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Good morning, Mr. President!

There is no head of state in the world, other than former President Adamkus, who has been running 100 meters in 10.8 seconds... This reveals the newly released 400 page sports biography that has been prepared by sports journalist Maryte Marcinkevičiūtė. It is early morning in May 2012. I am here to interview His Excellency, President Valdas Adamkus.
Photo: Aage Myhre.

President Valdas Adamkus interviewed by Aage Myhre
aage.myhre@VilNews.com

Former President Valdas Adamkus welcomes me in his office in the rear wing of the Presidential Palace in Vilnius Old Town this early May morning. We are approaching the end of our series on the relationship between the Lithuanian-American community and the home country, and I have come here to the ex-president's office to learn more about how he, as the world's most famous Lithuanian-American, looks at this relationship. I would also like to hear more about his own history in Lithuania before and during World War II, about his years in Chicago and about his time as a politician and President of Lithuania for most of the years of 1998-2009.

I must admit that I sometimes felt Adamkus was too weak in his job as president. I often wished that he more pronouncedly had called the country's nomenclature to account for their transgressions against the nation's population, and I felt much more should have be done to fight corruption, injustice, intolerance, neglect of society's weaker groups, violence, crime and other misdeeds that Lithuania is still so tragically suffering under.

But after sitting with him for nearly two hours this morning, it slowly dawned on me how impossible it must have been to change attitudes and deeds in a country that to such a high degree had been brainwashed and subjected to almost unbelievable abuses over the years under Soviet tyranny. My respect and understanding of President Adamkus grew significantly during this interview.

Bring Smetona’s remains home to Lithuania!

I start my presidential interview talking about the relationship between the enormous group of Lithuanian-Americans, more than a million people, and their home country here on the Baltic Sea.

President Adamkus was born in this country in 1926 but fled to the West towards the end of World War II and came to America in 1949. During the war he contributed actively to the fight against the Nazi occupiers, and in the United States he committed himself correspondingly as strong in the fight against the Soviet occupiers, until the liberation of Lithuania

finally came in 1990-91, when he could return to continue his efforts for a strong, democratic home country on its own soil.

It was also raised questions about why Smetona's remains had not been sent home to Lithuania for a similar honourable funeral and burial as was the case for Grinius. The answer given was that Smetona's family did not want this.

“Lithuania still has a long way to go until it achieves the same level of independence and self-determination it had under Smetona. That’s why to repatriate the remains of President Smetona and Sofija Smetoniene will not happen soon if at all,” writes Andris Jonas Dunduras in a comment.

I asked President Adamkus if he had an opinion about this, and he replied simply: "Send the remains back to his home country: It is sad to see that Smetona's family seems to have ended up in an internal conflict instead of thinking about what an important man he was for Lithuania. There is absolutely no reason to doubt Lithuania's safe anchorage in freedom and democracy nowadays and therefore this is not a reason not to provide a dignified burial for Smetona in his beloved homeland."

Adamkus adds that there also are many who believe Smetona was an autocratic president who does not deserve to be honoured by his home country, something he strongly disagrees with. "We must remember that such was the political situation in much of Europe throughout the interwar period. Also our neighbouring countries were led by autocrats, and it is my clear opinion, in such a perspective, that Smetona was a very good president who deserves all possible recognition for his tremendous efforts as a statesman of the highest rank," he says.

Almost caught by Gestapo

President Adamkus gives me more and more new details as the conversation continues. He shares with me episodes from his childhood and youth in Kaunas in the 1930s, and he talks about shocking events from the war years.

In 1944, he was just about arrested by the Gestapo for his anti-Nazi underground work.

"I thank my friend Gabrielius Žemkalnis, brother of Vytautas Landsbergis, that I’m still alive. In the years of World War II, he and I joined the resistance movement for Lithuania's independence, together with Leo Grinius, by publishing and circulating the underground, anti-Nazi newspaper “Jaunime, budek!” (Youth, Be on Guard!) in Kaunas. One day, in 1944, I was suddenly visited by Žemkalnis' sister. She said her brother had been arrested by the Gestapo, but that he had managed to whisper my name to her as he was led out of the apartment. She immediately understood that it was something he and I had together that I had to be warned about. I was still only 17 years old, but realized that this could be extremely serious, so I ran to the woods and hid there for a long time. Žemkalnis himself was first imprisoned in

Kaunas, but was later transferred to German prisons where he sat until the war was over. He never betrayed us in spite of harsh interrogation methods, and his whisper to his sister probably saved my life."

