THE VOICE OF INTERNATIONAL LITHUANIA
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Archive for 2011
Lithuania eyes sixfold jump in state firm returns
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By Nerijus Adomaitis, Reuters
Lithuania has embarked on reform of its state-owned enterprises, and wants them to generate a sixfold rise in dividends to 540 million litas (156 million euros) next year, representing 0.5 percent of its GDP.
Along with austerity measures and tax increases, the reforms are part of fiscal consolidation aimed at cutting the Baltic state's deficit, which surged to 9.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2009 after an economic contraction of nearly 15 percent the same year.
TARGETS: Instead of privatization, Lithuania's coalition government wants to extract higher returns from its biggest state-owned firms, which operate in the energy, forestry and transport sectors. These companies had a total estimated market value of 21 billion litas in 2010.
Despite a still fragile economy, returns generated by Lithuanian state firms have grown in recent years. In 2009, the net turnover for the state-owned firms amounted to 6.5 billion litas with a mere 42 million litas in dividends.
Higher contributions from state assets that include utility and railway operators doubled dividends this year to 86.2 million litas from 2010.
PROGRESS:
Lithuania, which aims to adopt the euro in 2014, also wants to improve corporate governance and limit political influence on management by including independent professional managers in the boards of these companies.
In October, majority state-owned oil terminal Klaipedos Nafta elected two independent members, including a representatives from a life insurance fund, to its board.
State-owned companies are now expected to report their performance quarterly and annually while the economy ministry has started issuing regular reviews of key sectors.
The government has also ordered an audit of the social role of these companies to uncover, for instance, the cost of operating loss-making railway routes. The aim is to eventually separate the commercial and social functions of these firms.
Political opposition has already thwarted the government's attempt to place all its state-owned assets under a single holding company.
(3.4527 litas = 1 euro)
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Indulge yourself!
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Sometimes you just need to put the brakes on, slow down, relax, and indulge yourself... Medieval, modern, luxurious Lithuania is the place to do exactly that, trust us...
Treat yourself to a break at one of the many fine hotels in one of the cities or at a countryside inn – and enjoy the marvellous city or countryside life in a country named as ‘Europe’s best kept secret’ where you can experience its little known history side by side with dynamic, modern city life...
Enjoy elegant, international dining or traditional Lithuanian meals at a hotel, city restaurant or a country pub offering food for lazy lunches or dinners washed down with a glass of excellent wine or a more traditional beer...
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I got the address of VilNews from my American friend. Best congratulations. You are again doing something that Lithuanian officials ought to do.
Vilius Kavaliauskas, advisor of former PM Algirdas Brazauskas
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Lack of name recognition
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Thanks for caring so much about Lithuania! I think one of Lithuania's challenges is lack of name recognition. I have been in Washington, DC for about two weeks and I try to mention Lithuania with every new contact I make. Also, Lithuanians (at least here in the States) need to do a better job of reaching out to NON-ethnic Lithuanians to share their culture, language, and people. Best,
Jennifer Lambert, Washington, DC USA
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Advent 1945:
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IN THE WORLD
“Across America, people crowd churches praying with gratitude for the peace in place, and reach out to wounded veterans, children who lost fathers, and neighbors who lost sons. Americans in big cities and small, participate in displays of the intrinsic love so indicative of the American spirit.” |
IN LITHUANIA
In 1944-45 Lithuanians were forced to realize that the bloody World War II had been replaced by a new war, the longest and bloodiest guerrilla war in modern European history, lasting from 1944 to at least 1953. |
Advent and Christmas of 1945 was over most of the world celebrated with a joy and delight almost never before seen. Young and old gathered in homes, on streets and in churches. An endless series of victory ceremonies took place in almost every corner of the world. With a deep sense of joy and gratitude all wanted each other warm, comfortable and relaxing Christmas holidays, knowing that the Nazi era was over and that the world now more than ever could look forward to a future of peace and prosperity. The war had finally released the grip, forgotten was the economic recession of the 1930s. Forgotten was also our Western World’s close friends and neighbours - the Baltic States.
On a small farm in northern Lithuania, in the outskirts of the village Šilagalis, Christmas 1945 is nearing. It is the 22nd of December, and the mother of the house feels very happy that her 21 year old son Povilas has finally come home to visit after having been away for many months.
He has come to change into dry clothes to keep him warm through the cold winter days waiting. His mother is infinitely happy to have her son home this one day, and she does everything she can to treat him with all the good food and drink their little farm can produce. You never know how long it will be till next time.
Povilas had joined a local partisan group earlier in 1945, and now spends all time in the North Lithuanian forests where the local "forest brothers" have established their hideouts. It is from these caches, usually at night, that they conduct their operations against military installations and forces of the Soviet Red Army and NKVD (the secret Soviet police that later changed name to KGB).
The Soviet occupation of Lithuania has lasted for more than a year now, but Povilas and other forest brothers still hope that their constant needle sticks can get Josef Stalin to pull his troops out of Lithuania and the other two Baltic countries.
Povilas is pleased to finally have got a day off, not least is he happy to eat real Christmas food and enjoy some Christmas cheer with the family. A small fly in the ointment is the fact that his father, little sister and little brother are not home.
