Lithuanian writer. Literature of the Baltic countries

RIGA, Oct 3 - Sputnik. Lithuanian writer Ruta Vanagaite, author of a book about the role of Lithuanians in the Holocaust, published a letter to “a murdered nameless Jew,” writes Sputnik Lithuania.

Last year, a scandal erupted around Vanagaitė: in her book “Ours,” she wrote, in particular, that the commander of the “forest brothers” Adolfas Ramanauskas (Vanagas), who in Lithuania is considered “ national hero", participated in the extermination of Jews during the Second World War. After this, the publishing house Alma littera began to withdraw Vanagaite's books from sale and ceased cooperation with her, and the writer herself was attacked by the public. However, the European Jewish Congress came out with support for Vanagaite.

“Dear murdered nameless Jew, lying in a hole on the bodies of other murdered people. I often think about you. I thought when I was writing the book, I thought now, when Lithuania celebrated Holocaust Remembrance Day, the names of the victims were read out,” Vanagaite writes on his page V Facebook.

The writer quotes words from an interview with one of the soldiers of the National Labor Security Battalion, who participated in the extermination of Jews. He told how the executions took place, how entire families were destroyed, and that first of all, parents were killed in front of their children. “We are not some kind of animals to shoot a child in front of the father,” he explained.

“So our Lithuanian Jewish killers were not beasts. They are people. This was their job,” Vanagaite says ironically.

The writer is outraged by the interpretation of the historians of the Genocide Center, who write that some soldiers of the Lithuanian battalion “managed to be involved in the murder of Jews.” Among them was Jonas Noreika, whose memorial plaque hangs on the facade of the Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. This year, Noreika's granddaughter, American journalist Sylvia Foti, who, as she writes, authorized the murders of more than ten thousand Lithuanian Jews.

According to the Jewish Community of Lithuania, in 1941 Noreika, a member of the nationalist organization Lithuanian Activist Front, became the head of Siauliai County. He ordered all Jews in the region to be placed in a ghetto and their property taken away. Thousands of people were later killed in this ghetto.

“The order was good. German. It is not difficult to obey, especially since the civil administration of Lithuania was allowed to distribute the property of the Jews: after part was given to the Germans, take it not only for their own needs, but also for the needs of the residents of the city, county or volost. In short, it was possible to carry out a fair social policy. The Jews got rich by oppressing the Lithuanians, didn't they? This is what Jonas Noreika himself wrote in his work “Raise your head, Lithuanian,” Vanagaitė emphasizes.

Vanagaitė recalls that not only Noreika, but also the leader of the “Lithuanian Activists Front” Kazys Skirpa believed that “it would be better for the republic when there were no Jews left in it,” and actively supported the plans of the fascists, who could not would commit such atrocities.

“When, after a year and a half of Jonas Noreika’s work, in February 1943, the Lithuanian administration was ordered to mobilize 30 thousand men into SS units - but here they are no longer! Lithuania protested. Jonas Noreika, a brave man and a patriot of Lithuania, like many of his other colleagues, refused to mobilize. And the mobilization failed because the Nazis could not do anything without the help of the Lithuanian administration and police: in Lithuania they only had a few hundred of their people, their policemen," she writes.

Vanagaitė recalled that there are still monuments to the so-called heroes in Lithuania: a memorial plaque to Jonas Noreika at the Library of the Academy of Sciences,

For a long time, German feudal landowners, descendants of the conquering crusaders who seized the Baltic lands back in the 12th - 13th centuries, brutally oppressed the Lithuanian people and sought to retard the development of their culture.

The Lithuanian people stubbornly resisted the policy of Germanization; the arbitrariness of the barons caused sharp discontent among the Lithuanian peasants. The thoughts and aspirations of the people, their aspirations were widely reflected in the works of the founder of Lithuanian literature, K. Donelaitis (see article “Kristionas Donelaitis”).

The remarkable Lithuanian poetess Salomea Neris wrote about Donelaitis:

You rose up like a hero, Donelaitis,

And he protected the man from the gentlemen.

You called: “Take up arms against your enemies

With the power of the language that is native to us all.”

The traditions of K. Donelaitis’s creativity, marked by the pathos of revolutionary protest and denunciation of the oppressors, were continued a wonderful poet early XIX V. Anastas Strazdas (1763 - 1833).

