Lithuania topples last Soviet monuments

International

-DW News

Vilnius,
Sep
04:
Vladimir
Ilyich
Lenin,
the
revolutionary
Bolshevik
and
founder
of
the
Soviet
Union,
died
in
1924
but
he
remained
omnipresent
decades
after
his
death.
Carved
in
stone
and
cast
in
iron,
he
stood
larger
than
life
in
the
most
prominent
places
of
cities
all
over
Lithuania.
But
with
the
collapse
of
the
Soviet
Union
in
1991,
the
cult
of
personality
was
over.
As
elsewhere
in
formerly
communist
countries,
Lenin
sculptures
and
those
of
other
dictators
were
taken
down
from
their
pedestals.

“After
the
rapid
demolition
of
many
monuments
in
the
early
1990s
and
the
renaming
of
streets
and
squares,
the
issue
of
monuments
then
fell
into
obscurity
for
a
long
time,”
said
the
director
of
the
Genocide
and
Resistance
Research
Centre
in
Vilnius,
Arunas
Bubnys.

Mikhail
Gorbachev,
the
last
Soviet
Union
leader,
dies
at
91

But
with
the
start
of
the

Russian
war
in
Ukraine
on
February
24,
2022,
resentment
against
the
former
Soviet
Union
and
current
Russian
policies
has
once
again
increased.
People
in
Lithuania
are
afraid
of
being
attacked
by
Vladimir
Putin’s
troops.

Memories
of
the
occupation
of
Lithuania,
which
began
in
1940
—
a
product
of
the
Molotov–Ribbentrop
Pact
between
Nazi
Germany
and
the
Soviet
Union
—
are
newly
present.
Ultimately,
the
occupation
ended
with
the
collapse
of
the
Soviet
Union.
But
until
1953,
mass
deportations
took
place,
particularly
to
Siberia.

The
ambivalent
history
of
the
country
also
includes
the
fact
that
many
antisemitic
Lithuanians
participated
in
the
murder
of
around
200,000
Jews
during
the
German
occupation
from
1941
to
1944.
The
Genocide
and
Resistance
Research
Centre,
led
by
the
historian
and
archivist
Bubnys,
covers
Lithuanian
antisemitism,
but
also
focuses
on
resistance
to
the
Soviet
regime.

This
scientific
center
includes
the
Museum
of
Occupations
and
Freedom
Struggles.
Soviet
secret
services
tortured
and
murdered
prisoners
in
the
building
in
the
middle
of
the
capital
Vilnius.
The
Nazis
also
used
the
building
for
the
same
purpose
during
their
temporary
occupation
during

World
War
II.

The
exhibitions
focus
on
the
oppression
of
Lithuania,
which
lasted
nearly
50
years,
when
the
country,
like
all
Baltic
states,
was
a
Soviet
republic.
During
this
time,
hundreds
of
thousands
of
Lithuanians
ended
up
in
prisons
and
labor
camps
for
political
reasons
or
were
killed
outright.

Sculptures
removed
from
cemeteries

When
Lithuania
won
its
independence
in
1991,
it
quickly
rid
itself
of
most
of
its
prominent
Soviet
propaganda
heritage:
statues
of
Lenin
and
monuments
with
tanks
and
soldiers.
In
someplace,
however,
Soviet
monuments
remained.
But
thanks
to
the
war
in
Ukraine,
there
are
now
plans
to
remove
remaining
symbols
like
the
red
star,
and
the
hammer
and
sickle,
said
Bubnys.
Sculptures
in
cemeteries
are
also
being
removed.

Violeta
Davoliute
thinks
this
could
be
problematic.
The
professor
from
the
Institute
of
International
Relations
and
Political
Science
at
Vilnius
University
wants
to
see
an
unemotional
debate
on
how
to
deal
with
symbols
from
the
past:
“Is
it
just
a
wreath
or
are
there
other
symbols?
If
they
don’t
symbolize
Soviet
military
power,
then
they
should
be
left
standing,”
the
historian
said.

In
the
small
town
of
Merkine,
about
100
kilometers
southeast
of
Vilnius,
the
decision
was
different
—
there,
in
May
2022,
a
soldier
about
two
meters
high
was
taken
down
from
its
pedestal.
Violeta
Davoliute
would
have
preferred
to
leave
it
in
place.
Such
statues
would
be
good
for
documentation
purposes,
she
argues:
“You
could
use
the
statue
to
try
to
explain
and
present
complicated
history.”

