THE VOICE OF INTERNATIONAL LITHUANIA
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THE WEST IGNORED ALL SOVIET ABUSES! |
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CHRISTMAS IN SIBERIA
A Lithuanian family at Lena river “The tents were freezing cold, harsh, and distressing; so, the adults decided to build better living conditions. "We can build barracks," said one Lithuanian, "We can catch the logs in the Lena River." The men waded barefoot into the icy water, caught floating logs, brought them to shore, and built the barracks. They covered the outside walls with snow and ice which they learned would help keep out the frigid temperature. They also found a large iron stove, which they placed in the middle of the building. https://vilnews.com/2011-01-christmas-in-siberia |
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DEPORTEES RETURNING FROM SIBERIA
It must have been quite a shock for the surviving deportees to return ‘home’ from Siberia to Lithuania in the 1950s and 1960s. The country they had loved and cared so much about was now ruled and mismanaged by Moscow-believing Communists. Since 1941 more than 300.000 persons had been deported to Siberia, with tens of thousands dying en route to or on the permafrost. The 1950s was the decade when Lithuania's 10-year guerrilla war against the superior Soviet forces came to an end, with the result that 22.000 Lithuanian forest brothers and about 70.000 Soviet soldiers had lost their lives, thus the longest and bloodiest guerrilla war of modern Europe. https://vilnews.com/2012-04-deportees-returning-%E2%80%98home%E2%80%99-from-siberia |
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LITHUANIA IN THE 1960s PHOTO: View from Antakalnis towards the (by then) new district Žirmūnai. By: Antanas Sutkus, 1964 |
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FINALLY … |
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Exclusive VilNews interview with Professor Landsbergis, Veisaitė
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PROFESSOR IRENA VEISAITĖ AND PROFESSOR VYTAUTAS LANDSBERGIS.
Photo: Patrick Murphy
Journalist: Dalia Cidzikaitė
Questions prepared by Aage Myhre
Today we have the pleasure of presenting a large, exclusive interview with two professors who have meant infinitely much for their homeland Lithuania. In today's interview, we focus on their memories, experiences of and thoughts about the following eras of their lives, over the years 1930-1960:
· CHILDHOOD IN KAUNAS, LITHUANIA’S INTERWAR CAPITAL
· MEMORIES OF ANTANAS SMETONA, LITHUANIA’S PRESIDENT 1926-1940
· PREWAR COMMUNISM IN LITHUANIA?
· ADOLF HITLER – NAZISM – PREWAR GERMANY
· TO BE A LITHUANIAN JEW (LITVAK) DURING WORLD WAR II
· THE LANDSBERGIS FAMILY RELATIONSHIP WITH JEWS
· LITHUANIA’S 9-YEAR BLOODY PARTISAN WAR AGAINST THE SOVIET UNION
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Lithuania 1930 – 1960
from happy freedom and growth… to war, people extermination, deportations, mass murder, emigration
to the West, guerrilla war and the beginning of a mostly depressive life under Soviet oppression…
Adjacent to our exclusive interview with Professor Irena Veisaitė and Professor Vytautas Landsbergis we bring below a few articles describing the period 1930-1960 in Lithuania.
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National rebirth 1920-1940
Lithuania declared independence in 1918, after 123 years of mostly Russian occupation. The interwar years were very successful and the country prospered immensely. Kaunas was the capital for the period 1919-1940, after Poland occupied Vilnius and southern Lithuania.
https://vilnews.com/2012-11-
https://vilnews.com/2012-04-
https://vilnews.com/2011-03-
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Holocaust killed 95% of
all Jews in Lithuania
The Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Lithuania resulted in the near total destruction of Lithuania's Jewish population. Out of more than 200.000, around 95% were murdered during WWII, the most tragic, worst example of Holocaust in the whole world. https://vilnews.com/2011-01-holocaust-in-lithuania
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300.000 innocent people were deported to Siberia
During 1940–1953, some 132.000 Lithuanians were deported to remote areas of the USSR. More than 70% were women and children. 30.000 died there due to climate, hard slave work and starvation. 50.000 were not able to return to Lithuania. During the same period, another 200.000 people were prisoned and 150.000 of them were sent to Siberian Gulags.
https://vilnews.com/2010-12-1941-1953-300-000-lithuanians-we…
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Modern Europe's longest, bloodiest partisan war
22.000 Lithuanian 'forest brothers' and 70.000 Soviet soldiers were killed in modern Europe's longest and bloodiest guerrilla war, after the Balts withdrew into the woods to organize their powerful armed partisan resistance when the Soviet Union re-occupied the Baltic States in 1944.
https://vilnews.com/2012-12-5391
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How did Soviet communism
influence Lithuania?
