AUSRA
Issue 2 (42) of the journal Ausra (Dawn), dated 16 February 1976, has come out.
Its table of contents includes the following: Declaration of Lithuanian independence; New doses of russification at school; Mindaugas Tamonis; The spirit of Muravyov’s epoch; When was Lithuania a sovereign State? To whom is silence useful? We express our solidarity with Russian dissidents; News.
A report on issue 1 (41) was given in CCE 39.8.
Another samizdat journal God and Motherland [translated title], has appeared. The contents of the first issue include: a polemic against the article ‘The Subterfuges of Modern Theologians’, published in the republic’s journal Science and Life (No. 1, 1976); and, for the first time in Lithuanian, the 1948 ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’.
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Between 19 March and 7 April, 15 Vilnius school-leavers were summoned by the police and the KGB. They were interrogated about the former political prisoner Viktoras Petkus, particularly about the lessons he had been giving them on Lithuanian history.
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The journal Kommunist (organ of the Lithuanian Communist Party Central Committee, published in Lithuanian and Russian) has printed an interview with M. Ignotas, a member of the Supreme Court, who presided at the trial of S. Kovalyov, under the headline “A Slanderer Punished”.
The content is similar to that of the Sukharev interview in the journal Novoe Vremya number 1 (CCE 39.10), Even here, the Chronicle, the main butt of the accusations made in the article, is not named, but, unlike in the Sukharev interview, it is mentioned, under the pseudonym of ‘an anti-Soviet publication’. Its local associations are also noted.
Asked why, “Kovalyov’s trial was held in Vilnius. What is his connection with Lithuania?”, Ignotas states: “S. Kovalyov and his associates working on an anti-Soviet publication also printed libels about Lithuania. They sought out the facts they wanted from the activities of nationalist elements and from the collaboration of the Lithuanian nationalists with the Hitlerite occupation forces”.
And once again Dudenas appears (see CCE 39.10, ‘Polemic with Sukharev’, and ‘The Trial of Tverdokhlebov’ in this issue, CCE 40.2).
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From the “Chronicle of the Lithuanian Catholic Church”
(LCC Chronicle No. 21, 25 January 1976)
LCC Chronicle (21) reprints ‘The Trial of Sergei Kovalyov’ from CCE 38.3, and adds an article on ‘The Days of the Kovalyov Trial in Vilnius’.
Two or three weeks before the trial, people were already being summoned (sometimes through the military enlistment office or the police) and questioned by KGB officials, if they were suspected of intending to go to the trial. Among these people was the scientist Juozas Prapestis.
On 9 December A. Terleckas, V. Petkus and V. Smolkin (CCE 38.3) were detained at the station and told at KGB headquarters that A. Sakharov was mentally abnormal and that many Moscow dissidents were immoral people. Colonel Baltinas threatened to put Terleckas and Petkus in a psychiatric hospital.
It has already been reported, in CCE 38.3, that the Lithuanians were barred from entering even the courthouse building. LCC Chronicle (21) writes that Mecislav Jurevicius from the town of Siauliai was taken out of the courthouse by force and driven to KGB headquarters. He was threatened with criminal proceedings because, according to the KGB men, he wrote for the LCC Chronicle. At the same time, they promised that they could get him a good job, with even the right to have a Christmas holiday (see below on his lawsuit concerning this). Then Jurevicius was taken back to Siauliai with an escort.
‘The trial and these persecutions have shown that Lithuanians and Russians can be brought closer together by the activities of the State security forces.
‘Lithuanians and Catholics are grateful to S. Kovalyov for his generous, manly spirit and they pray the Almighty to support and bless him and keep him in good health. The sacrifices made by Russian dissidents have helped Lithuanians to see Russian people in a different light.
‘When the Russian scientist S. Kovalyov comes out of prison, we shall greet him as our brother and best friend.’
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In a long letter to Yu. A. Andropov, Antanas Terleckas has described the series of persecutions to which the KGB has been subjecting him for 30 years.
His first arrest was in 1945 (he was then only 16 years old), on suspicion of participation in the partisan movement. He was beaten up and was close to being shot. He was released, but followed. Later, when he was studying, he was summoned and threatened. After his graduation from the Faculty of Economics, he was accused of nationalism and again denounced and questioned. In 1956, the ‘Lithuanian National Front’ case was fabricated; Terleckas did not even know his co-defendants. At the trial he was reminded that he had taken part in a movement which distributed works of Lithuanian culture in the Lithuanian villages now in Poland or the Belorussian SSR.
