Letter from former Gulag prisoner Algirdas Statkevicius to President Ronald Reagan expressing gratitude for citizenship, 08/14/1988

Algirdas Statkevicius, MD 6547 Washtenaw Avenue Chicago, IL 60629 August 14, 1988 The Honorable Ronald Reagan The White House Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President: My name is Algirdas Statkevicius, MD. I am a Lithuanian and a citizen of the U.S.A. I came to the United States on May 21, 1988, after having spent more than 12 years in prisons of the Soviet Gulag, including seven years in psychiatric hospitals. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to you, Pre- sident, and your government for recognizing me as a U.S. citizen and for continuous demands directed to the Soviets to release me from Gulag prisons and allow me to emigrate to the U.S.A. I had been imprisoned on three different occasions for va- rious reasons: first, for my participation in the Lithuanian resistance movement immediately after World War II; secondly, for participating in the Moscow demonstrations which demanded the repeal of the pact that Hitler and Stalin had made in 1939; and thirdly, for my participation in the Lithuanian Helsinki group. My last imprisonment was concluded on January 9, 1987, and on the 25th of August of that same year the U.S. Consulate in Leningrad issued my U.S. passport. Mr. President, half of my life was spent living under the conditions of a Communist state. Those conditions did not evolve gradually, but became a spontaneous way of life in Russia after the Revolution in October of 1917. Lenin, the originator of the Communist State, established conditions of extreme amorality, and following him, Stalin and his successors continued to advocate brutality to its extreme limits. At the present time, during Gorbachev's reorganization period, the Soviet pursuit of pease is deceiving, without sin- cerity, aimed at continuing and escalating the existance of to- talitarianism. Today the Soviet empire is continuously slandering, torturing, physically and morally killing the many Socrates of Letter to the President 2 our times, those who wish to help our youth acquire moral ex- cellence and also direct all people towards an honorable way of life. Even though the Communist system speaks of future "demo- cratisation", it still responds to the words of truth and moral aspirations in the same manner as before: with fists, prison bars, concentration camps, and special psychiatric wards. I am, Mr. President, perhaps one of the latest witnesses to the fact that the Soviet prisons are overflowing with prisoners. many of whom are prisoners of conscience. Recently I had the opportunity to be in a Soviet prison in the city of Smolensk where prisoners were kept in their jail cells on four level shelves, like books are kept on bookshelves. There wasn't enough room for them on the cell floor. A group of Lithuanians came to see me and my daughter off as we were leaving for the U.S. Among them were Nijole Sadunaite and Antanas Terleckas, whom you met during the summet conferen- ce in Moscow. All these people are fighting against the evil system which exists in the Soviet Union. They also asked me to express their gratitude that you, Mr. President, and the U.S. government have not recognized the forceful annexation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union, and also for your continuous fight for human rights of the enslaved people, for their reli- gious freedoms, and for the release of political prisoners. Under your leadership the United States has become the strongest nation ethically, culturally, economically, and mili- tary and has become the only hope for the captive nations. This hope is strenghtened by the fact that America is victorious in such regional conflicts as Afghanistan, Angola and the Per- sian Gulf. We hope that the same will become true in Nicaragua. Cambodia, Ethiopia and in the other parts of the world. All these conflicts are military in nature. But the Baltic republics, victims of the Stalin-Hitler pact, are the only countries which did not regain their independence after World War II. The United States does not recognize their occupation. The Baltic republics, then, are the focus of "regional conflicts", though not of military, but of political-diplomatic nature. This "regional conflict" becoms more distinct by the fact that Letter to the President 3 hundreds of thousands of Baltic peoples are demonstrating in Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, as well as other Baltic cities, de- mending freedom for their countries. Recently Baltic demonstra- tions have been organized even in Moscow. The Lithuanian people wish to ask you, Mr. President, to officially declare the Baltic republics as a focus of the USA-USSR regional conflict. They also respectfully request that the question of the Baltic States' self determination be raised in the United Nations and other international forums. I would be honored, Mr. President, if you would accept my book of poems in Lithuanian, "A Voice from the Grave of Freedom". I wrote the poems in Gulag prisons and immediately upon my release. My manuscript was secretly sent to the United States and the book was published just prior to my arrival to the States. Mr. President, I wish to express the grati- tude of my nation, my personal respect, and God's many blessings for you and Mrs. Reagan. Sincerely,