CAPTIVE EUROPEAN NATIONS TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 1962 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON EUROPE, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, in room G-3, U.S. Capitol, at 2:03 p.m., Hon. John S. Monagan presiding. Mr. MONAGAN. We will call the hearing to order. We are very happy today to move into the matter of the situation of the country of Lithuania as one of the captive nations in which we have great interest. To testify today we have Mr. Joseph Miklovas of Chicago and Mr. Jack Stukas of Hillside, N.J. Mr. Stukas, you are going to testify in English, are you? STATEMENT OF JACK STUKAS, HILLSIDE, N.J. Mr. STUKAS. That is correct. Mr. MONAGAN. Please step up to the table and sit down and we shall begin with your testimony. Do you have a prepared statement or do you want to proceed extemporaneously, or what is your desire? Mr. STUKAS. Perhaps extemporaneously. I wrote this letter to Dr. Trimakas, who is the president of the Supreme Council to Liberate Lithuania, on June 9, 1960. This is what I had seen in 7 days in Soviet occupied Lithuania. Mr. MONAGAN. This is back in 1960? Mr. STUKAS. Yes; I was there as an American tourist. Mr. MONAGAN. I think it would be more effective if you spoke extemporaneously and if you want to put anything else in the record we can consider it at that time. Would you give us a brief biography as you open your statement, please. Mr. STUKAS. I am a lecturer at the City University of New York, and also for the last 20 years directer of the Lithuanian-American Radio Hour in New York. I have been active in Lithuanian-American organizations, especially in the fight to liberate the Baltic States. I was advised by Dr. Trimakas, head of the Supreme Council to Liberate Lithuania, that this committee was holding these hearings, and they thought what I had seen in the 7 days, what I had experienced in Lithuania, would be of value to this committee and its objectives. I think I will refer to these notes which will help me refresh my memory. In Lithuania I found the people, those I had spoken to, men and women in the arts, students, and professional people of all sorts, very anti-Russian. In fact, I was quite surprised over the fact that I had not met a single person of the 50 or 60 that I had seen that had a good word for the Russians, with the exception, of course, of the Communist Intourist guide who was almost my constant companion through the 6 or 7 days in Lithuania. I noticed the preponderance of Russian colonists in the capital of Vilnius, with the preponderance also of Russian being used in their radio broadcasts, television, and newspapers. As for the churches, out of 33 churches I saw only 4 open. Mr. STUKAS. I mean the new Russian immigrants coming into Lithuania. Many Lithuanians, as you know, Mr. Congressman, were deported during the war and after the war to Siberian concentration camps. The decimation of the population had left many of the cities underpopulated. So Russian colonists have come in from parts of Russia and settled in Lithuania. There is this great Russification going on, and most everything is in both Russian and Lithuanian; the radio is predominantly in Russian, and this Russification process is occurring in almost every activity. Mr. SEELY-BROWN. How many of the people there have either radio sets or television sets so that they can receive this message? Mr. STUKAS. There were quite a few. I don't have any number. In the hotel they had them, and people I spoke to had radio sets. They are producing radio sets now-it was being done in the former Church of the Resurrection in Kaunas. This cathedral had been converted into a radio factory. They are producing radio and television sets for Lithuania. Mr. SEELY-BROWN. Does the Voice of America come through? Mr. STUKAS. I worked for the Voice of America between 1951 and 1954 as radio director in the north Europe sector. I inquired of many people that I met as to how we were coming through. We are coming through. They are listening to the Voice of America. They decry the fact, however, that we give too much factual news. We emphasize news. For instance, Khrushchev at that time was in Paris, or somewhere. "We know that from Pravda. Why tell us he is in Paris?” What they would like to hear is what American Lithuanians are doing. The Russian propaganda has it that we are doing nothing to help them, that when a Lithuanian comes to America his cultural life is destroyed, which is opposite from what is true. They want to know what we are doing-we are publishing books here in America in the Lithuanian language, we are putting on operas, we have choruses, all sorts of cultural activity which is beautifully flourishing here. We have one-quarter of the population of the Lithuanian people here in America. They wanted to know what they were doing. It is a complete Iron Curtain. I think we are failing in communications, as I mentioned in