Blog archive

1^st OF NOVEMBER IS

ALL SAINTS’ DAY

NEW BOARDS, NEW STRUCTURES:

BŪKIME KARTU

Dear VilNews readers,

As many of you know, I've been both chairman and president of Vilnius International Club since the club was started nine years ago. I have also been the executive responsible for our annual charity event for orphanage children, BUKIME KARTU, and I have been, and still am the editor of VilNews.

Understandably, this work has taken much of my time, and although I have very much appreciated the many good experiences and new acquaintance I have got through all this, I have concluded that it now is time to distribute these tasks among several of the many who have been active supporters over the years.

It became a wonderfully warm and positive meeting, with the same good old atmosphere and ambience that has always characterized VIC, and I was very pleased seeing that all my suggestions for new boards, board chairmen, members, and executive managers were adopted by the enthusiastic audience!

The names of those who kindly agreed to assume the positions are given below. I wish them all good luck, and I am convinced that 16 September 2010 will always be remembered as a big step forward in our work for international Lithuania. Let me also remind you all about the VIC's mission statement, which we have based our work on since the club was founded in 2001:

******************************************************************************************

My warmest regards to you all !

Yours truly,

Aage Myhre

Below some short information about the three legs of VIC, as well as pictures of the new three top leaders for our upcoming activities.

VIC

VILNIUS INTERNATIONAL CLUB

BŪKIME KARTU

VilNews

Text and photos: Aage Myhre

A rickety old bus runs past me in a busy, polluted Mumbai street. Suddenly I see a little girl's face in one

of the bus windows. The contrast between the old bus and the beautiful child is striking. We are in India!

Children of ‘the age of terrorism’ 

I had just come home to our apartment here in Vilnius after having taken my then 4-year-old daughter home from kindergarten. She was playing on the floor beside me while I sat down to watch the latest world news on CNN. What I saw on the screen in front of me was so unreal that I first could not believe that this was real news. My first thought was that CNN was showing fragments of a new film or the like. But it soon dawned on me that what I was seeing was the beginning of an unimaginable attack and a tragedy that would forever change our world's history and development.

11 September 2001 was the day when America was attacked on its own soil. The unthinkable had happened. 

The nine years that have followed have brought enormous changes, not only in the U.S., but for the entire world community. The war against terrorism, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq and countless suicide attacks across virtually the entire world have all become tragic symbols of the scourge of our time -- in a way few of us could have imagined when the new millennium had barely started.

Lithuania has been little influenced by the 'war on terror'. Admittedly, the country is participating with troops in Afghanistan and it also became an almost-scandal when it became known that the CIA had two prisons for suspected terrorists here since 2005.

But even if Lithuania is not so much directly affected by what has happened around the world after the attack on the twin towers in New York on 11 September 2001, this country is also a part of a global society that is both physically and mentally experiencing enormous repercussions.

I often ask myself: "What kind of world is it our children have to grow up in post-9/11? The daily traumas inflicted to the children in the two countries that have been hardest hit, Iraq and Afghanistan, are naturally the worst and most long-term harmful, but our children in the so-called free world have undoubtedly also been influenced by what happened and they will for many years have to experience the consequences in many different ways.

I was not aware that my little daughter saw what took place on the TV screen this September day nine years ago, so I must admit I was slightly shocked and shaken when she suddenly, a month later, came to give me a drawing she had made. The image of 'a plane flying into the tall tower' had been instilled in the child brain, and here she came to me with her visualisation of what she had seen and experienced in her thoughts when I thought she was quietly playing, occupied in her own childish world.

into the twin towers in New York on 11 September 2001.

It goes without saying that we, the adults, need to help children feel as safe as possible at a time when the world has become a more dangerous place.  Parents and teachers in particular should help youngsters understand current events factually, how events do or do not impact their lives, and how to handle their emotional reactions. All children are likely to be affected in some way by ‘the age of terrorism’. 

For many of our children, the guidance of caring adults will make the difference between being overwhelmed and developing life-long emotional and psychological coping skills. It is crucial to provide opportunity for children to discuss their concerns and to help them separate real from imagined fears.

The lessons of 11 September 2001 are many. Some ‘contribute’ by burning the Quran. Others work for reconciliation and understanding between the people of our fragile little planet.

Aage Myhre

Editor

Two Lithuanian ‘terrorism cases’

This former riding school allegedly

served as a CIA detention centre. 

The CIA set up at least two secret detention centres in Lithuania after the 11 September 2001 terror attacks on the US, a Lithuanian inquiry found in 2009. A parliamentary committee report says in 2005 and 2006, CIA chartered planes were allowed to land in Lithuania. It says that no Lithuanian officials were allowed near the aircraft, nor were they told who was on board.

Poland and Romania hosted similar CIA "black sites", say reports by ABC News in the US. In Lithuania, one centre on the outskirts of the capital Vilnius had room for eight terror suspects at a time, according to ABC News. It was formerly a riding school and suspects were reportedly held there between 2004 and 2005.

But the parliamentary report appears to absolve Lithuania's political leaders of responsibility for any human rights violations that may have been committed by the CIA. It says even the president (Valdas Adamkus) was unaware of exactly what the US intelligence service was doing.

In January 2010 Lithuania's foreign minister resigned his post following a sharp disagreement between him and President Dalia Grybauskaite over whether the country had held detainees at a secret CIA prison. President Grybauskaite believes it likely that Lithuania held such prisoners, something the foreign minister had denied.

Mr Usackas has continued to insist that no prisoners had been held for interrogations, while the president said this was likely and called for prosecutors to open their own enquiry into a possible abuse of office by three top security officials.

The ‘terrorist’ from Klaipeda

Another controversial ‘terrorism case’ in Lithuania has been the case of Egle Kusaite (21). The young woman from Klaipeda was arrested in October 2009 by the Lithuanian State Security Department on suspicions that she was ready to travel to some military facility in Chechnya as a suicide bomber. In August 2010 she was finally released in a court hall under the ruling of the Court of Appeal of Lithuania. The ruling of the Court of appeal of Lithuania was determined final and not subject to any appeal.

Egle Kusaite on her way out of the

appeal court, finally free again.

