On August 23, 1939, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed, whose secret protocol delineated the division of Central and Eastern European states. This division not only created the conditions for the outbreak of World War II but also determined the tragic fate of Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, and Estonia, and set the boundaries of the Iron Curtain for five decades.
The first Soviet occupation was followed by the German occupation during World War II. After the Allies defeated fascism, the Soviets returned - initiating a second occupation that lasted 50 years. This era was marked by deportations, forced collectivization, and the propaganda of communist ideology. Collectivization pushed farmers into collective farm settlements, imposing the principles of the inefficient Soviet planned economy, which in turn shaped the development of industry, towns, and settlements. Everything was permeated by Soviet ideology. Yet the nation resisted the occupation: the “silent resistance” mobilized thousands who refused to comply with the regime, while armed partisan warfare continued for two decades. In the underground, the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania was produced and distributed. In 1976, the Lithuanian Helsinki Group was established in secret to record and disseminate information about human rights violations. On August 23, 1979, forty-five Baltic citizens signed a declaration condemning the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and its consequences. A decade later, hundreds of thousands of residents of the annexed Baltic states participated in the Baltic Way, demanding the reversal of the pact’s effects and the restoration of independence. In 1989, marking the anniversary of the pact, approximately 2 million people from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joined hands to form a human chain, demonstrating their mutual solidarity.
In 1990, when Lithuania regained its independence, approximately one thousand Russian tanks, 34,600 soldiers, around 180 aircrafts, and 1,901 armored vehicles remained in the country. The last military echelon of the Russian occupation forces left on August 31, 1993.
In our region, Lithuanian Liberty Army partisans were active, and the newspaper of the Lithuanian Freedom Fighters’ Union, Varpas, was secretly printed in Inturkė parsonage. Due to resistance to the Soviet regime, 1,406 people from Molėtai district were deported between 1941 and 1953, and 798 residents of the region were imprisoned in political prisoner camps. During the German occupation, the Jewish communities were almost entirely destroyed. Overall, during the “black decade” (1941–1951), Molėtai region lost about 20% of its pre-occupation population: victims of Soviet repression in 1941 and 1944-1953, those who fled westward to escape the returning Soviet barbarism, and casualties of the cruel decade-long partisan war. After the war, Polish-speaking inhabitants left Giedraičiai, Joniškis, and other border settlements for Poland.
When Molėtai became the center of the district, people concentrated in the main settlements of collective farms (kolkhozes) and soviet farms. No larger industrial enterprises were established, and Molėtai became known as a region suitable for recreation in nature. Many Lithuanian companies and institutions built holiday homes here.
