Prienai
On April 18, 1980, the Prienai Secondary School students Aldonas Gudaitis and Algis Gudaitis were summoned to see the vice principal. There Prienai security agents were waiting for them and took them to the Prienai KGB headquarters. Both students were questioned as to their whereabouts on February 15-17. They were accused of raising the tricolor flag of independent Lithuania on February 16. The Gudaitis brothers denied this accusation. The interrogators acted brutally and often shouted: "What sort of freedom do you need? It isn't enough that you eat? You little snot, we have handled worse than you, and we'll handle you!"
They released the innocent youngsters after harassing them for two and one-half hours, ordering their father to appear the following day.
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On May 14, 1980, [Miss] Vida Mačiulytė was summoned by the Prienai KGB. The security police asked the schoolgirl whether she had sent greetings to the prisoners Plumpa, [Miss] Sadūnaitė, and others. Does she go to church? Does she know the Gudaitis brothers? etc.
Pakuonis (Prienai Rayon)
A large group of girls gathered in the Pakuonis churchyard on June 27. Since the religious festival was approaching, the girls were practising strewing flowers. Pakuonis School Principal [Mrs.] Deltuvienė appeared, as did Township Chairwoman [Mrs.] Pečkienė and Party Secretary [Mrs.] Padrezienė. They scattered the schoolchildren with vehement threats, explaining that schoolchildren cannot participate in processions.
Tirkšliai (Mazeikiai Rayon)
On May 4, 1980, in a sermon devoted to Mothers Day, the pastor, Father Vincentas Gauronskas, announced that an official had telephoned him and had demanded sternly that children would not serve at the altar and not say the rosary; otherwise, the rectory would be burned down on May 12. The pastor asked in his sermon whether it was not obvious that an atheist was issuing the threat. Is this threat not linked to the burning of churches in Batakiai, Gaure, and St. George's Church in Šiauliai during the Soviet era? Is it a coincidence that during the past several years almost all of the churches in the area — Žemaičių Kalvarija, Seda, Gadūnavas, Alsėdžiai, Tryškiai — have been desecrated? The Mažeikiai church has been broken into; the Telšiai cathedral has been robbed; religious tombstones at the Plunge cemetery have been destroyed.
The following day five new boys came to serve at mass in the Tirkšliai church. It is in this way that the people of Samogitia counter the threats and violence of the atheists: with even greater zeal.
Seda (Mažeikiai Rayon)
At 7:30 a.m., on the morning of May 4, 1980, Jonas Račkauskas, an eleventh-grade student at the Seda Secondary School, was awakened by unknown persons. They asked him to get into their car and help them look for a resident of Seda. As soon as the car started off, however, it turned towards Plunge. The schoolboy asked them to stop, but the driver would not listen. Suddenly he opened the door and shouting "Security Police!" leaped from the automobile. The two men in the car tried unsuccessfully to stop him.
On May 6, once again early in the morning while the entire family was at the farm, the boy's room was searched. Those who conducted the search only showed the covers of their security police booklets and stated they were from the Plunge Security Police. Jonas Račkauskas was charged with organizing the transfer of the rosary at Žemaičių Kalvarija and also with saying the rosary in the Seda church (some ten to twenty children say the rosary there daily). The search was conducted in a hooligan-like manner. No prosecutor's search warrant was presented, no search report was written, and no witnesses were present. It would have seemed that these two incidents were the work of hoodlums had there been no connection with the boy's persecution at school, which had begun some time earlier. Jonas Račkauskas is constantly insulted in school. During a social studies class, Principal Labžentis, ridiculing believers in a variety of ways, stated that he despised Father Kauneckas although he does not know him. Račkauskas remarked, "Principal, hatred is forbidden by the Soviet Constitution." The angered principal took him by the scruff of his neck and led the boy from the classroom.
(Principal Labžentis has been dismissed from his position as principal for misusing state funds. He is currently teaching social studies — Soviet morality! — at the school.)
Račkauskas is being threatened because he took several friends to church, that either he would be forbidden to take the final exams or else would fail them. On May 12 a joint meeting of the officials of Seda and Seda Township was called to discuss the boy's behavior. It was attended by Township Chairman Petkus, Town Chairman Ramanauskas, School Principal [Miss] Butkutė, Vice Principal [Mrs.] Plekaitienė, the teachers Spermauskas and [Mrs.] Petrauskienė, and six members of the Parents' Committee. The boy was only allowed to speak for five minutes, but that was enough. Everyone could see that he was being unjustly persecuted and continuously subjected to coarse insults.
The believing student's battle with the atheists is made more difficult by the fact that the local pastor, Father Petras Serapinas, does not offer any support. He is attempting to eliminate children from the altar himself.
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On May 24, 1980, Račkauskas presented the faculty with a certificate from the Medical Comission stating that he was excused from the final examinations because of his poor eyesight. Despite this, however, the student was not excused and Labžentis carried out his threat at this time — Jonas was given an unsatisfactory grade on the Social Studies examination.
Betygala (Raseiniai Rayon)
When the new pastor, Father Juozas Varvuolis, began to work in Betygala in 1979, the religious life of the parish was revived. This greatly displeased both the local and rayonofficials. He was summoned by the Raseiniai Executive Committee to explain why he administered the Sacrament of Extreme Unction to the hospitalized [Miss] Saibokaitė, a gravely ill long-time church choir member.
The priest had been summoned to the hospital by [Mrs.] Ona Petrauskienė. On January 18 of this year, she was summoned to the Betygala Township office, where Raseiniai RayonVice Chairwoman [Mrs.] Stonienė threatened her with a fine of two years' imprisonment for summoning the priest to the hospital and bringing two students, Žydrūnas Pupeikis and Gintas Kalina, to serve at mass.
Vice Principal [Mrs.] Viršilienė ordered the students to write explanations of why they serve at mass and attend church.
Kupiškis
On May 18, 1980, Father Edvardas Vaišnora, a retired priest of Kupiškis, celebrated his fiftieth anniversary as a priest. Bishop Romualdas Krikščiūnas, of the Panevėžys Diocese, planned to attend the celebration. The parishioners were informed of the priest's anniversary and the bishop's visit. This caused the atheists great anxiety; many children and young people might attend the service. Kupiškis Rayon Communist Party Committee Third Secretary [Mrs.] Marinkienė, with the consent of First Secretary Tamošiūnas, ordered the secondary school teachers to keep the children occupied that Sunday. The teachers kept some on the athletic field and took others into the woods. Despite their efforts, not all of the children obeyed, and many attended the Sunday mass. As a result, believing children suffered considerably.