According to prosecutors, Kusaite, had constant internet and phone contacts with Islamists in Russia, though an unnamed former employee of Klaipeda's State Security Department told Lithuanian public TV that he did not believe in the terrorist intentions of Kusaite. When Kusaite was 17 years old she left for Germany where she lived for a year in a small town with Chechens. Later, according to the LNK TV Paskutine Instancija programme, Kusaite returned to Klaipeda where she lived in a flat rented with taxpayers' money by the Lithuanian State Security Department and was closely observed by Lithuanian security agents. The Web site of the North Caucasus' Islamists (www.kavkazcenter.com) cries about the torture against Kusaite in Lukiskes Prison. 

On 11 June 2010, Virginija Kusiene, Kusaite's mother, and Irena Jeleniauskaite, Kusaite's aunt, held a press conference in the Lithuanian parliament stating that all Kusaite's confessions about her intention to become a suicide bomber were obtained using physical and psychological pressure. "Egle's confession was forced through violence and threats," Kusiene said, adding that her daughter has been observed by the Lithuanian State Security Department since she was 14 years old because of her friendship with a young Chechen refugee and, according to Kusiene, "all the Chechens are observed by the security in Lithuania." Jeleniauskaite said that the Lithuanian and Russian security services made up the case of her niece and, during one of the interrogations only Russian agents took part. "Only the Russians were present and they were smashing her head into the wall," Jeleniauskaite said. 

On 11 June, Algimantas Kliunka, chief prosecutor of the Prosecutor General's Office Organized Crime and Corruption Prevention Department, also held his press conference in the parliament. He denied accusations made by Kusaite's mother and aunt, stating that Kusaite was ready to perform a suicide bombing in a public space in Chechnya. Kliunka said that the representatives from Russia participated in the interrogations as observers and no physical violence was used. 

"Kusaite is suspected of making contact in June-October of 2009 with the Islamist groups based in Russia. From them she received an invitation to come to Russia, received 500 U.S. dollars (410 euros) for the trip, took out a Lithuanian passport and got a Russian visa. We asked the Russian embassy not to issue the visa, but they gave her their visa. “Then we were forced to arrest her, preventing her from travelling to Russia," Kliunka said.

SUMMER

SUMMARY

Earlier this week I stood looking out over the Baltic Sea. I stood at the pier in the seaside resort of Palanga from where I caught the above motif through my camera lens. I thought of Palanga’s two great sons, Count Tiškevičius and Mayor Šliupas, who also certainly often were looking out to the endless waves rolling towards the white sandy beaches of Lithuania’s fantastic sea coast. I felt pleased that the summer in Lithuania this year had been exceptionally good and warm; in fact as if to stay at a Mediterranean Coast. And I thought that maybe the summer of 2010 will be remembered as a turning point - that perhaps now again better times are coming for Lithuania and the Lithuanian people. 

Still, this year's summer has unfortunately not been marked only by good news, as you will see from the following news overview, but I feel more optimistic this year than I did last year at this time ...

I wish you, dear readers, a warm and successful autumn!

Aage Myhre

Editor

THE MAN WHO

DECLINED

THE PRESIDENCY

Dr. Jonas Sliupas (1861 – 1944) 

The year is 1926. It is a very dark late autumn evening in Kaunas, Lithuania's capital between 1^st and 2^nd World Wars, when three officers from the Lithuanian army rush up to the house where Dr. Jonas Sliupas now lives while he teaches at the University of Kaunas. It is nearly midnight when the officers knock heavily on his door and asks to come inside.

The officers bring shocking news. They tell that since the early autumn of 1926 key officers within two army groups have been in full swing of planning a coup d’état in Lithuania, and that they have now reached the point that they want to depose of President Kazys Grinius and insert a new President. The question to Dr. Sliupas is therefore whether he can accept becoming the country's new President.

But Dr. Sliupas is not willing to accept. President Grinius has been his good friend for many years, and Sliupas is puzzled as to why the military has found a coup appropriate and necessary. His answer to the officers is therefore that the only way he could accept becoming President of Lithuania would be through a democratic election.

The officers had to leave Sliupas empty-handed that night, but continued their plans, and the very coup took place a few days later, during the very night when the 60^th birthday of President Grinius was celebrated, 17 December 1926.

During that night, military forces occupied central military and government offices and arrested officials. Colonel Kazys Škirpa, who had initiated a military reform programme tried to rally troops against the coup, but was soon overpowered and arrested. The Seimas (Parliament) was dispersed and President Grinius was placed under house arrest at the same time as army colonel Povilas Plechavičius was declared dictator of Lithuania just minutes after he had been released from the prison cell where he was serving a 20-day sentence for a fist fight with another officer.

Later that same day, however, Colonel Plechavičius asked Antanas Smetona to become the new President of Lithuania.

The 1926 Lithuanian coup d'état (Lithuanian: 1926-ųjų perversmas) was a military coup that resulted in the replacement of the democratically elected government with a conservative authoritarian government led by Antanas Smetona.

One can rightly ask what kind of Lithuania we would have had if Dr. Jonas Sliupas had not declined the Presidency that late autumn night. But in view of his human qualities and his extraordinary life story from both the United States and Lithuania, it is no wonder that this honourable man declined the Presidency and instead chose to continue his tireless fight for his beloved homeland, with important titles and tasks in the years leading up to World War II, but not as the country's top figure as the country's military leaders had wanted.

During his remarkably productive lifetime, Jonas Sliupas was a medical doctor, a leader of Lithuania's national awakening, a powerful orator and organizer, a writer of numerous articles on Lithuanian politics, economy, culture, and medicine, a historian, a diplomat, a free-thinker, and a publisher of seven newspapers.  He also served as the author or translator of over 70 books and was a pioneer in helping develop and modernize Lithuania's economy.

Jonas Sliupas was born on the 6^th of March 1861 in the village of Rakandziai in northern Lithuania.  In 1880, he graduated with honours from Mintauja (Jelgava) high school.  Next, he studied philology and law at Moscow University and later transferred to Saint Petersburg University to study natural science.  Because of his participation in the student anti-czarist movement, however, Sliupas was incarcerated in 1883 and was banned from further studies at any Russian university.