Both the brother and the sister go to a boarding school in the nearest town, Panevežys, and his father had early in the morning that same day left for the town to bring them home for Christmas. But his mother is here, and when she and he, with arms around each other, go out in the barn to feed the animals, he sings with joy a song he so often has sung in the partisan camp in recent months:
"Dying young is difficult, but not for my country. For my country, Lithuania, I am ready to sacrifice my young life. "
His mother scolds him motherly strictly that he sings: "You know it is not proper to sing now that it's Advent," she says. Lithuania's Roman Catholic Church is strict when it comes to how to behave through the various festive times of the year, and his mother admonishes her son, therefore, while at the same time feeling proud and happy that he makes such an honourable service to the home country.
Back in the farmhouse they suddenly hear that the dog starts to bark. Through the window they see a group of soldiers approaching. The soldiers are still on some distance, so Povilas has time to hide in a small cellar room they have made beneath the living room floor, and the mother has time to cover the cellar hatch as best she can.
The cellar room has also previously been used to hide partisans, and both think this is a safe hiding place until the soldiers have left again.
The mother walks out into the yard to meet the soldiers from the Soviet Red Army. They ask if her son is home, and if he, in case, is alone. Without waiting for an answer, they storm into the house and begin to turn upside down on furniture and fixtures. Then they start shooting down to the floor to see if it can be cavities under the floorboards. It takes some time before they discover the cellar hatch, but as soon as they find and open it, they fire a machinegun volley into the hole. It does not take long before they pull the now perforated and lifeless body of Povilas out of the basement. The whole operation has taken them five hours, but they have found what they sought. One more young Lithuanian life has been lost in the desperate struggle against the overwhelming odds.
The distance from the farm to the road is over 500 meters, so the soldiers find a chain in the barn so they can tow the corpse of Povilas across the fields over to the military vehicle waiting. The mother is forced to follow, and soon they are on their way to the NKVD headquarters in Panevezys, where the body of Povilas is thrown out in the middle of the courtyard. His mother is brought to a prison cell in the basement.
Early next morning, Christmas Eve 1945, the mother is brutally dragged up from the wooden bench she has laid sleepless on during the night. Today, and every subsequent day for two weeks, she is brought up to ever-new interrogations, walking across the courtyard where the mutilated body of her son still is lying.
Christmas and New Year holiday season in 1945 passes with this terrible routine for a mother in tears and sorrow. Early in January, she is released and can finally go home and tell the family what has happened.
In thousands of homes around the world happy families walk around their Christmas trees. They celebrate that Jesus is born and the world's evil is overcome. 1946 is the beginning of the new and bright times for the human kind…
In northern Lithuania the parents of Povilas and other parents finally find out where the bodies of their killed young partisan sons have been dumped. Under the cover of dark nights in early January 1946, they manage to bring the bodies of their children home to secret burials in their hometown cemeteries.
Christmas 1945 is over. Most of the world looks forward to many good years of peace, freedom and economic growth. The Baltic States' ten-year guerrilla war against the occupiers has just begun.
* * *
The story of Povilas is real. It is based on a passage from the book "Lithuania's struggle for freedom" (Lithuanian Partisans' War Chronicles).
Povilas Peleckas was born on 24 January 1924 into a farming family in the village of Šilagalis in the Panevežys district north in Lithuania. He attended Šilagalis primary school. Later he helped his parents on the farm. In 1944 when the USSR invaded and occupied Lithuania for the second time (first time was in 1940), Povilas was due for conscription into the Red Army. He refused to go. When a local partisan unit was formed, led by Major Januškevičius, Povilas joined the fighters. In September 1945 many of the members of the unit were killed in battle, and another three were killed at the beginning of December. Those who remained alive determined to join a larger partisan unit. But fate was against them.
See also: https://vilnews.com/?p=1739
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Vilnius Jewish Library
to open 16 December!
http://vilniusjewishlibrary.org/
The Vilnius Jewish Library will be the first Jewish library in Lithuania since 1943, and we are happy to announce that the opening will take place 16 December. Location: Gedimino prospekto 24.
Wyman Brent is not like California Baptists in general. Several years ago he fell in love with Vilnius. His great passion in life is Jewish books - books written by or about Jews. Therefore, he has over the latest years bought more than 5.000 such books and taken them to Vilnius to open a Jewish library. Read below his own story about his ideals for a meaningful life.
Text: Wyman Brent
Using a wire brush to scrub a broken sink can help strengthen Jewish culture. Most people are not aware of this. Thus I found myself kneeling in a parking lot on a hot summer day with a hose and attempting to remove concrete dust from an old metal sink. To aid in the cleaning, the hose was turned on to wash away the dirt and dust. After a while, there was quite a stream of water running over the asphalt, down the street where it took a right at the intersection until it reached a storm drain. I only noticed this at the end when hot and tired, I was going to a café to get a cold drink.
What I did pay attention to while repeatedly running the brush and hose back and forth, up and down, left and right was the puddle created. The tiny pool of water gave off a big reflection of trains, trains going one direction or another, one city or another. Trains carrying passengers and trains carrying freight. That was now, but what about then. I had sat out many times over the past months on a balcony overlooking the parking lot from which one could sit and drink coffee or tea (your choice) and watch the trains roll by. It is an idyllic place to relax and read a good Jewish book…or maybe better to say a book by a Jew. I have a wide variety of reading material.
