The last time I visited the KGB museum in Vilnius, my guide was a former inmate. I found this very touching and I was pleased today when I could guide myself around. Even though it was 29 years ago, the one enduring memory was of the padded cell with blood spattered walls.
I was not looking forward to seeing that again. The upstairs of the museum was converted prison officers’ offices. In them, there are uniforms, lots of papers and many photographs, some of which showed dead partisan Lithuanians who tried unsuccessfully to fight the Russians from the forests.
Any child seeing those photos would have nightmares for years. It’s not dissimilar to the massacre museum in Nanjing – it should have a sign outside ‘unsuitable for minors’. Vilnius is full of reminders of invasions, of struggles for its independence and of deaths and torture of citizens.
One such memorial is at the TV tower where 14 Lithuanians died in 1991 while successfully fighting for independence from the Soviet Union. At the TV Tower you can pay 11 Euros and go to the top where there is a revolving restaurant where three very lazy and miserable staff work. There is no cheer, only forced smiles and indifference.
The views made up for it. For miles you can see across flat plains in the direction of Poland. Sadly there are no mountains to see only a river and lots of grey tower blocks with some nice shiny new city centre office buildings. Things have definitely improved in Vilnius since I was there last but the history remains grim.
