Gruto Parkas

Jim Macdonald came across a blog post on a new theme park in Lithuania called Sovietland.  His one word question for me: "Huh?"

Here's some background on the new place.

His inquiry brought to mind another place, near Druskininkai, Gruto Parkas, privately run (small but meaningful admission fee) which I have been to.  When the USSR fell and mobs began destroying the "public art," the various statues from the "socialist realism" era and the monuments to stalin and lenin, someone got permission to "rescue" them.  The statues were kept hidden for a while, then a park was created to put them on display.  There is a meandering pathway, so the statues are not too close together, there is background on each piece, as well as some history for the more famous figures--responsible for the murders of such-and-so or killed this number of Lithuanians, for example.

The statuary is a remarkable testament to the moral emptiness of communism, the park is entirely successful, in my view.

They had a boxcar on display that had transported Lithuanians to Siberia, and there was talk of expanding into more active educational efforts. The place was nicknamed "Stalinland."

There was considerable controversy about it, the politicians were very uncomfortable, but they couldn't figure out why. Too disrepectful to Russians?  Improper that private owners are profiting from publicly funded art?  Perhaps the controversies contributed to the park's early popularity.

I visited the place with Vaiva and her boss, Lithuania's Minister of Education Kornelius Platelis.  I was startled by the people eagerly posing for photographs standing in front of one terrible sculpture after another. Why would they do that? It's important to never forget, yes, but they were smiling, cheerful, standing next to representations of the blackest period of Lithuania's history. Why?

The wise Minister of Education replied, "They are proving that the statues no longer have any power over them."

Seventeen months

Vaiva died seventeen months ago today.