Gvidas
Rutkauskas
is
also
against
removing
all
Soviet
traces
in
Lithuania.
Yet
he
could
have
every
reason
to
want
their
removal.
He
was
born
in
Siberia
—
where
his
parents
had
been
deported.
Nevertheless,
the
chairman
of
the
Association
of
Lithuanian
Political
Prisoners
and
Deportees
is
against
disposing
of
all
communist
relics.

Accepting
history

It
is
not
necessary
to
remove
everything
from
the
past:
“After
all,
it’s
part
of
our
history,”
said
Gvidas
Rutkauskas.
Future
generations
should
know
what
came
before
them.
But
he
left
no
doubt
as
to
when
a
line
would
be
crossed
for
him:
“If
there
is
a
Soviet
tank
or
symbols
with
the
Soviet
star
on
an
important
square
in
a
city,
then
they
should
be
removed.”

However,
due
to
the
threat
posed
to
Lithuania
by
the
war
in
Ukraine,
the
argument
for
removal
has
solidified
—
most
are
in
favor
of
removing
all
evidence
of
communism.
Liucija
Verveckiene
of
the
Center
for
(Post)Soviet
Memory
Studies
in
Vilnius,
however,
noticed
the
shift
in
opinion
before
the
war.
According
to
her,
2014
was
a
turning
point.

At
that
time,
Russia
annexed
Crimea,
and
since
then,
pro-Russian
separatists
and
regular
Ukrainian
troops
have
been
fighting
in
eastern
Ukraine.
This
changed
the
debate
about
removing
Soviet
relics
from
public
space,
said
Verveckiene.

Another
question
is
how
to
deal
with
personalities
from
arts
and
culture
who
were
said
to
be
close
to
the
Soviet
leadership.
As
an
example,
the
historian
mentions
the
Lithuanian
writer
Petras
Cvirka,
who
died
in
1947;
and
who,
as
a
communist,
supported
Soviet
policies.
The
monument
erected
in
his
honor
in
Vilnius
was
removed
in
November
2021.

The
controversial
author’s
novellas,
short
stories,
and
children’s
books
have
been
translated
into
English,
Chinese,
and
many
Eastern
European
languages.
Liucija
Verveckiene
considers
his
case
to
be
exemplary
when
it
comes
to
the
difficult
question
of
what
is
meant
by
collaboration
with
the
former
Soviet
regime.
Petras
Cvirka
did
not
harm
anyone
personally,
but
he
did
support
the
Soviet
system.

Reunion
with
Marx
and
Stalin
in
Grutas
Park

If
one
day
all
traces
of
communism
disappear
from
streets,
squares,
and
cemeteries,
those
interested
in
the
communist
past
could
still
visit
Grutas
Park
in
southern
Lithuania.
Since
the
turn
of
the
millennium,
sculptures
that
were
unwanted
in
their
original
places
have
been
joined
on
the
park’s
extensive
grounds
—
Lenin,
the
dictator
and
mass
murderer
Josef
Stalin,
the
head
of
the
secret
service
Feliks
Dzierzynski,
the
German
philosopher
Karl
Marx,
and
many
others.

Currently,
87
monuments
stand
among
fir,
pine,
and
birch
trees.
Barbed
wire
entanglements
and
watchtowers
can
also
be
seen,
as
they
were
common
in
Siberian
penal
camps.
For
the
older
visitors
of
the
park,
there
are
photo
boards
with
information
about
the
origin
of
the
sculptures
and
when
they
were
removed;
and
for
the
younger
guests,
there
is
a
children’s
playground.
In
neighboring
meadows,
goats
graze
and
ostriches
strut.

Critics
consider
the
privately
run
open-air
museum
to
be
a
mix
of
Disneyland
and
a
house
of
horrors.
Historian
Violeta
Davoliute
from
Vilnius
University,
on
the
other
hand,
is
more
positive.
On
her
first
visit
to
Grutas
Park,
she
and
her
colleagues
viewed
the
sculptures
in
a
“humorous
light.”

The
researcher
admits
that
this
kind
of
presentation
can
seem
to
be
trivializing,
especially
to
foreign
visitors.
For
the
people
of
Lithuania,
on
the
other
hand,
the
Soviet
monuments
gathered
in
Grutas
Park
made
it
easier
to
look
at
their
past.
“You
can
also
laugh
about
it,”
the
historian
explained.

Source: DW