Garliava
On February 21, 1981, Principal Nausėda of Garliava Secondary School no. 1 summoned tenth-grade student Vytautas Gluoksnis and asked him whether he really believed in God, sang in the church choir, and played the organ. The student denied nothing, and the school principal stated, "It is forbidden! You're a member of the Communist Youth League!" "I can withdraw from the Communist Youth League," the tenth-grader replied coolly. The principal suggested he write a statement.
On February 26 Gluoksnis was summoned once again. The student's mother was also sent for. The principal repeatedly demanded that the mother urge her son to withdraw his statement about leaving the Communist Youth League. He threatened that if the boy did not reconsider he would be turned over to higher authorities and would not be admitted to any school of higher education. In the mother's presence, he called the son stupid and pledged not to leave him alone as long as the son sang and played the organ in church.
On February 27, 1981, Principal Nausėda of the Garliava Secondary School kept seventh-grader Egidijus Blockis after school. He asked whether the boy attended church and served at mass and who else served. The boy remained silent. "Why are you silent? Did you swallow your tongue or lose your voice? We know everything anyway; we have our agents in church!" the principal scolded. "If you know everything, then why do you ask?" replied Egidijus. Other teachers came to help the principal interrogate and scold the 7th-grader.
Šilalė
[Mrs.] Henrika Aušrienė. a teacher at the Šilalė Secondary School ordered eighth-graders to write a composition entitled "My Confession."
"I’ll play the part of the pastor," the teacher stated.
Angered that out of the entire class only two students wrote the composition, she threatened, "I'll find a way to force you to write this composition!
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[Mrs.] Stefa Statkevičienė, a teacher at the Šilalė Secondary School forced tenth-grade students to read an article published in Komjaunimo tiesa (Truth of the Communist Youth) slandering the assistant pastor of Šilalė.
During class, she publicly named the students who actively participate in Church life.
Pajūris (Šilalė Rayon)
School Principal Norkus, the teachers [Mrs.] Vėlavičienė and Kijauskas, and Pioneer leader [Miss] Jakaitė are terrorizing the following eighth-grade students: Antanas Peirošius, [Miss] Janina Baltikauskaitė, [Miss] Violeta Kučinskaitė, and others because they refuse to join the Communist Youth League. In the presence of the students they accused the Pajūris pastor, Father Vladas Abramavičius, of allegedly enticing children and forbidding them to join atheistic organizations.
Didkiemis (Šilalė Rayon)
Grade school Principal [Mrs.] Kasnauskienė and eighth-grade homeroom teacher [Mrs.] Elena Gudelienė force children to join the Communist Youth League. Eighth-graders who attend church and do not join atheistic organizations are mercilessly called murderers and idiots and are viciously ridiculed. The children return home from school exhausted and occasionally need tranquilizers. The parents are concerned and outraged at the Inquisition the Soviet school system directs against their children.
Šilutė
The Grade 8C homeroom teacher, [Mrs.] F. Andrulionienė of Šilutė Secondary School no. 3, has lowered the conduct grade of her student [Miss] Roma Paulauskytė for the second year, and this year did the same with [Miss] Virginija Vasiliauskaitė's grade. "As long as you attend church, you will not receive an exemplary grade for deportment!" shouted the teacher. The school's principal, A. Stankus, agrees with these tactics.
The teacher threatened the girls that they would fail their exams and would not gain admittance to any school of higher education. Furthermore, she threatened to write poor letters of recommendation.
Šaukėnai (Kelmė Rayon)
At the beginning of June 1979 a religious poem "For You, My Friend" was posted on the atheistic bulletin board next to articles ridiculing religion. The poem was removed several days later.
On February 6, 1980, a medical team was giving physicals to sixteen-year-olds at the military commissariat. Following the physical, the tenth-grade student Alvydas Rakauskas was beckoned into a car standing in the yard and taken tcf the Kelmė Security Police Department. There he was told to write an account of his life because he was under security police surveillance. A security agent who identified himself as Petras Tefelis questioned the youth about his studies and his parents and attempted to persuade him to stop attending church and serving at mass. He then took the student into the office of Petras Vytautas Brauka, director of the Kelmė security police. "Who wrote the poem 'For You, My Friend'?" asked the head of the security police. Believing in the freedom of speech, the youth did not dream of denying it.
Tefelis removed from the safe several photographs which contained an excerpt from the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania (no. 38 — Tr.) regarding the January 30, 1979, showing of the film "The Black Procession" at the Šaukėnai Cultural Center which students were forced to attend. A flood of questions followed: "Whose work is this? Who wrote this? Who reported this?"
After "educating" Rakauskas and explaining that religion must disappear from the Soviet Union, the security agents demanded that he name friends who serve at mass and reveal other information. When he refused, they threatened him with a three- to ten-year sentence in a labor camp for anti-Soviet activities.
On February 27, 1980, Tefelis again appeared in Šaukenai. He cornered Rakauskas and offered to help if he ever got into any kind of legal trouble and also guaranteed his acceptance into any school of higher education. There was, of course, one small condition: "Collaborate with us but don't breathe a word to anyone. If you tell anyone, we'll put you behind bars! Tell your parents that you were delayed at school. Well meet again on March 1." Alvydas did not go to the meeting.
On April 18,1980, a security police car again stood near the school. The principal summoned several students to his office. After returning to his classroom, Čeponis summoned his classmate Rakauskas. When the students attempted to exchange a few words, their teacher, Teresevičius, shouted: "Keep quiet! Hurry up and go!"
