THE VOICE OF INTERNATIONAL LITHUANIA
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11 MARCH 1990
THE DAY LITHUANIA WOKE UP
FROM ITS 50 YEAR NIGHTMARE
Lithuanians rejoice over their newfound independence, 11 March 1990.
Here from Pilies Street in Vilnius Old Town.
By Aage Myhre, Editor in Chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
11 March 1990 is one of the most important days in Lithuanian history. It was on this day 23 years ago that the Lithuanian parliament declared renewed freedom and independence for Lithuania, after the country had been occupied by the Soviet Union since World War II. 124 Parliament delegates voted for the declaration, while six were absent.
In that same session, the Parliament elected Professor Vytautas Landsbergis, the leader of the liberation movement Sajūdis, as Parliament President. He won over the Communist Party leader Algirdas Brazauskas with a 91 to 38 vote.
11 March 1990 became a milestone in Lithuania's history because the Lithuanian politicians that day clearly demonstrated the country’s willingness to again become free and independent. Although it took another 18 months before the international community approved the nation’s independence from the Soviet occupying power, it was the 11 March actions that made it clear to the world that Lithuania no longer accepted to be incorporated into a system and a Commonwealth it had been involuntarily incorporated into when the World War II drew to an end.
11 March 1990 was in many ways the day when Lithuania’s new freedom began, and we must believe that this country now will remain free and sovereign forever, based on democratic principles and values corresponding to those having been developing in Western Europe after World War II ended in 1945.
I can very well imagine that many of the 1990 politicians signed the declaration act with trembling pens. They knew what power they challenged, and were fully aware of what reprisals they and the people they represented could expect from the big bear in the east. The Soviet Union was not a superpower to tease or irritate, and they knew that they would not be treated with kid gloves if the bear decided to strike back, reacting to the severance requirement they signed that day.
But they signed. They were brave. Without their signatures on the document shown below, it is quite possible that Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia still today would be unfree republics under the 'protective' bear paws.
Lithuania’s independence declarations of 1918 and 1990 were both signed by wise and courageous political leaders who did not want to accept that their beloved homeland should remain occupied.
They deserve our respect and gratitude!
ABOVE: Seimas, 11 March 1990, the day Lithuania re-claimed its independence.
BELOW: The same Parliament Hall today.
11 March 1990
11 March 1990 is one of the most important days in Lithuanian history. It was on this day 23 years ago that the Lithuanian parliament declared renewed freedom and independence for Lithuania, after the country had been occupied by the Soviet Union since World War II. 124 Parliament delegates voted for the declaration (copy below), while six were absent.
In that same session, the Parliament elected Professor Vytautas Landsbergis, the leader of the liberation movement Sajūdis, as Parliament President. He won over the Communist Party leader Algirdas Brazauskas with a 91 to 38 vote.
11 March 1990 became a milestone in Lithuania's history because the Lithuanian politicians that day clearly demonstrated the country’s willingness to again become free and independent. Although it took another 18 months before the international community approved the nation’s independence from the Soviet occupying power, it was the 11 March actions that made it clear to the world that Lithuania no longer accepted to be incorporated into a system and a Commonwealth it had been involuntarily incorporated into when the World War II drew to an end.
11 March 1990 was in many ways the day when Lithuania’s new freedom began, and we must believe that this country now will remain free and sovereign forever, based on democratic principles and values corresponding to those having been developing in Western Europe after World War II ended in 1945.
While this March day 23 years ago was the beginning of the new time in and for Lithuania, the day was also symbolising that nearly 200 years of tragedies of and for this country had come to a final end.
Through more than 500 years, from the 1200s when King Mindaugas declared Lithuania one nation, until it was occupied by the Russian Empire in 1795, Lithuania had been a proud and free nation, through some 300 years also one of the world’s greatest powers, stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea (known as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania).
The 123 years of occupation from 1795 to 1918, however, became a long and sad chapter for Lithuania, since much of the good qualities this nation once represented in the world community were attempted to be systematically broken down by the Russian Empire occupants.
When Lithuania at the end of World War I (1914-1918) on 16 February 1918 again could declare itself a free nation, most Lithuanians probably believed that the newly won freedom would remain, but sadly, the new freedom lasted only for 22 years. Vilnius and the surrounding area was occupied by Poland already in 1920 and remained under Polish rule until the Second World War started in 1940, and Kaunas was therefore the capital of Lithuania for the years 1920 – 1940.
Nevertheless, Lithuania grew to become a strong nation during the interwar years, guided by, among others, the most famous Lithuanian leader of those days, President Antanas Smetona.
World War II and the years just after became extremely tragic for Lithuania, when the nation was torn apart under alternate German and Russian occupation, and virtually all the large Jewish population was wiped out, and Lithuania thereby lost a population group that had meant so much for this nation since the 1300s.
Also, during the war, tens of thousands of Lithuanians fled to the west, many who today live in the United States, Australia and other countries. Lithuanians were also exposed to extremely tragic abuse from Stalin's Soviet troops and his secret police (known as the KGB), when more than a hundred thousand Lithuanians were deported to Siberia and other areas in the Soviet Union where many of this country’s great citizens were killed or died during very shameful and cruel conditions.
Already during the WWII years a strong resistance movement occurred, known as the Forest Brothers, who until the middle of the 1950s fought a heroic struggle against the Soviet power from their hiding places in the Lithuanian forests. It is suggested that around 20,000 Lithuanians and 70,000 soldiers from Stalin's Red Army and the KGB were killed during those post-war years.
Lithuania became in 1990-1991 the first country that managed to detach itself from the Soviet Union. Latvia and Estonia followed soon after. We should all today be proud that this little country so bravely dared to stand up against the powerful Soviet powers. We should all be extremely happy that this little nation again enjoys freedom and democracy under the principle of equality for all its citizens, and we should be happy about the fact that 11 March 1990 was the day when Lithuania could finally put behind itself nearly 200 years of atrocities and suffering for its people – a people that had deserved so much better due to its proud history.
The Lithuanian Independence Act from 11 March 1990.
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11 MARCH 1990
THE DAY LITHUANIA WOKE UP
FROM ITS 50 YEAR NIGHTMARE
Lithuanians rejoice over their newfound independence, 11 March 1990.
Here from Pilies Street in Vilnius Old Town.
By Aage Myhre, Editor in Chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
11 March 1990 is one of the most important days in Lithuanian history. It was on this day 23 years ago that the Lithuanian parliament declared renewed freedom and independence for Lithuania, after the country had been occupied by the Soviet Union since World War II. 124 Parliament delegates voted for the declaration, while six were absent.
In that same session, the Parliament elected Professor Vytautas Landsbergis, the leader of the liberation movement Sajūdis, as Parliament President. He won over the Communist Party leader Algirdas Brazauskas with a 91 to 38 vote.
11 March 1990 became a milestone in Lithuania's history because the Lithuanian politicians that day clearly demonstrated the country’s willingness to again become free and independent. Although it took another 18 months before the international community approved the nation’s independence from the Soviet occupying power, it was the 11 March actions that made it clear to the world that Lithuania no longer accepted to be incorporated into a system and a Commonwealth it had been involuntarily incorporated into when the World War II drew to an end.
11 March 1990 was in many ways the day when Lithuania’s new freedom began, and we must believe that this country now will remain free and sovereign forever, based on democratic principles and values corresponding to those having been developing in Western Europe after World War II ended in 1945.
I can very well imagine that many of the 1990 politicians signed the declaration act with trembling pens. They knew what power they challenged, and were fully aware of what reprisals they and the people they represented could expect from the big bear in the east. The Soviet Union was not a superpower to tease or irritate, and they knew that they would not be treated with kid gloves if the bear decided to strike back, reacting to the severance requirement they signed that day.
But they signed. They were brave. Without their signatures on the document shown below, it is quite possible that Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia still today would be unfree republics under the 'protective' bear paws.
Lithuania’s independence declarations of 1918 and 1990 were both signed by wise and courageous political leaders who did not want to accept that their beloved homeland should remain occupied.
They deserve our respect and gratitude!
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Vilnius Mayor and
his various roles
We have in recent days had a heated discussion in our VilNews Facebook Forum on whether Vilnius Municipality and the taxpayers should pay for the startup of a new national airline of Lithuania. The debate has subsequently also discussed Mayor Zuokas’ handling of this and other issues, including his dealings with a certain taxi company here in town. Below some of the comments from our VilNews Forum on Facebook:
About the taxpayers
Kostas Cerskus I feel sorry for the tax payers!