The Russian government banned all books and newspapers in the Latin alphabet in Lithuania from 1864 to 1904.  Consequently, Sliupas joined with others to publish an underground Lithuanian language nationalist newspaper, which was smuggled into Lithuania from outside.  Together with Dr. J. Basanavicius and three other idealists, Sliupas published and edited the clandestine newspaper Ausra (Dawn) in Lithuania Minor from 1883 to 1884.  Ausra, whose very name was suggested by Sliupas, is considered to be the driving force behind the Lithuanian nationalist awakening of the late nineteenth century.

Because of his ongoing nationalist activities, both Prussian and Russian police began pursuing him.  Facing imminent arrest, Sliupas had to flee to the United States in 1884, where he would remain until 1918.  He began studying at the University of Maryland in Baltimore in 1889 and graduated with a degree in medicine in 1891.

Dr. Sliupas was very active among Lithuanian-American immigrants, helping inspire in them a deep sense of national pride in their ancestral homeland.  Although he was a free-thinker, he nevertheless helped establish several Lithuanian Roman Catholic parishes.  He also invited Lithuanian priests to the Unites States and worked with them to promote a strong sense of Lithuanian ethnic and cultural identity among the parishioners.  Being a powerful, inspiring, and uncompromising orator, Sliupas travelled extensively throughout the United States, delivering rousing speeches in which he urged Lithuanian Americans to unite in order to help Lithuania regain its independence.

Sliupas also edited newspapers and wrote or translated numerous books.  Fluent in eight languages, he wrote thousands of articles both about Lithuania itself and about various medical topics for Lithuanian, American, Polish, German, Swedish, British, French and Russian newspapers.  He also helped dozens of Lithuanian-American societies, several of which still are in existence today.

During World War I, Sliupas vigorously lobbied the United States government for diplomatic recognition an economic support for Lithuania. Having established a personal friendship with U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sliupas campaigned tirelessly in Washington D.C. for Lithuanian and Latvian independence.  In 1918, Sliupas opened the first Lithuanian Legation in London.  Then, in 1919, he was with the Lithuanian independence movement at the Paris Peace Conference.  After returning to Lithuania, in 1919, he was appointed the first envoy to Latvia and Estonia.

Between 1921 and 1924, Dr. Sliupas taught hygiene and medical history at Birzai and Siauliai high schools.  From 1925 to 1929, he lectured at the University of Lithuania in Kaunas.  He also worked diligently to encourage investment in Lithuania's economy by investing much of his own savings in the country's economic development.  Sliupas was the first mayor of the sea-side resort of Palanga, and he continued intermittently in this position from 1933 until Soviet occupation began in 1940.  During June of 1941, he again resumed the role of mayor but was forced by the Germans to resign, because of his attempts to protect Jewish residents of the city.

Jonas Šliupas Memorial Homestead at Vytauto g. 23a, Palanga,

stands there still today. Worth a visit!

Dr. Sliupas with family and friends at his Palanga home. 

Dr. Jonas Sliupas died in exile in Berlin, Germany on the 6^th of November 1944.

Surviving family members transported his ashes to the United States, where they are buried in the Lithuanian National Cemetery near Chicago, Illinois.

Dr. Jonas Sliupas has been recognized numerous times for his life-long dedication to Lithuania's nationalist awakening and its restoration of independence.  Among many other honours, Sliupas received three Honorary Doctorates from the University of Vytautas the Great in Kaunas.  These include a doctorate in Medicine (1923), one in Humanities (1925), and one in Law (1939).  Many organizations, both in Lithuania and in the United States, have declared him an honorary member.  The Lithuanian government bestowed upon Sliupas the Gediminas First and Second Order medals.  The Latvian government honoured him with the Three Star Second and Third Order medals, and the Lithuanian Post Office issued two stamps in his honour.

In half a year, on the 6^th of March 2011, it will be 150 years since Jonas Sliupas was born. He will be celebrated as one of Lithuania’s true heroes and finest gentlemen ever, with an amazing record of achievements for his beloved homeland.

(a more detailed article about Dr. Sliupas at the page bottom)

LIKE SON

Vytautas J. Sliupas at the great Lithuanian farm project that he started in 2002,

‘The Auksuciai Farm & Forest Center’ near Siaulia in North Lithuania.

After the death of his wife Liudvika, Jonas Sliupas married Grasilda Grauslytė in 1929. After settling in Palanga, their son, Vytautas, was born to them on the 24^th of October 1930.

Their son, Vytautas J. Sliupas, later became an irrigation, drainage and water resources engineer. Now retired for many years, he lives in California, USA, but visits Lithuania every summer.

I have the great honour and pleasure to call Vytautas Sliupas my friend. As I understand and feel it, he has the same strong love of Lithuania, which his father had. This despite the fact that he was forced to flee from Lithuania with his parents in 1944 and since has lived virtually all his life in the United States. 

to congratulate him so very much on his big day, the 24^th of October! 

Under a little more about his big project in Northern Lithuania, for almost 10 years now www.aukfoundation.org :

The US non-profit Auksuciai Foundation was established to help small scale Lithuanian farmers become more self-sufficient and competitive in a free market economy. A primary way that Foundation is working to achieve this goal is through support and advisory involvement with a model farm facility (the Auksuciai Farm and Forest Center, a Lithuanian non-profit), that allows participants from academia, business, government, and the farm community to share information and technology regarding environmentally sound management (including forests) and commercial agricultural production practices. Additionally, the Foundation organizes farmer-to-farmer and agricultural student exchanges; farmer mentoring; and in country workshops between the agricultural and forest communities of the U.S. and Lithuania.

The Auksuciai Farm & Forest Center was formally established as a Lithuanian non- profit entity on 9 September 2002.The primary purpose of the centre is to provide Lithuanian farmers with educational and technological opportunities through an aggressive program of local applied research and education. It also serves as a stimulus and facilitator for the incorporation of new technologies in modern agriculture.

The centre is located on a 157-hectare (389-acre) farm near the town of Kursenai in the Siauliai Region in north Lithuania. At this site a year long programme of research on new crops, improvement of existing crops and improved farming practices is conducted by staff. The farm is operated under master lease and use agreement with the Auksuciai Foundation-USA. The operations of the farm are divided into two divisions- Farm Operations and Research and Education programs. Though most of the farming operations are leased out for income purposes it also is used as a large scale demonstration of new and modern farming technologies. The Research and Education division comprises smaller areas of the farm where research on new crops and technologies are conduced under strict scientific procedures. All information generated from the research projects is considered public information and is available at no charge to local farmers and other interested individuals.

