"When I was a boy, all the best meat went to Moscow. … We used to say that Lithuania had exploding pigs. After the explosion, only the ears, tail and feet were left."

A guide explains Soviet-era life to a tourist bicycling through the "Baltic backwater."

 

Mom remembers how the Soviets exported Lithuanian products—butter, pork, and geese—to Russia. In turn, trucks labeled "Food for Starving Lithuania" arrived from the Soviet Union. The trucks were filled with watermelons.

There are ethnic Russians living in Lithuania, too.

Anonymous petition asks residents of Klaipėda "to approve the region's accession to the Russian Federation."

ADDED: Here's a map showing the distribution of ethnic Russians in the Baltic States.

Keepsake

When my Mom and her Father, Jake, decided to leave Kaunas, they traveled to the city of Tauragė. They hoped the Soviet army would retreat. The pair had only brought a few items with them to Tauragė because no one believed the Soviets would prevail. When it became clear that the Soviets weren't going to retreat, Jake briefly went back to the family home in Kaunas. He thought he might collect a few more personal belongings that he and Mom could take when they fled to the west.

When Jake got to the house, little remained. Most valuables had been buried in the countryside. Soldiers had looted most everything that hadn't been hidden. Jake, however, found one thing he thought Mom would like to keep. The item was a small landscape that Heddy—the wife of Jake's younger brother, Zigmas—had needlepointed in the 1930s for Mom. Mom carried the piece with her to Germany, and she's had it ever since. 

For many years, the needlepoint hung in the Door County cottage, and now, it's back with us again:

"Kai Klaipėda memeliu vadinos ..."

"When Klaipeda was called Memel" is a lovely collection of historical photos from the Lithuanian region that bordered East Prussia/Germany.

"Pfui!"

"Pfui," a word of German origin, is what we said at our house to express disgust. I don't know whether my Parents incorporated it into their vocabulary when they were Displaced Persons or whether Mom learned it from the time she spent in the German-speaking part of Lithuania.

We said "pfui" often around here when the dogs were puppies.

In America we say "phooey." But "pfui" sounds stronger to me.

Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois, May 1961. This is the facial expression that accompanies "pfui."

Snapshot with the Staff

Tauragė, Lithuania, about 1929. My Mom's paternal Grandfather, Cody Sr., worked at the Customs House on the border between Lithuania and East Prussia/Germany. Here he stands, in the center and wearing a suit, with his staff.

Thanks to my "Very New" Cousin for making this photo available to us.

The Decision to Leave

During the Summer of 1944, the Soviet Union pushed west and launched its "annexation occupation" of the Baltic States. By mid-July of that year, my Mom and my paternal Grandfather, Jake, could hear the bomb blasts approaching their home town of Kaunas.

Mom and Jake packed two suitcases and decided to wait out the Soviet invasion—which they believed would be brief—in the border city of Tauragė. They gathered a few belongings. Mom bartered a bicycle in exchange for a wagon. They then hitchiked to Tauragė, where Jake's Parents, Cody Sr. and Wanda, had lived.

Mom and Jake remained in Tauragė during the last two weeks of July 1944, hoping that the Soviet Army would retreat. The two stayed with the family of Jake's cousin, who lived on the second floor of the old, Cody Sr., house. They buried most valuables they had in the countryside. When the Russians continued to move westward, the families—Mom, Jake, and Jake's cousin's brood—decided to leave Lithuania. They headed together to the train station and began their lives as refugees.

Notably, in the ensuing year, Tauragė became the precise region in which in Soviet Army would claim victory over the Germans.

Tauragė, Lithuania, between July 14 and July 31, 1944. My Mom poses with the wife of Jake's cousin. This is one of the last three photos taken of Mom while she was still on Lithuanian soil.

Customs House

Tauragė, Lithuania, around 1929. Tauragė sat on the border between Lithuania and East Prussia/Germany, in a geographically disputed area known as the Memel region. This is a photo of the Customs House. The word "Customs" appears on the building in both Lithuanian and German.