To read more, go our SECTION 12
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 Thomas Jonas Chepaitis. |
A Heroic Lamentation for St. Bartholomew You know, there are two kinds of men, There is another kind, whose skin That's here they tore off skin from you, But even in the greatest pain From then and on you point the way Lyrics: Thomas Jonas Chepaitis 2011 |
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Thomas Jonas Chepaitis. |
A Heroic Lamentation for St. Bartholomew You know, there are two kinds of men, There is another kind, whose skin That’s here they tore off skin from you, But even in the greatest pain From then and on you point the way Lyrics: Thomas Jonas Chepaitis 2011 |
Išsiųsta Skaidrai ir Mariui Abr. birželio 12 d
:)) va, sukurpiau liūdnai heroišką dainelę
apie šv. Baltramiejų,
jei Skaidra angliškai dainuoja:
Gyvenu prie bažnyčios; pamaldžios kandys
Vietoj jonvabalių rodo kelią į Šiaip Sau
Skraido ten, grieždamos dantį
Ant peteliškių su kuriom jos glaudžiai
susijusios.
Jos kažkokios ypatingai tylios, lachūdros.
Ypatingai kažkokios bespalvės kaip salvės.
Jų neįdomumas net paslaptingas – už ką joms
Kilusioms iš drugelių, Fabras paskyrė tiek
puslapių?
Kas yra girdėjęs Kandies dainą?
Apie tai kad ji angliškai skamba Candy,
Apie tai kad jos norėjo būti spalvotomis,
Apie Putino slapyvardį, iš spintos išlindusį?
Na ir dar kad mėgsta vilną – ir aš mėgstu
Škotiškus pledus, močiučių megztinius.
Jos kartais linksmos, tos kandys, senovinei
stalo lempai
Peršvietus jų sparnelius ir likimus.
Kandys kanda lėtai ir dėl to jos kandys
Landys lenda įkyriai šitoj landynėje,
Mandys menda, ir aš su jomis mendėju.
Pandos panda, ir tuo aš gyvas.
Gyvenu prie bažnyčios turbūt ne šiaip sau,
Kandies įkastas, dėkoju
likimui. TČ. 2011
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Big in the Baltics
With an abundance of raw materials and easy access to export markets, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are major league players in wood pellet production.
By Peter Taberner | October 31, 2011
In this not-so-talked-about part of Northeast Europe, the Baltic states—Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania—almost secretly possess a successful and burgeoning wood pellet industry, exporting to many major European pellet markets.
“The ever-growing level of production capacity in the Baltic region was the key reason we decided at Argus to put together our weekly fob (free on board) Baltic index for spot deals,” says Brodie Govan, editor of Argus Biomass Markets. “The Baltics have become one of the major supply hubs in the wood pellet sector, along with Portugal in Europe and the West Coast of Canada and Southeast U.S. The region has long been considered a reliable exporter to end-users in Scandinavia but that reputation is changing as more buyers from mainland Europe sign up for supply deals.”
Brodie estimates the Baltic’s current wood pellet production capacity at about 1.3 million metric tons per year. Latvia leads the way with 800,000 metric tons per year, Estonia at 450,000 metric tons and Lithuania at 120,000.
Read more:
http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/5909/big-in-the-baltics/
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Lithuania will exhibit at World Travel Market (WTM) at Excel London (stand number EM 270), 7-10 November 2011, marking the fifth anniversary of the Lithuanian Tourist Board being established in the UK and what has been the destination’s most successful year yet.
Interest in the destination rocketed in 2011, thanks to Lithuania’s State Department of Tourism hosting the AITO and AITO Agents’ overseas conference in Vilnius in June, as well as the global success of that famous You Tube video of the Mayor of Vilnius using a tank to crush a luxury car illegally parked in a cycle lane to campaign for greater eco awareness.
Dr Raimonda Balniene, Director of the Lithuanian State Department of Tourism, says: “Lithuania has seen a tremendous growth in incoming tourism this year – a rise of 25% in the first half of 2011 (770,000 visitors in total from around the world) compared with 2010. This includes the number of UK visitors rising by 12.6% in the first half of 2011 compared with 2010.
“We’re delighted to be exhibiting once again at WTM, to reinforce to the travel industry what makes Lithuania such a fascinating place to visit. It’s a wonderfully diverse destination, from the Baroque and Gothic architecture of Vilnius to the country’s stunning forests, lakes, coastline and castles, not forgetting its exquisite cuisine.
“We’ll be revealing the latest news and inspirational holiday ideas to be found in the country at WTM and are particularly excited to have the Mayor of Vilnius on our exhibition stand.”
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Dates regarding the fall of Soviet communism
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11-13 January 1990 -- one-half of Vilnius’ 600,000 population
demonstrate for pro-independence, to ‘welcome’ visiting
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Here with the local
communist party leader Algirdas Brazauskas.
