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- Title
Kur laisvė eina, ten laimė seka.
- Authors
PETRAUSKIENĖ, Aistė; VAITKEVIČIUS, Vykintas
- Abstract
This article examines Lithuanian freedom and the concept of fights for freedom. The Lithuanian nation, having lost its statehood in the 18th c.-end of the 20th c, rebelled many times. Prof. Vytautas Kavolis calls the tradition of uprisings Lithuanian revolutions and the basis for the name "freedom struggles". Since ancient times, with deep faith and dedication, there have been battles for freedom, self-government and own land. Their homeland's freedom was and is the nation's greatest value, freedom struggles are portrayed as a crusade and the path that leads to freedom. Fighters from different generations arc united not only by the motif of battle, but also inherited relics, objects, oaths. The fight for freedom goes beyond simple military operations; because of a very strongly expressed sacral dimension it can be called sacred. In the second part of the article the authors move on from the freedom of the homeland closer to the concept of the freedom of the fighters; both of these freedoms are closely interrelated. The study is based on sources from the 1944-1953 guerrilla wars and the stories female partisan messengers, collected in 2012-2013. Most of them did not wear military uniforms, did not know how to shoot and had never pointed a gun. However, they were very close to the fighters, they were a part of them. In Lithuanian history there was no other period when women meant so much -- documents, letters, press, news, coordinated actions and dissemination of knowledge connected militant squads, the squads -- to teams, teams -- to counties, counties -- to districts. With the efforts of the messengers, freedom fighters managed to rally to the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters. The fates of the messengers developed in different ways -- two-three years of freedom struggle, later many of them were detained, tried, spent four-five years in a prison camp, lived in exile in Siberia. In the 1990s, days of happiness, in the chests of the freedom fighters it seemed that freedom itself came forth, so dear, repressed by the enemy, a yearning kept hidden for so long! It is experienced as the greatest happiness, fun and joy, manifested as an inability to keep still, endless desire to move, to go out and share the feeling with relatives, neighbours, and others. The conclusion of the article sounds like an oath -- freedom is an inherent Lithuanian cultural value, over the ages the homeland's freedom is the most important and most desired prerequisite for a happy life.
- Subjects
HAPPINESS; LIBERTY; INDEPENDENCE Day (Lithuania); KAVOLIS, Vytautas; LITHUANIAN history
- Publication
Folk Culture, 2014, Vol 154, Issue 1, p17
- ISSN
0236-0551
- Publication type
Article