Chapter 2 GLIMPSES OF LITHUANIAN HISTORY

Chapter 2

GLIMPSES OF

LITHUANIAN HISTORY

ALFREDAS BUMBLAUSKAS

LITHUANIA — GEOGRAPHICAL CENTER OF EUROPE

It was noted long ago that, if one drew lines on the map of Europe connecting Gibraltar and the northern part of the Urals, Scotland and the Caucasus mountains, the southern islands of Greece and the North of Norway, almost all of those lines would intersect in Lithuania. This is the geographical center of Europe.

Quite recently the French National Geography Institute carried out new calculations, according to which the perpendicular of the center, dropped geographically from the altitude of 180 km, is located 25 km to the north of the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. These are the co-ordinates of Europe’s center: latitude 54' 55' N, longitude 25' 19' E. Lithuania lies on the same geographical latitude as the westward-situated South Sweden, Denmark, Scotland; the same longitude as Finland to the north and Romania, Bulgaria and Greece to the south.

Lithuania lies on the road between East and West Europe; the most direct route from Germany to Russia crosses Lithuania. The great German eastward assault, as well as that of the Russians to the West, went through Lithuania. Somebody has remarked to this point: "If Switzerland is characterized by high mountains, Italy by its works of art, and Finland by its lakes, then Lithuania should be characterized as a land that is very unsafe for a small nation".

In spite of Lithuania being the center of Europe, it is often considered a part of East Europe. But this is in terms of the country’s geopolitical, not geographical, situation, as it was occupied frequently and made part of the Eastern neighbor in the 19th and 20th centuries. Lithuania belongs to Central Europe from the point of view of its civilization. Unlike Eastern Europe, since the Middle Ages individual peasant farms rather than communities were formed here. A civil society rather than an Eastern despotism was rising; Catholicism and a Western cultural orientation predominated over Orthodoxy and Byzantine civilization.

Today Lithuania guides itself in terms of its politics not only to Central, but also to Northern Europe and desires to maintain good relations with all her neighbors.

MAIN DATA ABOUT LITHUANIA

The state: Official name, the Republic of Lithuania; Highest political body, Supreme Council; System, parliamentary; Republic capital, Vilnius.

Borders: with Latvia, 610 km; with Byelorussia, 724 km; with Poland, 110 km; with Russia, (Kaliningrad region) 303 km; sea border (Baltic Sea), 99 km.

Area: 65.2 sq.km.

Longest distances: from the east to the west, 373 km; from the north to the south, 276 km. Population, 3,723,000; density of population, 57.1 per square kilometer; 68.5 percent of the population resides in towns. Major towns: Vilnius, 592,500; Kaunas, 429,700; Klaipeda, 206,200.

THE MAIN DATES OF LITHUANIA’S HISTORY

- 1009, St. Bruno discovers Lithuania, July 6;

- 1253, Mindaugas, the ruler of the newly formed Lithuanian state, crowned King;

- 1385, by the treaty of Kreva Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania becomes King of Poland and the rapprochement between Lithuania and Poland commenced;

- 1387, baptism of Lithuania;

- 1410, the battle of Zalgiris (Gruenwald); joint forces of Poland and Lithuania crushed the Teutonic Order, which had greatly menaced the existence of both states;

- 1569, The Lublin Union established a joint Polish-Lithuanian state;

- 1795, Russia, Austria and Prussia divided the Polish-Lithuanian state among themselves, with the larger part of Lithuania going to Russia;

- 1863, the largest uprising, directed against the Russian oppression. Its suppression began a period of very harsh reprisals and Russification;

- February 16, 1918, under German occupation, the Council of Lithuania headed by J. Basanavicius, proclaimed the reconstitution of the independent state of Lithuania;

- June 15, 1940, implementing the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, the Soviet Union invaded the Republic of Lithuania which it then annexed. A puppet government was formed, and the establishment of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was announced;

- 1944-1953, the period of reprisals, deportations, mass collectivization, organized by thc Soviet Union, and of armed resistance in Lithuania;

- March 11, 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Lithuania proclaimed the reconstitution of The Republic of Lithuania.

