THE VOICE OF INTERNATIONAL LITHUANIA
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Front page
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POLAND – LITHUANIA:
The never ending neighbour dispute
A few years ago my wife and I fell into conversation with two Poles in Oslo. When they heard that my wife was from Lithuania, they were quick to assert that the Vilnius area is actually Polish and never should have been given to Lithuania after World War II. My wife immediately responded that the area Punsk in eastern Poland in reality is Lithuanian and should be re-incorporated into the mother-country. The dispute was in full swing.
I have subsequently many times seen texts reminiscent of history forgery when Polish and international historians describe the Polish-Lithuanian relations in the later Middle Ages. The relationship is often described as if Poland was the leading nation and Lithuania a province in the east, while the reality was as the map above shows, with Lithuania as Europe’s biggest nation for centuries.
But Lithuania is not much better in its attitudes versus Poland and the Poles. In a comment article this week, Gary Peach has some interesting reflections on this topic in the European Voice. This is an excerpt of what he writes:
“Foreign minister for only two years, Audronius Ažubalis cannot be blamed for all of Lithuania's external mishaps and misfortunes. With neighbours like Belarus's Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Russia's Vladimir Putin, diplomatic successes are hard to come by. But as regards Poland and Latvia, Ažubalis shoulders some responsibility for the sorry state of affairs.
In fact, the minister alone set the tone for relations with Poland this year when, in an interview released on 2 January, he lashed out at Warsaw, saying that issues involving Lithuania's minorities, which include approximately 200,000 ethnic Poles, are a domestic matter and that Vilnius should not be lectured. “We don't need a big brother,” said Ažubalis, who in not-so-subtle terms went on to compare Polish pressure on Lithuania to bullying by Russia and the Soviet Union.
This was exceptionally harsh rhetoric, and will probably lead to a new nadir in bilateral ties.
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EUROPE – MY HOME & MY CASTLE (6 of 10)
Scandinavia & Finland
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VilNews is on its way around Europe!
Tour guide: Aage Myhre To read today’s travel report, click HERE To read the previous articles, go to our SECTION 11 |
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EUROPE – MY HOME & MY CASTLE (5 of 10)
Authentic Austria – generous Germany
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VilNews is on its way around Europe!
Tour guide: Aage Myhre To read today’s travel report, click HERE To read the previous articles, go to our SECTION 11 |
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EUROPE – MY HOME & MY CASTLE (4 of 10)
Strasbourg –
Benelux – England
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VilNews is on its way around Europe!
Tour guide: Aage Myhre To read today’s travel report, click HERE To read the previous articles, go to our SECTION 11 |
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13 January 1991 through an artist’s eyes
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 The photo documenting the truth. |
Artist Ruta Brazis-Velasco: |
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11 – 13 January 1991
days the world should never forget
The 1991 January events took place in Lithuania between January 11 and 13, in the aftermath of the Act of the re-establishment of the State of Lithuania. As a result of Soviet military actions, 14 civilians were killed and more than 1000 injured. The events were centered in Vilnius, along with related actions in the cities of Alytus, Šiauliai, Varėna, and Kaunas.
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EUROPE – MY HOME & MY CASTLE (3 of 10)
Along the Riviera
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We have started our little tour of Europe. Over the next few weeks you are all invited on a journey from north to south, from east to west. Some articles will dwell with history. Some with Lithuanian contact points in various countries. I have travelled across Europe with camera and notepad for nearly 40 years and hope you will enjoy seeing and reading about some of my experiences. We start today's tour in Liguria, Italy, through France’s Cotes d’Azur to the south-east of Spain. Have a nice trip!
Text and photos: Aage Myhre To read today’s travel report, click HERE To read the previous articles, go to our SECTION 11 |
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EUROPE – MY HOME & MY CASTLE (2 of 10)
Switzerland & Italy
Today we start our little tour of Europe. Over the next few weeks, I invite you on a journey from north to south, from east to west. Some sections will dwell with history. Some with Lithuanian contact points in various countries. I have travelled across here with camera and notepad for nearly 40 years, and hope you will enjoy seeing and reading about some of my experiences. We start today's tour in Switzerland, and then continue to the south of Italy. Enjoy your trip!
Text and photos: Aage Myhre
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
To join the trip, go to our Section 11
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EUROPE
my home & my castle
Text and photos: Aage Myhre
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
The more I travel around the world the more I realize that I am European. Although I have had good, close friends and have experienced extraordinary things in all corners of the world. Maybe my mind is not sufficiently exotic. That's ok. I have grown older now. Europe does not lose lustre. Driving a car is the best way to experience Europe. Lithuania's border crossings to Latvia and Poland is no problem anymore. Within a day's drive you can reach most of the northern and central European countries. One more day and you can already stand and look out over the warm, slow waves of the Mediterranean Sea...
