We Too Want to Be Free!

This article is taken from the July 31, 1989 issue of

The New American.

Reverend Alfonsas Svarinskas, 64, an ordained Catholic Priest, has

spent more than one-third of his life in the prisons of the Soviet Union.
He was released from his third term in prison in July 1988; that August
he was allowed to immigrate to West Germany because of multiple
health problems. He has just completed a two-month speaking tour of
Australia, and is now touring the United States and Canada. He was
interviewed by Thomas R. Eddlem, with the assistance of Reverend
Albert Contons, who translated from Reverend Svarinskas' native
Lithuanian.

This photo of Father Svarinskas

was first published in 500,000
copies of The Fatima Crusader in
October 1986, while he was still in
prison. We are pleased to have been
able to publish about his
persecution by the Communist
tyrants in Lithuania, thereby helping
in some way to bring about his
release. We are indebted to him for
speaking out so clearly against the
lies of Gorbachev which are
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currently deceiving so many

millions in the USA and the Western
world.
Q. Tell us a little about Lithuania.
A. I was born in 1925 in a free and democratic Republic of Lithuania. On August
23, 1939, the two dictators of Europe, Hitler and Stalin, made a secret
agreement, the Molotov-Ribbentrop accord, in which they divided up Eastern
Europe. On June 15, 1940, the free Baltic Republics were occupied by the Soviet
Army, and then began the way of the cross, the Golgotha, of Lithuania. The
three Republics did not surrender, but fought as best they could, and still
continue the struggle against Soviet occupation.
Soon it will be the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, this
shameful pact, and we hope that the West will protest the effects of this pact.
For the tragedy of the Baltic Republics, the blame is to be shared equally
between the Nazis and the Communists.
A short time ago, the Russian historian Medvedev said that 40 million people
had been liquidated since the beginning of the Soviet revolution in 1917. And
the world seems to ignore this terrible fact...
Q. How can we in the West aid in the liberation of Lithuania and other
captive nations?
A. First, you should not be giving any material aid to the Soviet Union. If the
West had not given material aid to the Soviet Union after the Second World War,
we would now be free. Some in the West say: "Better Red than dead." We say:
"Better to die than be a slave."
Second, the West should insist that the effects of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact
be canceled. Then we would have a juridical reason for requiring freedom.
Third, the Soviet Union should release all political prisoners and allow them to
be "rehabilitated". Until they are rehabilitated, their release has no real
significance. For example, one political prisoner, Kucenko, was released two
years ago. He has not been rehabilitated, so he can't be registered. If you are
not registered, you can't get a job. So it's very important that they not only
release political prisoners, but that they "rehabilitate" them, in the sense of
permitting them to live a normal life. In Moscow, the majority of those released
who are doctors or engineers still aren't able to practice their profession and live
as doctors and engineers. And the KGB tries to enlist released political prisoners
into their network of spying. If they agree to spy for them, then the KGB will
rehabilitate them and permit them to have decent jobs.

