Press release, 17 June 2019

On Friday, 14 June 2019, the Seimas Hall of the Act of 11 March hosted a commemoration of the Days of Morning and Hope, and Occupation and Genocide.

In his address, Mr Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Seimas, invited the audience to commemorate the victims of the repressive measures used in 1940 and 1941 alongside all the victims who had perished in the fight for Lithuania’s freedom. He characterized them as people of insurmountable spiritual strength, determination and integrity who largely contributed to building the future of Lithuania and announced a minute of silence in their honour. ‘For the past 79 years since the beginning of the occupation and mass deportations that ensued a year after, we have been constantly reminded of the painful tragedy of the Lithuanian State and the Lithuanian nation. For our country, this was the tragedy of loss of our dear ones, the tragedy of pain, suffering, and ultimate death. Entire generations of statesmen, intellectuals, members of the clergy, farmers, and young people were deliberately eliminated, which translated into the purging of entire families and, in general terms, an onslaught on the history and culture of Lithuania,’ the Speaker of the Seimas said.

Professor Arūnas Gumuliauskas, MP, Chair of Seimas Commission for the Cause of Freedom and the National Historical Memory, in his capacity as a historian, said that the plans for the occupation and destruction of Lithuania as a state were designed in the Kremlin immediately after the Molotov and Ribbentrop Pact between the USSR and the Nazi Germany was signed in 1939. ‘As early as on 11 October 1939, an NKVD order No 00122 was signed in Moscow and a Roadmap on the Elimination of “the Anti-Soviet Element” in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia was drafted. The Soviets used multiple forms of violence such as terror, coercion, sovietisation, repression, and deportations in order to wipe out the nation and root out its spiritual core,’ Mr Gumuliauskas stressed.

Prof. Arimantas Dumčius, former MP, had been deported to Altay Region with his mother on 14 June 1941 as a baby under two. Speaking from the rostrum of the Hall of the Act of 11 March, he pondered on the multitudes of victims that kept exceeding in number, contemplated on the fates of the people concerned and the level of suffering they had gone through, and alluded to the staggering atrocity of the Soviets. ‘Alfonsas Andriukaitis, a teacher, published his horrifying memories in Punishment Devoid of Crime in 1973. He described the impossible living conditions on the islands beyond the polar circle, which were “not much different from the conditions in German concentration camps, the only difference being that the Russians had put theirs into place immediately after the Revolution.” So, the German National Socialists modelled their atrocities on the extermination practices employed by the Bolsheviks,’ Mr Dumčius claimed.

Elžbieta Žibutė Bagdonienė, Head of the Šiauliai Division of the Lithuanian Exile and Political Prisoner Community, shared her memories of the childhood she had spent in exile and the places of deportation she had recently visited. In 1949, aged six at the time, she was deported together with her parents, brothers and sisters to Irkutsk Region in Siberia. ‘I finally managed to find the location where our barrack had once stood. I noticed something on the ground that looked like trenches. In fact, these were the remnants of cellars Lithuanians had dug under the floor to store potatoes and other vegetables. I noticed three pits and deducted the location of what used to be my room. This was where I used to run about, this was where my mother used to walk. I was overwhelmed by emotions,’ Ms Bagdonienė said.

Marius Juodišius, representative of the Lithuanian Community in Cleveland, while recalling the history of his own family, stressed the need to preserve the cultural heritage of the Lithuanian expats in America. ‘Back in Cleveland, we have a Cleveland Lithuanian Culture Documentation Centre that is active in preserving and providing historical information on the Lithuanians in Cleveland. The Centre holds over 11 000 items in the form of books, magazines, manuscripts, and voice records. Similar archives are also preserved in other Lithuanian expat communities in the US. Unless this information is retained and unless the surviving witnesses are encouraged to share their memories, we will lose a large part of our heritage of the time,’ Mr Juodišius said.

The memory of deportees and political prisoners was also honoured by the traditional commemorative campaign Say it, Hear it, Keep it Alive. It consisted of reading the names and fates of deportees and political prisoners out loud in 12 towns in Lithuania.

‘Our love for the homeland is greater than any ministries, departments, and monuments could ever contain. Neither can it be contained in well-written speeches that oftentimes lack genuine sincerity. Our daily efforts, be it our Mission Siberia expeditions with their meaningful work, or be it our daily tasks, will be greater improved if we keep our focus on our homeland all the time. This will be extremely beneficial for performing any tasks, large or small. Moreover, this will bring forth the trust that fairness and truth always win,’ said Aistė Eidukaitytė, Director of the charity and support foundation ‘Jauniems’, head of Mission Siberia, organiser of the campaign Say it, Hear it, Keep it Alive, and participant to Mission Siberia ’18 to Kazakhstan, as she pleaded with everyone to build up their community spirit.

In 2005, the youth project Mission Siberia was launched. In the course of missions organised in this framework, young people go to the places of exile and clean up the burial sites of the deportees. Karolina Želvė from mission to Igarka in 2016 and Liudas Šiukšteris from mission to Irkutsk in 2017 shared their emotions and impressions by reading out excerpts from their diaries written during the missions.

At the end of the event, Mr Rimantas Jonas Dagys, MP, and Julius Sabatauskas, MP, transferred the Lithuanian state flag to participants of Mission Siberia 2019 and members of the expedition to places of exile organised by Marija Pečkauskaitė Gymnasium in Mažeikiai Region, Židikiai village. The flags will be further passed on to the Lithuanian compatriots who continue to reside in the places of exile.  

The solemn commemoration was accompanied by songs performed by students of the University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Creative Technologies, studying under the Musical Theatre Study Programme.