Globali kategorija: Soviet-era

Gercas: “Basically, all amateur activities had to go through a selection process. There had to be songs in Russian and Lithuanian. Amateur activities were allowed, but I am almost completely sure that there were people infiltrated in them as well. Director Judelis Rondaris decided to create a drama in Jewish language (Yiddish) and he needed people […]

„Namas stovėjo Laisvės alėjos pradžioje, prie Vytauto parko, šalia apsodintos liepomis ir alyvomis kalno papėdės. Dailus, komfortiškas, šviesiai pilkas Namas buvo pastatytas trisdešimt trečiaisiais metais. Tuo metu Laisvės alėjoje atsirado nemažai prestižinių daugiaaukščių namų banko tarnautojams, gydytojams, kūrybinei inteligentijai ir kitai pasiturinčiai publikai. Gyventojams buvo labai gera – rytinė centrinės miesto gatvės dalis, šalia senas […]

Judita: “When I was young I used to live with my custodian in M. Valančiaus Street. There was a market in the old town that was always full of people. Rumours would spread very easily. Therefore, the women that worked in the market soon knew that I was Jewish. However, I was christened according to Christian […]

Asija: “The most important place for me was the Sobor. Pretty much all of the most significant memories were associated with this building. I remember when a whole bunch of children ran to the Sobor, as a neighbour from a nearby house was getting married there. It was my first encounter with Lithuanian traditions and with […]

Asija: “When the family got too big, we received a room in Laisvės Ave. 1A (currently Laisvės Ave. 3). The apartment had 5 rooms, each housing a different family. The rooms were separated by glass doors. Each side followed their own way of living. This “transparent’’ life continued for a long time, as covering the doors […]

Writer Markas Zingeris: for me as a child, Laisvės Avenue (Lithuanian: Laisvės alėja) was both freedom and a promise. Freedom from classes or concerns, and a promise of dreams and exotic places. There was a book store there, in which I bought The Severed Hand by W. Hauff, and a cinema near the city garden, […]

Video by students of Vytautas Magnus University: Justė Balytaitė, Monika Žekaitė, Agnė Muškietaitė, Kristina Jazdauskaitė, Natalija Žėkaitė.

Gintaras: Žalgiris Stadium was not only a place of sports events; people were also interested in the shows by stunt drivers from Czechoslovakia. You can only imagine how running tracks looked after their performances. 🙂 The Soviet government took interest not only in the health of the sportsmen, but sophisticated pastime of the audience as well: […]

Sculptor Robertas Antinis: There was Orbita – a superb club. In that common context, it was special. They used to show short erotic movies there, and it was like a strip club. What I remember about cafes of Laisvės alėja [Freedom Avenue], is the fact that it was hard to get in there at the […]