The life of the dispossessed Lithuanian peasantry, their suffering, labor and struggle were captured in the works of such outstanding artists late XIX century, like Jonas Maironis (1862 - 1932) and Vincas Kudirka (1858 - 1899).

The work of Julia Zhemaite (1845 - 1921) is widely known to readers. In her stories and stories, she wrote about the life of the Lithuanian village, about the arbitrariness of landowners and priests, about the ruin of the Lithuanian people (“At the estate”, “The guilty suffer, the innocent suffer”, “Sacrifice to Saint Jurgis”, etc.)

At the beginning of the 20th century. in Lithuanian poetry, the name of Ludas Gira (1886 - 1946) becomes one of the most popular. The democratic mood, folklore and song imagery of his poems explain big success his poetry among readers.

The first Lithuanian writers of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, in whose works the themes of the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat were heard, were I. Macys-Kekstas (1867 - 1902), I. Biliunas (1879 - 1907).

The story “The First Strike” and the fairy tale-allegory “The Lamp of Happiness” by I. Biliunas sounded in the days of preparation for the revolution of 1905 as a call for the liberation struggle.

The head of the Lithuanian revolutionary literature of these years was Vincas Mickaeičius-Kapsukas (1880 - 1935), one of the leaders of the revolutionary labor movement, a Marxist critic, author of many stories and essays (“ Great criminal", "Prison warden", etc.). In his stories for the first time in Lithuanian literature shows the image of a professional revolutionary.

Before October Revolution Magnificent poems by the young revolutionary poet Julius Janonis (1896 - 1917) appeared in Lithuanian literature. He was closely associated with the labor movement in Lithuania and Russia and wrote his poetry in Lithuanian and Russian. The poetry of Y. Janonis called for struggle; the poet deeply believed in the revolutionary power of art:

The poet is not a priest who smokes incense

And whispering a prayer in the silence of the night,

The poet is a trumpeter calling the army into battle

And first of all, he goes into battle himself.

Behind revolutionary activity Y. Janonis was persecuted. The poet died very young, on the eve of the Great October Revolution.

Julius Janonis remained in the memory of the Lithuanian people as the first poet of the new era, born in revolutionary years literature of realism.

In 1918, Soviet rule was established in Lithuania, but it lasted only until 1919. With the support of imperialist countries, the bourgeoisie came to power. The bourgeois-fascist dictatorship lasted until 1940. All these years, leading Lithuanian writers defended freedom-loving ideas and sought rapprochement with the Soviet Union.

In the 30s, a group of talented Lithuanian writers united around the anti-fascist magazine “Treachas frontas” (“Third Front”): P. Cvirka, S. Neris (see article “Salome Neris”), V. Montvila, I. Shimkus and other. They were closely connected with the people, with their revolutionary struggle.

The outstanding Lithuanian writer Petras Tsvirka (1909 - 1947) in his novel “The Earth-Nurse” (1935) truthfully spoke about the life of the peasantry in bourgeois Lithuania. Bourgeois censorship did not allow the writer to publish the novel in full; in 1937 it was first published in its entirety in Russian in the Soviet Union.

Other novels by P. Tsvirka are also widely known - “Frank Kruk”, “Master and Sons”, stories for children, “Tales of the Neman Region” and collections of stories and essays written already under Soviet power, after 1940

One of the greatest writers of the 20s and 30s, the poet and prose writer Vincas Mikolaitis-Putinas (1893 - 1967), author of the novel “In the Shadow of the Altars,” boldly denounced the church.

Legacy of democratic and revolutionary writers Lithuania is well known to readers of our multinational country.

After writer and journalist Ruta Vanagaite published a book in Lithuania, “Ours,” about the participation of Lithuanians in the mass murder of Jews, the authorities declared the study to be Putin’s project and a threat to national security. As Vanagaite said in an interview with the TUT.BY portal, in addition, the writer lost half of her friends, and there were threats on the Internet to kill the journalist.

The material is presented as retold by InoTV

A year ago, journalist Ruta Vanagaite published a book in Lithuania, “Ours,” about the participation of Lithuanians in the mass murder of Jews. As TUT.BY writes, the authorities declared the book to be Putin’s project and a threat to national security, Vanagaite herself was threatened with death on the Internet, and she lost half of her friends. The author of the book talked to the Belarusian portal and told how all this affected her life.

