THE VOICE OF INTERNATIONAL LITHUANIA
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Situation plan created by and property of Castle Research Center Lithuanian Castles.
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Between 28 September 1944 and 16 April 1947, the death penalty was carried out on 767 people in the NKGB–MGB internal prison in Vilnius. It took forty seven years and the restitution of Lithuania’s freedom to finally find the secret location where the Soviets had buried the victims.
INTRODUCTION
The Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania is a state institution which investigates all manifestations of genocide and crimes against humanity, the persecution during the Soviet and Nazi occupations and the armed and peaceful resistance to the occupations. It also gives juridical evaluations of the perpetrators of the reprisals and genocide, and immortalizes the memory of the freedom fighters and genocide victims.
The objectives of the centre are to establish historical truth and justice; to investigate the physical and spiritual genocide of Lithuanians carried out by the occupying regimes between 1939 and 1990, and the resistance to the regimes; to immortalize the memory of the freedom fighters and the genocide victims; and to initiate the juridical evaluation of the aftermath of the occupying regimes. The centre also researches into the policy of the occupying regime in the
The
While the
Starting in autumn 1944, death penalties passed by Military Tribunals of the
This story about the Memorial Complex of the
So what I thought would be a story I could complete in two or three days turned into three months of research, meetings, visits to various government offices, telephone conversations and emails back and forth. While much of the text for this article was prepared by the expert staff of the Tuskulėnai Memorial Complex, there are so many other government offices, organizations and people that are involved with the Tuskulėnai Memorial Complex and the information for this article. What took all the time to prepare this article was getting all the information together. I must give credit to where credit is due. In effect I only acted as the person that put all this together so that it could be published for you our readers. The real work and all the credit for this article goes to the dedicated professional staff of the Tuskulėnai Memorial Complex and all the other government offices, organizations and people that have done all the research and work to tell the story of what happened here and give a dignified final resting place for the victims.
The next time you are in
It is my hope that this information we share with you will provide some insight as to the tragic events that were taking place at the KGB prison and Tuskulėnai during the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. I hope that it will also give you some idea as to all the diligent effort that so many people have put in and are still putting in to honor the victims and try to bring some closure for their families and relatives.
My greatest hope is that this story will bring out the information that still to this day is unknown
Where are the people that were executed after 1950 buried?
Look for the first part of our six part story which will be out in a few days
CONSEQUENCES OF THE TOTALITARIAN REGIME
IN
Su pagarbe
Vincas Karnila
Associate editor
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As a 3rd generation Lithuanian-American, I'm not familiar with this history. I find it utterly fascinating and what exactly all lithuanians of this period went through.
Thank you for your question Mr. Kent,
There are a number of issues related to this and from what I understand there were some individuals that were believed to have taken part in some of the atrocities committed by the Soviets during the occupation that the decision was made to not pursue legal action against them, as to the reasons why you would need to look at each situation. As I said, there are many issue related to this and I am not fully knowledgeable on all these issues so it is best that I do not comment on something that I do not have full knowledge about. All I can say is if this is what the person at the Genocide Museum told you than it is true. In the 4th article we will give you information about the executioners. As you will see, all these men are now dead and it is most likely that the people that assisted them are all dead also.
Su pagarbe – Vincas
When I visited the Genocide Museum a few years ago, I asked one of the staff about the whereabouts of the Lithuanian members of the KGB who participated in the murders of prisoners. I was told that they were too old to be brought to justice, so nothing is being done to find them. Anybody know if this "generosity" is true?
So what can we do to help?
One thing we can do is make people aware of these tragic events. I wrote a story about it. Compared to the work so may others have done this is probably a very miniscule effort on my part but it was the best I could think of. One thing that would help is to share this story with as many people as possible. There are many non Lithuanians in the world that have no idea what took place during the Soviet Russian occupation. If you know of any Lithuanian groups you can send this story to them so that all the members can be aware of it.
As we start publishing the articles, at the end of each article will be a request for help. What we are looking for is the burial place of the victims that were executed after 1950. That location or locations is still not known so this story will also serve as a world wide plea for any information that can help us find these other victims.
We thank you for your comments Dr. Bakunas and we very much appreciate your question “How can we help?” In working to put this story together I had the pleasure and privilege to meet with many of these fine people who have worked so long and so hard to make available to the public the tragedy of the mass executions and mass burials. The issue with Tuskulenai is far from completed. They are still trying to identify the remains of the victims in order to be able to give them a final burial and bring some closure to their families. The fact that the information about the mass executions and mass burials have been made available to the public serves, I hope, as an ongoing reminder of the atrocities that occurred in Europe not that long ago and that these atrocities were not only committed by Nazi Germany. It is my hope that awareness of the atrocities that were committed by all parties will help to encourage the governments of all nations to enact steps that will help to prevent tragic events like these taking place like this again in any part of the world.
Thank you for the writing the article, Vincas. The people who are working so diligently to insure that this tragic episode in Lithuanian history is not forgotten deserve our gratitude and our support. How can we help?
During my next trip to Lithuania, I will be sure to visit the Memorial Complex of the Tuskulėnai Peace Park.
Dr. Boris Vytautas Bakunas, PhD