By KR Slade
- 1980’s -- economic problems in the USSR; rise of ‘Solidarity’ in Poland
- 1985 -- Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev announces new Soviet policies of ‘glastnost’ (i.e., ‘political openness’) and ‘perestroika’ (i.e., ‘political and economic restructuring’)
- 3 June 1988 -- in Vilnius, the Lithuanian ‘Sajudis’ (i.e., ‘restructuring’) movement is founded; mostly artists; 17 of the 35 initial members were members of the Communist Party
- 22 October 1988 -- first Sajudis General Congress meets: first organised opposition to the Communist Party
- March-May 1989 -- Sajudis wins legislative seats in the USSR’s highest body of Soviet administration, the Congress of People's Deputies
- February 1989 -- Sąjudis declares Lithuanian ‘independence’, and that Lithuania had been forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union
- May 1989 -- Sajudis proclaims Lithuanian ‘sovereignty’; and declares that Lithuania's incorporation into the Soviet Union was illegal
- 23 August 1989 -- the “Baltic Way”: mass protest of two million people, linking hands in a ‘human chain’, of 650 kilometres: from Vilnius (Lithuania) to Riga (Latvia) to Tallinn (Estonia)
- 9 November 1989 -- ‘fall’ of the Berlin Wall
- December 1989 -- the Communist Party of Lithuania secedes from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at the 20th Communist Congress
- 11-13 January 1990 -- one-half of Vilnius’ 600,000 population demonstrate for pro-independence, to ‘welcome’ visiting Soviet President Gorbechev
In January 1990, just a few days after the dramatic events
at the 20th Communist Congress, Mikhail Gorbachev came to
Vilnius for a final attempt to convince Brazauskas
to change his mind, but in vain.
- 7 February 1990 -- the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union agrees to give up its monopoly of power; during the next several weeks, the 15 constituent republics of the USSR hold their first competitive elections
- 24 February 1990 -- Sajudis wins 106 of 141 seats in the Lithuanian parliament; the Communist Party of Lithuania wins 23 seats
- 4 March 1990 -- pro-independence Sajudis candidates win an overall majority in the first free elections held in Lithuania since 1940
- 11 March 1990 -- the ‘Supreme Soviet’ (i.e., soon to become the ‘Supreme Council’, which later becomes the parliament) of the Republic of Lithuania unanimously declares the ‘restoration’ of Lithuania’s independence
- 30 March 1990 -- the Estonian Supreme Council declares Soviet power in the Estonian SSR since 1940 to have been illegal, and begins a process to re-establish Estonia as an independent state
- 17 April 1990 -- Moscow imposes economic blockade on Lithuania
- 4 May 1990 -- the Latvian Supreme Council begins the process of restoration of independence of the Latvian SSR, by voting to stipulate a transitional period to complete independence
- 13 January 1991 -- Soviet tanks and troops attempt to storm the parliament and the only television-station broadcasting tower; 14 dead and hundreds injured: all unarmed civilians
- 12 February 1991 -- Iceland is the first country to recognize the new (i.e., re-established) Republic of Lithuania
- 31 July 1991 -- Soviet special agents kill 7 Lithuanian border guards and policemen (at the Lithuania-Belarus border station)
- 21 August 1991 -- failure of the Moscow putsch/coup (since January) to remove Gorbechev
- 21 August 1991 -- Lenin’s statue is removed from the Vilnius square that faces the KGB building
- 29 August 1991 -- Sweden is first western country to open an embassy in Vilnius
- 2 September 1991 -- the United Nations and the USA recognize Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia
- 6 September 1991 -- the USSR recognizes Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia
- 17 September 1991 -- Lithuania joins the United Nations
- 8 December 1991 -- the leaders of the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian republics signed the Belavezha Accords, declaring the Soviet Union dissolved and replacing it with the CIS (i.e., ‘Commonwealth of Independent States’)
- 12 December 1991 -- the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian SFSR formally ratifies the Belavezha Accords, approving Russia's secession from the USSR, and denounces the 1922 Treaty on the creation of the Soviet Union
- 25 December 1991 -- President Gorbachev resigns as president of the USSR, declaring the office extinct, and ceding all the powers still vested in it to the president of Russia (i.e., Yeltsin); that night, the Soviet flag was lowered for the last time over the Kremlin
- 26 December 1991 -- the Council of Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR recognized the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and dissolved itself
- 31 December 1991 -- all official Soviet institutions cease operations
- 31 August 1993 -- the last Russian soldier leaves Lithuania
- March 2004 -- Lithuania joins NATO
- May 2004 -- Lithuania becomes a member of the European Union
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Vilnius University since 1579
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Since its establishment in the 16th century, Vilnius University, as integral part of European science and culture has embodied the concept of a classical university and the unity of studies and research.
Vilnius University is an active participant in international scientific and academic activities and boasts many prominent scientists, professors and graduates. Scientific development and the expanding relations with global research centres have contributed to the variety of research and studies at Vilnius University.
We invite you for a walk around the University.
| 1. Grand Courtyard
2. Observatory Courtyard 3. Library Courtyard 4. M. K. Sarbievijus Courtyard 5. M. Daukša Courtyard 6. S. Daukantas Courtyard 7. Arcade Courtyard 8. L. Gucevičius Courtyard 9. A. Mickevičius Courtyard |
10. S. Stanevičius Courtyard
11. K. Sirvydas Courtyard 12. Printing House Courtyard 13. Bursų (Hostel) Courtyard A. Astronomical Observatory B. St. Jonh’s Church C. Library D. Faculty of Philology E. Faculty of History |
F. University bookshop “Littera”
G. Centre of Orientalistics H. Faculty of Philosophy R. Rector’s Office S. Reading Room I. Aula Rectoris – Rector’s hall II. Aula Parva – the Small hall III. P. Smuglevičius hall IV. The Theatre hall |
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“Facing History: The Burden of 1941”
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Dr. Saulius Suziedelis.
Scholar of Lithuania’s Holocaust history.
