Thanksgiving in Lithuania

During the 14th and 15th centuries Lithuania was an empire extending from the Baltic Sea in the

north to the Black Sea in the south. At the peak of its territorial expansion the empire was ruled

by the Grand Duke Vytautas Magnus [Vytautas the Great]. By 1795, however, the land came

under the dominion of Russia and remained so until the end of World War I. The Russians

attempted to eliminate Lithuanian culture by forbidding the use of the Lithuanian language. But

brave men with backpacks carried copies of the Bible in Lithuanian from one village to another,

where they were concealed under floorboards and read in secret.

Between the world wars the country became an independent democracy with its capital, Kaunas,

in the center of the country. During that time a new university was founded in Kaunas, Vytautas

Magnus University, but unfortunately it was closed in 1943 during the German occupation of

Lithuania and remained so when the country became part of the Soviet Empire after World War

II.

After the student demonstrations in China in 1989 the Soviet Empire began to collapse. In March

1990 Lithuania declared its independence as a democratic state with a parliament in Vilnius, its

capital. The nations of the world were fearful of recognizing that independence. In a round-about

on the outskirts of Kaunas the Russians had placed a tank as a symbol of their power. The

Lithuanians painted it pink and replaced it with a wooden cross, which was soon cut down. It was

replaced, this time, by a cross made of steel. The first country to recognize Lithuania’s

independence was Iceland. A second cross was erected in its honor. The second country to

acknowledge their freedom was Denmark.

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Lithuania’s independence was by no means certain. In January 1991 Russian tanks rolled into

Vilnius to occupy the parliament building. In front of the building was a large square with

numerous streets heading off in various directions. Lithuanians from all over the country rushed

to Vilnius to barricade those streets and by their presence to prevent the tanks from entering the

square. They instead attacked the TV station, killing a number of citizens and injuring many more.

It was a cold, dark night with blinding snow. That was the night we arrived in Lithuania to teach

at Vytautas Magnus University.

The university had been reopened by overseas Lithuanians as a free and independent institution.

There was no freedom in Soviet schools. A class composed of 15-20 students would take all of

their courses together. Vytautas was based on the American system of choosing courses in a

variety of fields the first two years before deciding upon a major. I remember one of the teachers

telling me that when she crossed the threshold of the university, it was her first experience of

freedom to choose.

But how long would that freedom last? A number of teachers were recruited from America, several

of them young men who were forced to leave before we arrived. The Soviet Army was dragging

men off the streets to fill their ranks.

Not long after we arrived, a delegation from the American consulate in Leningrad visited our

campus and told us they could not protect us, since there was no American Embassy in the country.

We wore a pouch suspended around our necks containing $10, our credit cards and our passports,

in case we should suddenly have to leave.

The Russian army barracks were located outside the city, but the soldiers were often in the streets.

Helicopters would fly over the city, dropping pamphlets, but usually they were too high up, and

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the wind carried the papers out into the countryside before they reached the ground. My wife Jytte

was not happy there. It all reminded her too much of her childhood in Denmark during the German

occupation.

In the central square of Kaunas was a statue of the Angel of Freedom on a high pedestal. It was

customary for brides to place their bouquets at the foot of the statue. But few believed that they

would actually become free. I remember talking to a group of English teachers about life on the

other side of the Iron Curtain. They told me they would never see that other side. Jytte was

working with a group of secretaries, helping them with their English. When she gave them the

assignment for the following week their response was, “If we are still here.”

Indeed, there was good reason for such pessimism. In August 1991 there was an attempted coup.

The general in charge of troops in Kaunas received his orders, orally. He refused to follow them

unless he got them in writing. The coup failed, but the mother of one our teachers was very angry

with her daughter. She had not put every piece of warm clothing she could find on her children

immediately. In families deported to Siberia on earlier occasions, if the children did not have

warm clothing, they did not survive.

Following the failed coup Lithuania received widespread recognition from other countries and was

admitted to the United Nations on September 17, 1991. It was raining that day in Kaunas, but

Jytte insisted on going out into the streets to celebrate freedom with the Lithuanians as she had

done in Denmark when World War II was declared over. But there was no one on the streets. It

was as if the people could not believe they were really free.

A few weeks later we gathered around the statue of the Angel of Freedom as speeches which we

could not understand were given, and soldiers in Lithuanian uniforms stood at attention.

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Thanksgiving arrived, and we were invited to the new American Embassy in Vilnius. The

ambassador had spent the night cooking turkeys and keeping them warm in the sauna. About two

dozen of us gathered around a table laden with traditional Thanksgiving food, while the

ambassador read the First Thanksgiving Proclamation.

That day we were not Americans. We were pilgrims in a foreign land, celebrating with our

Lithuanian brothers and sisters the wonder of having for the first time escaped from tyranny. We

were thanking God because we were FREE.