BioGraphy
Marite KONTRIMAITE
Marytė Kontrimaitė was born in Vilkaičiai in Soviet Lithuania in 1947. In 1948, her parents were included on a list of people to be deported. They managed to hide for a year and then in 1949, they were arrested and sent with Marytė to Siberia. She was only two years old. During the journey, a guard in the military escort, seeing her lying motionless, decided she was dead and asked her father to throw her off the train. Her father refused point blank and demanded a doctor’s opinion. The guard found a deported doctor in another wagon, and he saved her.
When they got to the Irkutsk region, they were placed in the village of Bodaybo. The doctor who had saved Marytė on the train was deported to the same place and helped them on a number of occasions when they were ill. They lived in communal huts. Marytė’s father used his skills as a handyman to work for some of the local people. As a result, the family lived more comfortably. Her mother, who had been a primary schoolteacher in Lithuania, set up a free school for the Lithuanian children, teaching them in that language.
In 1956, her parents sent her back on her own to Lithuania. She travelled to Plungė, the market town near her native village, where her aunt, who had been wired, was supposed to meet her on the station platform. There was no one, she started to call out for the police to come and tell her where to go, but a railway employee told her to be much more discreet and took her to her relatives’ house. At the start she was disappointed, because all she knew of Lithuania came from children’s books, and she had imagined a country with flowers everywhere, even in the fir trees.
She attended secondary school then university, and went to work in Yerevan, Armenia, where she settled. She formed some illusions about the regime during the Khrushchev Thaw, but was soon disenchanted, and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia put an end to her idealism. Then she came back to work in Lithuania and now lives in Vilnius.
The interview with Marytė Kontrimaitė was conducted in 2011 by Alain Blum and Emilia Koustova.
Full interview with Maryte Kontrimaite (Original in Russian)
You can listen to the full interview with Marytė Kontrimaitė here. It was conducted by Alain Blum and Emilia Koustova in Vilnius on June 11, 2011.
Full interview with Maryte Kontrimaite (French Version)
You can listen to the full interview with Marytė Kontrimaitė here. It was conducted by Alain Blum and Emilia Koustova in Vilnius on June 11, 2011, and interpreted in French by Emilia Koustova (in the RFI studios).
Marite’s mother with her pupils, 1933, Lithuania
© Marite Kontrimaite
Marite’s mother with her pupils, Vilkaičiai, Lithuania, 1946
© Marite Kontrimaite
Marite’s mother in Lithuania, 1927
© Marite Kontrimaite
Marite’s mother in Lithuania, 1930ies
Marite’s father in Lithuania, around 1935
© Marite Kontrimaite
Before deportation
The Kontrimaite family some months after their arrival in Bodaybo, Siberia, 1949. Marite is on the left.
© Marite Kontrimaite
The Kontrimaite family in Bodaybo, Siberia, 1950. (Marite, centre, sitting on her mother’s lap)
© Marite Kontrimaite
Marite’s father; first year in Siberia
© Marite Kontrimaite
Marite (1st row, 1st from left), her sister Regina (2nd row, 1st from left), in Bodaybo with other Lithuanian children
© Marite Kontrimaite
Marite’s father and his work brigade (1st row, 2nd from left), 5 September 1952
© Marite Kontrimaite
Marite’s mother
© Marite Kontrimaite
A boat in Bodaybo
© Marite Kontrimaite
Marite’s father (1st row, centre) in Cheremkhovo, 1958
© Marite Kontrimaite
As life got better: the Kontrimaite family in Bodaybo in 1952
© Marite Kontrimaite
Before the return
© Marite Kontrimaite
Goodbye to the dog, before the return
© Marite Kontrimaite
A life in Siberia
Homesickness and patriotism in Siberia
In Siberia, the Lithuanians would get together and sing “Let us go back to our motherland” and read poems. Marytė Kontrimaitė’s mother often spoke to her daughter of their traditions and legends. The little girl built up an idyllic image of her motherland.
Homesickness and patriotism in Siberia (VF)
In Siberia, the Lithuanians would get together and sing “Let us go back to our motherland” and read poems. Marite Kontramaite’s mother often spoke to her daughter of their traditions and legends. The little girl built up an idyllic image of her motherland.
Refusing to join the Party
Marite Kontrimaite’s father refused to join the Party, despite the request of the director of the sovkhoz collective. He recalled his deportation to “justify” the fact that he “did not deserve” to be a member.
Refusing to join the Party (VF)
Marite Kontrimaite’s father refused to join the Party, despite the request of the director of the sovkhoz collective. He recalled his deportation to “justify” the fact that he “did not deserve” to be a member.
Rehabilitation and return
Marite Kontrimaite’s father was rehabilitated in 1959, after 10 years of deportation. On his return, he bought back his former house and set up a sawmill and foundry. He was popular in the sovkhoz collective because of his skills.
Rehabilitation and return (VF)
Marite Kontrimaite’s father was rehabilitated in 1959, after 10 years of deportation. On his return, he bought back his former house and set up a sawmill and foundry. He was popular in the sovkhoz collective because of his skills.
Young Pioneer then Komsomol member
In Lithuania, Marite Kontrimaite joined the Young Pioneers during the Khrushchev Thaw and then the Komsomol. Her mother was angry and her father wept. She thought they didn’t realise that now they were really going to control their future.
Young Pioneer then Komsomol member (VF)
In Lithuania, Marite Kontrimaite joined the Young Pioneers during the Khrushchev Thaw and then the Komsomol. Her mother was angry and her father wept. She thought they didn’t realise that now they were really going to control their future.
She kept her silence
She did not talk about their past: “What would be the point? It was nothing extraordinary.” But in 1987, she spoke out publicly.
She kept her silence (VF)
She did not talk about their past: “What would be the point? It was nothing extraordinary.” But in 1987, she spoke out publicly.
Nationalism and fight for independence
The Kontrimaite family on their way to the Seimas (parliament) with an Armenian flag to show that it is not only Lithuanian nationalists that live and fight in Lithuania!
Nationalism and fight for independence (VF)
The Kontrimaite family on their way to the Seimas (parliament) with an Armenian flag to show that it is not only Lithuanian nationalists that live and fight in Lithuania!