Vaikai be vaikystės

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Trėmimai; Pažėrų šeima; Vaikai; Deportations; Pažėrai family; Children.

ENIn May 1948, the whole of Lithuania sank in tears: the great deportations took place. In the early morning of May 21, the family of Kazimieras and Janina Pažėrai with two young children were deported from Kaunas. Romualdas was five, Albinas was three. Kazimieras Pažėra had graduated from Kaunas Military School, and Janina Pažėrienė from Vytautas Magnus University, and taught Lithuanian language and literature in Kaunas gymnasiums. The same morning, Genovaitė Vitkienė (wife of Juozas Vitkus-Kazimieraitis) with five children was deported, the youngest of whom, Liudukas, was only halfway through his four years old. Husband and father Colonel Juozas Vitkus-Kazimieraitis died in the summer of 1946 near Lake Liškiavis in Lazdijai County, and the family had the destiny of the deportees. Together with other unfortunates, they were pushed into dark wagons and, like the greatest criminals, were transported for weeks in inhumane conditions until they found themselves in the Taljans. They were told it to be their home and their houses were the barracks left since the tsar’s time, to which Lithuanian families were crammed. The only glimmer in the gloomy life of the deportees was the appearance of the priest Pranciškus Šliumpa. After Stalin’s death, the priest was released from the camp and could choose a place of exile. He arrived in Taljans, where his brother Antanas and his family were exiled. Priest Pranciškus Šliumpa discovered a great ground for pastoral work: he married couples, baptized children, and buried the dead. He gathered the youth into a choir and became famous as a good preacher. The local authorities ordered the priest to take up employment immediately. He immediately began working in the sawmill, it was hard physical work, but he diligently performed the duties of a priest, of course in secret, so as not to fall into the eyes of security guards.When, after the exhausting deportation and many humiliations, the deportees reached the dreamed-of Lithuania, no one met them with their arms outstretched. Motherland was not expected to become a cruel stepmother. They could not return to their real homes because they were accommodated by strangers and they could not register there. The sign of the deportee accompanied them in search of employment or education. Romualdas Požėra, like many others, needed a lot of patience to achieve the set goal, but he managed to graduate from Kaunas Polytechnic Institute. The difficulties experienced as a child hardened him, and life far from Lithuania inspired the love for freedom and Lithuania. Therefore, he still lives a fulfilling life: he is the deputy chairman of the Alytus branch of the Union of Political Prisoners and Deportees, the deputy chairman of the Tėvynės sąjungaLietuvos krikščionių demokratų partija a member of the deportee choir Atmintis and the church choir. [From the publication]