One of the latest successful achievements of the farm is the introduction of edible asparagus (smidrai in Lithuanian).  Lithuanians long ago knew this very useful vegetable, but during the last century it was forgotten.  Now the farm is reintroducing this crop as a very profitable commodity that can be grown by small scale Lithuanian farmers.  The farm have plans of greatly expanding this, and other experimental crops, but unfortunately in the last several years the farm’s supporters have decreased considerably due to the world economic crisis, hence Mr. Sliupas and his team are now at the point where they look for new supporters and investors

Aage Myhre

Editor

Mr. Vytautas Sliupas can be reached at sliupasvyt@sbcglobal.net

The Auksuciai Farm & Forest Center

INTRODUCING

OURSELVES

Two grumpy old men

Dear VilNews reader,

A few days ago I met an acquaintance. He told me he that was looking for a new apartment in Vilnius Old Town. When I told him that I am an architect and that I have many years experience in buying, selling and developing of apartments and other types of property in Lithuania, he was very surprised.  He knew me only as President of VIC and Editor of VilNews.

So now I have promised to offer appropriate objects for him and his family to consider over the next few days. But not only that. I have also promised to share with him my experience about which streets / areas are the safest to live in, and I have promised him to check all potential objects carefully in terms of quality of construction and materials, as well as functionality, and potential noise problems, etc.

So here comes our little ‘self-promotion’. We hope you forgive us if this sounds a bit too much self-promotional, but we have on the other hand, always kept a very low profile in this respect...

I hope you also notice that what we do, also in our business life, aims to contribute to more activity and better understanding of what Lithuania has to offer in different contexts.

We would appreciate if you take advantage of our services and hope you also let your friends and acquaintances know about what we have to offer.

We hope for your response and would like to thank you in advance!

Aage Myhre

Editor

Note: As you may have noticed, VilNews has not been released quite so frequently now through the summer months. But we promise to soon be in full swing again, and look forward to having you as a permanent reader also through the upcoming autumn months!

Aage Myhre, VilNews Editor

Vin Karnila, VilNews Associate Editor

THE KLAIPEDA

SEA FESTIVAL!

This is the week-end when you should be in Klaipeda, Lithuania’s sea port city. Because now it’s again time for the annual Sea Festival out there!

For the 51^st time Klaipeda will be the venue of the west coast’s largest summer fiesta. The Festival, which has been organized since 1934, promotes Lithuania as a maritime state and Klaipeda as a friendly, open, safe and attractive port city. The Sea Festival of this year will also celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the Lithuanian Navy.

About half a million visitors from Lithuania and abroad are expected to the Festival, and the participants will be able to take part in more than 100 different events during this lively Klaipeda week-end.

This year, like every year, there are a lot of events related to the sea: a parade of maritime organizations of the city, commemoration of the first Lithuanian sea captain Liudvikas Stulpinas, a ceremony to honour those who perished at sea, day voyages by ships, water sports competitions, a ceremony to pay tribute to the best seafarers and maritime organizations.

Besides the official ceremonies, there is an amazing entertainment programme for the participants of the Festival (see below). In the old city, there will be numerous concert places with different programmes for children, youth and elderly people. Professional artists, troupes of public art organizations will perform.

Exhibition halls, picture galleries, cultural institutions open their doors for visitors inviting to new expositions related to the Sea Festival and the sea.

In addition to the concerts, street performances, exhibitions and other art events, the Sea Festival attracts hundreds of folk artists selling their works. Tents with open-air cafés will be available for any thirsty soul in the city squares and streets...

Every evening this week-end picturesque fireworks will decorate the sea coast skies to celebrate Klaipeda’s 758^th anniversary and to highlight that another lively, colourful Sea Festival is in full swing!

30 July (Friday)

12.00 – Opening of folk-art fair

Culture and Rest park (Pušyno str./ H.Manto str., Klaipėda University bus-station)

13.00 – Park holiday „ART BALTICA 2010 FOR KLAIPEDA PARK“

Territory of „Memelio miestas“ (Memel city)

17.00 – 22.00 – Opening of the gates of „THE LAND OF WONDERS“. Folk artists` fair, education  yard, creative workshops, artistic installations.

Territory of „Memelio miestas“ (Memel city) - „Švyturys arts` dock“

18.00 – 22.00 –„LITHUANIAN TALENTS 2010“.

Šaulių str. – Cruise vessel terminal

19.00 – Opening parade of Sea Festival 2010

The workers of maritime companies, stevedoring companies and organizations, Navy company, participants of 43rd International Curonian Lagoon regatta, pupils of sailing school „Suominis“ and the representatives of Klaipėda rowers club, participants of the gathering of brass-bands „Storms of Orchestras“ – orchestras from Riga, Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda and Panevėžys will take place in the parade.  

Tiltų str. 3

19.00 – 21.00 – Collage of changing sketches „ALMOST SACRED INVENTIONS“ in a „Moment`s theatre" .

Square at „Meridianas“quay (embankment)

19.00 – 21.00 –Program of events of „CHILDREN’S ISLAND“  – participants of the evening of songs – pupils of Stasys Šimkus conservatoire.

Culture Communications Centre yard

20.00 – 22.00 – Concert of a group „ARBIS“. The old hits and the new songs of „HIPERBOLE“ gitarist Igor Berin in the performance.

Theatre square

20.00 – 23.00 – Concert of the participants of the gathering of brass-bands „Copper Storms“

Cruise vessel terminal

20.00 – 23.00 – Opening concert of the Sea Festival 2010 „SONGS OF BORN-AT-SEA“

During the concert the winner of the election of the Seafarer of the Year will be announced, the Letters of Honour of the Ministries of Lithuania will be handed to the employees of maritime organizations, the greetings to Navy celebrating its 75th anniversary as well as to the other organizations and companies celebrating anniversaries and to International XLIII „CURONIAN LAGOON“regatta starting during the days of the Sea Festival, will sound. During the event the exhibition „CALLED BY THE SEA“will be opened.

