An upcoming book of Prezident Valdas Adamkus
(Former) President of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus retelling his life story as an answer to "How did you decide to leave Lithuania during the war". 2012
Lithuania is a small country, so as a photographer you quite easily meet important people of the country. During the past months I happened to photograph the former Lithuania’s President Valdas Adamkus 3-4 times, always getting an opportunity to exchange several words. But what is amazing with this man, it is his ability to speak and look, sound new all over again.
On January the 12th former President of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus spoke in Vilnius, hotel restaurant “Shakespare” to a group of alumni of various education programs administered by the US Embassy in Vilnius. Although I am not one, I was fortunate to get into the event accompanied by several Fullbright grant holders.
The reason I wanted to go there was that on December 2, 2011 I had missed the celebration of 80th anniversary of J.Jablonskis school (Kaunas), which I graduated from in 1992, and where the future President of Lithuania started his education. I sort of was expecting that on such occasion he would tell something boyish about the years spent at school. Well, maybe I indeed missed something on that day in Kaunas.
Meanwhile, the talk of Valdas Adamkus on January 12 was a big revelation. Starting his discourse about the emigration, moral values was prompted by a question “How did you decide to leave Lithuania during WWII?”. An answer “Well, it was very easy” turned into lenghy and EPIC story of his life. Easy, beacause he was wanted by the Nazi police for resistance activities, such as publishing of a newspaper with two of his friends (all the three of them were well under 20!).
Many many other things made the story breathtaking. From these teenage militant spirits and actions during the Soviet and German occupation, escape from the Nazis on foot, by trains, sentimentally milinant return to Lithuania having reached Breslau (Now Wroclaw, Poland), escape again in 1944, covering dozens of km on foot, hiding in the chasis of the moving train, …, …, climbing over the fence in Rome to watch the Olympic games 1960 together with Audrys Bačkis (today’s cardinal & Vilnius Archbishop), …, …, …, six terms as a United States Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator, regardless of rule of either Democrats or Republicans, …, …, … first visits to Soviet Lithuania in 1972, KGB surveillance, etc, …, artist Jonas Rimša, who initiated the Gallery life in Bolivia, and is known as Lithuanian Gauguin. Why? Because he had a dream to go to tahiti, and the dream was made true with the help of Valdas Adamkus and his wife Alma, who invited the artist to USA and fundraised for his half-year long residence in Tahiti…
After the talk, many of the event participants approached the President to get his last book “The Last Term” signed. Meanwhile, I greeted him and made a wish that his next book be about things he just had told us. For some it would be a mind-blowing, possibly, best-selling epic story. For others, it would be an inspiring source of real, personal story in the history of the 20th century next to the social, political, ideological dogmas that we had been tought. It is a history of freedom spirit, emigration, emigrants, returns. It is the history, that was not just experienced, but wich was advanced with participation and sharing.