Daiva Repeckaite I'm thinking of re-registering in Kaunas to channel my taxes away from Vilnius.
About the planned new airline – AIR LITUANICA
Eythor Edvardsson I think everyone talking here understands the need of good transportation to and from Lithuania. I also believe that airline is a part of a countries identity. People here should not compare to airBaltic who wanted to swallow the world. That is not the case here. Just basic needs as I see it. For lack of flights to and from LT, business suffers but mostly tourism. Lithuania has many great things to offer to the rest of the world, both culture wise as well as business wise.
People forget to calculate why multiple affects great communication brings back to the country as well. I have no fear that this will be going fine.
Why Zokas? This was, if I remember one of his promises before elected, to get things done that the government has been talking about for years with absolutely no success. I have more believe in this in his leadership than in governmental lead. Look forward to see this happen!
Eythor Edvardsson People are coming and going and flight transportation is as necessary as a bridge over a river. You know how much effort I made in this field to see exactly this happen. Who does it is not the case. Just that it is being done.
It is still in my fresh memory when Vilnius was the culture Capital of Europe 2009. What a great opportunity to show the rest of the world the richness in the country’s history and culture. Then, FLYLAL collapsed for all the wrong reasons. And thousands of people who planned to visit the city had no opportunity to do so. All the millions of litas, time and effort of people for years to prepare this cultural year went down the drain. Participation in between 20-30 travel exhibitions around the world were done for nothing. Because? No airline communications. Truly very sad. A great opportunity lost. Driving force in the preparation was the city of Vilnius with Zuokas in the lead. I believe this was hard for him and his people to see and experience. Again, I am happy for LT if this idea gets real wings
Aage Myhre I totally agree with you Eythor Edvardsson. To see a well-founded Lithuanian airline would be nothing but awesome. The question is whether Mayor Zuokas' initiative is a real thing, or if this is just hot air, or maybe something totally different is behind it all?
Sergey Kanovich Every businessman will tell you that the worst business to start is when it is created not out of market needs but out from artificially created interests - someone already mentioned "business" motive - national pride. Which is not a commodity I guess. This market is tough. And all complaining how "bad" is the transport to VNO is not really fair with this statement - you have every major European airline flying in and out. And RyanAir with Wizz Air taking the rest. It is inventing the bicycle. And a nice PR to someone who never had invested a personal penny from his own pocket to all failed projects he had ever initiated before. With what has been published so far this is born to be a failure. I feel really sorry for the taxpayers
Eythor Edvardsson We all know that Zuokas comes with ideas. Some of them materialise, some not. I do hope this one does. Whether there is something ''behind'' this, I cannot see what at this moment. If so, then that will float up one day.
William Adan Pahl A good half the major cities in the USA are in a battle against corruption. Certainly the number is higher worldwide. Las Vegas is a testament to this historically. Before I read up on it will jump on the pro side of this argument in favor of the airline.
Aage Myhre I totally agree with those of you who think that Lithuania should have its own airline, although I personally believe a professional pan-Baltic company, without interference or ownership from the three governments, would be better. Let me give you the example of Norwegian Air Shuttle, which was started by an entrepreneur and a group of investors exactly 10 years ago. Zero governmental participation! Today, this airline is about to become Scandinavia's largest, number 9 in Europe, and in stark contrast to state-owned Scandinavian Airlines having good profits year after year!
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Air_Shuttle
Mayor Zuokas is no Mother Theresa
Sergey Kanovich any "national" mega idea fix is used to drain monies out of the budget (minus 1 billion Lt). That is why I am bit surprised that the driver without a car is paid merely 30,000LT month to make himself busy with trying to prove to 0'Leary that he is completely stupid and is unaware of hidden market possibilities of LT market... The ideas have a price for which he never paid. The price of bad ideas is always higher than the price of good one
Eythor Edvardsson Who the MD is I do not know. But for the right person in this case, 8500 EUR monthly salary would not be a crime.
Sergey Kanovich, when you talk hidden market possibilities, is it something you would like to share with us?
Sergey Kanovich Not a crime??? From a municipal budget with MINUS 1 billion LT that kind of salary is paid to a general without the army? This salary is an overkill in LT by all means. It is immoral to start with. Now, imagine that Reykjavik municipality instead of bringing roads to normal, renovating schools and hospitals etc, etc. having a budget deficit of that scale goes out and tells its citizens - you know what, we will fly you. You will be proud and you will pay for your pride. The rest priorities will wait. I wonder how long Reykjavik's or any other cities mayor would last after such statement. It is a scam. By hidden market possibilities I meant that there are none, because business is driven by market needs. There is no need in this airline. It will not be able to compete. I am sorry, it sounds like a decision to build a copy of Egyptian pyramids which will steal stupid tourist from Egypt.
Daiva Repeckaite A year ago or so, Zuokas promised to pick two homeless men in a shelter and lift them out of poverty. We've never heard of the men again (oops). Otherwise he has a very clear direction - further discriminate and ghettoize the city's poor and create a glossy city for the rich. You might say it is not a crime to prioritize the rich. But public sector redistribution is not necessary for this. The rich can take care of themselves. The purpose of public sector is to have roads, schools and decent living standards available for all.
Eythor Edvardsson Well, we all know Zuokas is no Mother Teresa and never will be.
Daiva Repeckaite Public services are not a charity! It's a government's duty. In 2009, the Conservative-led municipal gov't commissioned a study to find a solution for the Roma housing problem. They considered distributing vans, which would have better sanitary conditions than currently available. After the elections, the Zuokas-led municipal gov't seems to have ditched the study, and Zuokas personally supervised demolitions of the housing that the Roma currently use, in attempts to 'clean' the land before investors are expected to flock there following IKEA's arrival. The airport, btw, is also in the same territory. Not a single public kindergarten was established to meet the ever-growing demand and manage oversubscription. The municipality's lack of interest in urban planning left real estate developers building crammed neighborhoods without schools, parks or even sidewalks (we will see the effect of this in 5-7 years). So, do your basic duties before developing 'ideas'.
Eythor Edvardsson to Daiva Repeckaite: If this ''slice'' is for me, I am not here to stand up for Zuokas in his work. That he can do himself. Again; if for me, you are twisting my words. I come from a country of a strong welfare and I know the meaning if it for a healthy society.
Urban planning and planning in general has always been a mystery to me in Vilnius. It has lead to a chaotic urban areas and I totally agree, will cause problems in future. This city is not growing in a healthy way planning wise.
AIPORT TAXIES
Ulf Hallan Let me add on another perspective. Zuokas has so far started a new taxi company in Vilnius an now wants into the airline competition. What happens to those who actually make their living from this business when they get competition from state or city money? What may we expect next? Vilnius Municipality retail chain? Beauty saloons? Vilnius City Bank?
Daiva Repeckaite Regulations for taxi drivers became much stricter simultaneously. It's true, not all taxi businesses are transparent, but individual drivers barely make a living unless they work a crazy number of hours. When Zuokas taxi was introduced, more meticulous reporting and taxation rules fell on the heads of private businesses. Zuokas may be no Mother Theresa, but he'd better not be Kim Jong-il either.
Eythor Edvardsson No one argues about priorities even though I do want to see a national airline carrier. I will admit that things I am reading here do not look nice at all. This taxi business is at top of my head now because I just arrived back to Vilnius.
I called a taxi from the plane as I was used to do. When the taxi came he drove in circles until he managed to ''steal'' an opportunity for us to jump into the taxi at a dark spot by the airport terminal. So now it is a crime not to take the taxis that are waiting outside the terminal?
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Spring in Vilnius!
It is 8th of March, the International Women’s Day and the beginning of spring in Lithuania. Still snow and ice many places, but the melting process is now obvious. Spring is here!
Photos: Aage Myhre
Two young representatives of the world’s women,
in Vokiečių g. in the heart of Vilnius Old Town.
It's starting to turn green on the slopes around Gediminas' Tower.
The danger of avalanches from the old town roofs is now over.
Here a rooftop views of St. Catherine's Church and the
Europa Tower on the other side of River Neris.
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Spring in Vilnius!
It is 8th of March, the International Women’s Day and the beginning of spring in Lithuania. Still snow and ice many places, but the melting process is now obvious. Spring is here!
Photos: Aage Myhre
Two young representatives of the world’s women, in Vokiečių g. in the heart of Vilnius Old Town.
It's starting to turn green on the slopes around Gediminas' Tower.
The danger of avalanches from the old town roofs is now over. Here a rooftop views of
St. Catherine's Church and the Europa Tower on the other side of River Neris.
