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It is compulsory and free school in Luxembourg for
everyone from the age of 6 to the age of 15. The primary
school is 6 years old, and German is the first language of
instruction. Second grade in primary school comes French as
well. In high school, French is the language of instruction.
When the children are 12 years old, they have to choose
whether they want to continue in secondary school
(lycée), or whether they will follow a technical/
vocational direction (enseignement secondaire technique).
The country has one-year university offers. Many young
people study abroad. Check topschoolsintheusa for test centers of ACT, SAT, and GRE as well high schools in the country of Luxembourg.
In 1926, Lithuania and the USSR entered into a non-attack
pact, followed in 1934 by a friendship and cooperation
agreement between Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. In 1938
relations with Poland became more tense as this demanded
supremacy over Vilnius. The situation worsened further when
a Nazi group came to power in Klaipéda - the only Lithuanian
port out to the Baltic - and demanded that this city also be
detached.
In September 1939, a secret supplementary agreement to
the German-Soviet non-attack pact placed Lithuania within
the Soviet sphere of influence. The following month, the
country was forced to conclude a mutual assistance agreement
with the Soviet Union, which also gave the superpower the
right to establish military and air bases in Lithuania. In
1940, Soviet troops occupied the country. Several of the
local political leaders were detained and deported, while
others fled to Western Europe.
Under the new Prime Minister, Justas Paleckis, Lithuania
became a republic in the Soviet Union in August 1940. After
the German occupation in 1941, the Baltic states were
gathered in the German province of Ostland (see
Estonia and Latvia).
During the German occupation, 190,000 Jews were sent to
concentration camps, and 100,000 of Vilnius's residents, a
third of the total population - most Jews - were murdered.
Known as "Jerusalem of Lithuania," Vilnius has become one of
the most important Jewish cultural centers in the world.
Also among the country's non-Jewish population, thousands
were killed and tens of thousands of young people deported
to Germany for forced labor.
Vilnius was captured by the Red Army in 1944, and the
country was again occupied by the Soviet Union. About 20,000
Lithuanians managed to flee to Western Europe before intense
Sovietization, forced agricultural collectivization and mass
deportations of Lithuanians to Russia and Siberia.
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