THE GRAND DUCHY OF LITHUANIA:

STATE AND CIVILIZATION

Lithuania’s difference from the other two Baltic states — Latvia and Estonia — lies in the fact that in the Middle Ages, from the 13th and up to the 18th century, it had created and sustained its own state, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Its territory extended far to the East (the area of the state was 1 million square kilometers at the beginning of the 15th century). It became a great power and a significant political force in the East and Middle Europe. This enabled it to oppose the aggression of the Teutonic Order and to achieve, together with Poland, the decisive victory at Gruenwald in 1410. For 200 years after the end of the 14th century the Lithuanian dynasty of Jogailaiciai held the throne in Poland (and at the beginning of the 16th century also in Bohemia and Hungary). Most often the representatives of that dynasty ruled both Poland and Lithuania. However, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania remained an independent state till the second half of the 16th century, when the might of the Russian state became perceptibly stronger, and Lithuania was forced to conclude a closer alliance with Poland. In 1569 the joint Polish-Lithuanian state was formed within which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania retained its sovereignty. This is important because European historians often erroneously consider the Polish-Lithuanian state to have been purely Polish and refer to it as Poland. In the 17th and 18th centuries that state experienced economic and political decline. Although at the end of the 18th century attempts to reform and reinforce the state were obstructed by neighboring Russia, Prussia and Austria who in 1795 divided and eliminated the Polish-Lithuanian state, with the main part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Lithuanian territories going to Russia.

After its baptism in 1387, Lithuania took a decisive turn towards Western culture. In the following 200 years it could only study the experiences of other Middle European peoples and try to catch up. The spread of learning in Western universities began to yield its first perceptible results in the 16th century. The printing of books began (1522); the Reformation soon followed, creating the conditions for the appearance of the first Lithuanian book (1547). In 1579 Vilnius University was established.

The process of Europeanization found its expression also in Lithuania’s efforts to develop Gothic and Renaissance architecture. European architecture in Lithuania attained its highest achievements in the Baroque epoch, when a unique and independent Baroque school was formed. Generally the development of the European architectural styles, starting with Gothic and ending with Classicism, are best reflected in the old part of Vilnius, which is an impressive manifestation of the old civilization of Lithuania.

VILNIUS — THE CAPITAL OF LITHUANIA

Vilnius is the historical capital of Lithuania. Some specialists guess that the capital of Mindaugas, the first King of Lithuania, was here. The first written mention of Vilnius was in 1323, when Gediminas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, wrote his letters to the Western rulers from Vilnius as his capital.

In 1387, during the baptism of Lithuania, Vilnius acquired the right to self-administration — the Magdeburg Rights. Although Lithuania and Poland had common rulers Scorn that period, some were buried at the Vilnius Cathedral, rather than in Cracow. Vilnius remained the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania also after the joint Polish-Lithuanian state was established and up to its elimination in 1795.

During the formation of the new Lithuanian state, the Act of the Reconstitution of the Independent Lithuanian state was signed in Vilnius in 1918, proclaiming Vilnius the capital of that state. Although the Soviet Union ceded Vilnius and the surrounding area to Lithuania, Poland seized it in 1920. As capital, Vilnius was returned to Lithuania only in 1939.

Now Vilnius is not only the capital of the Republic of Lithuania, but also its largest town. Its population is 592,500 people, among whom 51 percent are Lithuanians, 20 percent are Russians, 19 percent Poles. The area of the town is 26,000 hectares of which forests and parks account for half.

The Neris, Lithuania’s second largest river, flows through Vilnius.

VILNIUS UNIVERSITY

Its sources lie in the Collegium, established by the Jesuits in 1570. On April 1, 1579, the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, Stephen Batory, signed a privilege, according to which the Collegium was transformed into the Academia et Universitas Vilnensis, which was confirmed on October 29, 1579 by Pope Gregory XIII. It was the most easterly of the European universities.

Vilnius University was famous for the high level of its teaching in logic, rhetoric and poetics. The University flourished especially in the Age of Enlightenment, when it began to pay more attention to secular sciences. Adam Mickiewicz, a poet of European fame, was a graduate of Vilnius University. The university functioned till 1832, when it was closed by the authorities of the Russian Empire. When the Poles seized Vilnius, the University began to function once again. Future Nobel prize winner, poet Cz. Milosz, studied at Vilnius University at that time. The University’s activities were resumed after World War I, when Vilnius became part of Poland. After Lithuania regained Vilnius in 1939, the University was reorganized as Lithuanian. At present it contains, among other departments, internationally recognized schools of mathematicians, physicists and Baltic linguistics, all functioning at Vilnius University.