Photo: www.komisija.lt/lt/naujiena.php?id=1301995164
By Ellen Cassedy
“The only way for Lithuanians to lighten the difficult history of 1941 is to embrace it.”
The writer of these words, Dr. Saulius Suziedelis of Millersville, Pennsylvania, USA, will be honored in Vilnius on November 18, 2011, by the Lithuanian Ministry of Education and Science.
Also receiving awards will be Dr. Vytautas Cernius, a longtime professor of education at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Dr. Arvydas Kliore, a space scientist with NASA. The prizes for intellectual achievement are awarded annually to Lithuanians living abroad.
Dr. Suziedelis is a leading voice in the field of Holocaust scholarship. In his groundbreaking essay, “The Burden of 1941,” published in 2001 in Lituanus, the Lithuanian quarterly journal of arts and sciences, he encouraged Lithuanians to face the fact that more than 90 percent of the country’s 240,000 Jews were killed between 1941 and 1944, and that thousands of Lithuanians participated in the Holocaust.
“Recognizing a historic burden is not the same as accepting collective guilt,” Dr. Suziedelis cautions in his essay. “No honest person argues that Lithuanians are a nation of criminals, or that today's Lithuanians are responsible for what happened in 1941 (any more than contemporary Americans are responsible for slavery). But the legacies of such crimes, the historical burdens, remain.”
Born in Germany at the end of World War II to parents who came from Kaunas, Dr. Suziedelis grew up in Brockton, Massachusetts, speaking Lithuanian at home and attending a bilingual parochial school.
He acquired a Ph.D. in Russian and Eastern European history in 1977. In the 1980’s, while working at the U.S. Department of Justice, he came to recognize how little he knew about what had happened during World War II in Lithuania. “The rest of my country, except for the killers, knew even less,” he said. “I realized a lot of research had to be done.”
Delving into the vast archive documenting the 1941-1944 administrative structure of the Nazi occupation – at least a million pages, he estimates – he educated himself and began to publish widely in Lithuanian venues.
Stepping into this historical terrain was not easy. “You fight to not believe people of your culture committed horrible crimes.”
“With good reason,” he writes, “both Jews and Lithuanians consider themselves victims of the Second World War. There is no need to question that status.”
Yet, he goes on, “many Lithuanians and Jews remember this tragic history, especially the first weeks of the Nazi-Soviet war, from perspectives so opposed that sometimes it appears they cannot possibly be reflecting on the same events.”
More ethnic Lithuanians were killed after the war, during the pokaris, or postwar period, than during it. From 1945 to 1950, Dr. Suziedelis estimates, for an ethnic Lithuanian, the statistical chances of dying a violent death were about ten times higher than during the war.
The tug of war between two histories has led to a syndrome of “competing martyrologies,” Dr. Suziedelis notes, and this is unfortunate.
Soviet and Nazi crimes in Lithuania “didn’t occur on different planets,” he says. “There are striking similarities between the two systems. But that doesn’t mean they are equivalent. And you certainly can’t use one system’s crimes to excuse the atrocities of the other.”
Each history is unique, he stresses. “There are similarities and differences,” gray areas and difficult conundrums. What comparisons can be made between the Soviet and Nazi crimes? Lithuania’s 20th century history is complex, Dr. Suziedelis says. “You cannot fit it into a sound bite. I struggle with it.”
If Lithuanians are to “own their own history,” he believes, they must do three things:
- view Jewish history as part of Lithuanian history as a whole. “In the past,” Dr. Suzedelis says, “Jews wrote about Jews and Lithuanians wrote about Lithuanians.” Today, this is changing. An increasing number of ethnic Lithuanians are studying Jewish history.
- understand the Holocaust as the central event of the Nazi occupation. “The genocide of the Jews constitutes the greatest single atrocity in modern Lithuanian history.”
- assess Lithuanian participation in that event “without evasion, without squirming.”
Dr. Suziedelis is the author of numerous studies about Lithuanian history, and since 1998 has served on the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania. From 2006 to 2010 he chaired the Annual Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, USA, where he is a professor emeritus.
In February, he participated in “No Simple Stories: Jewish-Lithuanian Relations between Coexistence and Violence,” an international conference sponsored by the Institute of Jewish Studies, University College London. In the spring, he delivered a series of lectures at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas on genocide and mass murder in the 20th century. He is currently at work on an essay about Polish-Lithuanian relations.
Ellen Cassedy traces her Jewish family roots to Rokiskis and Siauliai. Her book, We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust, will be published in March of 2012. She lives in Washington, D.C. Visit her website at www.ellencassedy.com.
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Other responses to the 26 October comment from Mr. Januta
FROM: Alexander (26 October)
Well said. I just wish those who write about Lithuanian-Jewish relations and blame all Lithuanians for the killing of Jews, would get their true facts before writing.
FROM: fdfdg (26 October)·
An outrageous pack of lies.
