Kavarskas, Lithuania - Jonas Kadzionis was just 17 when the Soviet Union celebrated victory in WWII. But for him and thousands of other Lithuanians, it only marked the start of another brutal conflict.
By the time Kadzionis was 20, the Soviets had deported his parents to Siberia and he had joined Lithuanian resistance to fight Moscow's rule in the Baltic nation.
The region had already spent years living in fear of Moscow, after the Soviets arrested or deported tens of thousands of people to Siberia in 1941. When the Soviets returned, they raided villages and began forced conscription into the Red Army.
"The partisan resistance started spontaneously. The forest was our refuge," said Kadzionis, now 87 and decked out in his green Lithuanian military uniform, complete with state awards.
"My elder brother died fighting the Soviets in 1945. We had to bury him secretly. I kissed his face, destroyed by a grenade, and pledged to follow in his steps."
While May 9 is celebrated as Victory Day in Russia, for many in Lithuania and fellow Baltic States Estonia and Latvia, it marks the start of decades of Soviet occupation rather than liberation.
The Soviets invaded the Baltic States in 1940 under their infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop pact with Nazi Germany. A year later, in June, they deported some 43,000 Baltic citizens.
That drive was cut short when Germany turned on its former allies the same month, pushing the Red Army out of the Baltic region as it invaded the Soviet Union.
In 1944-45, the Soviets put an end to the Nazi occupation -- during which almost all of the region's Jews were killed -- heralding the renewed deportations of hundreds of thousands.
AFP
