Following the Soviet occupation in 1940, and again after their return in 1944, thousands of Lithuanians, as well as Latvians and Estonians, were sent into the depths of the USSR. Over the past several years the Council of Lithuanian Youth Organisations (Lietuvos jaunimo organizacijų taryba – LiJOT) has organized expeditions to places in Siberia where Lithuanians were imprisoned, exiled and died. The purpose of these trips is to visit gulag sites, tidy graveyards and learn about the conditions endured by prisoners and deportees. During the Summer of 2010 a group of 20 selected participants (including Manvydas and Kęstutis) went to the Sverdlovsk region (Russian federation). This presentation will tell us what they found, learned and what difficulties they met in Siberia.
Kęstutis Pikūnas is a Bachelor of Science graduate from Columbia Union College (Maryland, USA). President of World Lithuanian Youth Association and a board member of World Lithuanian Community.
Manvydas Džiaugys is a student of BA(hons) Film, Tv and theatre design at Anglia Ruskin University (Cambridge campus) and is a member of B-LS.
If you wish to come to this event please send the cut-off slip and your cheque to the B-LS Secretary. Guests, BLA and BEST members are most welcome. If you are bringing a guest please make your cheque out for the appropriate amount. B-LS members are entitled to bring one guest free-of-charge.
You may register by e-mail to blssecretary@hotmail.com
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