On August 23rd, 1989, around two million people in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia joined hands to form a 600 km long human chain from Vilnius to Tallinn to demand freedom from the Soviet Union. This event - the Baltic Way - considered almost as symbolic as the fall of the Berlin Wall less than three months later that year.

Vaida, 9 years old back then, stood there along with her grandmother, mother, father and younger sister. She felt that something is about to change in their lives but was not quite sure what exactly - and how. Thirty years on, in this personal account of the events that followed, author reflects on key moments, people and phenomena that shaped her “transition generation”.

How does a child understand that the political system is changing? What influence can your first encounter with a foreigner have? How did the new generation of journalists shape the concept of freedom after Lithuania regained independence?

Produced by Vaida Pilibaitytė

Subtitles by Adomas Zubė

Part of the international co-production series “Raised to be Free” coordinated by the Romanian public radio.