President Adamkus meeting the man who probably saved his life in 1944, Gabrielius Žemkalnis. Regina Narusiene watching.

There is no head of state in the world, other than Adamkus, who has been running 100 meters in 10.8 seconds... Says the 400 page sports biography that has been prepared by sports journalist Maryte Marcinkevičiūtė.

Meeting Nixon in the White House, September 1955

While a student, Adamkus, together with other Lithuanian Americans, collected about 40,000 signatures petitioning the United States Government to intervene in the ongoing deportations of Lithuanians to Siberia by the Soviets. The petition was presented to then-Vice President Richard Nixon late September 1955.

The petition was supposed to be delivered directly to President Dwight D. Eisenhower but during a visit to his in-laws in Denver the day before, President Eisenhower suffered a serious, though not ultimately debilitating, heart attack. As it turned out, he would survive the episode by more than 13 years, more than long enough to finish a second term in 1961.

Adamkus also raised concerns about other Soviet activities in occupied Lithuania to United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld in 1958 and to President John F. Kennedy in 1962.

“"The reactions from Moscow were uncomfortably strong. No feeling of guilt or regret of the horrible atrocities they were committing against my little country and my people."

President Adamkus' face gets a look of deep sadness as he talks about how his beloved people was torn apart and subjected to atrocities one can hardly imagine today.

In September 1955 Valdas Adamkus (28) presented a petition to then-Vice President Richard Nixon, with
40,000 signatures of young Lithuanian-Americans petitioning the United States Government
to intervene in the ongoing deportations of Lithuanians to Siberia by the Soviets
(Adamkus and VP Nixon in centre)

Early 1990s – presidential campaign with Stasys Lozoraitis

In May 1993, just a few months after the election, Brazauskas recalled Lozoraitis as ambassador to the U.S. despite criticism of politicizing the issue. In late 1993, Lozoraitis was appointed as the ambassador to Italy.

Lozoraitis died of kidney failure at Georgetown University Hospital. He was buried in Putnam Cemetery in Connecticut and was reburied in Petrašiūnai Cemetery in Kaunas in 1999. The same year he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Cross of Vytis.

"I became campaign manager for my friend's presidential campaign on very short notice in 1993," chuckles President Adamkus. "He called me home one day while I still lived in the U.S. and said he needed my help. He had decided to pose as a candidate for the Lithuanian presidential election in February of that year, and had concluded that his Lithuanian team was not capable of running a campaign, thus, he needed my help as soon as possible. I decided quickly to request unpaid leave of absence from my job and travelled across the Atlantic to assist my friend. We realized that the chance to win at such short notice, was minimal, but we took a red marker and divided Lithuania into two, on the map.

Then we started to tour, he in one part, I in the other, to promote him as a presidential candidate, but even more to promote and explain what freedom and democracy could mean for the 'reborn' Lithuania. We won of course not, but I feel that we planted some important seeds that time almost 20 years ago."

Adamkus leans back in his chair, overwhelmed by memories, but shakes his head when I ask him if there might be something in the rumours that Lozoraities was poisoned and murdered in 1994...

President of Lithuania 1998-2003 and 2004-2009

In 2002, he ran in the presidential elections for another term, in the second round however he lost to Rolandas Paksas. In 2004, following the removal of Rolandas Paksas from the Office of the President by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, Valdas Adamkus again ran in the presidential elections.

On 27 June 2004, citizens of Lithuania re-elected Valdas Adamkus President of the Republic for another five-year term. During his second term, as President of the Republic, he committed himself to create European wellbeing in every Lithuanian home and guarantee that there should not be a single abandoned person in Lithuania.

