Lithuanian Men in the Forced Soviet Army
An Alien World – “School of Masculinity”
Gallery
Caught up in the vortices of war, the young people of Lithuania’s villages, towns and cities experienced painful tests of fate – the ones who chose to become partisans “in their own forest” sacrificed their lives in the unequal fight with the Red Army, the NKVD and other divisions, while others, forced to become soldiers in that very same Red Army, were thrown into a completely foreign world that the men had heard little of.
Absurd Aesthetics, Everyday Life
Lithuanians with their friends during off-duty time in the Soviet Army. The inscription on the back of the photo reads: “A fun Sunday afternoon. The wonderful echo of the waltz resounds in the birches of Azarav.”
RSFSR (Kaluga), 1954. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Eugenijus Peikštenis
Absurd Aesthetics, Everyday Life
A Lithuanian soldier forced to serve in the Soviet Army.
Occupied Latvia (Ventspils), 1979–1981. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Albinas Šimanauskas
Absurd Aesthetics, Everyday Life
Downtime in the Soviet Army. Algimantas, a cadet of the training regiment, is sitting by the door.
RSFSR (Murmansk), 1960s. Photo author unknown
Personal archive Laima Dačiulytė
Absurd Aesthetics, Everyday Life
Lithuanians with their friends during off-duty time in the Soviet Army. The inscription on the back of the photo reads: “Four merry fellows spending an afternoon among the budding birches.”
RSFSR (Kaluga), 1954. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Eugenijus Peikštenis
Absurd Aesthetics, Everyday Life
Soldier Julius with a friend next to some propaganda posters. The inscription on the back of the photo is to his sweetheart: “If I return from the battlefield / Hold me close to your heart / If I die where death awaits / The graves of another country will take me in.”
Occupied Ukraine (Novohrad-Volynskyi (now Zviahel), 1955. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Raimundas Kaminskas
Absurd Aesthetics, Everyday Life
Lithuanians Arvis and Kęstas during forced service in the Soviet Army. The inscription on the back of the photo reads: “Gidas, may this photo remind you of the tough years in the military and the friends you spent the time with.”
RSFSR (Kaliningrad region, Mamonovo), 1981. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Raimundas Kaminskas
Absurd Aesthetics, Everyday Life
A New Year’s greeting card – a photograph – from a Soviet soldier named Linas with poetic inscription: “A memento! At the windowsill by the little white snowflakes / On those quiet, charming winter eves, Remember the cruel lot of the soldier / Remember themwith me.”
Occupied Ukraine (Novohrad-Volynskyi (now Zviahel), 1955. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Raimundas Kaminskas
Absurd Aesthetics, Everyday Life
Alfonsas, a Lithuanian, during forced service in the Soviet Army.
RSFSR (Kaliningrad), 1983. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Alfonsas Somanavičius
Absurd Aesthetics, Everyday Life
A young soldier from Lithuania forced to serve in a Soviet construction battalion.
Location unknown, 1970s–1980s. Photo author unknown
Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights
Absurd Aesthetics, Everyday Life
“Vaiduokliai” (“Ghosts”), a Lithuanian ensemble in the Soviet Army
Location unknown, 1970s–1980s. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Eugenijus Peikštenis
Absurd Aesthetics, Everyday Life
Absence without leave.
Occupied Ukraine (Lvov (now Lviv), 1964. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Eugenijus Peikštenis
Absurd Aesthetics, Everyday Life
A Lithuanian named Gintautas (with his friends Aleksandr Matiuchin from Smolensk and Aleksandr Mielnikov from Kaluga) during work by a shopping centre, under construction in Rukla. Theft was rampant in this construction battalion. Officers stole sleep from tired soldiers (forcing them to work 18 hours at a time in order to receive bonuses) and building materials, while soldiers stole whatever they could get their hands on, so that they could sell what they stole and buy food instead of dying of starvation. Soldiers, who were unable to steal, would go to the canteen for the paratroopers stationed nearby and beg the cooks for bread.
Rukla, 1978. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Gintautas Terleckas
Broken Fates
Funeral of soldier Rimantas Kalvaitis, who died in the Afghanistan War.
Occupied Lithuania, 1982. Photo author unknown
The message from the command of the USSR military unit in Afghanistan to inform Rimantas Kalvaitis’s father about his son’s death reads: “…while performing a military task, being faithful to the military oath, he died on the 12th of September 1982, fighting resolutely and heroically.”
Afghanistan, 1982
Personal archive of Vytas Lukšys
Broken Fates
Voldemaras Mičiulis with his brother in arms in the Afghanistan War.
Afghanistan, 1985–1987. Photo author unknown
A certificate from the military commissar of Lenin district of Kaunas to the father of Voldemaras Mičiulis that his son “served in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from April 1985 to April 1987. He fell ill while serving and died from the disease.”
Kaunas, 1988
Personal archive of Vytas Lukšys
Broken Fates
The son of Lithuanian exiles, taken into Soviet military service.
USSR, 1950s–1960s. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Eugenijus Peikštenis
Broken Fates
Saying farewell to Karpickis, a young man who had been conscripted into the Soviet Army. His mother and sister are crying.
Prienai, 1954. Photo author unknown
Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights
Broken Fates
Monument to the soldiers and non-commissioned officers from Lithuania who died in the Afghanistan War. Monument by architect Virginija Bakšienė and sculptor Antanas Kmieliauskas.
Vilnius, 2010. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Vytas Lukšys
“Friendship of Nations”
A Lithuanian soldier with his brothers in arms.
RSFSR (Moscow), 1977. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Raimundas Kaminskas
“Friendship of Nations”
A Lithuanian soldier with a friend at the table with a Ukrainian family.
Occupied Ukraine, 1965. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Eugenijus Peikštenis
“Friendship of Nations”
A Lithuanian soldier with his brothers in arms by the canteen.
Location unknown, 1970s–1980s. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Raimundas Kaminskas
“Friendship of Nations”
A Lithuanian soldier with his brothers in arms.
Location unknown, 1970s–1980s. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Raimundas Kaminskas
“Friendship of Nations”
Soldier Jonas taking the military oath before being sent to the Afghanistan War.
Location unknown, 1979. Photo author unknown
Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights
Mushtra
Alfonsas, a soldier, with his brother in arms, just after being released from detainment.
RSFSR (Kaliningrad), 1983. Photo author unknown
Personal archive of Alfonsas Somanavičius