After 4 years in labour camps (Ozerlag) the summonses and ‘talks’ continued. During one of these talks Terleckas asked: ’Why is love of Russia considered to be Soviet patriotism, while love of Lithuania is called bourgeois nationalism?’
Terleckas took a second, external degree in history, but he was not allowed to defend his thesis on ‘Lithuania under Russian rule, 1795-1915’. The first draft of this work was taken away by the KGB after a search on 25 April 1969.
Terleckas was threatened with prison more than once, and in 1973 he was at last arrested on a criminal charge of theft. Although the investigation, which was openly directed by the KGB, could not substantiate the charge, he was nevertheless sentenced to 1 year’s imprisonment.
On his release, Terleckas could not find work as an economist or historian, and became a fireman in a theatre. Even here he was under suspicion. He was relieved of his duties on ‘special security’ days, when foreign companies performed or official meetings took place. He was still being followed and summoned for questioning.
On 23 December 1974 his home was searched (the search was one of many on that day, see CCE 34.7). Major Kalakauskas was surprised that Terleckas, “who hates everything Russian”, had so many Russian books at home.
“After the search I was asked if I did not wish to change my political views. My answer: Of course not! After what I have lived through in the last 30 years, I cannot love your system… but I can be a loyal citizen, as I am.”
“I ask you to order the Lithuanian KGB to leave me in peace.” The letter is dated 23 November 1975.
On 8 December 1975 A. Terleckas was dismissed from the theatre on a ridiculous pretext. He managed to gain legal reinstatement through a court action on 15 January. The theatre administration, afraid of the contacts Terleckas had with other workers and of his accounts of the Kovalyov trial and his meetings with Sakharov, put him to work in an isolated building and made his working conditions worse.
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65 priests of the Vilnius archdiocese wrote a declaration on 25 September 1975, appealing to the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR. They asked that Bishop Steponavicius should be allowed to return to his duties, which he was forced to leave in 1961, when he was exiled. Since then, the archdiocese has been without a Bishop.
The declaration states that the Bishop has never been involved in political activity, and that his conflict with the Commissioner for Religious Affairs was caused by the wrong behaviour of the latter, his interference in the internal affairs of the church and his attempts to make Steponavičius act in a way contrary to his duty as a pastor.
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In a declaration addressed to Brezhnev, dated 23 June 1975, Father Ceminuskas made a complaint about the refusal of the authorities to allow repairs to his church and other such instances of persecution. He reports that when he asked for a written reply to one of his previous complaints, Commissioner Tumenas told him: “If we give you a written reply, it will immediately be broadcast by foreign radio stations.”
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In the Vilnius Museum of Atheism the book of visitors’ comments has been hidden away. Visitors who ask for the book are questioned by the museum attendant as to who they are and where they come from.
The stand taken concerning the priest Father Ylius in the museum has been changed. Formerly he was called a murderer; now it is stated that he performed domestic and medical services for armed bands.
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In June 1975 Brone Kibickaite (a close friend of Nijole Sadunaite who “appeared as a witness” at her trial, CCE 37.7), an engineer at the Computer Centre in the faculty of mechanics and mathematics of Vilnius University, was dismissed ‘at her own request’ from her job. The dean, the party organizer and the head of the Computer Centre had been trying to obtain a written statement of resignation from her for almost a year, without giving her any reasons, but justifying themselves by saying pressure was being put on them from above: ‘If you refuse, we’ll be dismissed ourselves.’ At their parting, the head of the Computer Centre found the nerve to tell her the reason for her dismissal, ‘religion’.
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M. Jurevicius took legal proceedings against those who dismissed him in January 1975 ‘for absenteeism’, he did not go to work on four days which were religious feast-days, notifying the administration each time and offering to make the time up (CCE 36.7).
In his statement of claim and his appeals, Jurevičius pointed out that in the nine years he had worked there, he had been given many special awards and had never been penalized. He demanded recognition of the fact that his absence from work had been for good reason, as Article 124 of the USSR Constitution, and Articles 143 & 145 of the Lithuanian SSR Criminal Code, guaranteed him the freedom to perform his religious duties. Jurevičius took his case as far as the Supreme Court of the republic, but lost it. The LCC Chronicle publishes the full texts of his statements and the court decisions.