Under his presidency, Lithuania actively promoted democracy in the former Soviet, Eastern European and Asian nations. President Adamkus, together with President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Javier Solana, Boris Gryzlov and Ján Kubiš, served as a mediator during Ukraine's political crisis, when two candidates in the 2004 presidential election, Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Yushchenko, each claimed victory. President Adamkus recalled in an interview that "when I asked what we could do to help, Kuchma said the friends of the Ukrainian people should drop whatever they were doing and come to Kiev immediately." The next day international mediators met in Ukraine. The crisis was resolved after a new election was held.

"After I refused to take part in the Moscow parade, I became, in the language of diplomats, "persona non grata" for Putin. I was being ignored; he tried not to see me wherever we both came to participate in any international event,” tells the former leader of Lithuania with a wry smile, as he sits here in front of me this May morning.

President Adamkus supported an active dialogue between European Union member states and those former Soviet republics such as Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova, that were actively seeking membership in the EU. He expressed support for these candidate members during the Community of Democratic Choice in 2005, at the Vilnius Conference 2006, and on several other occasions.

Adamkus chose not to run for re-election during the Lithuanian presidential election in 2009
and was succeeded on 12 July 2009 by Dalia Grybauskaitė.

Comments about other politicians

We have had a long, good conversation, President Adamkus and me. New visitors have already been long waiting in his anteroom. But before I go I need to know a bit more about how he looks at other leading politicians in today's Lithuania.

My time with President Adamkus has come to an end.

Biography

Professional Career

In early 70's Valdas Adamkus was invited to work for a newly established US federal environmental institution, the US Environment Protection Agency (EPA). He headed the Environment Research Centre and was later appointed deputy administrator at the US EPA Region 5 (Midwest Region). In 1981, he was promoted to administrator of the Environment Protection Agency.

Face to Lithuania

Valdas Adamkus was active in public and political life of the Lithuanian expatriate community. Between 1958 and 1965, he was vice-chairman of the Santara-Šviesa (Accord-Light) Cultural-Political Federation, a liberal civic organization of the Lithuanian expatriate community, acting under the slogan "Face to Lithuania ", and, in 1967, he was elected its chairman.

While living in the United States , Valdas Adamkus was an active organizer of protests against Lithuania 's occupation and the initiator of numerous petitions. Between 1961 and 1964, Adamkus was a member of the Board of the American-Lithuanian Community (LC), vice-chairman of the Centre Board, member of the American-Lithuanian Council (ALC).

Valdas Adamkus was an active participant and organiser of sports events. He won two gold and two silver medals in track-and-field events at the Olympic Games of the Enslaved Nations of 1948. In 1951, Valdas Adamkus established an academic sports club of Lithuanian Americans, Lituanica. He was chairman of the Organizing Committee of the World Lithuanian Games that were held in 1983.

Since 1972, Valdas Adamkus had been visiting Lithuania once or several times a year. Encouraging and supporting construction of water treatment facilities and development of environmental monitoring, Valdas Adamkus assisted environmental institutions of the Baltic States with academic literature, equipment and software supply.

In the capacity of the coordinator of US aid to the Baltic States in the field of environmental protection, Valdas Adamkus organized study visits for representatives of Lithuania 's academic institutions and helped Vilnius University to get hold of the latest academic literature.

In 1993, Valdas Adamkus headed the election campaign of presidential candidate Stasys Lozoraitis in Lithuania .

Consolidating the moderate political centre, he was actively involved in the campaign of the 1996 Lithuanian general parliamentary elections.

President of the Republic

In 1998, Valdas Adamkus was elected President of the Republic of Lithuania. He assumed the office on February 26, 1998. President Adamkus promoted the idea of rapid modernisation of Lithuania and worked consistently towards its implementation.

In 2002, Valdas Adamkus ran in the presidential elections for another term, in the second round however he lost to Rolandas Paksas. Upon completion of his term in the office, Valdas Adamkus remained active in domestic and foreign politics and gave lectures at international conferences.

In 2004, following the removal of Rolandas Paksas from the Office of the President by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, Valdas Adamkus again ran in the presidential elections.

On June 27, 2004, citizens of Lithuania re-elected Valdas Adamkus President of the Republic for another five-year term. During his second term, President of the Republic is committed to create European wellbeing in every Lithuanian home and to guarantee that there is not a single abandoned person in Lithuania .

UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Construction of Knowledge Societies

In 2003, President Valdas Adamkus was conferred the title of UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Construction of Knowledge Societies. This title is held only by 42 individuals in the whole world, therefore, this honour shown to President Valdas Adamkus can certainly be viewed as the award to all the people of Lithuania .

In the area of knowledge society, UNESCO is involved in internet promotion, establishment of community internet centres, library and archive modernisation, development of E-government, implementation of information technologies in educational, women’s and children’s teaching institutions and decision-making structures.

With its own Goodwill Ambassador, Lithuania has now become even more visible among UNESCO member states.

Awards

In 1988, Valdas Adamkus was granted the International Environmental Award for outstanding achievements in the international arena. He has also been awarded the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Gold Medal, the US President’s Award for Outstanding Service and the International Olympic Committee Award.

Valdas Adamkus was named the European of the Year 2007 at the European Voice Awards. In 2008, he was conferred the title of Academician of the Lithuanian Olympic Academy for many years of active involvement in the Olympic movement and the promotion of its ideals.

The President of Lithuania has been bestowed 33 highest-class state decorations of various countries, including the Golden Collar of the City of Athens, the Order of Iron Wolf of the Lithuanian Scouts Union, the Order of Star of the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union and the International Olympic Committee Award for Sport and Promotion of Olympism.

• Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon, Iceland, 1998
• Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav, Norway, 1998
• Order of Yaroslav the Wise, 1st Class, Ukraine, 1998
• Collar of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, Estonia, 1999
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer, Greece, 1999
• Collar and Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, 1999
• Order of the White Eagle, Poland, 1999
• Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, Malta, 1999
• Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, Hungary, 1999
• Grand Cross of the Order of Friendship, Kazakhstan, 2000
• Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Three Stars, Latvia, 2001
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour, France, 2001
• Collar of the Star of Romania, Romania, 2001
• St. Mesrob Mashtots Order, Armenia, 2002
• Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose with Collar, Finland, 2002
• Order “For Special Merits”, Uzbekistan, 2002
• Order of Vytautas the Great with the Golden Collar, Lithuania, 2003.
• Collar and Grand Cross of the Order of the White Star, Estonia, 2004
• Order of Isabella the Catholic with Collar, Kingdom of Spain, 2005
• Special Class of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, Germany, 2005
• Order of the White Double Cross, 1st Class, Slovakia, 2005
• Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold, Kingdom of Belgium, 2006
• Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, 2006
• The Most Honorable Order of the Bath, United Kingdom, 2006
• Order for Merit, 1st Class, Ukraine, 2006
• Order “Mother Theresa”, Albania, 2007
• Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum, Japan, 2007
• Grand Collar of the Order of Infante D. Henrique, Portugal, 2007
• St. George’s Victory Order, Georgia, 2007
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion, 2008
• Collar of the Order for Merits to Chile, Republic of Chile, 2008
• Grand Star of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria, Republic of Austria, 2009
• Order of Stara Planina, Republic of Bulgaria, 2009

Honorary Doctor

Valdas Adamkus is the Honorary Doctor of universities in Lithuania and other countries:

• Vilnius University, 1989,
• Indiana St. Joseph's College, USA, 1991,
• Northwestern University, USA, 1994,
• Kaunas Technological University, 1998,
• The Catholic University of America, USA, 1998,
• University of Agriculture of Lithuania , 1999,
• Illinois Institute of Technology, USA, 1999,
• Eurasian University, Kazakhstan, 2000,
• De Paul University in Chicago, USA , 2001,
• Law University of Lithuania , 2001,
• Vytautas Magnus University, 2002,
• Lithuanian Academy of Physical Education, 2004,
• Yerevan State University, Armenia, 2006,
• Baku State University, Azerbaijan, 2006,
• Notre Dame University, USA, 2007,
• Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, 2007,
• Tallinn University, Estonia, 2008,
• University of Chile, Chile, 2008.

Juozas Ambrazevicius -
Brazaitis is no hero

Darius Udrys

Opinion: Darius Udrys

If there’s one thing civilized people should all be able to agree upon, one would think that it would be not to make heroes out of Nazi collaborators. Yet here in Lithuania we are about to witness just such a moral travesty.