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KAZIUKO MUGĖ 2013
The wood carver
and the fish woman
Photos: Aage Myhre
I met them at Kaziuko Mugė now this Sunday morning ... The wood carver and the woman who was there to fry fish for the thousands of visitors on the last day of this year's event ... The best outdoor market in the world, and a proud Lithuanian tradition for more than 400 years!
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It’s again time for
KAZIUKO MUGĖ!
Friday 1 – Sunday 3 March
The world’s best outdoor market
– since the early 1700s!
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Text and photos: Aage Myhre, Editor-in-Chief It is so genuine that you can hardly believe it without seeing it with your own eyes. Lithuania's Kaziukas Fair (KAZIUKO MUGE) is like an undiscovered, undisrupted island in the huge ocean of 'plastic commercialism' that unfortunately characterizes so much of our today's fairs, markets and festivals. Where else in the world can you find an outdoor market and festival that has been going on continuously through 300 years? What other nowadays' market is a declared plastic-free zone? Where else can you find a single market in which an entire nation's population still participates with enormous enthusiasm? In what other country can one experience what thousands of individuals from the countryside and the cities spend so much of their time through a whole year to produce of genuine artefacts - knitted, crocheted, sewed, carpentry - forged by a people who truly treasure their traditions in handicrafts and folk art? Every single year in every town throughout Lithuania, March starts off with the Kaziukas Fair, a ritual that marks the coming of spring, dedicated to St. Casimir, the patron saint of Lithuania. The festival originated in the 17th century, and by the 19th century it had developed into the fair and festival that is now known internationally. This year's fair takes place Friday 1st – Sunday 3rd of March and will be celebrated throughout the country, as well as in many Lithuanian strongholds around the world, for the complete weekend. But the most genuine ones are of course to find in the very homeland, so please do not wait to check with your travel agent, maybe there still are available tickets! Let’s meet for a mug of local beer and a fresh smoked snack from rural Lithuania!
As for what you can expect to see on the streets of Lithuania's cities this weekend, think first of all of arts and crafts. Craftsmen from all over Lithuania and neighbouring countries flood the streets with their original creations. Here you can buy woodwork, paintings, jewellery, pottery and pretty much everything else you can think of, both in traditional forms and contemporary designs. And what would a Kaziukas Fair be if there was no traditional food to try? Here you can sample a cup of beer or a good old Gira, a plate of porridge, a few pretzels, and if you're lucky you might even get a hold of the traditional potato dumplings, the cepelinai.
In this festival, tradition overpowers the cold and all events will take place outdoors. Before you baulk at the idea of spending time outside in this wintry weather though, consider this: Getting out into the streets in this chilly season, even for a couple of hours, can be a rewarding experience, and with so many nasty cold and flu viruses circulating through the indoor air, it may even be a salvation. And think of all those poor craftsmen, who spend three days from morning till night in the freezing weather, just so you can drop by and be entertained… The Kaziukas Fair is not only a place to sell. It's a place to find new contacts, build relationships with the Vilnius galleries and, of course, to have fun meeting all the craftsmen and exchanging ideas. So take some extra coin, jump into some warm clothes, and off you go to the Kaziukas Fair, be it the one in Vilnius Old Town, or in any other Lithuanian city. During more ancient times many pilgrims came to Vilnius from various Lithuanian places for the celebration of St. Casimir's Day on the 4th of March,. After services in the cathedral, the people lingered for a while. And it was this that gave rise to the Kaziukas Fair. Thousands of sellers, buyers and visitors came to these fairs. They were held outdoors. Another typical Kaziukas Fair product or muginukas, is a heart- shaped honey cookie, decorated with coloured sugar flowers, zigzags, dots and birds. People buy and give them to selected loved ones.
Let me say it again: Check with your travel agent, maybe there still are available airline tickets. We can help you with good hotel deals… |
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It’s again time for
KAZIUKO MUGĖ!
Friday 1 – Sunday 3 March
The world’s best outdoor market
– since the early 1700s!
Text and photos: Aage Myhre, Editor-in-Chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
It is so genuine that you can hardly believe it without seeing it with your own eyes. Lithuania's Kaziukas Fair (KAZIUKO MUGE) is like an undiscovered, undisrupted island in the huge ocean of 'plastic commercialism' that unfortunately characterizes so much of our today's fairs, markets and festivals.
Where else in the world can you find an outdoor market and festival that has been going on continuously through 300 years? What other nowadays' market is a declared plastic-free zone? Where else can you find a single market in which an entire nation's population still participates with enormous enthusiasm? In what other country can one experience what thousands of individuals from the countryside and the cities spend so much of their time through a whole year to produce of genuine artefacts - knitted, crocheted, sewed, carpentry - forged by a people who truly treasure their traditions in handicrafts and folk art?
Every single year in every town throughout Lithuania, March starts off with the Kaziukas Fair, a ritual that marks the coming of spring, dedicated to St. Casimir, the patron saint of Lithuania. The festival originated in the 17th century, and by the 19th century it had developed into the fair and festival that is now known internationally.
This year's fair takes place Friday 1nd – Sunday 3th of March and will be celebrated throughout the country, as well as in many Lithuanian strongholds around the world, for the complete weekend.
But the most genuine ones are of course to find in the very homeland, so please do not wait to check with your travel agent, maybe there still are available tickets!
Let’s meet for a mug of local beer and a fresh smoked snack from rural Lithuania!
The Kaziukas Fair is a declared plastic free zone.
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16 February 1918:
INDEPENDENCE!
The original 20 members of the Council of Lithuania
after signing the Act of February 16, 1918
RESOLUTION
The Council of Lithuania in its session of February 16, 1918 decided unanimously to address the governments of Russia, Germany, and other states with the following declaration:
The Council of Lithuania, as the sole representative of the Lithuanian nation, based on the recognized right to national self-determination, and on the Vilnius Conference's resolution of September 18–23, 1917, proclaims the restoration of the independent state of Lithuania, founded on democratic principles, with Vilnius as its capital, and declares the termination of all state ties which formerly bound this State to other nations. The Council of Lithuania also declares that the foundation of the Lithuanian State and its relations with other countries will be finally determined by the Constituent Assembly, to be convoked as soon as possible, elected democratically by all its inhabitants.
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February 16, 1918
Act of independence
Facsimile of the Act of February 16
Dear readers,
Two of the most significant dates for Lithuania in the 20th Century were February 16, 1918 when Lithuania declared its independence from Imperial Russia by signing the Act of Independence of Lithuania and March 11, 1990 when the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania was signed which re-established the country’s freedom from Soviet Russia. We would like to share with you some of the situations that existed at this time and events that took place leading up to February 16, 1918 and the aftermath of this historical event.
Su pagarbe
Vincas Karnila
Associate editor
The Act of Independence of Lithuania (Lietuvos Nepriklausomybės Aktas) or Act of February 16 was signed by the Council of Lithuania on February 16, 1918, proclaiming the restoration of an independent State of Lithuania, governed by democratic principles, with Vilnius as its capital. The Act was signed by all twenty representatives, chaired by Jonas Basanavičius. The Act of February 16 was the end result of a series of resolutions on the issue, including one issued by the Vilnius Conference and the Act of January 8. The path to the Act was long and complex because the German Empire exerted pressure on the Council to form an alliance. The Council had to carefully maneuver between the Germans, whose troops were present in Lithuania, and the demands of the Lithuanian people.
The immediate effects of the announcement of Lithuania's re-establishment of independence were limited. Publication of the Act was prohibited by the German authorities so the text was distributed and printed illegally. The work of the Council was hindered since Germans remained in control over Lithuania. The situation changed only when Germany lost World War I in the fall of 1918. In November 1918 the first Cabinet of Lithuania was formed, and the Council of Lithuania gained control over the territory of Lithuania. Independent Lithuania, although it would soon be battling the Wars of Independence, became a reality.
While the Act's original document has been lost, its legacy continues as the legal basis for the existence of modern Lithuania, both during the interwar period and since 1990. The Act formulated the basic constitutional principles that were and still are followed by all Constitutions of Lithuania. The Act itself was a key element in the foundation of Lithuania's re-establishment of independence in 1990. Lithuania, breaking away from the Soviet Union, stressed that it was simply re-establishing the independent state that existed between the world wars and that the Act never lost its legal power.
Historic background and Council of Lithuania
After the last Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Lithuania was annexed by the Russian Empire. During the 19th century, both the Lithuanians and the Poles attempted to restore their independence. They rebelled during the November Uprising in 1830 and the January Uprising in 1863, but the first realistic opportunity came when both Russia and Germany were weakened during World W February 16, 1918.