Vilnius University

For more information, go to: http://www.crvp.org/

The Young Man with the Mesmerizing Eyes

The Young Man with the Mesmerizing Eyes

By Jeanne Dorr

Jeanne Dorr, is a member of the Board of Directors of Lithuanian Orphan Care, a branch of the Human Services Council of the Lithuanian American Community, Inc. She is also a Social Studies teacher in New Jersey.
Romas Kalanta

Revolutionary? Hippie? Patriot? Psychotic? Who was Romas Kalanta? What was on his mind and what drove him to set himself on fire in front of the Music Theater in Kaunas on May 14th, 1972? What could possibly cause a 19-year-old such pain that he could no longer endure life? Was he a hippie on drugs, as the communist government quickly spread the word around Kaunas? Was he mentally disturbed as his mother was forced to sign a letter that was released to the newspapers? Or was he a young man who could no longer live under a system that denied him not only freedom of thought but freedom of spirit?

It dawned on me that many of us, who are second and third generation Lithuanians, have very large gaps in our knowledge of events that have taken place over the years in Lithuania. These spaces began to be filled in for me when I began attending St. Andrew’s Lithuanian Church in Philadelphia.

Every May, a Mass was held in memory of a young man named Romas Kalanta. The only thing I knew was that he set himself on fire in Kaunas. But as I sat at Mass, I found myself staring at his photograph, riveted by his eyes. Those eyes seemed to keep drawing me back to the photograph. The question would not leave my mind. Why? Why did he do this to himself and his family? Surely, he knew his family would also pay for his act of defiance. An opportunity to find some answers arose when I had the occasion to meet Gintautas Bukauskas in Kaunas.

Mr. Bukauskas is the president of Lituanica, an organization that plans to build a monument to honor Romas Kalanta. I knew the organization was having difficulty raising the money to complete the project. The monument was finished but they lacked funds to set it properly.

Mr. Bukauskas is a soft-spoken, well-educated young man. We spoke for more than an hour as he explained Lituanica and the project to me. Mr. Bukauskas was very young at the time of the tragedy and could only tell me what he read or heard from others. I explained to him that I could not do justice to his cause; all I had were cold facts. I had to meet someone who personally knew Romas. I had to "live" with his family and "walk in their shoes". Could he find a friend of Romas’ who would talk to me? Mr. Bukauskas was leaving on a business trip the next day and time was of the essence. I figured that was the end of the article before it ever got started.

Much to my surprise, I received a phone call from Gintautas later that evening. Would I like to speak to Romas’ younger brother? Would this be acceptable? This was more than I ever hoped for. That evening Arvydas Kalanta telephoned me and agreed to speak to me at my cousin’s apartment, which was a few blocks from where he lived. The next afternoon, I met Arvydas and his Jolanta.



Since independence, there has been a renewal of interest in Romas, and the family has been interviewed many times, even to the point that their privacy has been intruded upon. I told them the purpose of my article and that I felt there was something lacking in our knowledge of his brother’s story. I wasn’t interested in a lot of cold facts; I was interested in his brother as a human being.

We sat at the kitchen table with a pot of coffee between us and talked for several hours. It wasn’t a sad or somber interview because the good times were remembered as well as the tragedy. The Kalanta family could have been considered average. It consisted of working parents and four sons. At this point, I asked Arvydas if the rumors I heard that his father was a communist were true. He answered they were; his father had joined the party. Although, his mother saw to it that her sons received their first communion.

The boys were typical boys, getting into usual boy mischief. Romas was next to the youngest and Arvydas was the baby, with five years between them. Romas was a quiet person and kept to himself when he was at home. He enjoyed playing his guitar and drawing. He and other young people would gather in Kaunas’ Freedom Boulevard sitting in the park or in the coffeehouses and playing their music. The authorities frowned upon this. The students had long hair and wore bell-bottom pants. Their music was unacceptable because it was different. They were considered a public nuisance.

Yet, readers, keep in mind the time this was happening. There was an upheaval of traditions and protests were taking place all over the world. Although the changes were more subtle in the communist countries; nevertheless, they were happening through the long hair, the clothing and the music. According to Arvydas, this was their way to protest.

Romas was not an athlete, but played ball with his friends in the park. A gentle person, he would take his small nephew to visit his friends or for walks into town. He was an average student and he liked history. At one point, a teacher asked his mother why her children knew so much Lithuanian history. The curriculum was focused on Soviet history; Lithuanian history was to be ignored and not discussed at home. Although they did not know it at the time, an incident would occur in that school that would forever alter their lives.
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The trim blue Kalanta house where Romas grew up. The plaque on the side of the house reads, "Here, from 1963 until 1972, May 14th, lived Romas Kalanta.

When Romas was in the eleventh grade, a teacher gave an assignment to write about what they would like to do with their lives. Romas wrote that he wanted to enter the seminary and become a priest. He didn’t realize what this answer would cost him. His parents were immediately called to the schools and admonished for permitting their son to have such foolish ideas. After that, the situation in school became extremely difficult and Romas dropped out. He decided to get a job in a factory and go to night school.

