Posted on 06/24/2003 10:07:49 AM PDT by forty_years
Live from the New Europe: Reporting from Lithuania By Andrew L. Jaffee, June 23, 2003 |
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I've haven't been back to Lithuania in seventeen years. Lithuania: my mother's homeland. In typical American fashion, Lithuania is only one of my ancestral ties. But I'm so glad it is one of those ties. It has given me great strength and helped me to appreciate the great gift that is the United States.
After getting off the plane last Wednesday in Vilnius, the capital city, two things struck me. First of all, there are no more Russian/Soviet soldiers patrolling the streets. Second, the are no more statues of Lenin and no more communist propaganda billboards. In Soviet times, these massive, red billboards were everywhere. They were there to remind the Lithuanian people who was boss: the Russian communists. And if you didn't like it, there were plenty of Russian troops to convince you otherwise. KGB (Soviet secret police) headquarters was situated in the city center, as a not-so-subtle reminder to anyone who believed in Lithuanian self-determination.
Russians poured into Lithuanian under Soviet occupation in an attempt to ethnically dilute or overwhelm the indigenous population. They came not only because the Russian/Soviet government subsidized their emigration, but because life was better in the Baltic because Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians worked so hard, and had tasted democracy briefly from 1918 to 1940. Political decisions were made in Moscow or by trusted Lithuanian collaborators installed by their Russian/Soviet patrons. Dissent against Russian rule was punishable by death or expulsion to Siberian gulags. There was no free press and no free political system.
Sound familiar? Apartheid? The Third Reich? The British Raj in India? American dislocation of Indians during early U.S. expansion? Where were all the "Liberals" when Russians were squashing the self-determination of Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Moldavians, Kazaks, Turkens, Armenians, etc? Were "Liberals" espousing what the pigs did in Orwell's Animal Farm?--i.e., "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.". Sounds like discrimination to me.
The Russian occupiers have been thrown out. No more statues of Lenin. They were all torn down by jubilant but peaceful Lithuanian crowds (remind you of... Saddam?). No more communist billboards. All gone.
Now you only hear Russian spoken infrequently (and kids aren't forced to learn it in school). When you hear it, it is spoken by Russians who live here by choice or by Russian tourists who travel here by choice. And they are welcome because Lithuanians are a civilized people who have chosen to govern themselves through democracy. Notice I'm emphasizing concepts of free will in boldface.
Just yesterday, my Lithuanian relatives and I returned from Nida, a beautiful vacation resort on the Baltic Sea. While there, we enjoyed a Lithuanian folk festival held in celebration of the summer solstice. While there were many traditional Lithuanian folk performances, the festival organizers also invited Russian folk groups to participate. I thought it was mighty tolerant of Lithuanians to invite Russians to participate, especially knowing the history of Russian tsarist and communist aggression against their country.
There is a lesson in this for all peoples. The Lithuanian struggle against oppression was a peaceful one. Their democratic revolution in the late 80's and early 90's was fought with the pen, with meetings, with peaceful demonstrations, and with politics--even though the Russians responded with violence. Lithuanians didn't blow up buses full of Russian civilians. They fought the good fight.
Just think. Palestinians would've had a homeland a long time ago if they would've used their minds and not bombs. And they have been fighting a sympathetic and democratic "enemy." You know why that is? It is because Palestinian leadership (and unfortunately many Palestinian civilians) are not democratic nor are they interested in democracy. When will they learn?
I will try to continue reporting from Lithuania as best I can. Please check back to netWMD for further commentary.
Lithuanian militiamen in Kovno round up Jews during an early pogrom. Kovno, Lithuania, June 25-July 8, 1941.
Crowd views the aftermath of a massacre at Lietukis Garage, where pro-German Lithuanian nationalists killed more than 50 Jewish men. The victims were beaten, hosed, and then murdered with iron bars. Kovno, Lithuania, June 27, 1941.
Jewish women with bodies of executed men outside the Seventh Fort. Kovno, Lithuania, date uncertain.
The Rudnicki Street entrance to the Vilna ghetto.1941-1942.
Deportation of Jews from the Kovno ghetto. Lithuania, 1942.
Clandestine photograph taken by George Kadish: scene during the deportation of Jews from the Kovno ghetto. Kovno, Lithuania, 1942.
Lithuanian collaborators guard Jews before their execution. Ponary, June-July, 1941.
Notice who was in the CHEKA, who the Soviets picked to round up the Latvians.
As I mentioned, 1940 came before 1942.
Vilnius, Lithuania is where the very famous genius rabbi Vilna Gaon lived.
Sure there's balance. How many Jews live in Lithuania today? How many lived there in 1938? I sure hope Lithuanians aren't complaining about Israel. I'll give you one guess why Lithuania has very few Jews while Israel has many Lithuanian Jews.
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