Territory of „Memelio miestas“ (Memel city)

20.00 – 22.00 – The grand opening of International street circus fiesta „THE LAND OF WONDERS“ – presentation of programs and participants of the festival.

Jonas hill

20.30 – 21.30 – K.Orfas. Cantata „CARMINA BURANA“ (Conductor M.Barkauskas)

Square at „Meridianas“quay (embankment)

21.00 – program for the family of „CHILDREN’S ISLAND“ – concert „WHAT A LONG EVENING...“ There take part Neda Malūnavičiūtė, Olegas Ditkovskis, Kostas Smoriginas

Tiltų str.3

21.00 - 23.00 – poetry and pantomime sketch „A Date“ by „A moment`s teatre“

Jonas hill

Marathon of events of Klaipėda State Music Theatre „BASTION OF OPERA“

22.00 – 23.00 – Dance performance „FROM FLAMENCO TO JAZZ“

Ferry „Kintai“ (start at Cruise vessel terminal)

22.00 - „KIWI BOAT PARTY“ – disco party on the water with  Djs: The BreezeBloxxx (LIVE), Uncle Roll, Manchini, Sat, Yakoff, Ninoleo (access not free).

Territory of „Memelio miestas“ (Memel city) - „Švyturys arts` dock“

24.00 – Sea Festival 2010, „AFTERPARTY“.

8.00 – Folk- art fair.

Brass orchestras of S.Šimkus conservatoire, Gargždai and Šilute art schools take part in the parade.

Ferry „Kintai“ (start from Cruise vessel terminal)

 The Dane river (from Jonas hill to Biržos bridge)

12.30 – program of events of „CHILDREN’S ISLAND“ – performance for children „CLOWN AND MOUSE MICE ARE GUESTS OF SEA FESTIVAL“.

The Dane river (from Pilies to Biržos bridge)

20.00 – Concert of jazz orchestra „CITY JAZZ BIG BAND” – a present of the organizers of   Kaipėda jazz festival – Inga and Vytautas Grubliauskai to Klaipėda people on the occasion of the city birthday. Head – Karlis Vanags (Latvia).

THE FACES OF

KLAIPEDA

You can order your own sightseeing tour with one of them at www.klaipedainfo.lt

IS LITHUANIA AT THE

TURNING POINT?

He has made numerous presentations on these issues in a wide range of local and international seminars and conferences.

Here is what Dr. Nausėda writes in his latest report, ‘Lithuanian Macroeconomic Review’:

(except airlines) which are likely to show increasingly good results over the coming quarters. Managers of domestic trade companies still do not dare to forecast growth this year but are not drown in pessimism anymore. However, tough competition continues driving small retailers out of the market due to sharp price-cost scissors.

Statistical data announced for the first months of 2010 confirms our earlier suggestion that the start of 2010 will look much gloomier than its end for Lithuanian economy. It is not a coincidence that lately most of market participants that forecast development of Lithuanian economy have revised their forecasts up.

(full report attached)

THE VILLAGE VOICE (2)

VilNews started last month a new series of articles under the heading 'The Village Voice'. The articles

are written by a retired Englishman, David Holliday, who for the past fifteen years has lived with

his wife Migle in the village Lapiai 30 km from Klaipeda. Here comes the second in the row of

David's subtle tales and stories from his life out there – so far off the beaten track ...

A letter from Miss Marple

Dear Ann,

I will send the cheque to my UK bank and then take out the money in Litas here and give it to the Headmistress.  It will go onto the „fund for special treats“.  We have several excursions to the village during the summer season, so this year I already have about another £200 in various currencies which I will also give her.  Over the last few years since we started offering the postcards designed by the children, we have averaged £500 per year which pays for outings and equipment for their use, such as a wide screen TV, DVD player, inflatable swimming pool and toys which they can all use.

There are about twenty children with special needs and they suffer from Downs syndrome, autism, psychological problems and learning difficulties.  These children are divided into small groups and have their own teachers in class and assistant teachers for the rest of the time.

There is another small group who stay in the dormitory during the week and go home at the weekend and for the long holidays.  These are able children who come for difficult or dysfunctional families.  They attend normal school, but need the additional supervision that the school provides.  Although the dormitory is old and rundown, the children are happy and well cared for.

In total the village school has 150 children, which includes the 45 in the dormitory.  Most of the children come from our village, but a large proportion live in the surrounding villages and come in by public transport or our own new school bus, which arrived last year.  Lapiai is sort of “twinned” with Mikoliskiai, which is a village about 5 km for us.  They have the church and the cemetery, whereas we have the school.  I think we got the better deal!

Lapiai village school caters for children up to tenth grade, what we would call secondary school in England.  They then go for further study or vocational training to our nearest town Gargzdai or Klaipeda.

The village school was built ninety years ago and occupied what is now the dormitory.  The main school was built in 1965 and was completely refurbished three years ago.  Sadly, the dormitory was not included in the project and is in a very poor state of repair and difficult to keep warm in the winter.

However, we do have a brilliant Headmistress who is full of energy and ideas.  She is working on a project to create a regional centre for children in need.  As you can imagine at the moment the dormitory fails to meet many of the EU rules and regulations.  The new project will cater for all these requirements.  Lapiai has the advantage of being in a quiet village, but still within 30 minutes reach of Klaipeda and there is plenty of room to expand on the existing site we already have.  But at the moment in this time of national crisis money is tight.  The money we raise from the children’s postcards and donations from people like you is always very welcome, but falls far short of the £500,000 required for a new centre.

But we live in hope and trust in God.  It may take some time, but it will happen.  Our children are at the bottom of the pile.  And for no fault of their own.  We must give them a helping hand and the opportunity to live a normal life.  It is their right.

Thank you for your help Ann.  I shall always remember you as our Miss Marple!

Sincerely yours,

David

To all of you, dear VilNews readers:

THANK YOU!

VilNews during the first six months of 2010.

You are one of more than 1,000 individuals throughout the world receiving VilNews directly to your mailbox every week. Many also forward VilNews to friends, colleagues and acquaintances, so we estimate that we have between 5,000 and 10,000 readers in total. VilNews is read also by Lithuania 's leaders within politics, administration, business, media, education and culture. VilNews is international Lithuania 's forum for debate and comments, and we appreciate all the many letters and comments we receive. Good debate is always healthy!