Ruta Vanagaitė told reporters that she once heard a lecture by a Lithuanian historian that shocked her. It is generally accepted that Lithuania did not participate in the Holocaust, but the historian told a completely different version: there was a pyramid of murders, it began with the Lithuanian government, and the entire civil administration and police participated in it.

« I began to communicate with many historians and saw that they write and speak the truth, but in a very dry, academic style. I wanted to write the truth in a popular manner, a shocking truth, so that it would be read", Vanagaite said.

The writer found out that among her relatives there were those who participated in the Holocaust. Her aunt's husband was the chief of police in one city, and her grandfather compiled lists of Jews, Soviet activists who were later killed.

« I didn't know him. But before that he was a hero to me, and then he stopped being one. After he compiled these lists, as a reward he received two Soviet prisoners of war, who were supposed to work for him on the site“, says the writer about her relative.

The publication of the book caused a strong reaction in Lithuania. Vanagaite said that the country was divided into two parts. Many relatives and friends of the writer said that she “ works for Jews and Putin" Vanagaite also added that after the book she lost half of her close friends.

« Of the close 10—12 people - about half. They told me: “Look us in the eyes and tell us how much the Jews paid you.” And the publishing house paid me 1,500 euros for six months of work. This is all the royalties earned from the Holocaust. On one book fair They read threats on the Internet that they should kill me, and they hired a bodyguard for me. For three days a man stood next to me from morning to evening, it was very pleasant"- said the writer.

Ruta Vanagaite wants to achieve with her book that this topic was studied in history classes so that schoolchildren would know that some Lithuanians collaborated with the Nazis. In addition, Vanagaite is sure, it must be recognized that Lithuania participated in the Holocaust at the state, civilian and military levels.

« Monuments to the murderers must be destroyed. In four or five places in Lithuania there are monuments to the people who shot and directed it, including in Belarus. After the war they began to fight for Lithuanian independence. But no one asks what they did before“, concludes the Lithuanian writer.

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Image source: ru.delfi.lt

Lithuanian writer Ruta Vanagaitė, who published a book about the Holocaust, faced a lack of understanding among the general Lithuanian public. The fact is that Vanagaitė writes that ethnic Lithuanians accepted Active participation in the extermination of Jews on the territory of Lithuania, which is not customary to talk about out loud today.

“Young, illiterate Lithuanians, when sober, killed Jews so diligently that they were brought to Lithuania for extermination from other countries. Schoolchildren also voluntarily participated in the murders, and the Church watched the Holocaust with indifference - the murderers were even absolved of their sins. For the sake of the purity of the race and Jewish teeth, about 200,000 Jews were exterminated in Lithuania,” the Delfi portal quotes an excerpt from Vanagaite’s book “Mūsiškiai” (“Ours”).

“I know I wasn’t expecting this book. That’s why I wrote it,” says the writer, who after publication faced misunderstanding even among her close people.

“Priest Richardas Doweika told me that doors would be closed in my face.

From the very beginning I had a negative reaction - my relatives said that I was betraying my relatives and that I was Pavlik Morozov. Several friends turned their backs on me altogether - they said that Jews were paying me and that I was betraying my Motherland,” says the writer.

At the same time, doctor economic sciences and director of the Institute European Studies Alexander Gaponenko believes that the Lithuanian writer, who refused to hush up the truth about the tragedy of the Second World War, can be considered a righteous person.

“I read about the Lithuanian writer Ruta Vanagaite, who dared to describe the murder of Jews in Lithuania during the war. Two hundred thousand Jews exterminated by illiterate rural boys. Exclusively for the opportunity to rob and entertainment. The Germans practically did not force them to kill Jews. For this, Ruta was ostracized by almost the entire Lithuanian society,” Gaponenko wrote on his Facebook account.

“Righteous. Maybe because of her works, God will not punish the Lithuanian people, will not expel them from Lithuania to work in Europe. No, we still need to appear, who will talk about the murders of Russians on the territory of the republic,” Gaponenko wrote.

He also expressed the hope that one day there will be such a righteous man in Latvia.