Photo: http://www.landesa.org/where-we-work/more/lithuania/
By Dr. Valdas Samonis,
Toronto, Canada
In 1940, independent Lithuania produced per capita 1.9 times more meat, 2.8 times more milk, had 1.9 times more cattle and 2.7 times more pigs than Soviet Union. After 50 years of allegedly astounding economic progress, Soviet Lithuania had become dependent on subsidies from Moscow. To the extent that this assertion is true, how is this possible if not for the inefficiencies caused by the forcefully imposed system of central planning with its associated distortions?
Noncommunist Lithuania fed and clothed its citizens without any assistance from abroad during the interwar independence period. And the levels of agricultural production were high by comparison to the Soviet Union;
Following its forceful incorporation into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1940, Lithuania was subjected to the Soviet development model based on Marxism-Leninism, as interpreted by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, as its theoretical underpinning; the first "scientifically based economic system in human history", as Bolsheviks claimed. The Bolshevik interpretation of economic processes and development goals was made obligatory in both the theoretical and practical dimensions. New methods of economic management /central planning/ were introduced which deeply changed the entire decision-making processes. The country's economic administration was completely overhauled. The Soviet occupation of Lithuania lasted nearly half a century.
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Valdas Samonis: "I believe that the abject failure of Western experts (economists, political scientists, sociologists, etc) to foresee the impending USSR's total collapse under the weight of the communist system's own inefficiency (like an old mushroom in Lithuania's forest) was largely due to Western anti-anti-communism; it grossly exaggerated the Soviet communist regime's stability and legitimacy. The so called "scientific-based system" lie repeated by the Soviets with Goebbels efficiency and force, gave rise to that Western anti-anti-communism and it was the greatest Bolshevik deception (brilliant, indeed!) that all those "good-heart" Western intellectuals fell for. What an intellectual shame to Western universities and other elites!
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Kaunas pictures from the 1930s
HAPPY EASTER 1938! FROM THE MAGAZINE "POLICE".
PHOTO: I.GIRČIO.
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Lithuanian DPs
in Australia after WW2
DISPLACED PERSONS FROM LITHUANIA ARRIVING IN AUSTRALIA –
MRS LYDIA DRESCHERIS WITH HER CHILDREN AND A FRIEND
Image Copyright Western Australian Museum
By Jura Reilly
After World War Two Australia agreed to provide a haven for 170,000 refugees from war-torn Europe. This was the beginning of a large-scale immigration program undertaken by the Australian government, which felt that the population needed to grow so that the country could defend itself better, and have enough people to fill all the jobs that were available. Most of the refugees arrived during 1949 and 1950. Before WW2, more than 90% of Australians were from a British or Irish background. Presently, this proportion has dropped to approximately 80%. A total of 9906 Lithuanian DPs came to Australia between 1947 and 1953. In the 2011 Census, 13,594 adults acknowledged Lithuanian origins.
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Click on the links below to access each of VilNews' 18 sections. All our sections have their own distinct, different contents, as the headlines suggest. You can also scroll forward to new pages by clicking NEXT at the bottom of each page. We hope you have time to study our many articles!
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VilNews is back!
Our publication VilNews has been inactive over the past two years. But here we are again, ready with a fresh new issue. We wish old and new readers worldwide warmly welcome!
“New” VilNews consists of 18 sections that you can immerse yourself into by clicking on the link buttons at the top of each page.
If “old” VilNews had been printed on paper, it would become a book of more than 7,000 pages of totally unique reading material about historical and contemporary Lithuania. This huge material is still available. All old and new articles are sorted by topics, in our 18 sections.
