Memory Office: G. Vėželienė
Belarusian Galina Vėželienė tells about her childhood in a small village in Belarus and her first impressions when coming to live in Kaunas.
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”During the war, I was living in a small village in Belarus before I came to Kaunas. In fact, it was really fun, I had a lot of friends. However, in the post war period we had a lack of food, clothes and even books. In our village, all the children had to share one textbook. We had to walk 5 kilometres to school while carrying one textbook.”
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”The last time I saw my father was when he left the house during the haymaking season. He was the chairman of the collective farm, so he had to go to work. He came to say goodbye, hugged me, took me to his arms and lifted me. I never saw him again, he died.”
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”The first time I came to Kaunas, the hams hanging in shop windows shocked me the most. I have never seen such things in the village where I lived. Till this day, I remember meat hanging in the windows; it impressed me.”
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”I admired the city even more when I saw a long four-door bus for the first time. It was enjoyable to ride a big bus down the hill of Savanorių Avenue.”
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”I worked at the market place for six months. We were selling food, drinks and fruit. We would go to Panemunė pinewood at the weekends and sell rolls, beverages and other sweets at the beach. It would be a huge siege; all the goods were quickly sold.”
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”We would go to the theatre or Laisvės Avenue for a walk in our leisure time. The most amazing experience was to watch Indian movies at the Planeta theatre; stunning costumes - the atmosphere. It was something magical.”
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“Laisvės Avenue was always full of people, especially in the evenings. We would often meet our colleagues or friends when walking by. People would go for a walk with their children and it didn’t even matter if they were very little, parents would just put them in baby carriages. There was a children’s café called Pasaka on Laisvės Avenue, where we loved to go. We would also go to Ąžuolynas Park with our children. “
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”Even now I like to go for a walk at Laisvės Avenue in the summer. However, now the avenue is different, quiet, and with time it is hard to see a familiar face.”
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“Formerly, the Christmas tree was decorated at Vienybės (Unity) Square. There was a feast and Santa Claus was coming to see the children. We lived in S.Nėries Street (now V.Putvinskio Street), so we would see the decorated tree from our home windows. They would always decorate a real tree and near it would stand a sculpture of mister Lenin, pointing his butt to our windows…”
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”I wanted to go back to my homeland when I was young, but now I would not leave Kaunas.”
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GALINA KRAUCOVA VĖŽELIENĖ
Galina was born in 1934 in a small village in Belarus. Her father, Ivanas Kraucovas was fusilladed in 1938 during the Great Purge campaign. Her mother, Aleksandra Kraucova died from a brain illness because of the grief of her husband’s death. Galina never knew her brother, he died before she was even born. She was taken care of by her grandmother from a very young age. Her grandmother died when Galina was 16 years old and then she moved to live in the city. A couple of years later she met her future husband Albinas, a sailor from Lithuania. In 1958 she came to live in Kaunas; persuaded by her friends and driven by love, and she has lived there for 60 years now.
Date of the interview: 30/11/2017