The capital of Forest Brothers

Honestly speaking, I came to Vilnius with rather low expectations, since I was several times told that the capital of Lithuania mostly resembles a rather boring provincial city in Poland. Indeed, Vilnius is far from a pulsing metropolis. With population of slightly more than half a million, it mostly reminded me of my university town Brno or other settlements of similar size.

 Even the Polish inclinations are visible, which given the geography and history of the city hardly surprising. After all, with it's predominantly Jewish and Polish population, Vilnius or Wilno was an integral part of interwar Poland, which Lithuanians still often describe as an 'occupation of Vilnius'. This history significantly contributes to the remaining tensions with this between the Lithuanians and their biggest ethnic minority.

You can find a lot of churches in Vilnius, which stays in contrast to the fact that most of the Lithuanians weren't baptized until the 15th century, making them the last pagan nation of Europe. Like in other post Communist states, a lot of those churches were renovated after Lithuania regained independence in 1991. As a matter of fact, plenty of buildings in Vilnius were renovated or rebuilt, and unlike in Warsaw, these were not only those that were destroyed during the WWII. In this struggle to build a wannabe historical buildings in ancient styles, Vilnius reminded me of the Macedonian capital of Skopje a little bit.

The ever present fascists

Still though, the ever present greenery of Vilnius and its surroundings makes some areas of this region very pleasant to visit. Forests cover around a third of the surface of the country and just like in the other Baltic states, they played a role in the local anti Soviet resistance. The so called Forest Brothers managed to actively fight the Soviet occupation for about ten years after the country was ultimately incorporated in the Soviet Union in 1944. The hope that the West will eventually come and help was one of the sources of their determination.

Needless to say, the West did not help the Balts. As in the case of Ukraine today, for many it was just a far Eastern part of the natural buffer zone of the Soviet interests, and caring thus seemed too risky and unnecessary. Interestingly enough, even though the Forest Brothers were fighting against both the occupations, the Nazi and the Soviet one, they still were often referred to as fascists by the Soviet propaganda.

Fascism has apparently always served as a convenient Soviet/Russian stamp to put on an enemy or simply a state that wants to escape their influence. And it doesn't really matter that the picture of a heroic Eastern empire facing Nacizm entirely contradicts the fact that the in the beginning of the WWII Stalin was cooperating with Hitler. A lot of people in the West simply seem to omit what has always been clear in the Baltics or Poland - between the Nazis and the Soviets, no good side existed. And fighting against the Soviets during the war did not equal being a fascist.

Eastern understanding

This similar historical experience, bad relations with Russia and a complicated struggle for self determination makes Lithuania along with the other Baltic states one of the biggest advocates of the strong stance of the EU against Russia in today's Ukrainians crisis.

The discussion if the current situation in the Eastern Europe actually made up a big part of my time in Vilnius, since my Couchsurfing hosts both come from Kharkiv in the Eastern Ukraine. Olga and Andrej moved to Lithuania three years ago, disappointed with the results of the Orange Revolution of 2004. They both describe the Januchovych regime as time when corruption became a rule and mafians were sitting in the Kiyv Parliament.

Needless to say, the situation today is hardly better, the legitimacy of the original Maidan protesters requiements must however be totally justifiable in eyes of anybody who hasn't become a total sceptic. Maidan people did not want a fascist coup, they did not want to kill Russians in the East. They wanted, naively maybe, to become a new Poland. Unfortunately, they met a huge misunderstanding, both by their Soviet nostalgic compatriots and the sceptic West.

When I asked my Ukrainian hosts about how they feel about the EU nowadays, they said the except maybe from the above mentioned Poland and Baltics, the Ukrainians now see the Union as a traitor who did not help them. I tried to explain that due to the extremely difficult structure of the EU, the today's sanctions were the most they could hope for. Still however, it felt like a vain excuse for weakness.

