(no subject)
I'm on my third trip to Eastern Europe (Belarus mostly), and this time I'm going to try to keep a semblance of a blog.
Life in this part of the world has been exceptionally difficult since WWII. First the Germans took over, then the Russians, and neither brought anything positive. I didn't know much at all about what really went on here, particularly during the war, but all of it is 1000 times worse than I would have guessed. For all the wonderful progress that has been made here, it seems almost impossible to escape the past.
I flew into Vilnius, Lithuania and spent a couple days before heading to Minsk. This is my third trip to Vilnius, and I'm extremely fond of the city and the surrounding area. Vilnius is a particularly beautiful city,especially the Old Towne area. It is very much a modern city and most of it could fit anywhere in Western Europe.
However, a few minutes on a city bus will take you to the areas that haven't changed much at all from the Soviet times, nor have many of the cities and towns outside of Vilnius aside from a few other tourist areas.
The KGB museum (also known as the genocide museum) in Vinius, Lithuania is a sobering place. I think anyone who visits will leave with at least some sense of how awful the repression really was. However, I've noticed a striking difference between visits to war memorials and museums when I am by myself or with other westerners, versus when I've gone with locals. I think it's safe to say we've become pretty desensitized by the endless array of horrors presented by the evening news and popular entertainment, and very little in these places can compete with the really visceral feel of tv or movies, so it is easy to miss some of the impact, especially when we don't know the history well.
Seeing the reactions of people who either lived through the events themselves, or grew up being totally effected by the events, puts everything on display in an entirely different context. I really don't think anyone should visit a place like this without at least talking to someone effected by the subject, or better, being accompanied by them. No matter how much I thought I appreciated the reality of a situation, seeing middle aged women break down in tears when looking at photos of massacres of families just like thiers transforms a passing visit into an indelible reminder of reality.
I'm sure I'll touch on this a lot, but I find myself having very conflicting feelings after these visits. Part of me can completely relate to anti-war activists, the doves, because these kind of things should never happen again. But oddly enough, I also have a much greater appreciation for the hawks, because these things did happen, and if we are not vigilent, they could happen again. Balancing these competing views is difficult, but the reality is, they are not abstract concepts, and so balance them we must.
Life in this part of the world has been exceptionally difficult since WWII. First the Germans took over, then the Russians, and neither brought anything positive. I didn't know much at all about what really went on here, particularly during the war, but all of it is 1000 times worse than I would have guessed. For all the wonderful progress that has been made here, it seems almost impossible to escape the past.
I flew into Vilnius, Lithuania and spent a couple days before heading to Minsk. This is my third trip to Vilnius, and I'm extremely fond of the city and the surrounding area. Vilnius is a particularly beautiful city,especially the Old Towne area. It is very much a modern city and most of it could fit anywhere in Western Europe.
However, a few minutes on a city bus will take you to the areas that haven't changed much at all from the Soviet times, nor have many of the cities and towns outside of Vilnius aside from a few other tourist areas.
The KGB museum (also known as the genocide museum) in Vinius, Lithuania is a sobering place. I think anyone who visits will leave with at least some sense of how awful the repression really was. However, I've noticed a striking difference between visits to war memorials and museums when I am by myself or with other westerners, versus when I've gone with locals. I think it's safe to say we've become pretty desensitized by the endless array of horrors presented by the evening news and popular entertainment, and very little in these places can compete with the really visceral feel of tv or movies, so it is easy to miss some of the impact, especially when we don't know the history well.
Seeing the reactions of people who either lived through the events themselves, or grew up being totally effected by the events, puts everything on display in an entirely different context. I really don't think anyone should visit a place like this without at least talking to someone effected by the subject, or better, being accompanied by them. No matter how much I thought I appreciated the reality of a situation, seeing middle aged women break down in tears when looking at photos of massacres of families just like thiers transforms a passing visit into an indelible reminder of reality.
I'm sure I'll touch on this a lot, but I find myself having very conflicting feelings after these visits. Part of me can completely relate to anti-war activists, the doves, because these kind of things should never happen again. But oddly enough, I also have a much greater appreciation for the hawks, because these things did happen, and if we are not vigilent, they could happen again. Balancing these competing views is difficult, but the reality is, they are not abstract concepts, and so balance them we must.