On 14 June, Lithuanian educational institutions marked the Day of Mourning and Hope by joining the “Abandoned Homes” initiative.
On the 84th anniversary of the deportation of the Lithuanian population this year, the Secretariat of the International Commission invited general education institutions in Lithuania to participate in the initiative. The initiative encouraged school communities to discuss individuals who were forced to leave their homes unexpectedly, often at night or in the morning, taking only a few hastily collected belongings with them. Those driven into exile left their homes and, unfortunately, never returned. Students were invited to read and analyse the stories and memories of former exiles and political prisoners, and to create paper or other materials Lithuanian houses, just as they were in the Lithuanian countryside eighty or more years ago. Lessons and commemorative events were organised in Lithuanian educational institutions from 9 to 13 June.
The official commemoration event took place in Vilnius on Saturday 14 June at the Memorial to the Exiles in Naujoji Vilnia, near the railway station. The official commemoration event featured sensitive texts about exile, as well as poems and songs performed by former exiles and today’s youth. An ensemble of students from the Tolerance Education Centre of the Ąžuolo Gymnasium in Varėna also performed a musical piece at the event in Vilnius.
The students who participated in the event presented the former exiles with models of the ‘Abandoned Houses’ they had created as a commemorative gift for this initiative. The Secretariat of the International Commission thanks the school communities of the Tolerance Education Centres for their participation in the event in Vilnius and for promoting historical memory among young people.
