OPEN ARCHIVES OF KAUNAS

In December, 2018 The lions that are protecting the entrance to Vytautas Magnus War Museum commemorate their 85th anniversary.

*Galina*: “Formerly, the Christmas tree was decorated at Vienybės (Unity) Square. There was a feast and Santa Claus was coming to see the children. We lived in S.Nėries Street (now V.Putvinskio Street), so we would see the decorated tree from our home windows. They would always decorate a real tree and near it would stand a sculpture of mister Lenin, pointing his butt to our windows…”

*Lili Kristina Vaičekauskaitė-Čepauskienė (2014):* Everyone on the same lion !

*Alvydas Vaitkevičius*: A note on the monument of Salomėja Nėris: I remember it standing there. I needed to check the dates and facts: the final collection of poems by Nėris called Lakštingala Negali Nečiulbėti (The Nightingale Cannot Stop Singing) was published at the end of June 1945. While still at the hospital, the poet had some time to enjoy it. On 7 July 1945, Salomėja Nėris passed away in Moscow and on July 9, she was burried in Kaunas. The poet was burried in the garden of the Museum of History. In 1998, the remains of the poet were solemnly reburied in Petrašiūnai Cemetery. It is said that photographer Romas Juškelis was the only one who captured the reburial.

*Gintaras: *Posters started to appear in Kaunas, just like in Vilnius, after the bloody events of January 13. They condemned the unjustifiable behaviour of the occupant army towards the residents of Lithuania. Since during these events I was in Vilnius, I could only capture these posters in Kaunas a week later, after I came back home from Vilnius. (2014)

*Audronė:* „Pilis dabar atrodo visai kitaip. Nebuvo tokio bokšto. Tada buvo apvalus kuoras, aišku, labai jau apgriuvęs, ir likusi siena, kuri dabar uždengta. Nuo jos labai gerai matėsi kunigų seminarijos kiemas. Mes nusiimdavome nuo pamokų, bėgdavome į tą kuorą ir žiūrėdavome, kaip klierikai su sutanom žaidžia krepšinį. Dar eidavome per tiltą, į Skriaudžių gatvę, į šlaitą. Sėdi ant šlaito ir žiūri, kaip mokyklos kieme kūno kultūros pamokas kas nors atlieka...“ (2019)

Robertas Antinis: Orbita was a superb club. It was special.

Petras Vileišis Square (or Smėlynė, as it was called by the residents of Kaunas) was a place famous for horse racing.

*Liucija: *I remember, when my friend and I, we would go to the Picture Gallery to visit the exhibitions. Back in those days, we liked ceramic works very much. We used to buy large vases and bring tiny ones from other republics for ourselves or to give to our friends. Back in those times, food to nourish our souls on weekends were only exhibition halls or theatre. We would bring our children there as well. When the times changed and all sorts of events and travelling abroad became available, we visit picture gallery on a very rare basis. (2015)* *

*Aleksandra*: “I lived just next to Laisvės Alėja. I remember myself, an 11-year-old, wandering somewhere around Soboras; first time alone, I walked outside without parents on a hot summer day and was so impressed by the number of people in Laisvės Alėja: I have never probably seen so many of them in one place. And everyone was moving, doing something, engaged in their important businesses. So, it became crucially important for me to participate in the social life. I had 15 kopeks and spent them solemnly in the modern public toilet installed next to Žilinskas Gallery, where everything, oh dear, smelled like shampoo and hand drier was functioning without any difficulties, blowing three types of air...

*Asija*: ”A protest happened in Ramybės (Serenity) Park, after which it was decided to remove the cemetery located in the park. Three schools were located near the cemetery and we (students at the time) saw everything from very close. Male teenagers could not miss such an event. They scavenged graves and brought found bones into the classroom in order to scare girls. Braver ones went deeper into the graves and showed everyone crosses or rings they had managed to find. This was a most horrifying period of Kaunas history. It united us with the Lithuanians.” (2017)

Music club Senas Stalčius (Laisvės ave. 46a) was open for several years since 1995. The club was established in the building of cinema Laisvė (called Forum during the Inter-War period). It is a great example of a certain type of architecture in Laisvės Alėja: a public building designed in the internal yard.