At night school he engaged in discussions with his history teacher. Eventually the factory job ended, and Romas seemed to be losing interest in night school. One of this teachers later told his family he appeared disinterested and had a faraway dreamy look about him.



Sunday, May 14th was no different that any other Sunday. Romas took a 3 liter glass bottle and told his mother he was going to buy a popular Lithuanian drink that was sold on the street corners. Instead, he went to a friend’s house and asked for some gasoline. The friend asked what he was going to do with it, and Romas said he needed to clean something at home. Nothing out of the ordinary was taking place.

Romas went to the center of town and sat on a park bench with three or four other young people. The others got cold and left. Romas took off his jacket and left it on the bench. Inside his jacket pocket was a note with his name and address. Then, he proceeded to douse himself with the gasoline. People were unable to believe what they were seeing with their own eyes. They started to scream and run. Eventually, the police and ambulance arrived, and Romas was taken to the hospital.

The police arrived at the Kalanta house and told Mrs. Kalanta her son was burned. At first she didn’t understand the seriousness of the situation; she thought there was some kind of an accident. It was only when she got to the hospital did she see her son suffering an indescribable agony, his body covered with burns and tormented with pain. Romas’ parents and older brother were the only people allowed to see him for a few minutes at a time.

The staff was doing everything in their power to keep him alive; he was not allowed to die. An example would be made of him, so that other young people would not think of doing anything crazy. He would not be permitted to die; for then, he would be a hero and a martyr to Lithuania’s young people. He would be kept alive so he could be punished.

Can you imagine the anguish this family was suffering? Surely, their heart had to be ripped out at the sight of their son and brother. While the family was keeping their vigil at the hospital, the police were wasting no time in searching the house. They pulled apart everything looking for anything that would prove Romas was a troublemaker. They also turned everything upside down looking for drugs; they found none. Perhaps they could find anti-Soviet literature; there was nothing. Instead they took all of Romas’ belongings – letters from friends, the music he loved so much, and the drawings he made which gave him so much pleasure.

Back at the hospital, the vigil continued until the next morning when Romas died. Now he would feel no more pain and would never again have to endure a system that drove him to this brutal act. Romas had found the peace and freedom for which he yearned; he would no longer have to sit at a desk in school and dream about it.

There was no time to grieve for the family. The parents were immediately taken to police headquarters for questioning. They were told to write a release for the newspapers saying that Romas was mentally ill. They would have to say this was not a political act, it was the act of a disturbed young man. They reminded the Kalantas that they had three other sons to consider. Mrs. Kalanta wrote five or six drafts but none suited the authorities. Finally, she put down the pen, either out of grief or exhaustion or both, and told the authorities to write a statement that she would sign. There was nothing more she could do for Romas, but she still had a family to protect.

Romas’ body was brought back to his house for viewing. Two hours before the funeral was to take place; the authorities rushed in and said the funeral was to start immediately. The young people were told to leave the house. Mrs. Kalanta began to cry that all the relatives had not yet arrived, and neither had the photographer (is a Lithuanian custom to photograph the deceased). Arvydas said one of the officials looked his mother in the eye and said, "You should be grateful we are allowing you to bury him."

The authorities quickly sent for a police photographer and, using police vehicles took the body to the cemetery. They would not even permit the flowers to accompany the body. The cemetery was blocked off from mourners and spectators. Romas Kalanta was laid to rest in a section that was a little more than a garbage dump.

When the authorities began to realize that Romas Kalanta was now a hero to people all over the Baltics, they sealed off the city of Kaunas. Bus and train traffic was halted into the city. There was no public transportation from Latvia or Estonia. Young people with long hair wearing strange clothes were told to go home.

Before the funeral crowds of people from all through the Baltics who had arrived in Kaunas gathered in front of the Kalanta house. They began to shout, "Where is Romas?" When they heard what had happened, their anger and frustration began to grow. They linked arms and headed for police headquarters. Soon the militia appeared with their whips and clubs.

The crowd would not disperse as ordered. They headed for Freedom Boulevard. More militia and more brutality met them. The crowd was now in front of a church that the communists had closed and turned into an art gallery. A young man climbed a pillar of the church and unfurled the forbidden Lithuanian tri-colored flag as the crowd sang the equally forbidden Lithuanian national anthem.

A friend told me that an elderly woman was standing next to her with what seemed to be a shopping bag of everyday necessities, but underneath it was filled with rocks. She told my friend she remembered the taste of freedom and this woman began to hurl rocks at the militia. Age made no difference – these were Lithuanians who wanted the freedom returned that had been stolen from them.

