OPEN ARCHIVES OF KAUNAS

*Neringa:* Yesterday, while driving from Vilnius to Kaunas, I saw the “new” sign of the city of Kaunas and realized that the old sign was a really special place. We would stop next to it every time we came back from Vilnius, even if relatives from America came to visit us. This was the first stop after Vilnius Airport, where we would all take photos with guests we haven't seen for a long time (or saw for the very first time). Even though the sign was a relict of the Soviet times, but compared to the “new” one, it had certain image and uniqueness to it. From my childhood, I remember those steps up to the sign and the red brightness of its background, that would contrast to the light blue summer sky. In this picture, it's me, my mother, and guests from America: Debbie and Ramutė in 1993. (2014)

*Fruma: *"My first childhood memories connected to Kaunas are very warm. My grandparents lived in the heart of Kaunas, near Town Hall Square. At the time, buses did not run during holidays, so we used to get from Šančiai district to the Old Town on a carriage (at least we called it so) or on a bričkelė* with a roof you could lift. I remember exactly where the bričkelė stood with harnessed horses. Many years after there was a taxi stop at the same place in the Old Town". * One-horse holiday cart

*Lolita:* "Gimiau ir augau Kauko alėjoje (kai gimiau, ji tuo metu dar vadinosi S. Šimkaus alėja). Ąžuolynas yra vienas miesto miškas, o šalia gyvenantiems buvo aktualu jį konkretinti. Taigi, tarp K. Petrausko, Parodos ir Radastų gatvių esančią dalį, kur XX a. 9 dešimtmetyje dar buvo atrakcionai, vadinome Mažuoju Ąžuolynu,  arba Ąžuolynėliu, o dalį nuo K. Petrausko g. Zoologijos sodo link - Didžiuoju Ąžuolynu.  Į Zoologijos sodą eidavome pėsčiomis. Ąžuolyne - įspūdingiausia, be abejo, buvo stumbro skulptūra, bet būdama maža labai mėgau ir L. Striogos "Poilsį", kurį vadinau "hipopo" - matyt, vaikui kažkuo priminė begemotą." (2019 m.)

*Arkadijus Vinokuras (member of the "Company"**):* We were proud of Kaunas, and the situation of Lithuania hurt us, so a lot of us would carry a litas coin featuring Duke Vytautas from the Smetona times. Miesto Sodas has become the symbol of wanting freedom, a little island of anti-conformism and the hippie movement itself was an important phenomenon as an explosion of freedom in the Soviet Kaunas and Lithuania.

Portraits of friends (1985) captured in the yards of Dainava microdistrict

*Alma: *Some time ago, this university was called Kaunas Polytechnic Institute and the campus was built only around 1975.  Specific dorms were designated for students from specific faculties and they would not be mixed. Different floors were divided for ladies and gentlemen. The discipline was strict. There was a lot of stress for students, when at 8 in the morning, someone would come to see if they have left for the lectures, and whether some rascals stayed in and slept. A few of us would go: laboratory assistants, rector or superintendent and, of course, the correspondent. Back then, we did not know the word 'journalist'.  The journalist was from the paper 'Tarybinis mokslas' (The Soviet Science).  He would travel with some old camera, thrown over his shoulder.  If he found someone sleeping, he would publish it in the paper immediately and the paper would travel around and be pinned on all notice boards in dorms and faculties. It is nice to remember what discipline it has been, when students would go to study wearing jackets, skirts, costumes and hats. Also, a lot of students would come from Latvia and Estonia. It is nice to notice the former students from Latvia still coming to see the dorm where they lived 20 or even 30 years ago. (2014)

*K. Laurinaitytė: *I had been visiting Merkurijus since very young days. It was like one of the monuments of Kaunas. That building had something to it.  It was more beautiful on the exterior than the interior. It was the first place, where my mother allowed me to walk with friends without supervision. (2014)

Konstantinas: “My childhood passed here, about 80 years ago. I was the youngest of three sons. My parents were farmers. I remember I had no one to hang out with. After elementary school, I got transferred to Išlaužas School. I used to walk about 10 kilometres every day. The horse was harnessed only in case of a snowstorm, but rarely. We would leave and return in the darkness. During the post-war period, we were moved outside the fence, behind that aerial field. We were forced to leave our house and moved into the homestead of deported people. I remember how German prisoners would build houses. We would run around construction with other kids. They had built aerials as well; made of copper, on a wooden pole. Germans had an orchestra of mixed instruments. There was a very good violinist. He conducted the orchestra. Soldiers and their families spoke and sang Russian and German. Soldiers had a huge house of culture; would screen movies there.” (2019)

(Operating from 2011 to 2013).

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.

*Alvydas Vaitkevičius: *I am sending several photos by a famous photographer from the Soviet times, Stanislovas Lukošius which he gave me before he passed away. Photos feature explanations by Stanislovas Lukošius himself. He had a phenomenal memory and knew about the past of Kaunas in great detail. He wrote the texts himself, even though he was almost blind, so they are not easy to read... Almost 30 years ago, I got an opportunity to speak with him at his home. At that time, he had been blind for maybe 10 years and could not manage the archive of his photos and negatives without help. My son, who was then around 12 helped him at that time. Lukošius was a great patriot of Lithuania and greatly influenced my son's attitude towards history. Lukošius gave these and other photos to my son, but these are of the best quality. Maybe later I will find more... (2014)

*Siegfried:* “Just at the outskirts of Kaunas, I was dug up by locomotive firemen and picked up like some kitten. It was the spring of 1947, the weather was still cold. The men asked me in German: “How did you end up here?” I told them: “I want nach Litauen, Kowno, Brot holen. To Lithuania, Kaunas, bring bread back to my mother.” The train stopped in front of Nemunas and the railway bridge. The main said: “You would not cross this bridge. We would cross it, bring you over and leave you in Kaunas.” And that was what they did. I saw clean, neatly dressed people walking around. The city and the station were full. I thought to myself, that I was probably dead, because my mother told me that we were “close to our graves”, and if people died, both children and adults, they went straight to heaven.” And when in Kaunas I saw one Russian and then another one, I woke up from that dream. My new life had started. When I started writing a book, I told people and to myself that this has been my second homeland. I was in Lithuania for the second time.” (2018 m.)