JEWISH CULTURE RETURNS TO VILNIUS

to participate in the first display of books compiled by American Wyman Brent.

Photo: Žilvinas Beliauskas  

Many of us had a certain feeling of participating in writing a new chapter of history when we met this early June day two weeks ago. Vilnius, which for hundreds of years had been one of the world's most important centres of Jewish culture and learning, was, as we know virtually wiped out from the Jewish world map during the Holocaust, but as we meet here - individuals from many countries, nationalities and cultures - this early summer day to celebrate that an American Baptist has collected more than 5000 books for what eventually will become a Jewish library of 200,000 titles, the feeling of a new dawn is clearly present.

Wyman Brent's planned new library is not the only signal. Two other men, professor Dovid Katz and professor Mikhail Iossel, have also been very active recently. As a result, not many weeks ago, the new Litvak Studies Institute was established in the premises of the Jewish community in Vilnius city centre (read more about both the library and the institute below).

These two events have not healed the wounds after the Holocaust in this country, and it will take a long time and many more efforts before this will happen. But it is important to maintain and preferably breathe new life into what was once a thriving Jewish culture here. The efforts that are now being made by these three gentlemen is nothing less than admirable, and I do therefore choose to see 10 June 2010 as a turning point in the positive direction.

I've had the pleasure to give my support to the new building of bridges that seems to be developing between Lithuania and the world’s Litvak communities these days, and I must say that I during this process have been impressed by how open and positive also many of Lithuania's governing circles and individuals have become. Wyman Brent's library has, for example, been given free space and also brought into a close cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and other government institutions. This form of transparency and genuine willingness to find reconciliation, symbolized through concrete projects, is of utmost importance, and I applaud all parties involved!

Aage Myhre

Editor

Litvak Studies Institute

Photo: Litvak Studies Institute

The Litvak Studies Institute (LSI) is an interdisciplinary academic and arts centre devoted to the language, literature, history, culture and future of Lithuanian Jewry.

Based within the Jewish community in Vilnius, the international non-profit institute works to support, strengthen and extend the vitality of Lithuanian Jewish heritage, as well as its future and contemporary life. This uniquely vibrant community thrived for over six centuries before being nearly annihilated during the Holocaust—it remains fragile in the present day.

Today, the LSI serves as a resonant local and international voice for contemporary Lithuanian Jewish issues, and provides unique resources about Litvak culture and the global diaspora of Jews of Lithuanian descent.

An educational and creative epicentre for Litvak Studies, the LSI offers a spectrum of projects, initiatives, and partnerships, including the annual publications, public affairs advocacy, Lithuanian Yiddish programs, heritage tours, Holocaust survivor advocacy, and much more.

The Institute will also work to counter the reemergence of anti-Semitic trends in the region (including Holocaust revisionism and "Double Genocide"), and will be a stalwart and loyal advocate for the surviving Litvak communities in the region and the world.

Read more at:

http://www.litvakstudiesinstitute.org/

Jewish Library

Photo: Žilvinas Beliauskas  

An American Christian of British and Irish descent (!) has embarked on an ambitious project to create a Jewish library in Vilnius, whose legendary Jewish community was virtually wiped out during Holocaust.

Wyman Brent a 47-year-old Baptist , is using his own funds to build the library, but his project is backed by a corps of supporters ranging from British historian Sir Martin Gilbert to the co-founder of the US National Organization for Women, Sonia Pressman Fuentes. Also the Lithuanian authorities are now backing Wyman’s plans and have offered space and cooperation for his library project.

If all goes according to Wyman’s plans, the library will have a collection of 200,000 books, plus CDs and DVDs, and will serve as a venue for concerts, art exhibitions, poetry readings and lectures.

The library currently has no permanent home, but it already has around 5,000 items, which will eventually increase to around 200,000. It is expected to open to the public second half of 2010 and will likely be based at Gedimino Avenue 24, the building that houses the Vilnius Small Theatre.

An interesting feature for the Jewish library is that the books do not necessarily have to be about Jewish topics, and Wyman explains his ideology as follows: “If the book is by a Jewish author, it can be on any topic, whether it has a Jewish theme or not. If the book is by a non-Jewish author, whether it is fiction or non-fiction, the topic must have some Jewish connection as long as it is not anti-Semitic.”

All books will be in English so as to draw in the greatest possible number of users.

He returned to Vilnius in 1995 and has lived here for long periods of time since then, since 2008 permanently. “Vilnius is the place I plan to live for the rest of my life,” he explains.

“Another reason for choosing Vilnius is that it was a centre of Jewish culture and learning, known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania. With more than 100 synagogues and prayer houses, and with so many Jewish newspapers, it was a city which spread Jewish thought around the world.”

Nevertheless, he points out, there is an undercurrent of anti-Semitism in Lithuania today.

“I am not the king of the world and I can never end anti-Semitism, but if I can open a few minds to the beauty of Jewish culture, I will have done my part to make the world a better place.”

Read more at:

http://balticreports.com/?p=19332

SU JONINĖM!

Happy Midsummer!

How to Celebrate a Lithuanian Midsummer

 Contributor

By Maria Scinto, eHow Contributing Writer

Midsummer Day in Lithuania is a celebration of the Summer Solstice as well as being a holy day sacred to St. John, but the real festivities take place on the evening prior to the date itself. On the night of June 23rd throughout Lithuania, people come together to celebrate Saint Jonas' Festival, also known as Jonines, Kupolines or Rasos.

Step 1

Select an outdoor place in which to hold your party. Decorate your party space with fresh flowers and, if possible, raise a pole covered with flowers and herbs. Make garlands of fresh flowers and ribbons to be worn by all of the young girls and unmarried women present.

Step 2

Build a bonfire if at all possible. Lithuanian tradition calls for a tall pole crowned with a wooden wheel that has been soaked in tar or filled with birch bark, but you may have to make do with a small fire built in a fire pit or even candles. Whichever form of fire you use, if there is a member of your party named John, Jonas, or another similar name, that person should be the one to light it.

Step 3

Play Lithuanian music and encourage guests to sing Lithuanian songs if they know any. Lithuanian folk dances are also traditional, but if you do not know any of the old songs or dances you can still get a book of Lithuanian folk or fairy tales and reads some of them out loud to set the mood.

