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Full Description
This book of thirteen conversations introduces us to the life of an exceptional person—theatre critic, Germanist, and long-time chair of the Open Lithuania Fund board—Irena Veisaitė. The dialogue between Lithuanian historian Aurimas Švedas and a woman who reflects deeply on her experiences reveals both one individual's historically dramatic life and the fate of Europe and Lithuania in the twentieth century.
Through the complementary lenses of history and memory, we confront with Veisaitė the horrific events of the Holocaust, which brought about the end of the Lithuanian Jewish world. We also meet an array of world-class cultural figures, see fragments of legendary theatre performances, and hear meaningful words that were spoken or heard decades ago.
This book's interlocutors do not so much seek to answer the question "What was it like?" but instead repeatedly ask each other: "What, how, and why do we remember? What is the meaning of our experiences? How can history help us to live in the present and create the future? How do we learn to understand and forgive?"
A series of Veisaitė's texts, statements, and letters, presented at the end of the book suggest further ways of answering these questions.
Contents
Introduction: Engaging Memory and History
Conversations
1. Life Should Be Transparent
2. We Could All See That Lithuania Was Trapped
3. What Had Happened to the World?
4. To Forgive and Build the Future—These Are the Duties of the Living
5. I Was Surrounded by Very Good People
6. I Needed a Change
7. I Saw My Work as a Kind of Mission
8. The Theatre Suits My Interests and Temperament Perfectly
9. People Developed Close Relationships within "Islands"
10. Why Was Faust Redeemed, Even After Making a Pact with the Devil?
11. I Felt a Powerful Connection with My Spiritual Brothers
12. I Regret Nothing, But I Continue to Pay Dearly for My Decisions
13. It Is Probably Only Possible to Feel a Part of History Once in One's Lifetime
In Lieu of an Epilogue: More and More Questions, But Fewer and Fewer Answers
Appendices—Voices from the Past
Appendix I: What questions matter the most to me now?
High School Questionnaire
Appendix II: Texts and Statements
Review: "Measured Optimism"
"Left Unsaid"
"The Holocaust in My Life"
"Does Litvak Culture Have a Future on Lithuanian Soil?"
Appendix III: Letters
Appendix IV: Post Scriptum
"On Memory and Remembering"
"An Important Meeting"
"The Debate about Our People"
Key Biographical Events
Index
