Walking through the Past
'The topic of banishment wasn't a part of my life,' said Gediminas Andriukaitis, preparing for a 50-day expedition to Northern Syberia. At least it had not been until a certain moment.
Fragments of stories from his childhood on grandparents being banished to the regions by the Laptev Sea lurked in Gediminas' subconscious for a long time. In the summer of 2017, these fragments brought him and three comrades past the polar circle, to the Northern shores of Syberia, a place to which Gediminas' grandfather was banished and where his father was born.
A journey in time is a journey into the unknown. The first and last expedition from Lithuania to those regions happened in 1989. Exploring archives and meeting deportees were among the few ways to prepare for six hundred kilometres of taiga on foot. Former deportee Vitalis Staugaitis shared his knowledge of the regions, as well as his own experience of survival. Several times, he suggested changing the route to a more predictable one.
However, Gediminas, Darius, Viktoras, and Vigimantas chose to walk their own path. The crew decided to walk the taiga in order to show that the banishments have no end, they are not a singular event in the stream of time that simply happened and is now over. They are a continuous process, the consequences of which—from time to time—can still be heard in almost every Lithuanian family.
Understanding the experience of those deported to the Laptev Sea region is impossible. However, when a grandson stands on a rock on which his grandfather once stood, and sees the same landscape with the eyes of a free person, it becomes obvious that the deportees' stubborn struggle of survival was not for nothing. The generations that never saw each other meet here.
Standing next to the Pokrovskoye brick factory, from the left: Irma Gross, Regina Vitašaitė (born 1940) and an unknown girl. Pokrovskoye, Ordzhonikidzevsky district, 1952.
A boat carrying Lithuanian fishermen from Tit-Ary Island to Stolb Island. “Stolb is a so-called prison of the North. Exiles were forced to walk there from the islands, some for stealing firewood, others – fish.” Tit-Ary, Bulunsky district, 1952.
„Marija Porutienė getting ice to make lunch, because there’s no place to draw water during winter. She used chopped up ice to boil tea. It’s -50°C outside.” Mukhtuya (renamed Lensk in 1963), 1952.
Historical Context
At the end of the second week of the summer of 1941, mass banishments started in the USSR-occupied Lithuania. Officers of the USSR and local repressive structures would break into houses of the would-be deportees in the middle of the night, perform a house-search, and inform the people that they will be deported from Lithuania. Mass banishments also took place in Latvia, Estonia, West Ukraine, West Belarus, and Moldova.
The first stage of the deportations was over when Germany occupied Lithuania at the end of July. However, when the Red Army came back after three years, the second Soviet occupation started, together with new stages of the deportations.
Winter fishing took place in a 10-15 kilometre radius around Tit-Ary Island. The main transportation to go fishing was a dog sled. A ship is frozen in the Lena River. Tit-Ary, Bulunsky district, 1954-1956.
“Your family member had to suffer through a lot of freezing temperatures and storms. Vitalis Staugaitis with his friends – the dogs”. Pictured – dogs from a sled. Staugaitis is wearing a fur coat made from deer hide. It’s a pull over coat that is stitched closed, so it protects well against the wind. Photo taken by an NKVD officer from Yakutsk. About 5 km from Stolb, on the way to Trofimovsk. Stolb, Bulunsky district, 1951.
“I’m leaving. Going back to Lithuania,” reads a note on the picture that was supposed to be cross-stitched by its author, little Kazys Barniškis, born in 1951. He loved to cross-stitch, drawing the sketches himself. Pictured – two small birds that were to be cross-stitched. Taryn, Oymyakon district, 1958.
“This is our classroom – fourth and second grades. Last year. I was in second grade. I am in third grade now. I can neither read nor write in my own language. Send us Lithuanian books, copying pencils and photos. We are not doing well at the moment. Mom is sick, I don’t know what’s to come. We wrote you many letters, but received only one in return. Write us more often, we are very interested to know how you’re doing. How the battles went. We are very worried.” A letter written by Danutė Laužadytė on the back of a photo, sent to family in Lithuania. She is 10 years old. Turukta, Lensk district, 1945.
Inside the Taryn medical center, the workplace of Kazys Barniškis. Pictured – his son, Kazys Barniškis, born 1951. Taryn, Oymyakon district, 1958.
A cemetery on Bykovsky Cape. The roof of a yurt that housed exiles is visible behind it. Bykovsky Cape, Bulunsky district, 1956.
Exiled Lithuania. Tit-Ary, Bulunsky district, 1942-1958.