Step 4

Set out a feast consisting of traditional Lithuanian foods. Kugelis, the baked potato pudding that is the Lithuanian national dish, is pretty much de rigeur, and your guests may also enjoy such dishes as Skilandis (a smoked sausage-type meat), Salti barsciai (a cold soup made from beets), Cepelinai (potato dumplings with a ground meat filling), Vedarai (potato sausage) and Bulviniai Blynai (a type of potato pancake). Poppy seed cakes (Pyragas Su Aguonomis) and honey cakes (Meduoliai) make for an enjoyable, traditional dessert.

Step 5

Look for Lithuanian beers such as Utenos, Svyturys and Kalnapilis, Lithuanian Stumbras vodka, and Anyksciu Vynas wine. If you're the do-it-yourself type, you might like to try brewing up a batch of Lithuanian honey mead (Midus) or even Gira (also known as Kvass), which is made from fermenting this and that, usually bread, but sometimes other items such as barley, cranberries or caraway seeds. Caraway seeds can also be used to brew up a tea for non-drinkers, as can linden blossoms should you be able to acquire any.

Step 6

Take part in special Lithuanian Midsummer traditions like hunting for the magic fern blossom at midnight. This fern blossom, which should be gathered up in a silk handkerchief, is said to make the bearer wise, rich and happy, but is nearly impossible to find as it is guarded by monsters and witches. Another Midsummer game involves having unmarried girls and women float their flower garlands downstream (should you have access to a suitable body of water) to determine the length of time until they get married--the farther their garlands float, the sooner they will marry, supposedly. Yet another custom involves jumping over the bonfire and if the festivities go on all night long, revelers should be sure to wash their faces in the morning dew as they find their way home.

Read more: How to Celebrate a Lithuanian Midsummer | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4443202_celebrate-lithuanian-midsummer.html#ixzz0rZrzzi9x

Lithuanian Midsummer

The holiday, in fact, is not the Midsummer Day, June 24, but the evening and night preceding it. The holiday coincides with the summer solstice. At the beginning of the 20th century it was observed all over Lithuania, now it is more popular in the northern and central parts of the country. Although St. John the Baptist occupies a very important place in the hierarchy of saints, the Church does not attach any great importance to the celebration of his nativity, which falls on the Midsummer Day. It is a festival of simple people, connected with the veneration of fire. Young girls adorn their heads with flower wreaths. A tall pole with a wooden wheel soaked in tar or filled with birch bark is hoisted at the top of the highest hill in the vicinity. Men whose names are Jonas (John) set the wheels on fire and make bonfires around it. In some places a second pole is hoisted with flowers and herbs. Young people dance round the fire, sing songs about rye, play games, men try to jump over the fire. The burning wheels on the poles are rolled down the hill into a river or a lake at its foot, men jumping over it all along. On the Midsummer Day people weed the rye and burn all the weeds.

On Midsummer Day's morning witches acquire special powers, they drag towels over the dewy grass to affect cows' milk. To save their cows from the witches' magic farmers shut them in cowsheds for the Midsummer Night and stick bunches of nettle in the door to scare the witches away. On Midsummer Day cows are driven out to pasture in the early after- noon when there is no more dew on the grass. Horses, however, are left to graze in the open throughout the night, or the witches magic has no effect on them.

Midsummer Day and the time immediately preceding it is believed to have special powers. Medicinal herbs collected from June 1 to the Midsummer Day can cure 12 (some say 99) diseases. There are girls who save their Midsummer Day's wreaths all the year round. Great importance is attached to the Midsummer Day's fire. Its embers are brought home to make the hearth fire, and its ashes are spread in the fields.

There are numerous stories about the fern, which comes into blossom in the thick of the woods on Midsummer Night. He who finds a fern blossom becomes a wise, rich and happy man. But it is not easy to find a fern blossom, for horrible monsters and witches try to scare everybody away so that they could snatch the blossom themselves. Everybody who wants to find a fern blossom must know that only nine-year-old ferns can burst into blossom, that it is necessary to spread a silk kerchief under the clump for the blossom to fall onto, to draw a circle around oneself with a rowan stick hallowed in church, light a candle and pray in defiance of the monsters around. The blossom that drops onto the kerchief looks like a speck of gold. It is best to saw it under the skin of a finger or the palm, then nobody will steel it from you.

Young people play games all through Midsummer Night until sunrise or until dew falls out, Girls float wreaths on rivers to find out their prospects for marriage. The farther their wreaths float the sooner they will get married. It is also very important which bank the wreath will stop at. Sometimes a burning candle or a bowl filled with burning tar is fixed in the middle of the wreath. A great number of Midsummer Night's superstitions and customs are similar to those observed on Christmas Eve. A girl will marry the man whom she will see in her dream walking along the straw placed across the bowl of water under her bed or who will dry his face on the towel placed beside her bed. The future husband will come from the direction in which she notices the first bonfire on Midsummer Night.

On the eve of Midsummer Night people adorn the wayside shrines which contain figurines of St. John. They also honour all Johns they know. This they do in various ways, for example, by fixing a wreath of oak leaves around his door. This is usually done in secret and the man thus honoured must guess whose job it was (or catch him doing it) and give him a treat.

The research done by the author of the present book in the past five years has convinced him that the customs of Christmas Eve and Midsummer Night, which coincide with the winter and summer soltices, are very closely connected. Sometimes the Christmas Eve table is covered exclusively with the hay mown just before Midsummer Night. Superstitions and customs of the two feasts are very similar. Christmas Eve customs are dominated by darkness, veneration of death and the dead, expectation, feeding of birds in a cart wheel, running round the house with a bowl of pudding, walking round the orchard. Those are all symbols of time. The summer soltice - Midsummer Night - is dominated by symbols of the sun, such as burning cart wheels hoisted high on poles which are adorned with wreaths of herbs and flowers, symbols of growth. In honour of the sun the fire from the bonfires is brought home to light the hearth, the fields are sprinkled with ash. Later these customs blended with those of Easter. The lighting of bonfires is the privilege of men who are called John. Sometimes it is the privilege of the oldest of all Johns in the vicinity. Those and other details in the celebration Of Midsummer Night testify that in the pre-Christian period Midsummer Night was celebrated as a feast of the sun.

