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The Lithuanian Helsinki group's manifesto

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'If we have to die let it be to music'
Tomas Venclova Poet
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And then we went to Moscow – there weren't any Western correspondents in Lithuania while Moscow was full of them – to hold a press conference there and to announce that the Lithuanian group had been set up. We took no documents with us and we even travelled in three different trains. The two elderly members stayed in Lithuania, they gave us their permission to use their names, so to speak, wherever it was necessary, and the three of us – [Viktoras] Petkus, [Eitanas] Finkelšteinas and I – went on three different trains. If someone was to be arrested on the way, then perhaps two would still be left. If two were to be arrested, perhaps one would still be left, and that was still something. I got to Moscow, none of us were arrested, and it was in [Alexander] Ginzburg's flat that we held the press conference. Western correspondents were invited, from Reuters, from The Chicago Tribune, from somewhere else, there was someone from France, I just can't remember from which newspaper, from Libération or Le Monde – I can't remember, there was someone. And at the press conference, right there in Moscow, we wrote the group's manifesto, that we, so to say, we were collecting information about the violations of human rights in Lithuania, that the present status of Lithuania was determined by the fact that it was invaded, in '40 the Soviet army was brought in. We hoped that Western governments would take this into account and would be especially concerned about human rights being respected in Lithuania. Well, Ginzburg told us, 'Gentlemen,' he said, 'you're risking a 15-year sentence and this statement, this could be considered as an attack on the integrity of the territory of the USSR, they could even resort to the death sentence. Well, most probably, of course, that won't happen, but anything is possible. Keep that in mind'. Well, we looked at one another and said, 'Well, if we have to die let it be to music, we will not leave that statement out. It was a clear reference to the occupation of Lithuania'.

Ir tada mes nuvažiavome į Maskvą, kadangi Lietuvoj nebuvo jokių Vakarų korespondentų, Maskvoj jų buvo pilna; ir, kad ten surengtume spaudos konferenciją, pasiskelbtume, kad ta Lietuvos grupė įsikūrė. Mes nevežėm jokių dokumentų su savimi ir net važiavom trimis skirtingais traukiniais. Du senieji nariai paliko Lietuvoje, davė mums įgaliojimus jų pavardes naudoti ir, taip sakant, visur kur tik reikia, ir mes trys – Petkus, Finkelšteinas ir aš – trim skirtingais traukiniais. Jeigu ką nors pakeliui areštuos, tai dar galbūt du liks. Jiegu du areštuos, gal dar vienas liks, tai jau irgi šis tas. Atvažiuoju į Maskvą, nieko iš mūsų neareštavo, ir kaip tik Ginzburgo bute mes padarėme spaudos konferenciją. Buvo pakviesti Vakarų korespondentai, iš Roiterio, iš Čikago Tribjun, dar iš kažkur, kažkas buvo ir iš Prancūzijos, tik neatsmenu iš kokio laikraščio, ar iš Libération, ar iš Le Monde – neatsimenu, vat kažkas buvo. Ir spaudos konferenciją mes, ten pat Maskvoje surašėme grupės manifestą, kad mes, reiškia, mes renkame medžiagą apie žmogaus teisių pažeidimus Lietuvoje, kad Lietuvos dabartinis statusas yra nulemtas to fakto, kad... keturiasdešimtais metais buvo įvesta sovietų kariuomenė. Tikimės, kad Vakarų vyriausybės atsižvelgs į tą faktą, ir ypatingai rūpinsis, kad žmogaus teisės Lietuvoje būtų gerbiamos. Na, čia mums Ginsburgas pasakė: vyručiai, sako, taip tai jums gręsia penkiolika metų, o su tokiu sakiniu, tai čia jau gali būti kvalifikuota kaip pasikėsinimas į TSRS teritorinį vietisumą, už tai gali būti net ir mirties bausmė. Na, greičiausiai, žinoma, nebus, bet visko gali būti. Turėkit tą omeny. Na, mes pažiūrėjom vienas į kitą, sakom, na, jeigu jau mirti tai su muzika, mes to sakinio neišbrauksim, tai buvo aiški nuoroda į Lietuvos okupaciją.

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: Moscow, Reuters, The Chicago Tribune, Libération or Le Monde, Lithuania, 1940, Viktoras Petkus, Eitanas Finkelšteinas, Alexander Ginzburg

Duration: 2 minutes, 6 seconds

Date story recorded: May/June 2011

Date story went live: 20 March 2012