The security agent threatened Rakauskas: "You'll be sorry you didn't come to the meeting." The student replied that he would never come to such meetings.
On April 24, 1980, Rakauskas defended his religious convictions instead of writing an atheistic composition.
On June 5, 1980, Tefelis came to the military camp where Rakauskas was at the time. He explained indignantly that he was very displeased with Rakauskas's composition. "You'll be punished. The composition is being reviewed by the Kelmė Education Department." The Chekist attempted to intimidate the student. The student refused to answer the questions the security agent asked during the meeting.
On September 1,1980, the Chekist Tefelis and security chief Brauka again appeared at the school. To start the new academic year, the security chief spoke to the students about Soviet patriotism and internationalism.
Šaukėnai
On November 22,1979, Stankaitis, an instructor at the Vilnius Pedagogical Institute, came to visit the Šaukėnai Secondary School. He told the students, who had been forcibly brought into the hall, stories brutally ridiculing the religious. Two girls stood up during the lecture and tried to leave, but the teacher would not excuse them. Their way was barred by [Mrs.] Birutė Rakauskienė, a homeroom teacher, and Pioneer leader [Mrs.] Janina Jokubauskienė.
Tauragė
In January 1981 [Miss] Eidikytė, a teacher at Tauragė Secondary School no. 5, ordered all third-year students who believe in God to raise their hands. This was followed by threats that believers would be imprisoned just like criminals. After a short recess, she again ordered the believing children to raise their hands. When a forest of hands was again raised, the teacher stated that all believers would be transferred to the boarding school for retarded children in Skaudvilė.
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Žarėnai (Telšiai Rayon)
On December 30,1980, the youth of the Žarėnai parish and other young people of the Telšiai deanery went to Žemaičių Kalvarija to pass on the rosary. This upset the teachers of the Žarėnai Secondary School a great deal. Vasiliauskas, a teacher and candidate of the Communist party, visited the homes of students and threatened that anyone who went to Žemaičių Kalvarija would be severely punished.
[Mrs.] Radzevičienė, the teacher in charge of the students' atheistic education, the school's Communist Party Secretary [Mrs.] Damanskienė, and Principal [Mrs.] Jankauskienė, decided to enroll the entire tenth-grade class in the Atheists Club on the pretext of preventing what happened last year at Easter (a church full of students) and of making it unnecessary for the "teachers council" to review the disobedient students. They were unable to achieve one hundred percent enrollment. The named teachers constantly pressure believing students, intimidate them, "educate" them, and force them to participate in atheistic competitions.
Šilalė
On December 18, 1980, the Šilalė organist, Feliksas Kvietkauskas, sternly told the assistant pastor, Father Vytautas Skiparis, "Young people shall not play the organ or sing in church, they shall not visit you, and you shall not hold any meetings. In short, you shall not have your way for long because you will soon be muzzled." When the priest asked why the children must not sing, the organist replied that they wanted to take the bread from his, the organist's, mouth. When the assistant pastor declared that young people would be forbidden to do all these things — play the organ and sing and visit him — only over his dead body, the organist threatened to inform the authorities.
On December 23, 1980, Principal [Mrs.] Norviliene of the Šilalė Secondary School and the teachers [Mrs.] Breskuviene, [Mrs.] Kelpšienė, and [Mrs.] Rastutiene summoned the following students: Virgis Jankauskas (grade 8), Gintautas Račkauskas (grade 9) and Arūnas Tverijonas (grade 8). The principal asked which students served at mass. The students refused to inform on others.
The believers of Šilalė are happy that children and young people participate in the life of the Church. They serve at mass, keep vigil, make the Stations of the Cross, play the organ, and sing in the church choir.
Vadžgirys (Jurbarkas Rayon)
On December 17, 1980, the funeral of eighty-year-old [Mrs.] Petronėlė Liaugaudienė was held in Vadzgirys. Her daughter, [Mrs.] Sobaitienė, worked for many years as caretaker of the Vadzgirys Secondary School. [Miss] Gražina Sobaitytė is a grade 11 student. The students who attended the funeral — [Miss] Rūta Zdanavičiūtė (grade 11), [Miss] Sigita Eitutytė (grade 11), [Miss] Janina Milkauskaitė (grade 11), [Miss] Regina Gudmonaitė (grade 11), [Miss] Laima Trumpaitytė (grade 11), [Miss] Audra Krikščionaitytė (grade 11), [Miss] Violeta Puskepalaitytė (grade 11), [Miss] Gudmonaitė (grade 9), [Miss] Daiva Mankutė (grade 9); [Miss] Živilė Puišyte (grade 5), [Miss] Reda Kybartaitė (grade 5), [Miss] Rima Giedraitytė (grade 5), and Renatas Sluoksnaitis (grade 5) — carried wreaths and flowers into the church and then returned to their classes. Principal [Mrs.] Butėnienė noticed the students returning. Interrogations and threats to hand the students over to the security police followed. All of the students had to write explanations.
[Mrs.[ Zofija Maurutienė (grade 11 homeroom teacher) was discussed at the Jurbarkas Education Department, while [Mrs.l Lukošienė, the teacher who had excused the fifth-graders, was issued a reprimand.
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On Christmas Eve, 1980, Principal Butėnienė personally patrolled the students' dormitory at the boarding school to prevent any of them from running home. "Ill chase all your superstitions out of your heads. Anyone who attempts to run away will be given a lower conduct grade," she threatened.