The demonstrations continued for several days not only in Kaunas and other Lithuanian cities, as well as in the other Baltic countries. Other people set themselves on fire, the fortunate ones died. The others were left to rot in jail cells. The seeds of freedom were planted in the hearts and minds of the young and old alike. It might take another eighteen years but Lithuanians would again raise their flag and sing their anthem without fear, whips or clubs.

The inscribed rock originally intended as a monument for Romas’ grave. It now stands in the Kalanta yard.

Life continued for the Kalanta family. Things were normal except for the police that now took up their posts near the family’s house. Security was especially tight around All Souls’ Day and the anniversary of Romas’ death. From the day Romas was buried until his health failed seventeen years later, Romas’ father went to the cemetery every day. Even in the rain and snow, he would use a small broom to sweep the grave. His father could not even grieve in peace for there was always someone watching the grave. For eight years the family was not permitted to erect a monument. Instead there was a small piece of wood that marked the grave. Romas’ grave could not become a shrine.

The years passed and life changed. Arvydas married Jolanta and she moved into the Kalanta house. Mrs. Kalanta died on May 13th 1982, one day shy of the anniversary of Romas’ death. Several years later, Romas’ father also died, as did one of the brothers. As independence became a reality, the police presence lessened in front of the house. Immediately after independence was restored, a group of young people began to work on remembering Romas Kalanta.



Our interview ended and I felt I had a better understanding of the young man with the mesmerizing eyes. Before they left the apartment, Jolanta and Arvydas invited me to their home.

A week later, my husband and I walked the few blocks to the neat blue typically Lithuanian house where the Kalantas lived for so many years. There is a plaque on the front of the house, which was donated by a group of young people in memory of Romas.

There is also a huge rock bearing Romas’ name on the side of the house. The rock was to be his monument but innumerable problems arose. The sculptor couldn’t carve the letters correctly, the words weren’t right, and the cross was not where it should have been. The sculptor was called to police headquarters and soon after told the family he would be unable to complete the job. He left Kaunas, and the family could not find the rock. It was only after independence that they, along with some young people, began the search for it. They finally located it, and it was brought to the Kalanta yard.

As thoughts of how to move to the cemetery were being considered, Mrs. Kalanta died, and the family realized there would be no room on the rock for the remaining family who would eventually follow their beloved Romas. Another more practical monument was purchased for the cemetery, and the rock remains in the Kalanta yard.

We walked through the door, which Romas walked through so many times during his short 19 years of life. They showed us the room where his body had been laid out and pointed to the house across the street from which the police watched their family for so many years. I felt I was living a part of history as they shared their family album with us – photos of Romas as a young boy and at family gatherings.

Arvydas told me stories of their youth, which brought a smile to my face. I touched Romas’ notebooks that contained his drawings. The police actually missed some things in their initial search. The family donated most of his personal items to the museum at the Ninth Fort where an entire wall commemorates Romas’ life.

What moved me to tears was an envelope, which Jolanta handed to me. Inside were small pieces of the Christmas wafer. Every year at the Christmas Eve dinner, Romas’ mother broke a piece of the precious wafer and kept it for her beloved son. She did this until the year she died. She never let his spirit die. Not even the police sitting across the street could stop this mother from keeping her son’s memory alive.



After all of these hours of interviews, I still don’t have any answers. I have read other articles about this tragedy but Romas’ brother who was 14 at that time, told the version I am sharing with you to me.

Was this a spur of the moment act? No, it wasn’t. Before Romas set himself on fire he took off his jacket and left it on the side. Inside was a note with his name and address. Part of the note that he left said, "What should I live for? For this system to kill me? It would be better to kill myself at once…"

For orginal story, go to: http://lithuanian-american.org/bridges/bal99/dorr.html

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank Snieguole Jurskyte, formerly of Philadelphia and now of Kaunas, for starting me on the correct path to find some answers. My gratitude goes to Gintautas Bukauskas for his patience.

I owe so much to Jolanta and Arvydas Kalanta for not only opening their home to me but for opening their hearts and sharing their memories. The deepest debt of gratitude goes to Romas who brought Lithuanian’s plight to the attention of the free world. May he rest in peace.

If you would like to make a donation to help with the monument in Romas’ memory, please write your checks to "Lituanica – Romo Kalantos Komitetas" and mail to:

Lituanica
Kapsu 110
Kaunas 3005
Lithuania


Important Links
http://lithuanian-american.org/index.php