OPEN ARCHIVES OF KAUNAS

*Grafas: *This photo hangs on a wall in my house. Interestingly, those who see it for the first time do not seem to understand what place and view it is. And this is the centre of Kaunas during the Soviet times, 1980. It is Janonio (Vienybės) Square and Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis Art Museum and War Museum. It is a view from an unusual angle, i.e. from the tower/roof of a building which was then a radio factory. The photo has was made by a professional and great expert of colours Juozas Polis. During Sąjūdis, he published several wonderful photo-albums about Lithuania. I got this photo from him as a present. Format: 60x50 cm.

*Gintaras: *Posters started to appear in Kaunas, just like in Vilnius, after the bloody events of January 13. They condemned the unjustifiable behaviour of the occupant army towards the residents of Lithuania. Since during these events I was in Vilnius, I could only capture these posters in Kaunas a week later, after I came back home from Vilnius. (2014)

Svetlana: “I was living in Siberia and came to Lithuania from Irkutsk when I was 32 years old. My husband is a Lithuanian exile, I met him in Siberia. I taught physical education at Linksmakalnis and Išlaužas schools. We taught in Russian. Only later we have switched to Lithuanian. My kids were taking classes in Linksmakalnis. The area of the town was blocked. Iron and concrete blocks were placed at the entrance. Ponds were excavated. As we passed through, we would see bones and skulls. I couldn't say that something secret had happened here. An ordinary intelligence. Employed military officers with technological education. Watching, listening, encrypting. They were looking for some information they had needed. Would make selections. In cases they couldn‘t decrypt it – would send it to Moscow. There were rumours – there was a rocket here. That they were suppressing American broadcasts. There was no such thing. We had never felt like this was a military town, like we were isolated. I remember how we would go out for picnics with my children. The barracks were where the ruins are now. Which had a sauna, a sanitary unit. When the unrest began, the soldiers were transferred to another house of exiles. The moving of soldiers was rather quiet and beautiful.” (2019) 

*Pastor Vladimiras Sereda:* "/.../ In 1980, I came to Lithuania with my wife after our wedding. As people of faith, we were looking for some community. At first, we used to go to Vilnius, because there was a community of the Seventh Day Baptist Church. Later someone told us that there were several sisters in Kaunas, who gathered to pray. They used to gather in the house No. 23 in Sodų Street. When we went there, we found four or five sisters, their age was around 70. They were very happy, when young people arrived. The next Sunday, I was already preaching something from the God’s Word, and this was actually when my spiritual service started. I became the leader of this little group. /.../ The Soviet government had overtaken [the church building] and turned it into a club, and when it could no longer be used as a club, into a salt warehouse. In 1988, we found the church with bricked up windows, broken roof, full of salt and garbage. We decided to ask for permission to use the building and on 20 December 1988, we received a document allowing it. Reconstruction was a difficult process: as it was characteristic to those times, it was difficult to purchase building materials. We had to look for people who could help.  But with the Lord’s help, on 26 July 1991, the house of prayer opened its doors to the community and remained open ever since. (2014)

*Indrė Žakevičienė: *The most memorable event for me was the commemoration of February 16 in 1989 in Santaka Stadium and the “analogue” of the Baltic Way 25 years ago in the Museum of War. The vehicle that was bringing us to the Baltic Way got stuck somewhere halfway. The driver got nervous, turned around, brought us back to Kaunas and let us go; there was no chance to reach our destination in time on foot. Out of desperation, we went to the War Museum and found a group of like-minded people; we held hands in front of the Eternal Fire, people had a radio, we listened to the translation from the Baltic Way at full volume. (2014)

*Audronė*: ,,Gyvenau ir ligi šiol gyvenu name, kuriame yra ,,Medžiotojų užeigos“ restoranas. Papuoliau į visai kitą aplinką. Iki 1953 m. augau Žaliakalnyje, ten – žalia, gražu, o čia papuoliau tiesiai ant bruko. Bet žinot, kaip vaikui – labai greitai viskas pasikeitė. Kiemai – pilni vaikų, butai buvo komunaliniai, tai tų šeimų – daug, vaikų – daug; nesudarė man jokio didelio skirtumo. Tik tas, kad Nemunas šalia. Buvo daug draugų, daug šurmulio. Kai paskaičiuoju, kažkur apie trisdešimt kieme. O dabar nė vieno nėra. Žaidimai būdavo labai šaunūs: aišku, policininkai ir vagys – ir apimdavo visą pusę senamiesčio: pilį; eidavom nuo vieno turgaus iki kito turgaus. Senamiesty jų buvo trys: vienas, kur dabar prie Pilies autobusų aikštelė, stotis; kitas, žuvies turgus skvere – ten, kur dabar pastatyti namai; ir trečiasis – Gertrūdos ir Gimnazijos gatvių kampe. Iki dabar Rotušė pakeitė savo veidą tris kartus. Pirmiausia buvo smėlėta didelė aikštė. Priešais Jėzuitų gimnaziją buvo slėptuvės, turbūt likusios nuo Pirmo pasaulinio karo. Slėptuvės ir purvina, medžiais apsodinta aikštė. Vėliau dalį medžių panaikino, dalį – pasodino ir padarė vidury didžiulę klombą, pačioje Rotušės aikštės viduryje. Į ją takai ėjo nuo kiekvieno kampo - tokia žvaigždės forma. Buvo suoliukai, aišku, buvo ir pavėsio. Po to išklojo šitą grindinį. Tai – jau trečias Rotušės vaizdas. Pati Rotušės aikštė buvo, galima sakyti, ketvirtas turgus. Aikštėje buvo priemiestinė autobusų stotis, aplinkui visur stodavo autobusai. Ties kiekvienu kampu stovėjo po gazirovkės vežimėlį, kaip mes sakydavome. Prekyba vykdavo iš rankų. Kur dabar stovi Maironio paminklas, buvo benzino kolonėlė. Maironio name, pirmame aukšte, buvo vaikų darželis. Aš jo nelankiau, bet daug mano klasiokų lankė.