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It is reported in the section ‘News from the Dioceses’ that:
In Karkasiskis the believers cannot obtain the return of their church, which was closed in 1961 and has been standing empty ever since.
In Autumn 1975 believers placed crosses, as is the custom, on the Hill of Crosses at Meskuciai. A group of young people brought a large cross in a coach. In November, also by tradition, a special brigade destroyed and carted away the crosses (over 400 of them). The brigade chopped down an ancient maple tree, which was hung with crosses and holy pictures.
Emilija Gelambauskiene, a resident of the town of Mazeikiai, for a long time did not allow a cross she had put up by her house to be destroyed. Her complain to Kosygin about this was intercepted at the local post office. On 3 December, when Gelambauskiene had been enticed out of the house, the cross was sawn down and taken away. She was later sent a bill for 50 roubles for this work.
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In Kaunas, in the funeral parlour there, a set of rules passed by the City Soviet Executive Committee on 21 February 1975 has been put up:
“In this building it is forbidden to:
- alter the decoration in the rooms;
- make use of religious images;
- sing religious songs;
- utilize the services of cult servants [i.e. priests];
- organize funeral processions with religious rites on the premises.”
The Kaunas City Executive Committee has forbidden the workshop which makes tombstones to portray the cross on them.
It is reported that the performance of certain religious ceremonies has been hindered. In a number of cases the ban has had no effect.
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In an article entitled ‘The persecution of youth continues’, LCC Chronicle writes about the amateur film studio ‘KPI-Film’ at Kaunas Polytechnic Institute. Since 1971 certain studio members have been summoned by the KGB, and questioned about the atmosphere at the studio; sometimes the KGB has tried to recruit them as informers. In 1972 R. Kausa, the head of the studio (and a former prisoner), was suddenly dismissed, and since then the studio has been without a paid manager.
Recently the KGB official Rustcika has been taking an interest in the studio. In June 1975 he interrogated the KPI lecturer U. Patasius for four hours (unofficially), To begin with, he called him maliciously anti-Soviet and threatened to have him dismissed; later he tried to find out from him who had said what at the studio, and finally he asked him to keep the conversation secret. Patasius did not promise to do so. In September 1975 Rusteika summoned to KG B headquarters P. Kimbrys, a former member of the KPI film laboratory, and told him that sufficient material had been gathered on him to bring him to trial. He told him what some of the charges would be: he had hung a map of the 16th century Grand Duchy cf Lithuania on his wall at home, he had kept a copy of the book Archive of Lithuania, he had helped to found the LCC Chronicle, and so on. As a result of a four-hour ‘conversation’, Kimbrys answered certain questions and promised to ‘draw his own conclusions’.
The film studio is well known for producing many good films; its film The Face, about the ethnographer V. Buradas, took the first prize at the republic’s film competition, but was not allowed to compete in the Baltic amateur showings. The enthusiasm of the studio members is fading under the pressure of the KGB, and recently the collective has begun to disintegrate.
The LCC Chronicle also mentions other cases of the suppression of various initiatives and amateur activities among Lithuanian young people in recent years, ethnographers’ clubs, art clubs, discussion groups, and so on.
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There is a permanent section ‘In Soviet Schools’ in the LCC Chronicle.
On 16 September 1975, at the Technical Training College in the town of Siauliai, during a meeting of a group of grinders, the pupils were told to fill in application forms to join the Komsomol. Those who refused were made to fetch their parents, and some pupils were made to stand for half an hour, with their hands held above their heads, by instructors Gilys and Milius. Nevertheless, half the group still refused to join the Komsomol.
At the school in Gargzdai, all 32 pupils in Class 7 informed their teacher that they were church-goers and would not enrol in the atheists’ club. The teacher enrolled four persons against their will.
In Rudiskes the headmaster of the secondary school summoned Petras Stasauskas, a pupil in Class 9, and told him to sign a statement saying that he served as an altar-boy because the priest had asked him to. Petras refused, saying that he did it because he himself wanted to. After a few more talks, he received a low mark for behaviour. Jadviga Poplavskaya, a pupil in Class 11 at the same school, received a low mark for behaviour because she went to church and was told that she would be given such a bad character report that she would not be accepted by any higher education institute.
Other instances of religious pupils and their parents being persecuted by teachers are also reported.
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A Chronicle of Current Events 