LESSON ABOUT SIBERIA IN LITHUANIAN SCHOOL IN LONDON
- Category: Новости
- Date: February 7, 2012
On the 5th of February 2010, Manvydas Džiaugys, the President of Neringa’s Youth Round Table (NAJS) and film, TV and theatre design Bachelor of Arts student at Anglia Ruskin University (Cambridge campus) came to talk to our students about “Mission Siberia 2010”.
Following the Soviet occupation in 1940, and again after their return in 1944, thousands of Lithuanians, as well as Latvians and Estonians, were sent into the depths of the USSR. Lithuanians were imprisoned, exiled and died in Siberia.
Children took part in a large-format interactive book exercise, which gave the whole group the opportunity to read and at the same time, discuss, draw colour, and feel accessories and pictures. Heavy backpacks, travel boots and military pots were outweighed by the high interest generated by the sleeping bag….but all thoughts and sympathies were eventually aligned with the telling of the legend of the Camp Slampinėjusią bear. The purpose of the lesson was to learn about the history, conditions endured by prisoners and deportees and the importance of human relations, care and interaction.
They learn about the basic facts of Lithuanian historical period, for example, what work you do and the food in Siberia, what were the necessary skills required in order to survive in such harsh surroundings, how to protect yourself from mosquito bites, etc.
We thank Manvydas for his all hard work in preparing this 15-page “40 cm x 56 cm”, bound together so that it actually resembled a real book!
Manvydas wrote: “Early Saturday morning on 5th February 2010 I moved by train from Cambridge towards London, where a small group of children were awaiting my arrival. They were eager to hear about the “Mission Siberia ’10” and the stories of exiled Lithuanian families, which sometimes even I as an adult find hard to contemplate ….” Continue reading here.