The Jews in Lithuania were murdered by ethnic Lithuanian volunteers. Lithuanians are still trying to hide this fact after 60 years, from themselves, their children and now they are attempting to impose this false history on the world at large. Dov Levin isn't positing double genocide, there is no equals sign there. "Double genocide" is not the name the Lithuanians give to their own policy of Holocaust obfuscation, but it's an accurate name. The number of Lithuanian perpetrators is in the tens of thousands, and those are just the active shooters. If you want to get into passive support for genocide, it's much higher. There was no specifically Lithuanian Waffen SS, because the Lithuanians created their own pro-Nazi formations before the Nazis got around to it, TDA, LAF etc etc. and these forces were involved in the Holocaust in Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and elsewhere, besides their native Lithuania. The author is obviously fooling himself into thinking it's possible some Lithuanians were fooled into it at German direction, but the LAF was a Lithuanian organization, not a German one, and their underground cells of ethnic Lithuanians inside Lithuania (LAF was pretending to be the government in exile in Berlin) got the orders from HQ: prepare to slaughter your Jewish neighbors as soon as Soviet-German hostilities break out. Didier Bertin's point concerning the supposed Soviet genocide of Lithuanians was not that some Lithuanians survived, it was that not only did the vast majority survive, their population actually increased during the supposed genocide. This is an outrageous pack of lies by another Lithuanian Holocaust obfuscator.
FROM: Richard Vitkauskas (26 October)·
Excellent article Donatas. Many thanks
Mr. Januta’s response
FROM: Donatas Januta (27 October)·
Dina Porat, a respected Israeli historian estimated that the total number of Lithuanians, involved directly and indirectly, in the German organized killing of Jews was up to 15,000, i.e., about 0.5% of the population
For those who may want a little perspective on fdfdg’s preceding comment. He states that my article is “an outrageus pack of lies”, and specifically he then says: “The number of Lithuanian perpetrators is in the tens of thousands, and those are just the active shooters.” Dina Porat, a respected Israeli historian estimated that the total number of Lithuanians, involved directly and indirectly, in the German organized killing of Jews was up to 15,000, i.e., about 0.5% of the population. And Arunas Bubnys, another historian, has estimated that those directly involved, i.e., what fdfdg refers to as “the active shooters”, was somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000. But according to Mr. or Ms. fdfdg, both of these historians are just liars. Judge for yourselves the rest of fdfdg’s remarks.
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Vilnius Jewish Library
to open 16 December!
http://vilniusjewishlibrary.org/
The Vilnius Jewish Library will be the first Jewish library in Lithuania since 1943, and we are happy to announce that the opening will take place 16 December. Location: Gedimino prospekto 24.
Wyman Brent is not like California Baptists in general. Several years ago he fell in love with Vilnius. His great passion in life is Jewish books - books written by or about Jews. Therefore, he has over the latest years bought more than 5.000 such books and taken them to Vilnius to open a Jewish library. Read below his own story about his ideals for a meaningful life.
Text: Wyman Brent
Using a wire brush to scrub a broken sink can help strengthen Jewish culture. Most people are not aware of this. Thus I found myself kneeling in a parking lot on a hot summer day with a hose and attempting to remove concrete dust from an old metal sink. To aid in the cleaning, the hose was turned on to wash away the dirt and dust. After a while, there was quite a stream of water running over the asphalt, down the street where it took a right at the intersection until it reached a storm drain. I only noticed this at the end when hot and tired, I was going to a café to get a cold drink.
What I did pay attention to while repeatedly running the brush and hose back and forth, up and down, left and right was the puddle created. The tiny pool of water gave off a big reflection of trains, trains going one direction or another, one city or another. Trains carrying passengers and trains carrying freight. That was now, but what about then. I had sat out many times over the past months on a balcony overlooking the parking lot from which one could sit and drink coffee or tea (your choice) and watch the trains roll by. It is an idyllic place to relax and read a good Jewish book…or maybe better to say a book by a Jew. I have a wide variety of reading material.
It never really occurred to me to think of how that rail line might have been used during the war. How many freight cars carrying ammunition, weapons, and other supplies did the Nazis send along that same line all those years ago? How many cattle cars were filled to beyond human capacity with people whose only “crime” was to be Jewish? It did occur to me this day as I looked at the puddle which I created as a result of working to improve Jewish life in Vilna. The thought brought tears to my eyes, and I was glad to be alone at that moment.
So how exactly does an old sink going from dirt and dust encrusted to somewhat less filthy improve things Jewish? The next day was to be the second event to promote the Vilnius Jewish Library. The first event had been a big success with members of the Jewish community, members of Parliament, and various Ambassadors in attendance. There was a presentation of books and other materials which would be in the future library when its doors were open to the public. The second event would present similar material to the previous. So how to make it different? I wrote to a friend in California asking that very question. She suggested a dining table covered with books, shelves lined with food and books, and a sink filled with…yes books.
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The idea was to show that Jewish life, thought, and culture was as much a part of Lithuania as the food which we consume. One can no more avoid the influence of all things Jewish here than one can avoid finding beetroot soup in any restaurant which serves traditional Lithuanian food. Both are so much part of the fabric of society. |
The idea was to show that Jewish life, thought, and culture was as much a part of Lithuania as the food which we consume. One can no more avoid the influence of all things Jewish here than one can avoid finding beetroot soup in any restaurant which serves traditional Lithuanian food. Both are so much part of the fabric of society. That brings me back to the not so raging river of water running down the street. Cars were driving through the water and pedestrians were stepping over it. Nobody gave much thought if any to where the water came from or the reason for it to be there.
A wire brush and a green garden hose gave new life to an old sink. That old sink, still very much rusted and with broken bits and pieces, did its part to help get people in Vilna to once again give serious thought to the impact which all things Jewish have had on this country. The concrete dust which coated the sink had become hardened over time. The constant moisture in the air here made sure of that. Can’t the same be said of many people’s attitudes? They forget something because it is out of sight and out of mind. The thing sits neglected in a dark corner.
