Lithuania Opens “Toward Unconditional Freedom” Installation to Mark Freedom Day

A new installation at Vilnius railway station asks Lithuanians to reflect on freedom while tracing the country’s journey from occupation to independence.

“Toward Unconditional Freedom” recalls early efforts to break away from Soviet rule, the restoration of independence and Lithuania’s support for Ukraine. Visitors can also write their own views on what freedom means. The installation will remain at the station until 11 p.m. Monday.

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Freedom for me is the ability to choose, create and decide.

Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said Lithuania did not become fully free when it declared independence on March 11, 1990. He said that moment came more than three years later, when the last Russian occupation forces left on Aug. 31, 1993.

The railway station provided a setting for his message. Kaunas described it as a place where people choose a direction, east or west. He said Lithuania chose the western path of democracy, prosperity, self-reliance and responsibility for its own decisions and homes.

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That day, Lithuania chose the western direction: the direction of democracy, prosperity, self-reliance and responsibility for our decisions and our homes.

Kaunas also pointed to Russia’s war in Ukraine, saying freedom cannot be taken for granted and must be protected through daily actions. “Our generation’s duty is to ensure that future generations do not have to win back their freedom,” he said.

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Our generation’s duty is to ensure that future generations do not have to win back their freedom.

Transport Minister Juras Taminskas spoke of freedom to travel and think without coercion or pressure. He said a free country is a creative country, and that a creative country has a future.

The installation’s opening will be followed by a discussion series called “Free Conversation.” Participants include Kaunas, Geopolitics and Security Studies Center director Linas Kojala, historians Alfredas Bumblauskas and Antanas Terleckas, and Vladimiras Jarmolenko, a member of Lithuania’s state delegation that negotiated with Russia. Lithuania’s final Russian forces numbered about 34,500 troops, 1,000 tanks, 180 aircraft and 1,900 armored vehicles before their withdrawal.

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Freedom is to do what you want to do at that moment, without coercion or pressure.