The Baltic chain protest

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On 23 August 1989, approximately two million people joined hands to form a 690-kilometre human chain across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

It was a key moment in the protests in Eastern Europe that became known as the Singing Revolution.

In 2010, Damien McGuinness spoke to MEP Sandra Kalniete, a Latvian organiser of the event.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

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(Photo: Estonian nationalist demonstrators taking part in the protest. Credit: Reuters/Dominique Dudouble)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I want to tell you why I love podcasting. Hi, my name's Tommy Dixon,
0:06.3	and I make podcasts for the BBC. I'm a big fan of stories, always loved a good book. But when I started
0:12.0	commuting for my first job, I discovered podcasts. I was blown away by how a creative idea and the right
0:17.8	mixture of sounds could take you into a whole new world full of incredible stories. You know, the type that make you go, wow. And that kind of inspired me to
0:25.2	give it a go myself, which to cut a long story short led to a BBC training scheme and a whole
0:29.9	new career giving other people that exact same feeling. So if you want to hear amazing stories
0:34.1	that make you go wow like I did, they're just a tap or click away on BBC Sounds.
0:43.5	Hello and welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service. We're taking you back
0:50.2	35 years to when millions of people held hands across three countries to protest against
0:56.6	Soviet occupation. Known as the Baltic chain, it was a turning point in their revolution.
1:02.9	In 2010, Damien McGuinness spoke to one of the organizers, Sandra Kalnyata.
1:08.2	On August 23rd, 1989, the people of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania
1:13.8	grabbed the attention of the world. Church bells gave the signal for thousands upon
1:20.4	thousands of people to join hands and form a human chain, linking their three republics in a show
1:27.2	of unity and a show of anger against Soviet
1:29.9	rule.
1:30.8	For 15 minutes, 2 million people held hands across the three Baltic states.
1:36.1	It was a quarter of an hour which changed their history.
1:38.8	The strongest emotion what I experienced was the beauty of nation in its rebirth.
1:48.8	Then age 36, Sandra Kalnyethe, was one of the Latvian organizers of the event.
1:54.4	I'm still wondering how destiny made such a present to me, putting me in the right place, in the right time,
2:04.7	to organise one of the most important manifestations in all the region.
	...

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