That old sink received a second life. Jewish life in Lithuania is doing the same. The recent opening of the Litvak Studies Institute, and the soon to open Vilnius Jewish Library is proof of that. The Lithuanian government is providing space, funding, furniture, and staffing. What they are not providing is more material for the library. That depends on those around the world who truly care about Jewish culture. Jewish life does not begin and end only within the borders of the USA and Israel. Things will never be as they were in the Jerusalem of Lithuania. However, things can and will be better than they are now.
For the past six years, I have dedicated my life to promoting tolerance and understanding. I have gotten down on my knees underneath a hot sun to scrub a broken sink. I have lifted box after heavy box of books until my back was aching. I moved from sunny Southern California to a land where I have seen it snow as early as October and as late as April. I have spent countless hours and tens of thousands of dollars to collect and ship books, CDs, and DVDs. During my journey from California to Lithuania, I stopped along the way and bought more material for the library. There were stops in London, Budapest, and Krakow. Each time my luggage became heavier and heavier. All of this I have gladly done and will gladly do the rest of my life. What are you willing to do to help strengthen Jewish culture and to fight anti-Semitism? Nobody is asking you to get down on your hands and knees. Nobody is asking for you to spend your last dollar as I have done. What I am asking is, what will you do today for Jewish culture?
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Motto:
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
- Horace Mann
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Ingrid Baronaite Hammoud, Klaipėda:
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"All things are hidden in their opposites-gain in loss, gift in refusal, honour in humiliation, wealth in poverty, strength in weakness...life in death, victory in defeat, power in powerlessness".. |
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"Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings." "And you learn...That you really can endure..that you really do have strength..That you really can endure.. and you learn... and you learn... and you learn....with every goodbye you learn." |
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"The truth is a brilliant, many-sided diamond." "We see things not as they are, but as we are.." "God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites so that you will have two wings to fly, not one." |
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"To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour.” - William Blake |
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"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. When the mirror shows us darkness and hate, we must shine with light and love, in all aspects of our lives.” "My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness." |
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OPINIONS
Have your say. Send to:
editor@VilNews.com
Ph. D., Chicago
A wave of unity sweeps the international Lithuanian community on March 11th every year as Lithuanians celebrated the anniversary of the Lithuanian Parliament's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. However, the sense of national unity engendered by the celebration could be short-lived.
Human beings have a strong tendency to overgeneralize and succumb to stereotypical us-them distinctions that can shatter even the strongest bonds. We need only search the internet to find examples of divisive thinking at work:
- "Those who fled Lithuania during World II were cowards -- and now they come back, flaunt their wealth, and tell us 'true Lithuanians' how to live."
- "Lithuanians who work abroad have abandoned their homeland and should be deprived of their Lithuanian citizenship."
In Lithuania Christmas Eve is a family event and the New Year's Eve a great party with friends!
Lithuanian say "Kaip sutiksi naujus metus, taip juos ir praleisi" (the way you'll meet the new year is the way you will spend it). So everyone is trying to spend New Year's Eve with friend and have as much fun as possible.
Lithuanian New Year's traditions are very similar to those in other countries, and actually were similar since many years ago. Also, the traditional Lithuanian New Years Eve party was very similar to other big celebrations throughout the year.
The New Year's Eve table is quite similar to the Christmas Eve table, but without straws under the tablecloth, and now including meat dishes. A tradition that definitely hasn't changes is that everybody is trying not to fell asleep before midnight. It was said that if you oversleep the midnight point you will be lazy all the upcoming year. People were also trying to get up early on the first day of the new year, because waking up late also meant a very lazy and unfortunate year.
During the New Year celebration people were dancing, singing, playing games and doing magic to guess the future. People didn't drink much of alcohol, especially was that the case for women.
Here are some advices from elders:
- During the New Year, be very nice and listen to relatives - what you are during New Year Eve, you will be throughout the year.
- During to the New Year Eve, try not to fall, because if this happens, next year you will be unhappy.
- If in the start of the New Year, the first news are good - then the year will be successful. If not - the year will be problematic.
* If New Year's night is cold and starry - look forward to a good summer!
* If the during New Year Eve trees are covered with frost - then it will be a good year. If it is wet weather on New Year's Eve, one can expect a year where many will die and dangerous epidemics occur.
* If the first day of the new year is snowy - the upcoming year will see many young people die. If the night is snowy - mostly old people will die.
* If the New Year time is cold - then Easter will be warm.
* If during New Year there are a lot of birds in your homestead - then all year around there will be many guests and the year will be fun.
Christmas greetings
from Vilnius
and epic battle for the
future
Philosopher, political theorist, historian of
ideas, social analyst, and political
commentator
Ukraine was and continues to be perceived by the EU political class as a sort of grey zone with its immense potential and possibilities for the future, yet deeply embedded and trapped in No Man's Land with all of its troubled past, post-Soviet traumas, ambiguities, insecurities, corruption, social divisions, and despair. Why worry for what has yet to emerge as a new actor of world history in terms of nation-building, European identity, and deeper commitments to transparency and free market economy?