The original 20 members of the Council of Lithuania after signing the Act of February 16, 1918
In 1915, Germany occupied western parts of the Russian Empire. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, Germany conceived the geopolitical strategy of Mitteleuropa which was a regional network of puppet states that would serve as a buffer zone and agreed to allow the Vilnius Conference, hoping that it would proclaim that the Lithuanian nation wanted to detach itself from Russia and establish a closer relationship with Germany.
However, their strategy backfired. The Vilnius Conference or Vilnius National Conference (Vilniaus konferencija) met between September 18, 1917 and September 22, 1917 and began the process of establishing a Lithuanian state based on ethnic identity and language that would be independent of the Russian Empire, Poland, and the German Empire. It elected a twenty member Council of Lithuania that was entrusted with the mission of declaring and re-establishing an independent Lithuania. The Conference, hoping to express the will of the Lithuanian people, gave legal authority to the Council and its decisions. The German authorities did not allow that resolution to be published, but they did permit the Council to proceed. While the Vilnius Conference laid the basic guiding principles of Lithuanian independence, it deferred any matters of political structure of the future Lithuania to the Constituent Assembly, which would later be elected in a democratic manner by means of a public vote.
PATH to the ACT of FEBRUARY 16
Act of December 11
The Act of December 11 was the second stage in the progression towards the final Act of Independence. The first draft, demanded by chancellor Georg von Hertling, was prepared by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs on December 1. Further changes were jointly prepared by the German chancellery and by a delegation of the Council of Lithuania. The delegation's members were Antanas Smetona, Steponas Kairys, Vladas Mironas, Jurgis Šaulys, Petras Klimas and Aleksandras Stulginskis. After discussion amongst the parties, a compromise was reached on the document's text. The German representative, Kurt von Lersner, insisted that not one letter be changed in the agreed-upon text and that all the Council members sign the document.
Antanas Smetona Steponas Kairys Vladas Mironas
Jurgis Šaulys Petras Klimas Aleksandras Stulginskis
After the delegation returned to Vilnius, a session of the Council was held on December 11 in order to discuss the Act. It was adopted without any further changes. Fifteen voted in favor of the Act, three voted against it, one member abstained, and one did not participate. It is not entirely clear whether every member of the Council signed this document. The Act was written in German, and apparently no official Lithuanian translation was prepared. Therefore different sources provide slightly different translations. The Act of December 11 pronounced Lithuania's independence, but also asked German government for protection (clause 2) and called for "a firm and permanent alliance" with Germany. Since the Act specified that the alliance was to be formed based on conventions concerning military affairs, transportation, customs, and currency, many Lithuanians argued that the Council had overstepped its authority since the September resolution adopted by the Vilnius Conference clearly demanded that a constituent assembly decide these crucial matters of state.
Act of January 8
When peace talks started between Germany and Russia in 1918, German authorities asked the Lithuanian representatives to prepare two notifications of independence. One for Russia, in which Lithuania's ties with Russia would be denounced and nothing would be mentioned about an alliance with Germany and a second version to be released in Germany that would essentially repeat the Act of December 11. The Council decided to amend the first part of the Act of December 11. Petras Klimas included a sentence calling for the Constituent Assembly. Another important development was the statement that democratic principles would be the basis of the new state's governance, something that was declared by the Vilnius Conference, but omitted in the Act of December 11. The second part, mentioning the "firm and permanent alliance with Germany", was completely omitted. Its final version was approved on January 8, 1918, the same day that U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announced his Fourteen Points. In its essence, the Act of January 8 did not differ from the Act of February 16.
Jonas Basanavičius, the chairman of the Council when the Act of February 16 was signed
However, Ober Ost, the German military administration, rejected the changes. On January 26, in compliance with the earlier request, the two versions of the notification were approved, but they did not include the changes of January 8. The texts were prepared based on the Act of December 11. These concessions to the Germans created tensions among the Council members. Four members, Mykolas Biržiška, Steponas Kairys, Stanislaw Narutowicz and Jonas Vileišis, resigned from the Council in protest. The chairman of the Council, Antanas Smetona, who supported the Act of December 11, stepped down. Jonas Basanavičius, who would later be called the patriarch of independence, was elected as the chairman.
Act of February 16
Germany failed to recognize Lithuania as an independent state, and the Lithuanian delegation was not invited to the Brest-Litovsk negotiations that started on December 22, 1917 between the Central Powers (The Central Powers consisted of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria. The name "Central Powers" is derived from the location of these countries; all four were located between the Russian Empire in the east and France and the United Kingdom in the west) and Russia in order to settle territorial claims. During the first and final official joint session between the Council and the German authorities, it was made clear that the Council would serve only as an advisory board. This situation gave additional backing to those Council members who were seeking independence without any ties to other countries. The prime concern at this point was to invite back those members who had left the Council. Negotiations were undertaken that led to the reformulation of previous versions of the Act.
House of the Signatories at Pilies Street in Vilnius.
The four withdrawn members demanded that the Council return to the Act of January 8 and omit the mention of any alliance with Germany. After heated debates that lasted for several weeks, on February 15, at 10 am, the new revision of the Act was ready. It included, with minor stylistic changes, wording of the Act of January 8 and formal proclamation and notification, drafted on February 1. Formal proclamation and notification do not effect the legality of a document and do not change the meaning of a legal document. The Council, including the withdrawn members, was invited to return the next day for its finalization. On the next day, February 16, 1918, at 12:30 pm, all twenty Council members met in the room of Lithuanian Committee for Support of the War Victims, at 30 Didžioji Street (currently marked 26) in Vilnius. The building has since been known as the House of the Signatories (signatarų namai) and houses a museum. The Council first voted to approve the first part, the first two paragraphs up to the word drauge, of the Act. This section was approved unanimously. The second part, however, did not receive support from the four withdrawn members because they were not satisfied with the word "finally" in describing the duties of the Constituent Assembly (in "... the foundation of the Lithuanian State and its relations with other countries will be finally determined by the Constituent Assembly ..."). They were afraid that this word would give a pretext for the Council to usurp the powers of the Constituent Assembly, while the majority argued that the word simply expressed the non-negotiable and non-appealable nature of the future Assembly's decisions. Therefore the Act was unanimously approved but did not have full-fledged support from all twenty men.
Final text of the Act
Line 1
Original text – NUTARIMAS
English translation - RESOLUTION
Line 2
Lietuvos Taryba savo posėdyje vasario 16 d. 1918 m. vienu balsu nu-
The Council of Lithuania in its session of February 16, 1918 decided unanimously
Line 3
tarė kreiptis: į Rusijos, Vokietijos ir kitų valstybių vyriausybės šiuo
to address the governments of Russia, Germany, and other states with the following
Line 4
pareiškimu:
declaration:
Line 5
Lietuvos Taryba, kaipo vienintelė lietuvių tautos atstovybė, remdamos
The Council of Lithuania, as the sole representative of the Lithuanian nation, based on
Line 6
pripažintaja tautų apsisprendimo teise ir lietuvių Vilniaus konferencijos
the recognized right to national self-determination, and on the Vilnius Conference's
Line 7
nutarimu rugsėjo mėn. 18–23 d. 1917 metais, skelbia atstatanti nepriklau-
resolution of September 18–23, 1917, proclaims the restoration of the independent
Line 8
somą demokratiniais pamatais sutvarkytą Lietuvos valstybę su sostine
state of Lithuania, founded on democratic principles, with its captital
Line 9
Vilniuje ir tą valstybę atskirianti nuo visų valstybinių ryšių, kurie
in Vilnius and declares the termination of all state ties which formerly
Line 10
yra buvę su kitomis tautomis.
bound this State to other nations.
Line 11
Drauge Lietuvos Taryba pareiškia, kad Lietuvos valstybės pama-
The Council of Lithuania also declares that the foundation of the Lithuanian State and
Line 12
tus ir jos santykius su kitomis valstybėmis privalo galutinai nustatyti
its relations with other countries will be finally determined by the
Line 13
kiek galima graičiau sušauktas steigiamasis seimas, demokratiniu budu
Constituent Assembly, to be convoked as soon as possible, elected democratically
Line 14
visų jos gyventojų išrinktas.
by all its inhabitants.
Line 15
Lietuvos Taryba pranešdama apie tai .....................
