Live from the New Europe: Reporting from Lithuania

netWMD (netwmd.com) ^ | June 23, 2003 | Andrew Jaffee

[forty_years]

Live from the New Europe: Reporting from Lithuania By Andrew L. Jaffee, June 23, 2003	Home   Search   Forum   Terms

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.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[DPB101]

Important to remember 1940 came before 1942.

[Destro]

LITHUANIA

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.

[Destro]

Inconvenient history need not be remembered, eh?

[DPB101]

Sorry your thread was trashed. This is not typical of how people feel about those liberated from Soviet rule. I assume it is being done so what happened when the Soviets invaded Lithuania is not mentioned. Nor the fact that KGB sadists who murdered Lithuanians are still free (and requests from Lithuania to have them returned for trial denied).

[DPB101]

Goes both ways, doesn't it? Some people wish to pretend it doesn't. Nachman Dushansky was living in Israel last I heard. The only way to stop this is for both sides to acknowledge what was done. Lithuanians have done their part. But all they get for it is the type of bashing we see on this thread. Which creates the exact same thing which started the problems in the first place.

[DPB101]

Like photos of cattle cars and dead bodies? Here are some from before the Nazis invaded the Baltic states:

LATVIA: YEAR OF HORROR

Notice who was in the CHEKA, who the Soviets picked to round up the Latvians.

As I mentioned, 1940 came before 1942.

[dennisw]

Lithuania was the very heart of Yiddish culture in Europe. Many of the great Jewish intellectuals who came to American were of Lithuanian origin.

Vilnius, Lithuania is where the very famous genius rabbi Vilna Gaon lived.

[dennisw]

Thanks. A voice of reason. I've heard this same old crap: I have to listen to people who want to condemn all Lithuanians for Nazi collaboration. And then I hear it from people who point out that many Jews were members of the communist party, therefore all Jews are guilty for Soviet atrocities.

You think people could find some balance.

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.

[DPB101]

Let's change the subject. What about Lithuanian food? Saw a wire service article the other day that crows are popular in Lithuania. How are they served? In a pie? Taste like partridge or hedgecock?

[=Intervention=]

And how long are we going to continue to play "pin the tail on the guilty party" for the Holocaust? How long are we going to say "well if he didn't mention the Holocaust and agonize over it, he must be covering it up"? It happened; it was awful; we've all learned from it and it won't be repeated. Can we stop with accusing people and wallowing in fake liberal white guilt about everything bad that happened before us? I'm a bit sick of it all...

[eyespysomething]

bump to read later - I am the granddaughter of a Lithuanian immigrant and I know nothing of her pre-American life

:-(

[Destro]

This article is a snow job, admittedly a snow job for an ally (whose only current value is propaganda and geography) but a snow job nonetheless. I don't want America boosting such nations or tearing them down, let them go to hell or let them prosper -- but above all mind our own business and stop selecting allies du jour to score points with ethnic hyphenated Americans.

[stevejackson]

This article is a snow job

The article is completely reasonable. Last St. Paddy's Day Parade, I didn't see Irish carrying the Union Jack. Similarly, I wouldn't think you'd see Lithuanians carrying Soviet or Russian flags.

to score points with ethnic hyphenated Americans

There are about 23 million Irish-Americans. It is their right to want to have strong ties with Ireland. Same with Lithuanians. All Americans are hyphenated, even the "indigenous" ones that crossed the land bridge more than 10,000 years ago. We should be supporting democracy everywhere as that is the only we we'll defeat forces like Islamism.

=Intervention= is right. Time to move forward. But emphasizing one tragedy (Jewish Holocaust) while sweeping another under the rug (Soviet atrocities) is inappropriate.