Over the next few weeks VilNews will present some glimpses of Europe ... A Europe that is now so close to everyone... The Iron Curtain is gone, forever!
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1 |
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Exploring Europe |
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2 |
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Switzerland & Italy |
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3 |
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Along the Riviera |
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4 |
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From Strasbourg to London |
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5 |
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Austria & Germany |
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6 |
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Finland & Scandinavia |
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7 |
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En route Warsaw - Budapest |
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8 |
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Moscow and further east |
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9 |
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The Baltic Hanseatic route |
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10 |
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Istanbul |
1 of 10: Exploring Europe
I love old towns. No matter how good a new suburb is. I, and many with me, prefer the old towns. It has something to do with the atmosphere. Details, ornaments. Human life. Sound and smell. Warmth. Joy.
Europe is the 'old town' for the entire world!
I think it primarily is about culture and history. All that Europe is so infinitely rich on. It is something about that feeling. The idea and the knowledge of the Roman Empire every time I'm in Rome. Recognition every time I visit a museum or gallery and see the many art treasures I feel is a part of my European self.
It is more to Europe I never get tired of. For example, being able to walk, touch, feel, smell. Being a tourist here is like walking on the world stage as it has provided the basis for so much over thousands of years. Fortunately, European leaders long ago realized that the human being is more important than cars. Take Strøget in Copenhagen, bike paths in Holland and promenades along pretty much all The Mediterranean sea-coast as good examples of this.
Europe means walking around on cobbled streets. Between historic buildings.
To see. Listen. Experience. Feel. Smell.
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Nida tranquility
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Text and photos: Aage Myhre
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
The quiet resort village Nida is based at the Curonian Spit (Neringa) near the Kaliningrad border, less than one hour’s drive from Klaipeda at Lithuania’s seacoast. With beautiful Baltic Sea beaches on the west side, the large Curonian Lagoon on the east side and the largest sand dunes of Northern Europe on the southern side, this is a truly unique place for a relaxed vacation. You should spend one or two weeks in a self catering fisherman's cottage or a few days in a guest house or hotel. Nida is the place to take it easy!
Here is what a visiting family wrote after their visit:
"We have never visited anywhere that had such a relaxing effect on us as the view from the sun clock on the Great Dune in Nida. The silky-smooth lagoon to one side of the golden spit and the sparkling waves of the Baltic Sea to the other side was breath-takingly beautiful. We did lots of walking, running and cycling including a walk along the Baltic Sea beach from west of Preila back to Nida”.
The Nida home of the German writer Thomas Mann,
today the Thomas Mann Museum.
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Winter motive from Aukštaitijos National Park.
May 2012 become
just as peaceful as a
Lithuanian landscape…
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New Year’s Eve in Lithuania!
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The New Year Eve party in the Skybar of Hotel Radisson Blu Lietuva in
Vilnius has become a classic tradition…
Info at: http://www.lithuaniantours.com
Text: Saulene Valskyte
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.
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LITHUANIAN SSR
COAT OF ARMS
Returning ‘home’ to Lithuania from Siberia
The Last Summer. Zarasai 1968.
PHOTO: ANTANAS SUTKUS.
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, 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. Tens of thousands of the country's leading women and men had fled to America and other nations in the west.
The 1950s was the decade when Lithuania's 10-year guerrilla war against the superior Soviet forces had finally come 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.
Lithuanian daily life during the 1950s and 1960s was characterized by terrifying KGB activities, denunciations, imprisonments and executions without trial, widespread corruption and mismanagement in which most of the good, democratic principles many fine people had fought so hard for during the interwar period were totally forgotten and disregarded.
People felt despair, discouragement, fear ... But also a vain hope - that Western countries would come to liberate their dear homeland from the Soviet tyranny...
Village street, Dzūkija 1969.
PHOTO: ANTANAS SUTKUS.
To see more Antanas Sutkus photos, go to:
http://www.ananasamiami.com/2011/04/photography-by-antanas-sutkus.html
http://www.retronaut.co/2010/05/soviet-lithuania-1960s-1970s/
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The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic
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Flag of Lithuanian SSR.
The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika; Russian: Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика, Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika), also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union. Established on 21 July 1940 as a puppet state during World War II in the territory of the previously independent Republic of Lithuania after it had been occupied by the Soviet army on 16 June 1940 in conformity with the terms of 23 August 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, it existed until 1990.
Video: National anthem of Lithuanian SSR
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How did communism influence Lithuania’s economic development?
A report by: Valdas Samonis
The Institute for New Economic Thinking, USA
Photo: http://www.landesa.org/where-we-work/more/lithuania/
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?
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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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