The Council of Lithuania by informing the Government of ..................... to this effect
Line 16
vyriausybei, prašo pripažinti nepriklausomą Lietuvos valstybę.
requests the recognition of the Independent State of Lithuania.
Dr. Jonas Basanavičius
Saliamonas Banaitis
Mykolas Biržiška
Vilniuje, vasario 16 d. 1918 m. Kazys Bizauskas
In Vilnius, February 16, 1918
Pranas Dovydaitis
Jurgis Šaulys Steponas Kairys
Jokūbas Šernas Petras Klimas
Antanas Smetona Donatas Malinauskas
Jonas Smilgevičius Vladas Mironas
Justinas Staugaitis Stanisław Narutowicz
Aleksandras Stulginskis Alfonsas Petrulis
Jonas Vailokaitis Kazimieras Steponas Šaulys
Jonas Vileišis
AFTERMATH
Lithuania
Soon after the signing, the Act was taken to Germany and handed to parties in the German Parliament. On February 18, the text was reprinted in German newspapers, including Das Neue Litauen, Vossische Zeitung, Taegliche Rundschau and Kreuzzeitung. In Lithuania a text of the proclamation was prepared for printing in newspapers, particularly in Lietuvos Aidas, the Council's newspaper established by Antanas Smetona but the German authorities prohibited this publication. Although the majority of the copies of the issue were confiscated, the newspaper's editor, Petras Klimas, managed to hide about 60 of them. This censorship meant that Germany considered the distribution and dissemination of the Act as illegal in Lithuania.
The front page of Lietuvos Aidas with the text of the Act. The bulk of the issue was confiscated by German authorities.
On March 3, 1918, Germany and the now Bolshevik Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. It declared that the Baltic nations were in the German interest zone and that Russia renounced any claims to them. On March 23, Germany recognized independent Lithuania on the basis of the December 11 declaration. However, in substance, nothing had changed either in Lithuania or in the Council's status. Any efforts to establish an administration were hindered. This situation changed when the German Revolution started and Germany lost the war in the fall of 1918 and was no longer in a position to dictate terms. The Council of Lithuania adopted the first provisional constitution on November 2. The functions of government were entrusted to a three member presidium, and Augustinas Voldemaras was invited to form the first Cabinet of Ministers of Lithuania. The first government was formed on November 11, 1918, on the day that Germany signed the armistice in Compiègne. The Council immediately began to organize an army, police, municipalities, and other institutions. The proclaimed independence was established.
The Act
Two copies of the Act were signed, the original and a duplicate. The original was given to Jonas Basanavičius to safeguard and protect. The original was never published or used in any public matters; its existence was first mentioned in the press in 1933. The whereabouts of the original remain unknown. The duplicate was used in day-to-day business, and was stored in the president's archives until June 15, 1940, the day when Lithuania received an ultimatum from Soviet Russia and lost its independence. After that date the document disappeared. Neither the original nor the duplicate has been located. Historians and adventurers continue to hunt for it. In 2006, a team of engineers searched the walls of the former house of Petras Vileišis. Two facsimiles of the duplicate were produced, one in 1928 and the other in 1933. The 1928 facsimile is a closer reproduction of the Act in its original state; there are spelling errors, and the background is visually "noisy", while the 1933 facsimile shows the Act in an "improved" condition.
The Signatories
Most of the signatories of the Act remained active in the cultural and political life of independent Lithuania. Jonas Vileišis served in the Seimas/Parliament and as mayor of Kaunas, which was then the temporary capital of Lithuania due to Poland’s occupation of Vilnius. Saliamonas Banaitis was involved in finance, opening several banks. Among the signatories were two future Presidents of Lithuania, Antanas Smetona and Aleksandras Stulginskis. Jonas Basanavičius, chairman of the Council of Lithuania, returned to an academic life, pursuing his research in Lithuanian culture and folklore. Five signatories died before World War II started and three perished during the Nazi occupation. Those who did not emigrate to Western countries became political prisoners after Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Russia.
Aleksandras Stulginskis and Petras Klimas were sent to prison in Siberia by Soviet authorities, but survived and returned to Lithuania. Pranas Dovydaitis and Vladas Mironas were also sent to Siberia but died there. Kazys Bizauskas disappeared during the summer of 1941 while being transported to a Soviet prison in Minsk. He is presumed to have been shot along with a number of other prisoners. Donatas Malinauskas was deported to Russia on June 14, 1941. Several of the signatories went into exile including Jurgis Šaulys and Kazimieras Steponas Šaulys, who died in Switzerland.
Antanas Smetona, Mykolas Biržiška and Steponas Kairys emigrated to the United States and are buried there.
Legacy
The Act of February 16 proclaimed the re-establishment (atstatyti) of the Lithuanian state, making it the successor to the Lithuanian historical state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In this respect the Council deviated from the resolution adopted by the Vilnius Conference which called for establishment (sudaryti) of a Lithuanian state. However, it was made clear that the new state would be quite different from the old Duchy as it was to be organized only in ethnic Lithuanian lands and was to be governed by democratic principles as opposed to the multi-ethnic Duchy that had been ruled by aristocracy. The termination of the ties binding Lithuania to other states was addressed to Germany, Russia, and Poland, all of which had their own plans for the country. Even though not addressed directly, the Act renounced any attempt to resurrect the former Polish-Lithuanian union.
The Act of February 16, 1918, is the legal basis for the existence of present-day Lithuania, both during the interwar period and since 1990. The Act became one of the key elements during the restoration of Lithuania's independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. A paragraph in the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania, delivered on March 11, 1990, stated:
“The Act of Independence of 16 February 1918 of the Council of Lithuania and the Constituent Assembly (Seimas) decree of 15 May 1920 on the re-established democratic State of Lithuania never lost their legal effect and comprise the constitutional foundation of the State of Lithuania.”
This formulation emphasized the continuity of the two legal Acts. The Act of February 16, 1918 and its successor, the Act of March 11, 1990, are regarded as two of the most important developments of Lithuanian society in the 20th century.
February 16 in Lithuania is now an official holiday. On this day various ceremonies are hosted all across Lithuania, but the main commemoration is held in the House of Signatories in Vilnius where the Act was signed in 1918. During this observance the Flag of Lithuania is hoisted, and Lithuanian cultural activists and politicians deliver speeches from its balcony to the people gathered below. Special masses in churches and cathedrals are also delivered. Honoring the Act's legacy, the President of Lithuania hosts a reception for the signatories of the Act of March 11, 1990, in the Presidential Palace.
The House of the Signatories in Vilnius.
House of Signatories in Vilnius
In 1992, an award was established in honor of Jonas Basanavičius, who led the Council of Lithuania when the Act of February 16 was signed. The Jonas Basanavičius Prize is bestowed for distinguished work within the previous five years in the fields of ethnic and cultural studies. The prize is awarded in the House of Signatories, in homage to its history.
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‘Lincoln’s’ grandfather
was a Lithuanian Jew
Daniel Day-Lewis has received widespread critical acclaim for his
performance in the movie Lincoln.
VilNews has previously written that Hollywood largely was created by Litvaks, the Lithuanian Jews who have had so endlessly huge influence on world culture, science, business and politics.
Go to our VilNews Section 12 for case examples.
Now it turns out that the star of this year's major film, Lincoln, also has Lithuanian ancestry. And not only that; his Lithuanian grandfather, Michael Balcon, had enormous influence on the British film industry in its startup phase in the early 20th century.
His mother, Jill Balcon, was a leading English film and radio actress.
 Sir Michael Balcon (1896 – 1977) grandfather. |
 Jill Balcon (1925 – 2009) mother. |
About Sir Michael Balcon
Michael Balcon is considered one of the most important figures in British Cinema. It was his vision that brought international prestige to Gainsborough in the 20s and 30s. and he was a vigorous spokesman for the industry for most of his career.
Michael Balcon's career began in Birmingham in 1920, where, with Victor Saville he was a film distributor. Within two years they had begun producing feature films in London - Woman to Woman 1923 was the first. He formed Gainsborough Studios the following year. He visited the Ufa studios in Berlin in 1924 and began a co-production association with The Blackguard that was to last 10 years. German technical staff populated Gainsborough films through the 20s and early 30s giving them a slick, sophisticated veneer to match any film produced in Hollywood, Balcon was aiming for a product of international interest unlike many other British studios in the silent and early talkie era.
Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Balcon
About the movie “Lincoln”
Lincoln is a 2012 American historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as United States President Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln. The film is based in part on Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography of Lincoln, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, and covers the final four months of Lincoln's life, focusing on the President's efforts in January 1865 to have the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution passed by the United States House of Representatives. Lincoln premiered on October 8, 2012, at the New York Film Festival, and has since received widespread critical acclaim, with major praise directed to Day-Lewis' performance. In December 2012, the film was nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards including Best Picture (Drama), Best Director for Spielberg and winning Best Actor (Drama) for Day-Lewis. The film has been nominated for twelve Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Spielberg and Best Actor for Day-Lewis.
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Why this perpetual
return to Lithuania?
Novelist Antanas Sileika on the Traku - Pylimo street corner
in Vilnius – with his book Underground.
Photo Aage Myhre
Standing on the corner
of Traku and Pylimo
A writer muses about the foreign sources for
his work and what it means to be a Canadian
By Antanas Sileika, novelist
For the fourth year in a row I’m standing at the crossroads of Pylimo and Traku Streets in Vilnius, Lithuania, worrying the place, trying to sift the stories that lie like dust between the cobblestones. I’m slightly sick of this baroque, labyrinthine city - the strangulated cries of the swallows at dusk make me think of the dead souls of forgotten citizens.
Nobody who lives in Vilnius now had great grandparents who lived here - most of the old inhabitants were killed during the war or shipped out after it. Vilnius is old, but the people who inhabit it are relatively new to this city.
They came here after the war, around the time I was born to immigrant parents in Toronto. Although I’ve spent my whole life in Canada, my clan, my people are new to it, and I’m not entirely comfortable in the country of my birth. I keep coming back to this melancholy city of Vilnius, mulling over the past and trying to determine the geography of my belonging.
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Why this perpetual
return to Lithuania?
Novelist Antanas Sileika on the Traku - Pylimo street corner
in Vilnius – with his book Underground.
Photo Aage Myhre
Standing on the corner
of Traku and Pylimo
A writer muses about the foreign sources for
his work and what it means to be a Canadian
By Antanas Sileika, novelist
For the fourth year in a row I’m standing at the crossroads of Pylimo and Traku Streets in Vilnius, Lithuania, worrying the place, trying to sift the stories that lie like dust between the cobblestones. I’m slightly sick of this baroque, labyrinthine city - the strangulated cries of the swallows at dusk make me think of the dead souls of forgotten citizens.
Nobody who lives in Vilnius now had great grandparents who lived here - most of the old inhabitants were killed during the war or shipped out after it. Vilnius is old, but the people who inhabit it are relatively new to this city.
They came here after the war, around the time I was born to immigrant parents in Toronto. Although I’ve spent my whole life in Canada, my clan, my people are new to it, and I’m not entirely comfortable in the country of my birth. I keep coming back to this melancholy city of Vilnius, mulling over the past and trying to determine the geography of my belonging.
I’ve never been to Newfoundland or Saskatchewan. I once had fantasies of drinking my way through the Okanagan Valley or of searching out whatever commercial fishermen remain on the great lakes in order to ship out with them. These are oversights I might never remedy, fantasies I’ll never realize.
I’m a fifty-six year-old Canadian, and as much as I would like to write about the place where I live, I keep writing instead about the past and the place my parents came from. I’m slightly embarrassed by this fact, all too aware of then disdain many people hold for historical writing.
Immigrants in the fifties were called “Displaced Persons”, or DP’s for short. I’m undergoing some sort of reverse DP process, being pushed back in time and space. My life has become a time machine, stuck in reverse.
Someone my age should have a clearer view of his place in the world, but the complicated strands of history are getting more and more complicated as I grow older, more tangled.
So why this perpetual return to Lithuania, land of rolling green hills so similar to Southern Ontario? For one thing, the stories here in the old country are so much more brutal, the stakes so much higher than back in Canada. Placed beside the gulag, suburban angst is pitiful. And then there’s the fact that my family history keeps appearing in unexpected places.
Antanas Sileika's book Underground
I have just come from a meeting with Bernardas Gailius, a young historian who wrote a magazine story about my uncle, Pranas, a man who died in 1952, the year before I was born. My late parents remembered him as the family joker, the must-have guest at any party.
They never did mention that Pranas strangled his lover in 1931, hid her body in a sewer, and hoped to dissolve her remains with acid from a laboratory where he and his cohorts were making a bomb to overthrow the Lithuanian president.
Such a dark story! My uncle was a murderer. Do I carry his blood in my veins?
And there are some oddities to his story - Pranas only got three years for the crime (extenuating circumstances? What could those possibly have been?). Part of his sentence was to support his son by the murdered lover. Somewhere I may have a cousin whose mother was murdered by our common relative. Should I look for this lost cousin? What could I possibly say to him?
To make matters worse, the man pictured in the magazine article photo as “Pranas” seemed to bear an uncanny resemblance to his brother, my father. I stared long and hard at that photo until I realized I was not just seeing family resemblance. I was looking at a photo of my father, not my uncle.
The photograph of the murderer was a photograph of my father.
I’d just met with the historian to ask if my father had actually been the murderer, but the historian said no. There had been an error at the magazine and they had inserted my father’s prison photo by mistake. This new information was both a consolation and a troubling new revelation. On the one hand, my father was not the murderer. That was a relief.
But his prison photo?
It turns out my father had been imprisoned for being part of the same cabal of political malcontents, rebels and potential assassins.
I hadn’t ever heard any of this before.
It made me wonder what else I didn’t know about my deceased parents’ lives. I would have to spend some time in the archives if I wanted to find out because there was no one left with living memory of those events.
But I was in no rush to get to those particular archives. Most people no longer believe that the sins of the fathers are visited on the sons, nor the sins of the uncles visited upon the nephews, but still, one hopes for a little glory in the past, or at least a little righteousness. I felt shaken.
Rather than go back along Pylimo Street to the archives, I could go forward to the Jewish museum.
If my “bad” uncle Pranas had been a shock to find out about, a skeleton whose bones would continue to rattle for a while, I preferred to investigate the past of my other uncle, the one I was named after.
During the Nazi occupation of Lithuania, he had hidden some Jewish boys in his house. This happened during a very bad time because the holocaust was particularly brutal in Lithuania, where so many Jews were killed by Nazis and local collaborators.
At least three of the children my uncle sheltered survived the war. His widow, my aunt, still has a letter of thanks from one of the their fathers. I keep a copy of this letter as a kind of talisman, a good luck charm against the horror of the past.
Danute Selcinskaya, head of the Righteous Gentiles’ Commemoration Department, met me on the top floor of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum, where she kept an office among a dim warren of rooms.
She had a file on my “good” uncle, some scrap of proof that confirmed his actions. If I gave her more information, she could start the process of searching for the saved boys and if they were found, to begin the process to have my uncle named a Righteous Gentile.
Thus if I went one way on Pylimo Street, I could look into the dark past of the first uncle. If I went the other way, I could look into the story of at least one decent person. Is it no wonder these stories attract me? I need to settle some kind of issue of good and evil, if any such settlement is ever possible.
But that isn’t the end of the story, because I am standing at a crossroads. Thus there are two other ways I could go.
If I head up from Traku Street, I will end where I am staying, with relatives of my wife. They are Saulius and Silva Sondeckis, she a cellist trained by Mstislav Rostropovich and he the most prominent chamber music orchestra conductor in the Soviet Union and independent Lithuania.
They are both master storytellers as well, so as we sit and sip tea and eat home-churned butter and white Lithuanian cheese, Saulius has described the darkly comic era of the fifties, especially during the rule of Joseph Stalin, when everyone lived in fear. His stories sometimes have funny or surreal spins to them. For example, the leader of the Lithuanian Communist party stood up after one of Saulius’s concerts featuring the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, turned to the audience and said, “Now that’s what I call Communist music!”
No further explanation was given or asked for, and the approval opened many doors. The chamber orchestra grew in stature in concerts throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. Once, a Moscow concert was held in near-darkness because it was attended by international Communist subversives whose identities had to be kept secret.
I imagine Che Guevara in the dark hall, boning up on culture before heading into the Bolivian jungles to meet his death. And Saulius is there in his tails and baton, leading the orchestra. The frisson of politics and culture is extraordinary, and this story is only one of dozens that Saulius and Silva have told.
These are the sorts of stories that have pulled me back more and more often to Lithuania. The stories compel me, but they unmoor me as well. Canada is the haven my parents found after the war, yet I don’t feel strongly anchored here. If my parents were cast upon a safe shore after the tempest of WW 2, I have sat on the beach my entire life, wondering about their loss. At times, I have set out to sea in my imagination and drifted, living in neither one land nor the other. At times I felt as if I might drift away forever.
