Day 3 - Vilnius, Lithuania

Our guides Mina and Edwinis

Skeletons of the Sainted Matyrs who tried to save the Pagans

Interior of Russian Orthodox Church in Vilnius

A pretty house in old town Vilnius

A sweet dog on the host family's farm with Anna from OAT

Me and our Hostess

Host Family's farm house

We were fortunate to have a great local guide, Edwinis, to take us on a wonderful walking tour. He is very knowledgeable and speaks 8 languages – his English is perfect. He took us to the old University – dating from 1579. It is a University founded by the Jesuits and is one of the very old Universities of Europe such as those of Bologna Italy and Coimbra Portugal. The University continues to provide excellent education in many fields. Edwinis discussed his education there and some of facts about Lithuanian academics. Lithuania has the highest rate of people with advanced education in all of Europe – 16%. Despite this jobs are few and the unemployment rate is 20%. Many of the “best and brightest” leave to seek better opportunities outside the country. Education is free but there is no obligation to stay following graduation. According Edwinis, this University is supplying many scientists and physicians to the rest of Europe.

We saw the old castle of Vilnius a red brick building. Most of Lithuania buildings are made of bricks, unusual for me to see coming from San Francisco where brick buildings are so rare due to our earthquake potential.

We walked through “old town” and started hearing about the very sad history of this country. Its inhabitants were some of the last “pagans” of Europe. They worshiped the natural world. Eventually the Christians in the south decided that these people must be saved by Christianity and Christian soldiers came north as part of the Crusades. “Onward Christian Soldiers marching as to war”. The local pagans did not submit easily and there was bloodshed on both sides. Eventually the pagans succumbed and this became a very Christian Catholic County. It was part of Poland – actually I think more accurately Poland was part of Lithuania.

Lithuania was once a powerful kingdom. It has been occupied at other times. It was occupied by Russia before WWI. Then it had a period of independence. Prior to WWII the Nazis came and slaughtered Lithuania's vibrant Jewish community. And then as if things couldn't get worse - they did when the Russians returned - more on that later. At the end of WWII as they allies carved up Europe Lithuania and the other Baltic states went to the Soviet Union.

As we had a little time to explore on our own I went through an old arch into the courtyard of an ancient Russian Orthodox church. It was incredibly beautiful with many colors, beautiful icons, and a glass case containing what appeared to be 3 skeletons covered with brocade cloth. It turns out these were the actual skeletons of 3 Christian priests who came to convert the pagans and were killed by these resistant converts. These “relics” are now carried through the streets in a procession commemorating the eventual conversions.

We walked through the old Jewish ghetto and discussed the fate of the thousands of Jews who lived in Lithuania. Jews had been in Lithuania for many years and played an important role in the community. When the Nazis arrived and occupied Lithuania they rounded up as many Jews as possible, took them a few miles outside of Vilnius, and shot them. Some managed to escape Several thousand were saved by a Japanese diplomat who managed to get them Japanese passports and helped them out of the country. Today he is honored as a hero. There are very few Jews left in Lithuania.

Later this day we drove to a very small rural village about 20 miles away. On the way we passed the forest where the Nazis slaughered the Vilnius Jews.

Lithuania had many small farms and this was the way of life for most people in Lithuania until the Russians took over. Originally rural Lithunia was inhabited by serfs serving the rulers. After the feudel period ended these became small farming communities where the farms were handed down to the next generation in the family.

Russia has occupied Lithuania several times. After Lithuania was given to Russia after the WWII the Communist regime appropriated all the farms and the farmers had the choice of farming the land as part of the collective or being sent to Siberia (or being killed of course). After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the farms were given back to the original owners if they were known, available, and wanted them back.

During the Soviet occupation the Lithuanian people were persecuted and life was very difficult. Also many Russian people came to live in Lithuania. The Soviets closed all churches, the University, and many other institutions. The only entertainment that continued to be available was cinema as this was a way to expose the population to lots of propaganda.

Shortly before Gorbachof came into power the Baltic people of all three countries staged demonstrations. In one called the “singing revolution” they sang songs for days to drive the Soviets nuts. Then they formed a human chain that stretched from the southern border of Lithuania to the north end of Estonia.

We had lunch in a “host” home and it was delightful. Our hostess had prepared everything from scratch, and I mean everything, including butchering the pig and that was the base of the meatball dish. The rest of the meal was cabbage soup, cold beat salad, and a raison cake. She has 3 full time jobs – gas station clerk, mother, and farmer. Her husband is a firefighter, farmer, and carpenter – he built all the additions to their home, most of the furnisher. He also built the spa building in back of the house. Apparently he also makes a strong alcoholic liquor but our group didn't get any of this. The other half of our group did get some at their host's lunch. After lunch we walked the property and saw a very big cow, several calfs, a sweet dog tied up to the barn, and lots of vegetables growing.

After returning to the hotel, we had a guest lecture provided by a man who is a journalist and used to work for the Moscow press as a correspondent in the USA. He said he was one of the few journalists who weren’t members of the KGB. He now is very active and close to many Baltic State political leaders. He had a lot of excellent information but unfortunately is pretty pessimistic about the current situation and future. There is a huge “brain drain” with so many of the educated young people leaving Lithuania. Over recent years it has lost over 1 Million in population and expect the next census to show that they have lost another 500,000. The economy is not doing well for reasons such as the pension system and healthcare. He said that after so much optimism started 20 years ago when Lithuania achieved its independence the reality is that many people were probably better off under the communist rule.