“And what will I do alone? Nothing”, – think a part of those whose beliefs, values, aspirations do not coincide with the general opinion. It is difficult to calculate what part this is, precisely because complex dialogues with conscience usually do not reach the outside. And we always have excuses for that.
It’s difficult to speak out loud, let alone act, when your career, family well-being, and relationships with your friends are at stake. Polish director Agnieszka Holland skillfully portrays such an internal conflict, spilling out despite nothing, in her film “The Green Wall”. You don’t need a movie, we have The Wall Group, which is under a lot of pressure because they just want to help people stay human.
Arkady Vinokur also ignores nothing. In his youth, he sanded Laisvės alley barefoot, sweeping its dust from the curtains with cloche pants, the last forcibly circumcised Kaunas hippie from 2022. every Monday of early spring stands in the capital’s Cathedral Square. Standing against the war in Ukraine, now – also for Israel. He didn’t have to live there for long, but managed to serve in the army.
Arkady’s father also lived in Israel – it’s true, only for a few months, then he died. His family sent him away from Kaunas, tired of alcohol. The entire family of Vinokurs the elder died during the Holocaust – he himself ended up in Dachau from the Kaunas ghetto, eventually returned to his hometown, raised a family here, but the trauma he experienced never left his poisoned soul and body. Scientists are vocal about the fact that untreated trauma is transmitted from generation to generation. Watching Arkady, hearing his voice, seeing his look, it seems that he has found a cure. Maybe it’s the power of art? Movement, freedom, self-expression, which no one could limit.
“My father worked as a horseman, we lived on the first floor on Nemunas Street, a family of five in one room. The horse used to put his head through the window while we were eating – he was looking for treats”, smiles my interlocutor, who was briefly immersed in childhood memories. These beautiful details from Kaunas of the 1960s are reminiscent of Mark Zinger’s novel “Around the Fountain, or Little Paris”. And indeed, the two were friends.
Protest is a natural state
We met at the National Martynas Mažvydas Library. Returning after several decades spent in Sweden (where Arkadius’ first wife was from), he managed to work as a military attaché of the newly independent Lithuania, to become one of the creators of our army, he was not impressed by the then gray, industrialized Kaunas and chose to settle in the capital. “How could I not come back?” After all, I’ve been waiting for this for so many years,” the self-described Lithuanian of Jewish origin is surprised when asked why he didn’t stay in Sweden.
When I joined the 93rd Monday rally on April 15, Arkady was, of course, not alone: a few dozen Ukrainians, a handful of Jews, maybe one other Belarusian, and a few Lithuanian politicians were not frightened by the gusty wind blowing the square. However, this person’s position – to disagree with injustice – is primarily a personal, and therefore quite lonely, decision, hence the title of the article. Also, he was completely alone at the Royal Swedish Opera in 1988 when, after playing Verdi’s Rigolete, he pulled out a poster with the letters U, S, S and R made of chains to take a bow when he returned to the stage.
The message was addressed to the then Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Nikolay Ryzhkov and his entourage. A former (or maybe forever) member of the Kaunas hippie community “Company” told the director even before the performance that he did not want and could not play such a person when his friends were imprisoned or kept in psychiatric hospitals, but he was still forced to go on stage. They couldn’t protest, so Arkady embodied the voices of dozens, maybe even hundreds of people with his stance. True, it cost him his job – but strong Swedish trade unions later helped fight for compensation.
Even before this event, after the start of perestroika, Arkadius had already become a member of the Swedish press community – an actor who, as you know, traveled a lot in Sweden and always spoke loudly about the situation in Lithuania, was contacted by one newspaper. Then – television, radio.