But if I have described three routes available to me at the crossroads, each of them into the past, I have not yet described the fourth route, down Traku Street into the heart of old Vilnius. I walk past the ancient mansion of the Tiskevicius family, whose portico roof is held up by a pair of titans in plaster, and I descend into the maze of streets in this uneasy city.
Not far from the dawn gate, where a miraculous painting of the Virgin Mary is adored by pilgrims on their knees, I find a bearded young man with a cigarette between his lips and a sleeve tattoo covering his left arm. He looks a little tired, but otherwise well, this son of mine whom I have not seen for three months, since he deployed out of Val Cartier to fight with the Canadian Army in Afghanistan.
My relief at the sight of him is made acute by the knowledge that he is on leave, only halfway through his tour of duty, which involves carrying a grenade launcher as a corporal in battle group. He laughs a little as I embrace him, and we go into a café to find out how it has been. There we will drink scotch and beer, talk of the ever-present ringing in his ears and a couple of close calls I will not describe to his mother until he returns from his tour of duty. I use the word “until”, but I hover over the word “unless.”
His choice is not one we wanted him to make or even approved of, but we found ourselves impotent in the face of his decision to delay his education at McGill. And so I stood helpless before the face of history that was playing out in front of me, much as it had played out for my uncles, good and bad, and for my hosts in Vilnius, the Sondeckis family.
A new story was unfolding for me now, with stakes just as high as the stakes from the stories in the past. And the effect of this story is to moor me to Canada more firmly than I have ever been moored here before, more strongly than any accident of birth.
If my son should die in battle, he wants his ashes to lie in a military cemetery in Ottawa. Although he lives his life less dramatically, my other son will likely be buried here too when his time comes.
If I have been unsure about my home, unsure of where I belong all these decades long, these two young men are the ones who have pointed out the answer to the question I’ve been asking for most of my life.
It’s not all that unusual, to have my children rather than my parents determine my homeland. It happens to immigrant families all the time. Maybe it just takes a little longer than we ever imagined, just one more generation than we thought.
Late in my life, I have become a fatalist. The currents of history keep on pulling us in various directions regardless of our puny desires. And history isn’t just the past. History is happening right now, for me in a café in Vilnius where my past meets my future in a conversation with a bearded young man in a sleeve tattoo.
(postscript - Originally published in Queen's Quarterly in 2011. Antanas Sileika's son survived the posting in Afghanistan, and has gone on to marry and plans to pursue further studies in Lithuania. The search for records of Antanas Sileika's "good" uncle has run into some hurdles and is ongoing. Antanas himself has had his most recent novel, Underground, translated as "Pogrindis" by Versus Aureus in Lithuania. The novel has been optioned for a film by Donelos Studija. Antanas is doing research for a novel based on the life of Soviet Lithuania's leader, Antanas Snieckus. For all his professed Canadianess, Antanas spends more and more time in Lithuania.
Antanas Sileika is a Canadian novelist and critic.
He was born in Weston, Ontario - the son of Lithuanian-born parents.
After completing an English degree at the University of Toronto, he moved to Paris for two years and there married his wife, Snaige Sileika (née Valiunas), an art student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. While in Paris, he studied French, taught English in Versailles, and worked as part of the editorial collective of the expatriate literary journal, Paris Voices, run from the upstairs room of the bookstore, Shakespeare and Company.
Upon his return to Canada in 1979, Antanas began teaching at Humber College and working as a co-editor of the Canadian literary journal, Descant, where he remained until 1988.
After writing for newspapers and magazines, Antanas Sileika published his first novel, Dinner at the End of the World (1994): a speculative story set in the aftermath of global warming.
His second book, a collection of linked short stories, Buying On Time (1997) was nominated for both the City of Toronto Book Award and the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour, and was serialized on CBC Radio's Between the Covers. The book traces the lives of a family of immigrants to a Canadian suburb between the fifties and seventies. Some of these stories were anthologized in Dreaming Home, Canadian Short Stories, and the Penguin Anthology of Canadian Humour.
Antanas Sileika appears occasionally on Canadian television and radio as a free-lance broadcaster.
His third book, Woman in Bronze (2004), compared the seasonal life of a young man in Czarist Lithuania with his subsequent attempts to succeed as a prominent sculptor in Paris in the twenties.
His latest novel, Underground was released by Thomas Allen & Son in spring of 2011. The new novel is a love story set in the underground resistance to the Soviet Union in the late 1940s.
He is the director for the Humber School for Writers in Toronto, Canada, and is a past winner of a National Magazine Award.
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Lithuanian heating costs reach astronomical heights:
Russian gas up 450%
in just seven years!
Europe’s dependence on Russian gas.
Lithuania pays 15% more than Latvia and Estonia,
25% more than Germany for the same Russian gas.
While gas prices have tended to fall globally in recent years thanks to deposits of shale gas in places like the U.S., Lithuanian households have looked on in horror in the past seven years as the retail cost of natural gas pumped from Siberia spiked 450 percent — or from $169 to $769 per 1,000 cubic meters.
This writes the Associated Press in an article this week, where they more than suggest that Russia uses its natural gas as a pressure point against Lithuania.
Lithuanians have seen prices soar over the past several years, especially since the shuttering of its only nuclear power plant in 2009, forcing the country to import more Russian gas to keep warm. Lithuania's decision to scrap atomic power over safety concerns has put it under a new kind of threat: intimidation from Russia, which critics say shows no hesitation to use its energy dominance to bully former vassal states.
Lithuania currently pays Russia a wholesale price of about $540 per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas piped from Siberia, roughly 15 percent more than Baltic neighbors Latvia and Estonia and 25 percent more than Germany, writes Associated Press.
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THE ECONOMIST:
If you had to be reborn
anywhere, you would
want to be a Viking
The Nordic countries are inventing the new capitalism,
says the Economist editorial. The front of the magazine
shows a seemingly overweight, bearded Viking,
aptly titled "The Next Supermodel".
Politicians from other parts of the world could learn much of Scandinavia, the Economist writes in this weekend edition.
The Nordic countries are inventing the new capitalism, says the Economist editorial. The front of the magazine shows a seemingly overweight, bearded Viking, aptly titled "The Next Supermodel".
The four Nordic countries Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway do well on one international poll after another. They are often found on top of the tables in various rankings of competitiveness of purchasing power, and even happiness.
Norway, for example, has for several years been at the top in a UN ranking of the best countries to live in. The rating is calculated as part of the human development index (Human Development Index), which is an attempt to create a measure of how we are doing, that of the good life.
It encompasses not only economic indicators but also looks at health, education and income.
Politicians from other countries should learn from the Nordic model, says the Economist. It pertains to the heavily indebted countries such as in South Europe.
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THE ECONOMIST:
If you had to be reborn
anywhere, you would
want to be a Viking
The Nordic countries are inventing the new capitalism,
says the Economist editorial. The front of the magazine
shows a seemingly overweight, bearded Viking,
aptly titled "The Next Supermodel".
Politicians from other parts of the world could learn much of Scandinavia, the Economist writes in this weekend edition.
The Nordic countries are inventing the new capitalism, says the Economist editorial. The front of the magazine shows a seemingly overweight, bearded Viking, aptly titled "The Next Supermodel".
The four Nordic countries Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway do well on one international poll after another. They are often found on top of the tables in various rankings of competitiveness of purchasing power, and even happiness.
Norway, for example, has for several years been at the top in a UN ranking of the best countries to live in. The rating is calculated as part of the human development index (Human Development Index), which is an attempt to create a measure of how we are doing, that of the good life.
It encompasses not only economic indicators but also looks at health, education and income.
Politicians from other countries should learn from the Nordic model, says the Economist. It pertains to the heavily indebted countries such as in southern Europe.
The Nordic countries have managed to find solutions to reform their public sectors, so that the state is far more efficient and better able to adapt to new needs, says the Economist.
The Economist devotes a large part of its special report of 14 pages to the development in Sweden, which is reaping considerable praise. The Swedish public sector accounted for 67 percent of the country's gross domestic product (the sum of goods and services) in 1993, while the proportion has now fallen to 49 percent.
Sweden’s Finance Minister Anders Borg has also managed to present a state budget actually goes into balance.
Focus on the largest Nordic country is undoubtedly a feather in the cap of the conservative Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who has gradually gained considerable authority also within the EU during the discussions on economic and political reforms.
Norway's unique position as a major energy exporter contributes to the country’s position slightly to the side of the three other Nordic countries. But also Norway has started to reform the public sector, says the Economist.