this letter to Dr. Trimakas. We are not giving them what they want to hear. We should be more tailored especially to the captive nations as to what we are trying to put across. Mr. SEELY-BROWN. Have you suggested this to Mr. Murrow? Mr. STUKAS. No; I haven't. I wrote to Dr. Trimakas in the hope that he would write a letter. Mr. Petrutis is here from the Voice of America. He had an interview with me in New York when I re turned. I gave him full information on what I had experienced. Students that I spoke to on the Hill of Gediminas pointed out the transmitters that were used to jam the Voice of America. The Communist guide looked down with disdain on the Voice of America and its programing, as if "it is unimportant to us; you are not hurting us in any way"-that sort of attitude. I was very much upset by the fact that they knew very little about our activities in their behalf, that we in America still recognized the free Lithuanian Government elected by the people, and so forth. Mr. Kajeckas, our minister here, is still functioning. They didn't know this, the people I spoke to. I think that one other major recommendation is that when the Voice of America does speak it would tailor its news and tailor news not only of Lithuanians, what Lithuanian-Americans are doing culturally, but other groups as well. They are interested in the emigration, and what this emigration has done in the free world and other parts of the world. It is natural curiosity. The Russians keep telling them that once an emigre has gotten into America he is swallowed up and destroyed. Mr. MONAGAN. Sunday I had the privilege of speaking at a rally in New York, celebrating the anniversary of the deportations-Baltic States rally. There was a Voice of America recorder there which took down all the proceedings. There was a musical program. So I am sure that the purpose of that is to broadcast it to the Baltic countries. Mr. STUKAS. These are very important, Mr. Congressman. I think we should concentrate on news to the captive nations as to what their emigration is doing here. Sunday is not a holiday there. The Communist authorities, since the people are overwhelmingly Christian and church going, force them not to go to church on Sunday by declaring Sunday a workingday and Monday a legal holiday. On Monday, if you have important news for consumption, it should be repeated. They could use more programing. This one program I think is repeated about four or five times, the same news, same commentary. If there could be added 15 minutes or 30 minutes to the entire effort it would be certainly in line. One gentleman told me just the fact that the Voice of America is speaking to us indicates we are not forgotten, that they are speaking to us in Lithuanian and not in Russian. There is a disdain for anything Russian. They equate Russia with the Soviet Union. To them it is the same. It is a new Russification policy which they have experienced 120 years before. Mr. SEELY-BROWN. How about the young children? Mr. STUKAS. I spoke to some students at length for 4 hours on the Hill of Gediminas. I was looking for a certain street. These students and I went up on to this hill. We knew that we didn't have any microphones. Each hotel is bugged, of course. Everything is bugged there, the restaurants, and so on. So we went to the Hill of Gediminas and I spoke to them at length about the attitude of the youth. I was surprised over the fact that they have been in these pioneer camps for 20 years and they have experienced all this Russian indoctrination to find them as loyal to Lithuania's cause as they are. They felt the Russians falsify history. "Every time we pick up a history book we know the truth has been more than stretched. When we pick up a technical book on an exact science we question the facts because it is based on a Russian system." That one of the students after 20 years of Russian indoctrination put a question mark on things like that to me was an amazing revelation. They also talked about their daily relations. They were not religious, unfortunately. Sovietization has taken place to that extent. Without religious instruction they are not too religious. However, their parents are religious. If they go to church they can't go to a university. If you are a churchgoer, and your child goes to a public school, he will not get the grades that a Communist child gets. child discrimination permeates the entire structure, against those who go to church in Lithuania. This These were all facts given to me and are very accurate to the best of my knowledge. Mr. MURPHY. Is the instruction in the schools in the Lithuanian or the Russian language? Mr. STUKAS. As far as I know, it was in both languages. In Vilnius a lot of instruction is in Russian. In the village schools it is practically all in Lithuanian. There is an objection to listening to anything Russian in the villages. The Lithuanian people are proud of the fact that throughout