Tomorrow's Capital of Cool

First three days of my journey I spent in the Polish capital of Warsaw. A city was ressurected from ashes after the second world war when 85 percent of its buildings were destroyed.  Today however, like the whole Poland, Warsaw is regaining its ancient glory.

It was the first day of my stay when the news headlined that the local  prime minister is going to take the  post of the president of the European Union. This 'unprecedented success of Poland', as the local media  were reffering to it, shows that the forty milion country is finally getting the  international recognition it has strrugled for a long time. After all, it  is the Polish diplomates who are the most vocal  in condemning the  Russian behavior in the  Ukrainian crisis. Unlike we Czechs, they are not afraid to be clear and loud. And surely, it is not  for the first time in history when the contrast is this evident.

The increasingly popular Museum of the Warsaw Uprising is the most interesting site I visited since this WWII event itself says a lot about the local  mentality. The museum documents the extremely brave, romanticist and unrealist struggle of  the people of  Warsaw to liberate their country from the Nazi grasp in the summer of 1944. The  Polish did so when the Red Army was approaching in a desperate struggle to gain independennce not only from the Nazis, but also from the Soviet threat. It is widely known that the Red Army later on stood on the right bank of the Visla River, letting the Nazis destroy the capital and kill  the best and bravest of the nation.

Particularly striking part of the museum collection are the extracts of how different media were writing about the uprising. The rhetorics from the Soviet PRAVDA was amazingly similar to what you can nowadays read on Russia  Today about the Ukrainian events.  But yet,  Poland than just like Ukraine now were just ants on a bigger chessboard.

Surely, the unfortunate history and the crazy courage of the Polish people is  not the only thing interesting in Warsaw. Since the most of old  Warsaw did not  survive  the  war, there is no space for traditional old fashion beauty of Prague or Paris. On the other hand, the big boulevards, skyscrapers, party streets and pubs hidden at unprobable places give Warsaw a modern, unconventional facet.

Many people have told me that in their opinion, Warsaw will  replace Berlin as the new capital of cool. So those who are annoyed of the fact that the unconventional  hipster  Berlin is getting too mainstream, try Warsaw.  Just like Poland itself it is only going up

The renovated Old  Town in Warsaw

Steve and  Anna are laughing in a hidden bar under a rail bridge eloquently called Berlin Warsaw

Extract from the Soviet PRAVDA writing about the Warsaw uprising

Though the Poles  wanted to demolish the communist palace of culture after 1989, nowadays it becoming one of the symbols of Warsaw. The view from the top is great

Warsaw Skyscrapers

A rainbow in the center of Warsaw. Since many religious fundamentalists, whom we can find relatively a lot in this very catholical country,  perceive it as a gay symbol, it is  burned down several times every year

A statue of a child soldier from the Warsaw Uprising

Setting off

Finally, after I have been earning whole the summer for this trip, I am leaving today, Friday 29th of August, on my trip to Northeastern Europe. 

These days, the Ukrainian crisis is aggravating hour by hour and the relations between Europe and Russia are at the 25 years low, which is exactly why I chose to go to this region where the West borders the East.

Given their historical, geographic, demographic and economic characteristics, I assume that the Polish, Baltic and Finnish people feel much more anxious than we Central Europeans do about the current development.

I also expect that the Russians in Saint Petersburg will give an entirely different perspective of what is going on. I admit that their country’s behavior now seems to be quite difficult for me to justify, but that's why I am very curious about what they are going to say for themselves.

My mantra for this trip is not to judge, but rather to find understanding, which is something the West and Russia are unfortunately very reluctant to try nowadays.

The itinerary of my journey is (approximately):

30th of August to 1st of September: Warsaw 

2nd to 4th of September: Vilnius 

4th to 6th of September: Riga 

6th to 8th of September: Tallinn 

9th to 14th: Saint Petersburg 

14th to 17th:  Finland 

17th of September is the end of my trip and I am flying back home to Prague.

I hope that I will get the opportunity to write an interesting story from each country I visit. And also that when I come back, I will be a little more educated about what is going on today in Europe.