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OPINIONS
Have your say. Send to:
editor@VilNews.com
Ph. D., Chicago
A wave of unity sweeps the international Lithuanian community on March 11th every year as Lithuanians celebrated the anniversary of the Lithuanian Parliament's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. However, the sense of national unity engendered by the celebration could be short-lived.
Human beings have a strong tendency to overgeneralize and succumb to stereotypical us-them distinctions that can shatter even the strongest bonds. We need only search the internet to find examples of divisive thinking at work:
- "Those who fled Lithuania during World II were cowards -- and now they come back, flaunt their wealth, and tell us 'true Lithuanians' how to live."
- "Lithuanians who work abroad have abandoned their homeland and should be deprived of their Lithuanian citizenship."
In Lithuania Christmas Eve is a family event and the New Year's Eve a great party with friends!
Lithuanian say "Kaip sutiksi naujus metus, taip juos ir praleisi" (the way you'll meet the new year is the way you will spend it). So everyone is trying to spend New Year's Eve with friend and have as much fun as possible.
Lithuanian New Year's traditions are very similar to those in other countries, and actually were similar since many years ago. Also, the traditional Lithuanian New Years Eve party was very similar to other big celebrations throughout the year.
The New Year's Eve table is quite similar to the Christmas Eve table, but without straws under the tablecloth, and now including meat dishes. A tradition that definitely hasn't changes is that everybody is trying not to fell asleep before midnight. It was said that if you oversleep the midnight point you will be lazy all the upcoming year. People were also trying to get up early on the first day of the new year, because waking up late also meant a very lazy and unfortunate year.
During the New Year celebration people were dancing, singing, playing games and doing magic to guess the future. People didn't drink much of alcohol, especially was that the case for women.
Here are some advices from elders:
- During the New Year, be very nice and listen to relatives - what you are during New Year Eve, you will be throughout the year.
- During to the New Year Eve, try not to fall, because if this happens, next year you will be unhappy.
- If in the start of the New Year, the first news are good - then the year will be successful. If not - the year will be problematic.
* If New Year's night is cold and starry - look forward to a good summer!
* If the during New Year Eve trees are covered with frost - then it will be a good year. If it is wet weather on New Year's Eve, one can expect a year where many will die and dangerous epidemics occur.
* If the first day of the new year is snowy - the upcoming year will see many young people die. If the night is snowy - mostly old people will die.
* If the New Year time is cold - then Easter will be warm.
* If during New Year there are a lot of birds in your homestead - then all year around there will be many guests and the year will be fun.
Christmas greetings
from Vilnius
and epic battle for the
future
Philosopher, political theorist, historian of
ideas, social analyst, and political
commentator
Ukraine was and continues to be perceived by the EU political class as a sort of grey zone with its immense potential and possibilities for the future, yet deeply embedded and trapped in No Man's Land with all of its troubled past, post-Soviet traumas, ambiguities, insecurities, corruption, social divisions, and despair. Why worry for what has yet to emerge as a new actor of world history in terms of nation-building, European identity, and deeper commitments to transparency and free market economy?
Right? Wrong. No matter how troubled Ukraine's economic and political reality could be, the country has already passed the point of no return. Even if Vladimir Putin retains his leverage of power to blackmail Ukraine and the West in terms of Ukraine's zero chances to accede to NATO due to the problems of territorial integrity, occupation and annexation of Crimea, and mayhem or a frozen conflict in the Donbas region, Ukraine will never return to Russia's zone of influence. It could be deprived of the chances to join NATO or the EU in the coming years or decades, yet there are no forces on earth to make present Ukraine part of the Eurasia project fostered by Putin.
want to learn about the
new, scary propaganda
war between Russia,
The West and the
Baltic States!
believe their government
is corrupt
students say no to
bribes for doctors
During Soviet times, government was administered for the people in control, not for the local population, court decisions were decreed, they were not the administration of justice, and academia was the domain of ideologues. 25 years of freedom and openness should have put those bad experiences behind Lithuania, but that is not so.
Today, it is a matter of expectation that court pronouncements will be governed by ideological dictates. Few, if any Lithuanians expect real justice to be effected. For foreign companies, doing business in Lithuania is almost impossible in a situation where business people do not expect rule of law, so, surely Government would be a refuge of competence?
Lithuanian Government has not emerged from Soviet styles. In an attempt to devolve power, Lithuania has created a myriad of fiefdoms of power, each speaking in the name of the Government, each its own centralized power base of ideology.
Chepstow, Wales
Doesn't that sound suspiciously like Lithuania? Ah, but I didn't mention the mountains of Snowdonia, which would give the game away.
I'm talking about Wales, that part of the UK which Lithuanians used to call "Valija", but later named "Velsas" (why?). Wales, the nation which has welcomed two Lithuanian heads of state to its shores - firstly Professor Vytautas Landsbergis, who has paid several visits and, more recently, President Dalia Grybauskaitė who attended the 2014 NATO summit which was held in Newport, South Wales.
ENGLISH VERSION OF THE
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF VYTAUTAS LANDSBERGIS.
Although Lithuanian activities have thinned over the decades as that postwar generation died out, the Lithuanian Martyrs' parish hall is crowded with many, many hundreds of visitors who come to the Lithuanian cemetery for All Souls' Day. Similarly, the Franciscan parish has standing room only for Christmas Eve mass.
Although I am firmly embedded in the literary culture of Canada, my themes are usually Lithuanian, and I'll be in Kaunas and Vilnius in mid-November 2015 to give talks about the Lithuanian translations of my novels and short stories, which I write in English.
If you have the Lithuanian language, come by to one of the talks listed in the links below. And if you don't, you can read more about my work at
www.anatanassileika.com
http://www.vdu.lt/lt/rasytojas-antanas-sileika-pristatys-savo-kuryba/ https://leu.lt/lt/lf/lf_naujienos/kvieciame-i-rasytojo-59hc.html
"My love and best wishes to all. As long as VilNews exists, there is hope for the future,"" she writes.
Irena Veisaite means very much for our publication, and we do hereby thank her for the support and wise commitment she always shows.
You can read our interview with her
Facing a new reality
Dear readers of VilNews,
For a number of years, the EU and Russia had assumed the existence of a strategic partnership, based on the convergence of values, economic integration and increasingly open markets and a modernisation agenda for society.
Our agenda was positive and ambitious. We looked at Russia as a country ready to converge with "European values", a country likely to embrace both the basic principles of democratic government and a liberal concept of the world order. It was believed this would bring our relations to a new level, covering the whole spectrum of the EU's strategic relationship with Russia.
The likelihood of Putin
invading Lithuania
.jpg "lithuania today")
Founding Director at Summer Literary Seminars
Are all Lithuanian energy
problems now resolved?
Lithuania as a country does not have significant energy resources. Energy consuming infrastructure after WWII was small and totally supported by energy imports from Russia.
First nuclear reactor begins power generation at Ignalina in 1983, the second reactor in 1987. Iganlina generates enough electricity to cover Lithuania's needs and about 50%.for export. As, prerequisite for membership in EU, Ignalina ceases all nuclear power generation in 2009
The Klaipėda Sea terminal begins Russia's oil export operations in 1959 and imports in 1994.
Mazeikiu Nafta (current ORLEAN Lietuva) begins operation of oil refinery in 1980.
Have Lithuanian ties across
the Baltic Sea become
stronger in recent years?
The two decades that have passed since regaining Lithuania's independence can be described as a "building boom". From the wreckage of a captive Soviet republic, a generation of Lithuanians have built a modern European state, and are now helping construct a Nordic-Baltic community replete with institutions intended to promote political coordination and foster a trans-Baltic regional identity. Indeed, a "Nordic-Baltic community" - I will explain later in my text the meaning of this catch-phrase.
Since the restoration of Lithuania's independence 25 years ago, we have continuously felt a strong support from Nordic countries. Nordics in particular were among the countries supporting Lithuania's and Baltic States' striving towards independence. Take example of Iceland, country which recognized Lithuania in February of 1991, well in advance of other countries. Yet another example - Swedish Ambassador was the first ambassador accredited to Lithuania in 1991. The other countries followed suit. When we restored our statehood, Nordic Countries became champions in promoting Baltic integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions. To large degree thanks Nordic Countries, massive transformations occurred in Lithuania since then, Lithuania became fully-fledged member of the EU and NATO, and we joined the Eurozone on 1 January 2015.
Have you heard about the
South African "Pencil Test"?
But that is exactly what happened to me when I came back from South Africa. I will tell you how.
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