The day before, the Russian historian, head research programs fund " Historical memory» Vladimir Simindey spoke in an interview with the Eadaily portal about the attempts of the Latvian authorities to rewrite history, presenting the Latvians who fought in the SS units as patriots and defenders of the homeland, and as educational and labor camps.

Simindei reported that in some propaganda publications, “Salaspils concentration camp, following Nazi propaganda, is called an “Expanded police prison and educational labor camp,” and its prisoners are cynically listed in the following order: “participants of the resistance movement, Jews, deserters, truants, gypsies etc.”

Also, according to him, the punitive operation “Winter Magic” (“Winterzauber”), carried out by Nazi criminals in the Belarusian-Latvian borderland in February-March 1943.

According to the historian, this was “one of the most brutal and bloody punitive operations of the Nazis, carried out mainly by the forces of Latvian police battalions and the “Arais team” (about 4 thousand punitive forces) in the territory of the Osveysky, Drissensky, Rossony districts of Belarus and the Sebezhsky region of Russia. The goal of the punitive forces was to create a multi-kilometer strip of “dead land” along the Latvian border: all villages were to be destroyed, their inhabitants exterminated or taken out for forced labor.”

You had to become a Latvian, what do Latvians have to do with it? A Tatar, born in Kazan or even Moscow, is not Russian, but a Russian citizen. I have native language, as I already said - Russian. But me and many of my Russian-speaking, even purely Russian, acquaintances are quickly identified as Balts in St. Petersburg and - especially - Moscow. We are Baltic Russians, so to speak.

Hochma about this. One of my acquaintances’ son in his youth was a very great patriot of Russia, adored Russian literature, and raved about life in Russia. And it so happened that they had not been to Russia for several years. Then his father took him around one summer Leningrad region. Somewhere in the mid-90s. Upon his return, the guy admired nature, churches, etc. And to the question how should he local residents, after thinking, he answered in all seriousness: “Dad, they’re some kind of non-Russian!” :biggrin

This partly explains why Russians practically do not travel from the Baltic states to Russia. Yes, our standard of living in Estonia is much higher. But this is not decisive. The mentality is already different, many things are alien or even wild for us in Russia (for example, bureaucratic lawlessness). And if Russians can be different and look at many things differently, then representatives different nationalities are doomed to this. I assure you, a Tajik and a Lithuanian see the world differently. A Muslim and a Catholic cannot think alike. They may find something mutual language, undoubtedly. But the same phenomena under the prism different cultures are often viewed and described differently. Therefore, American literature, Russian, German or Japanese - they all have certain peculiarities. Why, by the way, do many popular writers in one country may be completely unclaimed in another. Or why do Americans, with rare exceptions, not screen original foreign films, but rather remakes? Not only because of the belief that they shoot better (which is often the case). But main reason- American-centricity of the American mass audience.

Space for readers - yes. Estonian books, for example, in the USSR in Russian were published in circulations of 20-40 thousand and even more. Plus in their native language, plus in the languages ​​of other peoples of the USSR. Plus, through Russian translations, someone gained some fame abroad and was translated into other languages. Now this is much more difficult. Even in the Estonian language, circulation fell (as indeed throughout former USSR in all languages, including Russian), fiction rarely more than 8 thousand are published, which is already considered a bestseller (however, in relation to Russia, this is the same as 1 million, which has never happened in Russia; the highest circulations of domestic authors rarely exceed 400 thousand). Straight from little Estonia to break out for its limits are very difficult, but the state is helping to somehow solve this problem by promoting Estonian culture outside the country, although not very successfully. But this is a problem for all small nations. For example, we know all the Irish writers from English literature, and they write in English. However, it is quite possible that in the EU the situation with exit beyond Estonia will improve significantly. Economically, it has become much easier to break into markets within the European Union.

I can't agree with the rest. Firstly, all the Estonian books I mentioned are very Estonian. The “monument” is only less national. Understand that Akutagawa and Hemingway are simply doomed to look at the same things a little differently. Cultural heritage There are very different things behind us. Likewise, the Balts and the Russians are very different. Really, living in Latvia, you didn’t see this? Although many people managed to live with us, practically without interfering with the native Balts, and therefore did not know the local language as it was completely unnecessary. By the way, many have not read the local literature, although it is in Soviet time there was a lot in translation.