*Greta:* To me, VMU equals study years. When I was still at school, I dreamed of studying in Vilnius, but VMU has been re-established for just several years, and it was so tempting, since it had a new study programme, and it was a completely new university without any Soviet traditions, full of promise that things here would be different, Western.:)  During the admission, Liucija Baškauskaitė (!) spoke to me (besides entrance exams, there was also an interview about motivation). Later lectures were delivered by a famous anthropology professor Arvydas Žygas (whose then incomprehensible yet enchanting lectures I started attending while still at school). There was also now-legendary Gintaras Beresnevičius (there was a rumour about him that he feared audiences, because he seemed shy and confused), an English teacher from Los Angeles, Amanda, a strict Frenchwoman Miriam (both connected to Kaunas by temporary romantic ties) and many others. Now I think, that there has been this promise of freedom in the air, the feeling that I have been missing for all my years in school. Since the number of students was ten times smaller, everyone knew one another or at least had seen one another before. Lectures were attended by people of different specialities and courses, so you could feel like a part of the community. It is no wonder that if you meet a person today from these times, even though you have not interacted with him or her, you feel the sense of kinship and this can be confirmed by all graduates from the first years.

*Lolita:* "Gimiau ir augau Kauko alėjoje (kai gimiau, ji tuo metu dar vadinosi S. Šimkaus alėja). Ąžuolynas yra vienas miesto miškas, o šalia gyvenantiems buvo aktualu jį konkretinti. Taigi, tarp K. Petrausko, Parodos ir Radastų gatvių esančią dalį, kur XX a. 9 dešimtmetyje dar buvo atrakcionai, vadinome Mažuoju Ąžuolynu,  arba Ąžuolynėliu, o dalį nuo K. Petrausko g. Zoologijos sodo link - Didžiuoju Ąžuolynu.  Į Zoologijos sodą eidavome pėsčiomis. Ąžuolyne - įspūdingiausia, be abejo, buvo stumbro skulptūra, bet būdama maža labai mėgau ir L. Striogos "Poilsį", kurį vadinau "hipopo" - matyt, vaikui kažkuo priminė begemotą." (2019 m.)

*Gintaras: *Žalgiris Stadium was not only a place of sports events; people were also interested in the shows by stunt drivers from Czechoslovakia. You can only imagine how running tracks looked after their performances. :) The Soviet government took interest not only in the health of the sportsmen, but sophisticated pastime of the audience as well: next to the stadium (and in a lot of other places in the city), there were glass pavilions with drink vending machines. Here people could chat and discuss episodes from the matches and their results. Fifty kopeks and a glass of cheap wine called rašalas (‘ink, a derogatory term for cheap, poor quality wine) would quickly relax not only the tongue but brain as well... This place to get drunk has been replaced by a Hesburger restaurant, and instead of the stadium, there is MOLAS Shopping Mall. :) (2014)

*K. Laurinaitytė: *I had been visiting Merkurijus since very young days. It was like one of the monuments of Kaunas. That building had something to it.  It was more beautiful on the exterior than the interior. It was the first place, where my mother allowed me to walk with friends without supervision. (2014)

*Alvydas Vaitkevičius: *I cannot stop myself from sharing certain interesting pages with the memories about our old War Museum. I found this with my family in a wonderful book by Jonas Dovydaitis “Žmogaus sparnai” (1971) dedicated to the birth and development of Lithuanian aviation and to the famous aviation designer Bronius Oškinis. These are his first impressions about visiting the War Museum provided in these pages.

In December, 2018 The lions that are protecting the entrance to Vytautas Magnus War Museum commemorate their 85th anniversary.