KGB Museum

Our first destination, before meeting up with Ramūnas, was the KGB Museum. The KGB Museum, or The Museum of Genocide Victims, did not allow photography, so unfortunately we only have pictures of the outside.

 A monument to those who were victims of the genocide that occurred during the Russian occupation

The Entrance to the Museum

The inside of the museum was divided into different rooms that chronologically expounded the story of the Lithuanians struggle for independence from the Soviet Union. The forced deportations to Kazakhstan (I think this is the right –stan) and to Siberia (the Gulag) were covered in detail. Many thousands of people were deported because they were seen as a threat to the Soviet Union. Other areas detailed the history of the KGB.

The most poignant part of the museum was the basement where the prison was housed. While the cells themselves looked quite inhospitable, there were various torture chambers. One room was under the stairs so you constantly heard the stamp of the guards going up and down the stairs. In another room, the prisoners had to stand on an unbalanced metal disk in a room full of ice-cold water. They had to perfectly maintain their balance, or they fell off. I think the cold temperature of the prison would have been enough torture for me.

After we walked through the jail, we exited through a courtyard that formerly provided the prisoners with fresh air, at least when the guards would let them out of their cells. We then entered another building and walked down to the basement. In addition to the forced deportations, political prisoners also faced the possibility of execution. We were in the room where these executions took place. That was a kind of creepy feeling. A video played on a constant loop depicting an execution occurring. I'm not sure if it was actual footage or if it was a re-enactment, but regardless it was horrifying to witness the blatant disregard for the sanctity of life. According to the museum's website, more than 1000 people were executed here.