centuries of foreign subjugation they have not given into the Russian and earlier Polish influences. And the same is true today. The village, where the farmers live, and so forth, are predominantly all Lithuanian in culture as well as in fact. Mr. MURPHY. I understand during the Russification program the Soviets are bringing a great number of Russians into Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. Someone told me last week that at the present time in Riga, Latvia, about 70 percent are now Russians. Mr. STUKAS. Vilnius, as I have indicated in this report, is close to 60 percent Russian, which is the capital city of Lithuania. I mentioned before the colonists. Since the three Baltic countries were decimated by the Soviet Union and other invasions, the Russian colonists found ripe fields there to settle. With the aid of the Government, of course, they are gradually taking over these countries culturally as well as physically. Mr. MURPHY. Are they trying to eliminate the Baltic people's culture and language? Mr. STUKAS. Yes. A lot of these Baltic peoples are still in Siberian concentration camps. Those that returned to Lithuania I was told can't find jobs because they are still considered an enemy of the people, an enemy of the proletariat, and they have considerable difficulty in locating. They have to sign statements that they own no property, and so forth. Some of them have to return to Siberia in desperation because the means of making a livelihood are closed when they return from their exile. I would like to also mention that Kaunas was a closed city to all. I was among the first non-Lithuanians in 20 years from the free world to see Kaunas, the provisional capital before the war. They wanted me to see the tremendous dam they had built on the Niemen River, which was to show the achievements the Communist world has brought to Lithuania. I was most pleasantly surprised when, after speaking a half hour with one of the bystanders there, an old fellow from the farm, along with Mr. Krueger, who heads the Paper Art Co. of Indianapolis, who accompanied me on the trip, told us he was awfully glad that the Russians built such a large dam on the Niemen because when they get their carcasses out of Lithuania after liberation they won't be able to take it with them. It is too big. It showed the vigor of these people in resisting Russification. Later, I was told by villagers that "we have never had such means of serfdom as we have now in Lithuania on the collective farms." We should continue to send them relief packages. To give you an idea of package costs, one average package is $120. Sixty dollars for the package and $60 for the Russian duty. One package is equivalent to practically a year's wages for $120. It shows you the economic condition of the farmers. Before the ruble was devalued a suit in Lithuania cost 2,000 rubles. Their monthly salary was about 700 rubles. If a person ate nothing, didn't pay for his rent, and so forth, for working 3 months he would be able to get one suit. Mr. MONAGAN. What was your arithmetic again? Mr. STUKAs. In Lithuania a suit of clothes like I have on costs 2,000 rubles before the new ruble came out. This was in 1960. A worker earned during the month 700 rubles. He would have to work 3 months just to buy a suit, and without thinking of food, his means of paying for his rent, and so forth, which shows you the poor economic conditions. This was never possible before the war, when you could earn a suit like you could in America in practically during the same time. To continue speaking extemporaneously, I asked a question of a professional person as to what had transpired after the war. We had heard that Lithuania had the largest underground following the war, fighting the Communist invader. This person told me that doctors of medicine protested many times when these freedom fighters-their bodies were exposed in the village square, brutally mutilated, left to rot and smell. It was felt this would bring disease on the town. The Communist authorities wouldn't listen for they thought the people needed a lesson. To this person's knowledge, nearly 100,000 Lithuanian partisans died in defense of Lithuanian freedom from the years following the war to 1952. Mr. MONAGAN. That was after the deportations? Mr. MONAGAN. Which were in 1941? Mr. STUKAS. Yes; up to 1952 when the last pockets of resistance were obliterated. Many died horrible deaths. Many took their own lives when they thought they would be captured. These partisans had preserved for many years the thought that Lithuanians would be free. One thing, too, was mentioned in the negative sense. She said: You in America sort of helped eliminate these people who would be fighting with us as we are today, in our souls, against the Russians. You told us you would come to liberate us and these men waited in the forest for the liberation which never came, and they were exterminated. Right now we are waiting |