. BATUN would not have been founded if the United Nations itself had not been founded in 1945.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some of the participants of a Baltic conference, February 12-13, 1966 in New York when BATUN was formed. In the first row from left: Rita Uibo, Izolde Z\u012bvers, Algimantas Gureckas, Nastute Umbrazaite, Juozas Mikolvas, Norberts Trep\u0161a, Viktor Vinkman, Amarillie Matuzele, Paulins \u017dygas, Dzintra Bungs; in the second row from left: Visvaldas Gerdvilis, Romas Lintkus, Ergo Karuks, Dzintra Kalni\u0146a, Anders Juriado, Harald Randsepp, Algis Ruksenas, Ruta Damarkas, Janika Tallat-Kalpsa, Rimas Gulbinas, Dzintars Paegle; in the third row from left: Koit Ojamaa, Andris Dzirkalis, Herbert Valdsaar, Karl Laantee, Heino Ainso, Uldis Grava, O\u013c\u0123erts Balodis, Uldis Blu\u0137is, Tonu Espenberg, Viktoras Kondrotas. Photo by V.Mazelis. Source: LNA LVA F.2944.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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BATUN was founded on February 12 and 13, 1966 in New York by the Joint Baltic Conference. The declaration, which was voted on by the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Committees of BATUN at the first joint meeting on February 12th and 13th, stated that BATUN is not a political organization, nor is it an organization that is addressing itself to only one nation. BATUN was opposed to all forms of imperialism, colonialism, and exploitation of one nation by any other. BATUN was not supported or guided by any governmental or political body in the US or any other nation. It was created for the purpose of informing the UN Member States about conditions in the Baltic States, in order to create serious concern in all freedom loving nations, based on the solemnly declared principles of the UN; <\/a>and that this <\/a>would lead to self-determination for the Baltic States, through the restoration of national independence for Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. This was based on a moral obligation to be seriously concerned with the situation in the Baltic States, and the fact that the correct forum for the resolution of all international problems is the UN. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201eWe appeal to all nations of the world not to stand idly by while cruel and godless colonizers exterminate three nations, three wholesome, colorful, culturally rich and vitally alive people. Not in other year, not some time later, but next week, every honest statesman should raise this issue in the United Nations. No one can pretend to be serving freedom of the world, no one can enjoy his own freedom, while from behind the Iron Curtain come the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the victims of the Communist hell\u201d <\/em><\/p>

\/Norberts Trep\u0161a at the Joint Baltic Conference on February 12-13 in 1966\/<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The agenda of the Joint Baltic conference on February 12-13, 1966. Source: LNA LVA F.2944.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Declaration adopted at the Joint Baltic conference on February 12-13, 1966. Source: LNA LVA F.2944.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The BATUN tasks, as set at the Joint Baltic Conference, were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n