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Memories of Pranas Mašiotas's funeral and of learning to read

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My father is appointed Minister of Education
Tomas Venclova Poet
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In 1940 Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union and what I would call a puppet government was set up – the [Justas] Paleckis government – and my father was appointed to it without his knowledge – nobody asked his permission – and he was appointed Minister of Education. Well, after discussing it with his acquaintances, with his close friends, he accepted the appointment, and for a period while the Soviet government so to speak was taking hold, education in Lithuania – all the schools, the university, as well as the theatres – was under his control. There weren’t very many theatres in Lithuania then, but there were some. We can say that he and nobody else signed the law by which the Miltinis Theatre in Panevėžys was set up – a widely known centre of culture, an important one. My father knew Juozas Miltinis well. As it happens, that’s when he returned from Paris having studied there under Charles Dullin, and where he had made friends with [Jean-Louis] Barrault, [Antonin] Artaud, and other well known activists in French theatre. He returned to Lithuania and didn’t really know what to do. Well, and it was my father who sent him to Panevėžys to organise the theatre there. Later, that theatre with [Donatas] Banionis, [Juozas] Budraitis, [Bronius] Babkauskas, Vitkus [sic], was the best and most interesting theatre in Lithuania at least for some time. But that was much later. Well, and my father, even though he wasn’t a member of the communist party at the time, worked, so to speak, in the Soviet system.

Keturiasdešimtais metais Lietuva buvo okupuota Tarybų Sąjungos ir buvo sukurta tokia, sakyčiau, marionetinė vyriausybė, [Justo] Paleckio vyriausybė ir mano tėvas joje buvo paskirtas, netgi pats to nežinodamas, niekas jo neatsiklausė, buvo paskirtas švietimo ministru. Na, pasitaręs su pažįstamais, su bičiuliais, jis tą paskyrimą priėmė ir kurį laiką sovietų valdžiai, taip sakant, įsitvirtinant, jo rankose buvo lietuvių švietimas – visos mokyklos, universitetas, taip pat ir teatrai. Teatrų Lietuvoje dar tada buvo labai nedaug, bet buvo. Sakysim ne kas kitas, bet tėvas pasirašė įstatymą pagal kurį buvo įkurtas Miltinio teatras Panevėžyje. Plačiai žinoma tokia mūsų kultūros vieta, reikšminga. Juozas Miltinis buvo tėvo geras pažįstamas. Jis kaip tik tada grįžo iš Paryžiaus, Paryžiuje pasimokęs pas Šarlį Diuleną, susidraugavęs su Baro, su Arto, su kitais žinomais prancūzų teatro veikejais; atvyko į Lietuvą ir nelabai žinojo ką veikti. Na, ir tėvas nusiuntė jį į Panevėžį, kad jis ten organizuotų teatrą. Veliau tas teatras su Banioniu, su Budraičiu, su Babkausku, Vitkum, bent kurį laiką tai buvo geriausias Lietuvos teatras, pats įdomiausias. Bet tai buvo žymiai vėliau. Na, ir tėvas, nors irgi dar tuomet nebuvo komunistų partijos narys bet, taip sakant, dirbo toje tarybinėje sistemoje.

Born in 1937, Tomas Venclova is a Lithuanian scholar, poet, author and translator of literature. He was educated at Vilnius University and later at Tartu University. As an active participant in the dissident movement he was deprived of Soviet citizenship in 1977 and had to emigrate. Between 1977 and 1980 he lectured at University of California, Berkeley, where he became friends with the Polish poet Czesław Miłosz, who was a professor of Slavic Languages and Literature at the school, as well as the Russian poet Joseph Brodsky. He is currently a full professor at Yale University.

Listeners: Andrzej Wolski

Film director and documentary maker, Andrzej Wolski has made around 40 films since 1982 for French television, the BBC, TVP and other TV networks. He specializes in portraits and in historical films. Films that he has directed or written the screenplay for include Kultura, which he co-directed with Agnieszka Holland, and KOR which presents the history of the Worker’s Defence Committee as told by its members. Andrzej Wolski has received many awards for his work, including the UNESCO Grand Prix at the Festival du Film d’Art.

Tags: 1940, Lithuania, Soviet Union, Minister of Education, Miltinis Theatre, Panevėžys, Justas Paleckis, Juozas Miltinis, Charles Dullin, Jean-Louis Barrault, Antonin Artaud, Donatas Banionis, Juozas Budraitis, Bronius Babkauskas

Duration: 1 minute, 51 seconds

Date story recorded: May/June 2011

Date story went live: 20 March 2012