Exchanging Portraits (Part 61)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, October 21, 1938. Here is another high-school portrait of Joy.

Freedom Monument

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, June 6, 1989. My Mom's friend Joy wrote, "I stand at the Freedom Monument, near Kaunas's War Museum."

Harvest

Kaunas, Lithuania, about 1958. My Mom's friend Joy wrote, "Here I am with Mom. We had a lot of apples!"

"Remembering you ... we are always together."

Kaunas, Lithuania, November 30, 1995. My Mom's friend Joy cherishes an image from the portrait sitting.

A Friend's Mother

 

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, November 11, 1978. This is the mother of my Mom's friend Joy. On the back of this photo, Joy wrote, "This is my Mama, Marija, in Kaunas when she reached her 80th birthday. From 1941 she endured 17 years in the Siberian prison camp, along the shores of the Laptev Sea. We survived those years in Stalin's prison listening to propaganda."

Truly Displaced

Irkutsk, Siberia, USSR, Summer 1956. My Mom's friend Joy stands near the Siberian barracks with her mother and children. Joy mailed this photo after she returned to Lithuania.

The House, Later

Kaunas, Lithuania, September 7, 1997. My Mom's friend Joy sent this photo of Mom's childhood home. Mom's parents, Jadzė and Jake, incurred quite a bit of debt building it. It was a wooden structure; the builders put moss between the logs and then plastered the interior walls.

It's nice to see the residents retained the "veranda room."

A Recovered Image

My Mom's friend Joy sent this photo in the early 1990s.

Kaunas, Lithuania, 1923. This is my Mom.

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 On the back of the photo, Joy wrote:

 Dearest [Irene's Mom],

This is you!

This photo is historical. It was with me in Siberia in my photo album. It endured all of our sufferings along the shores of the Laptev Sea. It was there for all 17 years of the deportation. Then the photo returned with me to Lithuania in 1958, and now it is in America! 1991.

Exchanging Portraits (Part 11)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, March 24, 1937. This is a school portrait of my Mom's friend, Joy.

Commissars' Club

 
Irkutsk, Siberia, USSR, Summer 1956. One of my Mom's friends—who spent 17 years in Siberia—sent this snapshot of the "club." 

Keeping close people close at Christmas.

Mariampolis, Lithuania, December 25, 1936. My Mom and her family spend Christmas with her maternal Grandparents. Mom stands in the back row, with her eyes closed. Her friend Joy stands next to Mom, and Joy's father is behind Mom. My maternal Grandmother, Jadzė, is in the front, at the left, wearing the dress with the funky spoke design. Next to Jadzė is Joy's mother, and next to her, Joy's Grandmother.

Here's another photo from the same celebration.

Pro Memoria

This morning's post about the creep of Soviet imagery into the EU's celebratory poster prompted me to look again at "Pro Memoria," the primitive leaflet that chronicled the 1941 Soviet deportations. The firsthand narratives recount the numbers of Lithuanians shipped to the Gulag camps. The leaflet presents an inventory of "prisoners," cataloged according to the date of deportation, the Lithuanian town from which the deportees originated, the number of the railway car on which they traveled, and the location in the Soviet Union in which they served out their exile.

Pro Memoria's accounts parallel my family's memory of the Soviet occupation. Members of my Mom's and my Dad's families knew their names fell onto the second deportation list.

The Pro Memoria leaflet—a stapled packet that my Dad carried when my Parents emigrated to the United States—is in poor shape. Given its condition, I decided to post it here.

Be patient with the narrative's fractured English spelling and grammar. English was not the first language of the authors—for most, it was the fifth or sixth language:

[The page numeration skips from 1 to 4.]

  

It's nice when guests help the hostess.

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, December 1970. Here's another view from Dora's wedding. The woman at the head of the table, serving some food, is the Mother of my Mom's lifelong friend, Joy.

Big Paws

My maternal Grandmother, Jadzė, was agitated when my Mom and her friend, Joy, bought Džekis, the puppy. Although there are hints that Jadzė not only tolerated Džekis but also was fond of him, eventually Jadzė persuaded the family that Džekis would be happier on a farm.

Kaunas, Lithuania, about 1939. Jadzė sits on the right. Her close friend, Joy's mother, holds a yawning Džekis.

A Real Reunion

My Mom's friend Joy was allowed to return to Lithuania in 1958. She and her family had spent seventeen years in Siberian exile. Her family had been deported to the Gulag because her mother was a teacher.

Kaunas, Lithuania, September 20, 1958. My Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora, stands in the center. Joy is to her right, and on Dora's left is Joy's mother. Joy and her mother had just returned to Lithuania. The women pose in front of the house in which my Mom grew up.

"We all were together; everyone was happy then."

That's what my Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora, wrote* on the back of this photo when she mailed it to my Mom later, in the 1960s. Dora, of course, was shading a memory with the taint of future events.

My Mom's family traveled every Christmas from their home in Kaunas to Mariampolis, where my Mom's maternal Grandparents lived. The family made the trip by train. Back then, the 51 kilometer journey seemed like a long haul. My maternal Grandmother, Jadzė, packed sandwiches for the trip, and the train rattled along for over three hours, stopping at every small station on the way.

My Mom's maternal Grandfather, Silvestras, greeted the family as it arrived at the Mariampolis station. Silvestras rented a horse-drawn sleigh for the occasion, and he tied bells to the reins.

The visit to Mariampolis was a chance for Mom again to spend time with her friend Joy. My Mom's family and Joy's family celebrated Christmas Day together.

Mariampolis, Lithuania, December 25, 1936. In the center of the shot stands my Mom, with her hair in braids and her eyes partially closed. Jadzė is in front of Mom and quickly turns to her left to look at her uniformed husband, Jake. Joy is behind my Mom's right shoulder, stepping up on her toes and looking to her left over everyone. Dora is directly to my Mom's right; she's easy to identify because of her dimple. The other folks are Joy's Parents and relatives.

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* "Čia Marijampolėje pas mus Kalėdos; visi buvome kartu, visi laimingi …"

Lifelong Friends

My Mom's closest childhood friend didn't live in the same city as Mom. She instead was from Mariampolis, the town in which Mom's maternal Grandparents, Silvestras and Zigmunta, resided.

As a result, Mom usually saw this friend only during the summers and Christmas holidays.

I'll call the friend "Joy."

Joy did not get out of Lithuania. She and her family were among those deported to Siberia in 1941. Joy spent seventeen years in Siberian exile.

When Joy returned to Lithuania, she reconnected with Dora, who by then had moved into the house in which my Mom had lived. Joy kept an eye on Dora until Dora died.

Joy, like Dora, was one of the people who mailed to us many of the old photos that I post here.

Panemunė, Lithuania, about 1927. My Mom—the child on the right, wearing dark tights—stands in front of my maternal Grandmother, Jadzė, as they visit with Joy and her family. Mom and Joy grew close because their mothers had been childhood friends.