Somebody apparently decided it would be a good idea to move the remains of Juozas Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis, acting prime minister of Lithuania during the first months of the Nazi occupation, from the United States to Lithuania. Buried previously in Putnam, Connecticut, he has been exhumed and will be reinterred in Kaunas this Sunday with as much fanfare as can be mustered among the clueless and the callous.

Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis is no hero. As prime minister he took responsibility over the short-lived Provisional Government that sprang up in 1941 as the Germans pushed the Soviets out of Lithuania. That government was formed by an organization in collusion with German authorities from the start—the infamous Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF).

The LAF hoped to take advantage of the German advance to restore some semblance of Lithuanian independence and, as stated in one of its publications, “carry out an immediate and fundamental purging of the Lithuanian nation and its land of Jews.” Lithuania’s own International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania puts it plainly: "The anti-Semitic views of the Provisional Government and the Lithuanian Activist Front are well-documented.”

The Provisional Government (PG) was populated with officials who sympathized with the Nazi worldview. Historian Saulius Suziedelis notes in particular its “public alignment with the Reich” and “its fawning rhetoric of gratitude to Hitler and ‘Greater Germany’.” Even worse: according to Suziedelis, newly discovered protocols of PG cabinet meetings make plain that “while it had no plan to kill the Jews en masse, it was ready to enact anti-Jewish economic measures modeled on the Third Reich's infamous Nuremberg Laws of the 1930s.”

Those Lithuanians who glorify the PG and the anti-Soviet uprising that spawned it go to great lengths to downplay its association with the Nazis. This contributes to a general lack of understanding among ordinary Lithuanians of what went on during that period and who was responsible.

When pressed, PG apologists excuse the Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis government by claiming that it only collaborated with the Nazis pragmatically and for noble reasons (to restore Lithuania’s sovereignty), that not every member of the LAF sympathized with the hard-line views of the Berlin leadership, that the PG “self-disbanded” as soon as it realized it would be no more than a Nazi puppet, and, anyway, there was nothing the PG could have done to prevent the Holocaust. Some have gone so far as to suggest that when the LAF instructed Jews to “get out of Lithuania,” perhaps it was simply warning them to take measures to protect themselves. Needless to say, this flies in the face of copious evidence in the LAF’s own words that its aims were far more sinister.

Whatever the moral casuistry, the bottom line is that there is no reasonable way to decouple the Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis government from the words and deeds of the LAF and the Nazis. The Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis government never publicly distanced itself from the killings of Lithuania’s Jewish citizens and signed off on orders approving their dispossession, isolation, and other measures that facilitated the Holocaust.

All of this notwithstanding, and for reasons impossible to comprehend, the Government of Lithuania as well as the Mayor of Kaunas Andrius Kupcinskas and Archbishop of Kaunas Sigitas Tamkevicius have lent their support to this week’s ill-conceived commemoration of Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis’s legacy. The Government provided 30,000 Litas or about $11,000 in funding for the reburial and the Mayor is head of the organizational committee. Archbishop Tamkevicius had particularly warm words for Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis, who will be reinterred in a place of honor at the Church of the Resurrection of Christ—this from the same ecclesiastical leadership that refused former Lithuanian prime minister Algirdas Brazauskas a Catholic burial because, according to Archbishop Tamkevicius, he showed no remorse for his communist past.

This is not only deeply hurtful and offensive to the families and the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, many of which were rounded up and murdered by LAF activists. To allow this travesty to proceed gravely compromises our country morally and confirms the already widespread perception that Lithuania is unwilling to face its own history honestly and sincerely.

Whether or not one holds Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis responsible for what was perpetrated under his Provisional Government, it does no one a service to hold up as a hero a man who utterly failed the test of a good leader: standing up for what is right and for the innocent.

Someone should have had the wisdom and the courage to say no to the request for public funding and support for this reburial when it was first made. The Government, Mayor of Kaunas and the Catholic Church should cancel and publicly distance themselves from any events resembling a commemoration of Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis’s legacy.