VERITAS ODIT MORAS

version of Oedipus. It means “Truth hates delay.” 

The old ‘truths’ no longer apply. But are there new ones? Truth hates delay.

Aage Myhre

Editor

THE VILLAGE VOICE…

VilNews starts today a new series of articles under the heading 'The Village Voice'. The articles will be written by a retired Englishman, David Holliday, who for the past fifteen years has lived with his wife Migle in the village Lapiai 30 km from Klaipeda. I think you, dear reader, will come to appreciate

David's many subtle tales and stories from his life out there – so far off the beaten track ...

Around the castle hill 

July 1995

My life here in Lithuania revolves around my home in the country.  To many it would be a bore, but for me it is the perfect life and I could wish for nothing better.  This morning, as always, I walked the dogs around the valley and, as always, Blondie ran off into the woods.  I stopped off by the river to see if the overnight rain had had any effect.  It had, but not much and we need more.  This spring of 1995 was abnormally hot and dry and they say that there has been nothing like it since records began.  Farmers have been hard hit again this year and yields all round will be very low.  There are still signs of beaver activity on the riverbank and there are several dams in our stretch of river, which runs for about a kilometre.  Our neighbours have erected a fence in front of their cattle fodder to stop the beavers pinching it at night.  It seems to have worked for there haven’t been any raids for the last few days.  I want to put a sign up on the fence saying “Beavers!  Food round the back of the fence”.  But Migle says that it might not go down well with Povilas, because it might work and put our friendship in jeopardy!

I normally walk the dogs all around the valley, but at this time of year the grass is very high and I get soaked tramping through it.  Tomorrow (or the next day) I will go round with the trimmer and cut a swathe through it.  On the way back from the river I stop off at the alpinarium for a look.  Actually it’s an enormous pile of rocks, which were pulled out when we excavated the pond last year.  Some of them are nearly chest height and weigh several tonnes.  Together they cover an area half the size of a tennis court.  In England they would cost £100 each in the garden centres.  Anyway, we call it an Alpinarium as we are working towards it.  Migle has planted some flowers and shrubs and it is my job to weed and to water and it’s got to be done today!  Yes dear.  It’s going to be another exciting day and I can’t wait to get started.  But first a cup of breakfast!

Migle and I married at the Registry Office in Ashford in front of the home crowd on New Year’s Eve 1993.  I took early retirement in March 94 and made sure that we got married before I left, for reasons which you and I know, but which Migle remains blissfully unaware of!  In the meantime we bought a three room flat in the centre of Klaipeda for £8,000 and had it refurbished and modernised for about another £2,500.  The flat is comfortable and right in the centre of Klaipeda next to the old town. It overlooks the river Danes and between the river and us is a park with a decorative water fountain.  All very comfortable, but not much to do in the winter.

We had an artist friend we met in town and from whom I used to buy the odd piece.  One day in the summer of 1995 he invited us out to his country house about 30 km form Klaipeda in the village of Lapiai.  It is a lovely situation on the side of a hill.  The house was being built and the foundations were in place.  Meanwhile, as is the way out here, he had built the outhouse first, so they could live there while the main house was being done.  He has about a hectare of land (2.5 acres), just down the slope below the village school.  It was a lovely day and we sat outside and chatted well into the night.  In those days I had to communicate in Russian and that made it rather difficult for the locals who all wanted to lapse into Lithuanian.  I remember during the course of the evening that Migle said that we were looking for a place in the country as well.  We went home and thought no more about it.

A few weeks later in early summer, Migle had a phone call.  It was Vytas our artist friend.  He said that there was a small farm in the village, which had come up for sale.  Did we want to have a look?  Did we ever!  We drove out again at the weekend and parked in his drive.  Vytas explained that the farm was in the valley down the hill about a kilometre further on.  It belonged to an old lady whose husband had died about three years ago and who wanted to sell up.

We walked down the hill and into the valley.  At first we chatted in Russian so I could join in, but quickly changed to Lithuanian as Vytautas (Vytas for short), Eugenija his wife and Migle moved ahead slightly.  The first farm at the bottom of the hill has a good position within a stone’s throw of the river.  I knew it wasn’t the one for sale as it was too close to the hill.  We followed the river around the bend and the next farm came into sight over the growing corn.  I could see several out buildings, including the large barn, some beehives and the inevitable outside toilet painted “s” brown.  Again, it looked attractive, but I didn’t really think it would be the one, so I didn’t fantasise too much.  Sure enough, we kept on the little road and moved on round the corner and down another rise.  And there in front of us about 300 m away in the distance was this beautiful sight.  The house and farm buildings stood on a knoll in the centre.  The river ran some 200 m to the right.  Beyond the buildings were open fields and then the castle hill dating back to the 14^th century.  To the left more grassland before the ground began to rise up to the woods at the side of the valley.  From where we stood the house was on the right and was painted pastel green.  To the front and facing towards the river there was a rickety glass conservatory covered in ivy or vines.   Standing a few yards from the verandah were two magnificent old spruces and perched on top of the furthest of them was the biggest stork’s nest you have ever seen!  We walked closer along the lane, which led towards or past the house.  All heads were turned to take in the unfolding view.  Nobody wanted to stare, but everyone wanted to look.  For it was certain sure that we were being watched.

Here we stopped for what seemed an age as they chatted and I began to move ahead, impatient to see what would lie round the next bend.  But when I turned back, they were gone!  I rushed back to the river and saw them a little way ahead and walking back the way we had come.  I ran up to them and said in English “Migle, why are we going back?”  She said, “This is the house.  This is the one we are coming to see!”  I said, “But why did we walk past it and down to the river?”  She said, “Well, we just wanted to see the view from the river and get the feel of the place and see all the land that goes with it”.

I can’t explain how happy I felt then.  It was a defining moment in my life.  The first date, first solo and maiden century all rolled into one!    Migle said, “You stay here and we’ll go in and talk to the old lady.  If she knows you’re a foreigner the price will go through the roof!”

I went back to the bend in the river and sat down on a rock by the water and listened to the music of the river and the birds.  They could talk for as long as they liked.  I wasn’t going anywhere!  This was where I was going to live!

July 1995

I wasn’t going anywhere!  This was where I was going to live!