Right? Wrong. No matter how troubled Ukraine's economic and political reality could be, the country has already passed the point of no return. Even if Vladimir Putin retains his leverage of power to blackmail Ukraine and the West in terms of Ukraine's zero chances to accede to NATO due to the problems of territorial integrity, occupation and annexation of Crimea, and mayhem or a frozen conflict in the Donbas region, Ukraine will never return to Russia's zone of influence. It could be deprived of the chances to join NATO or the EU in the coming years or decades, yet there are no forces on earth to make present Ukraine part of the Eurasia project fostered by Putin.
want to learn about the
new, scary propaganda
war between Russia,
The West and the
Baltic States!
believe their government
is corrupt
students say no to
bribes for doctors
During Soviet times, government was administered for the people in control, not for the local population, court decisions were decreed, they were not the administration of justice, and academia was the domain of ideologues. 25 years of freedom and openness should have put those bad experiences behind Lithuania, but that is not so.
Today, it is a matter of expectation that court pronouncements will be governed by ideological dictates. Few, if any Lithuanians expect real justice to be effected. For foreign companies, doing business in Lithuania is almost impossible in a situation where business people do not expect rule of law, so, surely Government would be a refuge of competence?
Lithuanian Government has not emerged from Soviet styles. In an attempt to devolve power, Lithuania has created a myriad of fiefdoms of power, each speaking in the name of the Government, each its own centralized power base of ideology.
Chepstow, Wales
Doesn't that sound suspiciously like Lithuania? Ah, but I didn't mention the mountains of Snowdonia, which would give the game away.
I'm talking about Wales, that part of the UK which Lithuanians used to call "Valija", but later named "Velsas" (why?). Wales, the nation which has welcomed two Lithuanian heads of state to its shores - firstly Professor Vytautas Landsbergis, who has paid several visits and, more recently, President Dalia Grybauskaitė who attended the 2014 NATO summit which was held in Newport, South Wales.
ENGLISH VERSION OF THE
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF VYTAUTAS LANDSBERGIS.
Although Lithuanian activities have thinned over the decades as that postwar generation died out, the Lithuanian Martyrs' parish hall is crowded with many, many hundreds of visitors who come to the Lithuanian cemetery for All Souls' Day. Similarly, the Franciscan parish has standing room only for Christmas Eve mass.
Although I am firmly embedded in the literary culture of Canada, my themes are usually Lithuanian, and I'll be in Kaunas and Vilnius in mid-November 2015 to give talks about the Lithuanian translations of my novels and short stories, which I write in English.
If you have the Lithuanian language, come by to one of the talks listed in the links below. And if you don't, you can read more about my work at
www.anatanassileika.com
http://www.vdu.lt/lt/rasytojas-antanas-sileika-pristatys-savo-kuryba/ https://leu.lt/lt/lf/lf_naujienos/kvieciame-i-rasytojo-59hc.html
"My love and best wishes to all. As long as VilNews exists, there is hope for the future,"" she writes.
Irena Veisaite means very much for our publication, and we do hereby thank her for the support and wise commitment she always shows.
You can read our interview with her
Facing a new reality
Dear readers of VilNews,
For a number of years, the EU and Russia had assumed the existence of a strategic partnership, based on the convergence of values, economic integration and increasingly open markets and a modernisation agenda for society.
Our agenda was positive and ambitious. We looked at Russia as a country ready to converge with "European values", a country likely to embrace both the basic principles of democratic government and a liberal concept of the world order. It was believed this would bring our relations to a new level, covering the whole spectrum of the EU's strategic relationship with Russia.
The likelihood of Putin
invading Lithuania
.jpg "lithuania today")
Founding Director at Summer Literary Seminars
Are all Lithuanian energy
problems now resolved?
Lithuania as a country does not have significant energy resources. Energy consuming infrastructure after WWII was small and totally supported by energy imports from Russia.
First nuclear reactor begins power generation at Ignalina in 1983, the second reactor in 1987. Iganlina generates enough electricity to cover Lithuania's needs and about 50%.for export. As, prerequisite for membership in EU, Ignalina ceases all nuclear power generation in 2009
The Klaipėda Sea terminal begins Russia's oil export operations in 1959 and imports in 1994.
Mazeikiu Nafta (current ORLEAN Lietuva) begins operation of oil refinery in 1980.
Have Lithuanian ties across
the Baltic Sea become
stronger in recent years?
The two decades that have passed since regaining Lithuania's independence can be described as a "building boom". From the wreckage of a captive Soviet republic, a generation of Lithuanians have built a modern European state, and are now helping construct a Nordic-Baltic community replete with institutions intended to promote political coordination and foster a trans-Baltic regional identity. Indeed, a "Nordic-Baltic community" - I will explain later in my text the meaning of this catch-phrase.
Since the restoration of Lithuania's independence 25 years ago, we have continuously felt a strong support from Nordic countries. Nordics in particular were among the countries supporting Lithuania's and Baltic States' striving towards independence. Take example of Iceland, country which recognized Lithuania in February of 1991, well in advance of other countries. Yet another example - Swedish Ambassador was the first ambassador accredited to Lithuania in 1991. The other countries followed suit. When we restored our statehood, Nordic Countries became champions in promoting Baltic integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions. To large degree thanks Nordic Countries, massive transformations occurred in Lithuania since then, Lithuania became fully-fledged member of the EU and NATO, and we joined the Eurozone on 1 January 2015.
Have you heard about the
South African "Pencil Test"?
But that is exactly what happened to me when I came back from South Africa. I will tell you how.
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