 
Juozas Ambrazevičius or Juozas Brazaitis

The controversial case of Juozas Ambrazevius Brazaitis' (1903-1974)
remains being returned to Lithuania for re-burial this week

Juozas Ambrazevičius or Juozas Brazaitis was a Lithuanian literary historian, better known for his political career and nationalistic views. He was acting Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of Lithuania, the so-called Nazi puppet government, from 23 June 1941 to 5 August 1941.

He later joined an anti-Nazi movement, until he escaped from Lithuania by the end of WWII.

A document by the US Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, from January 1975, states that Brazaitis was removed from the list of Alleged Nazi War Criminals and that further investigations had been stopped. But Efraim Zuroff, leader of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Israel, says: "At the time the Americans didn't have the data that clearly point to his connection to the Nazis and to anti-Jewish violence." Here is a copy of the 1975 document...

Aage Myhre President Adamkus honoured Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis with "Lietuvos didžiojo kunigaikščio Gedimino ordino Didžiojo kryžiaus" (the highest order of the Lithuanian State) on 6 July 2009. This obliges the government to honour him with a State funeral.... Which will take place Sunday 20 May. No ceremony in Vilnius as it has been stated by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz...

Read the Haaretz article here:

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/glorifying-a-nazi-collaborator-in-lithuania-1.430508

Linas Johansonas 

There's a documentary film being released this weekend about Juozas Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis <> Here's what the producer of the film says about Brazaitis:

"Gaila, kad tokie žmonės nėra įvertinti visuomenės. Juozas Ambrazevičius-Brazaitis yra apdovanotas valstybiniais apdovanojimais ir įvertintas kaip vienas iš svarbiausių kovų už Lietuvos laisvę dalyvių. Bet šio jausmo nėra mūsų visuomenėje. Jaunimas tiesiog jo nežino, tad pasirinkimas buvo natūralus. Kitas svarbus dalykas, kad Juozas Ambrazevičius-Brazaitis pagaliau bus perlaidotas tėvynėje – tai labai svarbus įvykis mūsų istorijoje ir būtų gėda niekaip neįamžinti šios datos."

rough translation:

"It's a shame the people like him aren't appreciated. Brazaitis was awarded the nations highest honors, & is appreciated as one of the most important fighters for Lithuania's freedom. But this feeling is missing in our society. Todays youth knows nothing about him. Another important thing, his body will finally be laid to rest in Lithuania, which is a very important event in our nations history, & would it would be shameful not to immortalize this date"

(I'm posting this not as a supporter of Brazaitis, which i'm not, but for everyone to understand why some Lithuanians honor him)

Dokumentinio filmo premjerą pristatantis Saulius Bartkus: tai – šioks toks patriotizmas | 15min.lt

www.15min.lt

Televizijos laidų prodiuseris Saulius Bartkus, be laidų prodiusavimo, labai domisi istorija ir prieš keletą metų pradėjo kurti dokumentinius filmus.

Lars Persen 
This is a huge dilemma for Lithuania. Since the Soviet opression was both so hard and long quite a few Lithuanians rank the time under Germany the better, in stead of expressing an equally strong historical condemnation of both Nazi Germany and communist Soviet. Considering both sides destruction of Jewish communities in Lithuania and their atrocities, nor German or Soviet collaborators should be acknowledged! Giving Brazaitas a post-mortem re-funeral in Lithuania is surprising and sad. 

One can in 1941 understand his action, when one takes to account that the German at the time challenged the Soviet occupation. But in retrospect no Nazi collaborator should be honored, no matter what his intentions were!

Linas Johansonas ‎Lars Persen wrote: "One can in 1941 understand his action, when one takes to account that the German at the time challenged the Soviet occupation. But in retrospect no Nazi collaborator should be honored, no matter what his intentions were!"

Shouldn't the same apply to those who collaborated with the Russians?

Aurelijus Baltušis 

Extracts from a Report by Einsatzgruppe a in the Baltic Countries:
“It was no less important to establish as unshakable and provable facts for the future that it was the liberated population itself which took the most severe measures, on its own initiative, against the Bolshevik and Jewish enemy, without any German instructions being evident. 

