Soviet Leftovers

Enough about all of these other countries. I should be telling you about Lithuania! I am daily amazed at how recent its history is—so recent that it often creeps its way into the present, reminding me of how thankful I am for America and my freedom. If you want to hear about the history of the United States, you read a textbook. In Lithuania, you can talk to anyone over the age of 15 and they’ll tell you how it really was before their independence.

Lithuania had a rough fate throughout the 20th century. During WWII, they were passed back and forth between Germany and the USSR. There were mass deportations of tens of thousands of Lithuanians to Siberia—not a happy place. Many of my current classmates’ grandparents or parents were part of this tragedy.
Communism is the Sorrow of the World
(CCCP is USSR in Russian)

We had the chance to visit The Museum of Genocide Victims. The building was actually a former KGB prison, which was in ACTIVE use until August of 1991—NOT very long ago. It was scary and bleak, fully equipped with water-torture or wet punishment cells, as well as execution rooms with glass-paneled floors. When we looked down we could see the remains and intimate possessions of those who were killed there.

In 1989 (right after I turned three years old—just for some time perspective), Lithuanians joined hands with Estonians and Latvians to create the largest-ever mass protest in the Baltic States. Over TWO MILLION people held hands in a human chain that covered over 400 miles, stretching from the capital of Lithuania to Estonia, two countries over. One year later Lithuania proclaimed their independence—the FIRST of the Soviet-occupied states to do so—but Moscow wasn’t so thrilled about this so they killed 14 unarmed civilians. In 1991, when I was gleefully starting Kindergarten, Moscow finally gave Lithuanian its independence, even though the KGB didn’t leave until 1993.

You can feel the effects of Communism everywhere here. Every building looks the same—tall cement block structures. They are the perfect example of Soviet leftovers—old army barracks converted into ugly flats.
You could easily walk through the center of the city for an hour without making eye contact with anyone or seeing another person smile. Old babushkas sit hunched over on most street corners, trying to sell apples or hand-knit socks for pennies a piece. It’s all incredibly depressing, but oddly intriguing at the same time.

I’ve never been a history buff, but it’s inescapable here. I had the honor of taking my roommate out to talk about what the Soviet occupation was like for her in Uzbekistan (near Asia), since it’s a Muslim country. She shyly looked around the restaurant and leaned in to whisper, “Actually, I have never called it an ‘occupation’…everyone in Uzbekistan thinks of it as the ‘golden age.’ I miss it very much.” Her country was so poor before the Soviets took over that the free education and medical help was seen as a blessing, and not at all like a brutal occupation, which is how most of Eastern European still sees it. Oh the things they don’t teach you in World Civ…