The VilNews concept is a unique combination of informative articles, social media (blogs and commentaries) and background articles about Lithuanian people, history, culture, politics, tourism, economy and much more. We do very much appreciate feedback and comments from our readers.
I wish you some good reading, and please do not hesitate to contact us!
Say what you mean – mean what you say – don`t be mean
Aage Myhre
Editor-in-Chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
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The professors who showed
Lithuania the path to its future
PROFESSOR VYTAUTAS LANDSBERGIS – PROFESSOR IRENA VEISAITE
Journalist: Dalia Cidzikaite
Photographer: Patrick Murphy
Questions prepared by Aage Myhre
A few days ago we sat down with two of Lithuania's most famous professors for a so-called double interview. We wish in the future to run similar double interviews here in VilNews; with leading Lithuanians in politics, economics, culture, science and so on. Simply because we think this may give you, dear readers, new insights and knowledge about the persons and also about historical and contemporary Lithuania.
Professor Vytautas Landsbergis and Professor Irena Veisaite were both born in Lithuania’s interwar capital Kaunas around 1930 – she a Jew who miraculously survived Holocaust, he a genetic Lithuanian who came to lead Lithuania’s revolution against the Soviet occupiers 25 years ago.
The interview with the professors will be published in our next edition of VilNews.
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Fearful of Russia, Lithuanian
volunteers sign up fearing
a repeat of Ukraine
MEMBERS OF THE LITHUANIAN RIFLEMEN’S ASSOCIATION ON A WEEKEND EXERCISE
Finishing his working week as a lawyer, Robert Juodka puts on his fatigues, loads his assault rifles into the car and heads off to the woods to take part in training. He and his comrades regard their “war games” as deadly serious; preparations for resisting a Russian invasion.
The Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union, which was disbanded by the country’s communist government, now has 10,000 members. New recruits join every week. The age range is wide, but a hard nucleus is being formed of former service personnel. And experienced foreign volunteers may be admitted in the future. Many fear that what has happened to Ukraine may be revisited in Lithuania.
THIS IS FROM AN ARTICLE IN THE BRITISH NEWSPAPER “INDEPENDENCE”.
Read the full article here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/fearful-of-russia-lithuanian-volunteers-sign-up-fearing-a-repeat-of-ukraine-10126321.html
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THIS ARTICLE, ABOUT THE HISTORY OF LITHUANIA, REACHED
ONE MILLION PERSONS AROUND THE WORLD IN ONLY ONE MONTH!
Lithuania – a country
you may think you know –
but do you really?
Text/research: Aage Myhre
We posted this article on one of our VilNews Facebook pages (www.facebook.com/VilNews) a few weeks ago. The article is about a seemingly 'boring' theme, namely the history of Lithuania.
But then it turns out that the article gets huge attention and reaches close to one million people worldwide in a matter of days. Probably never before have so many in such a short time been learning about the History of Lithuania!
For us who have worked with VilNews for many years this is yet another confirmation that Lithuania is of great interest to people around the globe if things are presented in attractive ways.
Did you know that Lithuania was a world super power – much longer than
USA has been – and Europe's largest country for more than 300 years
(1300-1600), stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea?
https://vilnews.com/2012-02-a-world-superpower-for-300-years
Read more...
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From Chicago to Paris – then by
car through Europe to Lithuania!
AMERICAN-LTUHUANIAN DIANA PAULIŪTĖ CLARISSE,
WITH HUSBAND AND SON, ON THEIR WAY THROUGH EUROPE
By Diana Pauliūtė Clarisse
Phd in Chemistry, Chicago USA
For about an hour now the two GPSs have been cooing two different directions. Our Tom Tom brought from home was telling us to ”turn left when possible”, while the GPS mounted in the rental car is having us move ever Northeast. My husband is saying we should listen to our Tom Tom. That would have been a good idea I think as we come to an abrupt standstill. The cars in front of us line up in a row looking like it goes on forever. Some of the drivers are standing next to their cars chatting away with other drivers as though they had been there all day. There must have been an accident, I say. The time is late in the afternoon, we have been perhaps 20 hrs on the road.
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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.
VilNews e-magazine is published in Vilnius, Lithuania. Editor-in-Chief: Mr. Aage Myhre. Inquires to the editors: editor@VilNews.com.
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