In Lithuania this was achieved for the first time by activating the partisans** in Kovno. To our surprise it was not easy at first to set any large-scale anti-Jewish pogrom in motion there. 
Klimatis, the leader of the partisan group referred to above, who was the first to be recruited for this purpose, succeeded in starting a pogrom with the aid of instructions given him by a small advance detachment operating in Kovno, in such a way that no German orders or instructions could be observed by outsiders.[...]
Both in Kovno and in Riga evidence was taken on film and by photographs to establish, as far as possible, that the first spontaneous executions of Jews and Communists were carried out by Lithuanians and Latvians.”
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Einsatz_Baltic.htm

Darius Udrys Since when do civilized countries make heroes out of Nazi collaborators? Brazaitis failed the most important test of a good leader: to protect the innocent and stand up for what is right. This adulation is an instance of staggering moral imbecility.

“The LT government didn’t call to say they love me.”
This was the headline of an article we brought earlier this week, about Rimgaudas "Rim" Vidziunas in Arizona, USA. Rim and many other American-Lithuanians have been doing much to keep the memory of Lithuania alive. When I asked if he ever heard from the Lithuanian authorities, he told me that no one from the homeland had ever told him or other refugee children that they are loved by the ancestral homeland, that they are welcome back now that the communism yoke is lifted off.

It seems, unfortunately, that today’s Lithuanian leadership has not done much to restore contact with this most valuable of all resources, namely its own people around the globe – the diasporas.

And even worse is that when these 'refugee children' are trying to make contact with Lithuanian leaders themselves, they will very often not even receive replies.

Sadness pit dug even deeper.

Here a couple of emails we received some time ago, from two American-Lithuanians born in their home country before the war:

____________________________________________________________________

Sending e-mail to LT is
like sending it to the black
hole of the universe

Vytautas Sliupas

Dear Aage:

Lithuania's business people and government officials are yet to learn the necessity of good communications. Without a two way communication there is no possibility for further contacts. One of the most frustrating experiences I had was in e-mail (before that it was in regular "snail mail") communications. I would write and write but receive no reply (with only a few exceptions).

When I was working, our management had a rule - "answer all letters received in not more than three days. If there is no answer to be given, than at least acknowledge the receipt".

One of my American colleagues, who was sincerely trying to help Lithuania, said "Sending e-mail to Lithuania is like sending it to the black hole of the universe. Everything goes one way and nothing comes back".

No wander he is now disenchanted and helping others.

Vytautas Sliupas, P.E.
www.aukfoundation.org
Burlingame, California

____________________________________________________________________

"Dummheit und Stolz
wachsen auf einem Holz"
(Pride and ignorance are akin)

Stan Backaitis

Dear Aage,

Several months ago I had arranged a visit between the minister of energy and a CEO of an important nuclear reactor manufacturer. The meeting was supposed to be for the benefit of the minister on information of what is forthcoming in the future, particularly in small reactors and the possibility of establishing a European affiliate of the company in Lithuania.

The minister graciously extended an invitation to the CEO, but the minister's secretariat refused to extend even the slightest courtesy to this visit, such as picking up the visitor from the airport and transporting him to the meeting, setting up a meeting agenda, or even providing to the visitor's office the address of the ministry. They claimed that this was just another sales visit, and the visitor should take care of everything on his own. As a result the CEO canceled the meeting and eventually went to London. The European affiliate was established in the UK. Thus through such arrogance another opportunity was lost.

There is a lot truth in the German proverb "Dummheit und Stolz wachsen auf einem Holz".

Best regards,
Stan Backaitis
Washington, USA

No LT leaders called
to say they love me

Rimgaudas P. Vidziunas aka "Rim", at Scorpion Bay Marina,
Lake Pleasant, Arizona.

Rimgaudas "Rim" Vidziunas
Owner of Photography by Rimgaudas, Mesa, Arizona
Creator of "Images and Imagination"

This is Rimgaudas' brief autobiography and photo album, from his birth in a German camp for displaced Lithuanians in 1947, fleeing westward with his family until he ended up in Arizona, USA. His story is similar to those of many other Lithuanian-American children who were born while their parents fled Stalin's Red Army. Rim has been back in his parents' homeland and do much to keep the memory alive. Still it is with a certain soreness he answers NO when I ask if he ever heard from the Lithuanian authorities. Not a single letter, no phone call from the home country's leaders. No one from home has told Rim and many other refugee children that they are loved by the ancestral homeland, that they are welcome back now that the communism yoke is lifted off. It seems, unfortunately, that today’s Lithuanian leadership has not done much to restore contact with this most valuable of all resources, namely its own people around the globe.