Now we can return to Nemunas street of the 1970s, where, like elsewhere in Kaunas, Radio Luxembourg and “Voice of America” used to play secretly. “I knew when I was a kid that we were occupied,” says Arkady, and soon his eyes light up as he remembers the feeling he got when he first heard Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. Common interests brought him and other future members of “Company” to the City Garden, where Modris Tenisonas, who moved to Kaunas, noticed the youth. Arkady became a mime when he was invited to the screening. Later – as an actor and circus artist. Also, as I already mentioned, a journalist and even a taxi driver. This is the name of his autobiography – “Taxi Christ’s Confession”. The actor tried this craft in 2019, after returning from Ukraine, where he worked with children affected by the war as a theater teacher. There are many ways to express yourself and be yourself.
Torn away from the community
One of the reasons for dialing Arkady’s phone number is the 52nd anniversary of the burning of Roman Kalanta in May. Recently, a new book by VU researcher Egidija Ramanauskaitė “Kaunas hippies. The search for identity 1966-1972”, which, based on the events of that time and the testimonies of their participants, describes the temperature in Kaunas up to and after the fateful May 14, 1972. Arkady is one of the narrators. For both the author of the book and me, he emphasized the 1970s, when the company went to Tallinn to visit like-minded people. The KGB was particularly interested in this trip and in general the personalities, connections, and ideas of the young people.
Although I have heard a lot of testimonies from that time, what my interlocutor told while calmly drinking coffee with milk was shocking. Over the course of several years, he visited the offices of the occupiers, sat in a cell, suffered torture and psychiatric experiments more than once. Finally, he was offered to disappear from sight – to Israel (from there he soon moved to Sweden). At the same time, Tomas Venclova and Aleksandras Štrom also left Lithuania… Until now, it raises questions as to how it was possible to simply emigrate from a blindly closed Lithuania to a free country. Maybe for the occupiers enlightenedthat comfortably located in the West, such activists will do less harm.
So what was Arkady doing when Kalanta burned himself? “Neither I nor the others knew Romo – I don’t know where he came from in the City Garden,” the Kaunian claims. It is true that he and other members of the company really knew about Jan Palach, who set himself on fire in Prague a few years ago. The emotion that swept across Europe defied curtains and walls, and the united forces of music and art certainly helped the signal not to weaken.
Arkady arrived at the scene when the body was already being taken away, a little later than Tennyson, who still threw a jacket over the torch-turned young man. It didn’t take long for Arkady to be caught by the officers – it turns out that two minors had run away from home. The company shunned friendships with younger girls, partly to avoid getting caught by the officials. However, this time the responsibility was shifted to my interlocutor. I had to fly to Tallinn, where, it was said, the teenage girls went. They were indeed found in Tallinn, but no one allowed the hippie to return home together. They told me to wait until they send the money for the plane ticket. KGB people stopped him already at the airport. “What, are you in a hurry for a rebellion?” – “What kind of rebellion?” I don’t know anything…” Now it may be strange – what happened in the spring of 1972 in Kaunas, today would definitely be broadcast on Facebook and Tiktok. At that time, Arkady really did not know anything and, of course, did not participate in the main protests.
Next is the story. Modry Tennyson’s pantomime theater is closed. The activities of music groups and freedom of expression are restricted. The mood is sad, but action is needed and wanted. Youth itself. A year later, on the first anniversary of Kalanta’s death, Arkadij found himself in a military hospital in Šančiai – of course, in the psychiatric ward. A little later, at the age of 22, he entered the Juozas Gruodis Conservatory. There was simply no other choice. However, the main occupation was not science, but helping those who sought to avoid service in the Soviet army. The young people’s methods were impressive: they planted a bump on the forehead of the son of a Ukrainian shul, gave him medicine to make him foam at the mouth, threw him on Vokieciu street in the capital, called an ambulance… For such exploits, he was threatened with long years in prison. But it all ended with Israel, and then Sweden.
The Monday meetings that Arkadius invites to actually started in Stockholm. It was in 1990, when Lithuania was destroying the Soviet Union from within. Representatives of other Baltic countries also participated in them, and Arkadij ended the evenings with lines. Then there were 79 meetings. Now the number is sadder. But it is necessary to stand – after all, those for whom he stands cannot do it themselves.
vinokuras.lt
