Genocide/KGB Museum Excursion
So today, we went on an excursion to the Genocide Museum in Vilnius. Even though it sounds morbid, and it is, I was very excited to go because of my interest in spies and Cold War relations.
After paying our entrance fee (3 ltl=$1.20) we headed into the exhibit. It was really well done with artifacts, videos, and photos and chronicled the Soviet/Nazi history of Lithuania from 1940 onwards, focusing mostly on the fight to regain their freedom. Sadly we weren't allowed to take pictures. Moving upstairs, there was a whole room devoted to the KGB and their espionage tactics. Again, super interesting.
The most intense part was visiting the downstairs of the building which housed the old Soviet Prison. The cells were tiny and it was almost impossible to imagine someone living there. What was really scary, were the Padded Room and the Water Room. The Padded Room was made to for people who either made too much noise with their crying, or had become too deranged from torture to put in a normal cell. The Water Room was a room with a small raised pedestal in the middle, that was just big enough to stand on. Guards would make a prisoner stand on the pedestal and then fill the room with ice cold water. If the prisoner slipped they would be soaked with the water. Keep in mind the cold winters and the fact that the prison was concrete with no heating.
Easily the most disturbing part was the Execution Room. We had to walk down a flight of stairs onto a glass floor. The floor was raised and see through, so that you could see the ground. Under the glass were old prisoner belongings that were found in a prisoner burial ground. When we finally entered the Execution Room, they had a video playing showing what actually happened to people during their execution. I'll spare the details, but it was shocking to say the least.
Even though it was a sad thing to witness, I think it was a very important experience. The history is something that I feel like everyone should know and appreciate. It is hard to imagine that this stuff happened, but it did, and we need to remember it.
Here are the links to the museum website as well as the Wikipedia page about this period in Lithuania's history:
http://www.muziejai.lt/vilnius/genocido_auku_muziejus.en.htm#Expositions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Lithuania#World_War_II_.281939.E2.80.9345.29