Here is his story...

My father Juozas Vidziunas escaped Pramedziava, Lithuania during the Soviet invasion of 1941. He went to Germany and there he studied Medicine at the University of Heidelberg. Juozas met Salomeja while he was a student. My mother, Salomeja worked as a hostess at a US Army USO club after the war in Germany. They were given a visa to go to the United States in 1949.

Parents did not talk about their escape from Lithuania to Germany.

I was born in 1947, and when I was two were allowed to come to the U.S. We came here with the ship USS General Sturgis, a US Army troop carrier. After dropping off troops in Germany it would carry refugees back to the United States. We left Bremen Germany, arriving Port of New Orleans 13 March 1949.

The Army Red Cross gave us each $5.00 US dollars and boarded us on a train bound to Los Angeles, California. We were met by my father's brother Juonas Vidziunas and cousin Daiva. We lived with them till 1952 and departed for Chicago, Illinois. Several years later we moved to a small farming community Lexington, Illinois about 120 miles southwest of Chicago. I graduated high school from Lexington, was Senior Class President and graduated University of Miami, Florida, BA History, January 1970.

I returned to the Midwestern United States upon graduation. My love of photography began. On a trip to Arizona in 1974, I fell in love with the desert and moved to Arizona in 1978. I continue my art of photography to this day.

My parents never talked much about Lithuania other than my grandfather Petras was a land owner and was deported to Siberia. Father did stay in contact with a younger brother and four sisters that remained in Lithuania.  I vacationed in Lithuania 1999 and 2002 and was told I "speak Lithuanian with an American accent"

My love for photography

I was eleven years old when I snapped my first pictures of my German Sheppard with a Kodak Brownie box camera. In the darkroom, magically, images appeared, literally right before my eyes—my passion for photography was born. I had captured a special moment in time and preserved its images, as I had perceived them.

Perhaps it's my ancestral calling, as my family's history is rooted in Lithuania where my name, Vidziunas, has the Latin root “is-vysti” which means "to see more clearly with perception."  My Lithuanian tribal ancestors worshipped nature, believed in fairies, wood nymphs and devils; and always obeying the god of thunder, Perkunas.

As a resident of Arizona for over thirty-three years, I've immersed myself in capturing its diverse landscape and natural wonders. By combining my unique perception, images and imagination with the basic principles of abstraction, composition, subject matter, and texture, my photography has developed a distinct style all its own. Browse some of my recent images of Historic Route 66 on Arizona Highway’s Blog.

Whatever my subject or inspiration is, thank you for enjoying Images and Imagination Photography by Rimgaudas. As a member of the Professional Photographers of America, AZ HDR Photography Group, AZ Photographers Group and an ever-developing fine art photographer/photojournalist, I encourage feedback and questions regarding my creative work. Please feel free to join me on LinkedIn, http://www.flickr.com/photos/rimgaudas/, or http://Facebook.com/PhotographybyRimgaudas.

Email rvidziunas@yahoo.com.

Thank you for enjoying my “images and imagination”.

My Parents, Salomeja and Juozas Vidziunas
on their Wedding Day in Lithuania

I was born Rimgaudas Daumantas Petras Vidziunas, in a Lithuanian displaced person’s camp,
Stetten im Remstal, Germany, 9 April 1947

On the ship USS General Sturgis heading for America, Rimgaudas, Salomeja Vidziunas, Rim being fed orange by an unidentified passenger.  We were given oranges to eat to prevent scurvy.

Center Salomeja Vidziunas, right Rimgaudas Vidziunas, topside USS General Sturgis

Rimgaudas and cousin Daiva Vidziunas. My first home, Santa Monica, California, 1950

My first portrait, Rimgaudas Vidziunas, Santa Monica, California, 1951

Rimgaudas P. Vidziunas, Photographer

Rimgaudas, Superstition Mountains, Arizona