OMG! A Terrible Discovery! [ Stories from Siberia continued] OMG! A Terrible Discovery! [ Stories from Siberia continued] Translated from Lithuanian from the memoirs of Irena K After Lithuania’s gained its independence in 1991, we visited many government offices in order to apply for a flat for our grand daughter Juliya and her brother Oleg. In the meantime, Juliya married a soldier in Yekaterinburg and gave birth to a baby girl called Anna. Once we were able to get them a flat, they all came to live in Kaunas near us. Then their marriage broke up.Juliya had a pure soprano voice and obtained work as an opera singer and then as an organist in a cathedral. We were very proud that she just walked into the Opera House and asked the Director if she could sing for him. She sang her heart out. Sometimes we’d mind Anna for her and take her for walks along the leafy Freedom Boulevard in the city’s centre.[ See photo below] When the Lithuanian government opened up the KGB archives to the public in the 1990’s, people were able to read what led to their exile to Siberia. We found out that in 1941, our next door neighbours had denounced us to the Russian NKVD for being the children of a Lithuanian military officer and implied that there was a possibility of us becoming involved in partisan activities against the Russians. Since we were Lt Colonel Viktor’s family, we were deemed ‘guilty’ as well. That day, we also met some survivors who had been children in 1941 and had been deported to Siberia for similar reasons. They told us terrible stories of children as young as 5 who had to work in children’s forced labour camps and survive as best they could. Thousands died. Victoria and I couldn’t believe it. We had spent 37 years in Siberian exile just for being an army officer’s family! That day we took a very long walk along Freedom Boulevard in our city of Kaunas and talked for hours about our life in Siberia. Then we sat down on a bench and started to sob. We wept for a long time for the terrible injustices that we and others had suffered in exile. Neither Victoria nor I cared how many people stared at us. Translator’s note: While reading whatever I could to get a better idea of what my great aunts had to endure in Siberia, I came across this video about a former Lithuanian President , Alexandras Stulginskas, who was also exiled to Siberia with his wife in 1941. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AsMDhebUr4&feature=player_embedded