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The next point that the West should insist upon is that the Soviet Union
recognize the Ukrainian Catholic Church and allow it to come out from
underground, because it is publicly prohibited. Gorbachev has not significantly
ameliorated conditions during his time; instead, he has made them even
stricter.
Q. How has he made them stricter?
A. Last year, on June 29, Gorbachev issued a new regulation that no meetings
could be held without prior permission. Violations would be punished by a
penalty of 15 days in jail or would cost 300 rubles. Repeat offenses would cost
3,000 rubles or half a year in prison.
On April 8, this year, a new instruction was issued. For "slandering the authority
of the Government", the penalty is three years in prison. If someone criticizes
the Party, he can be put into prison for three years. In this way now, Gorbachev
and his officials can control the opposition better...
Q. Do Communist Party members actually believe in Marxism?
A. There is no such understanding there. No one believes in Marxism. They only
believe in rubles. As long as Lenin's portrait is on the wall, nobody believes in
him. They only believe in him when he is in the pocket, in the ruble. Then
everybody believes.
Q. What would you say to Americans who believe that Gorbachev is a
reformer?
A. People in the United States are losing their faith, but a person can't live
without faith. They are losing their faith in God and putting their faith in
Gorbachev. In Lithuania, most people believe in God, and they don't believe in
Gorbachev. No one believes in Gorbachev in Lithuania, unless they are
psychologically sick.
Communism (Marxism) can't give a personal freedom or an economic freedom.
It enslaves the person in body and soul. It is unfortunate that the Soviets seem
to be leading the world by the nose. Today there are so many proofs and
indications of the real nature of Communism, but nobody seems to want to
believe in them. During Stalin's time, there was the Iron Curtain and many
perhaps did not know the real effects. But today, they don't seem to want to
know. There seems to be a nearly universal spiritual laziness.
Q. When were you first sent to prison?
A. The first time I was in the concentration camp, a work camp, was from 1946
to 1956. I was a seminary student when I was arrested. The physical conditions
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were very bad. It was very cold the first time. There was hunger, but there was
a great deal of idealism, even though many died in the camps. And I became a
priest in the underground prison. I was ordained in the work camp secretly. At
that time, not only did we not lose our heads, but we prepared for the struggles
to come. The second time I was in prison was from 1958 to 1964. Then the
physical conditions were somewhat better, but there was less idealism. The
more recent prisoners were less energetic fighters for freedom.
The third time I was in prison was from 1983 until last year, July of 1988. Of the
ten-year sentence that I had, I fulfilled five and a half years.
The conditions were quite difficult the last time.
Four factors contributed to the slow destruction of the human person: Number
one, the very difficult work, the high quotas required of the prisoners. The
second factor was the bad food, especially the lack of vitamins. There were
almost no vegetables available. The third factor was the bad medical service.
There were neither doctors nor medicines. To become seriously ill meant death.
The number of those who died was quite high. The fourth factor was the
psychological trauma inflicted by the KGB. The KGB facilitated the use of
narcotics, so that prisoners would more easily serve them to betray other
prisoners. The administration was especially fierce and strict, especially the
guards. It was somewhat easier for those prisoners who had someone in the
West to protest on their behalf.
The Soviet Union says now that there are no political prisoners left in the
camps. But there is a section called "Offenses against the State." The numbers
in the Soviet criminal code from 64 to 70 deal with political prisoners. The West
has given two new names, "prisoners of conscience" and "dissidents," to
individuals covered by criminal code number 70. Number 70 is "Anti-Soviet
propaganda and agitation." Those who were convicted under number 70 of the
criminal code, because of pressure from the West, were released. But those
prisoners who were condemned under code numbers 64 through 69 are still in
prison. Many of those are charged under the criminal code which prohibits
espionage, but these charges are generally fabricated by the Soviets, and the
person is condemned through these fabrications.
Q. What charges were you "convicted" of for your three terms?
A. The first time that I was in prison, the charge was aiding the partisans,
aiding the guerilla warriors in various ways. After the Soviet occupation began
again in 1944, many people fought against the Soviet army in the forests of
Lithuania. There was a guerilla war going on from 1944 to 1954.
The last two times I was charged with "ideological warfare against the Soviet
State," because of my work as a priest...
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Q. Did people in the United States intervene for you?

A. Many in the United States, organizations and individuals, wrote letters to
intercede for me: 27 U.S. Senators wrote a letter to ask for my release; the
President also made efforts; Martin Luther King's wife, Coretta Scott King,
appealed for my release; and many others, many of whom I don't know.
Amnesty International was helping me from 1973. I was one of the important
causes of the Oregon group of Amnesty International, and Keston College of
England and its leader of many years, Michael Bordeaux. I am very grateful to
all who have helped, in my own name and also in the name of others for whom
they interceded...
In the Soviet Union, most people are convinced that its only the United States
that is strong enough to resist the influence of Communism and its enslavement
of others.
Q. What are religious conditions like in Lithuania?
A. In Lithuania, people today don't know much about the faith, because of the
lack of freedom to educate and the lack of publications. But the faith is stronger
in Lithuania than it is here. So far, there is very little religious literature, and
people don't know, intellectually, as much about God. But their faith has been
strong. And what they know, they live for that, and they are determined even to
suffer to express their faith.
In Lithuania, the Catholic Church is the fundamental force in the struggle
against Communism. The Church has always struggled against Communism and
continues that struggle today, even though it has suffered a great deal. Out of
five bishops before the War, one was shot to death, one died in prison, and two
died in exile after 10 years of internal exile. The Archbishop of Vilnus was in
exile for 28 years. The present Cardinal was in exile for 22 years. They both
remain faithful to God and the Church. Since 1948, convents and monasteries
have been liquidated, but their members continue to work underground, even
up to our own day.
Q. What do you think of American/Soviet joint ventures and American
loans and technological transfers with the Soviet Union?
A. The Soviets are very grateful to the American business community, but
millions of people in slavery are cursing them. I don't understand why people in
the West want themselves to be free, and want us to be slaves. We also want to
be free. And we were free, but we are small in numbers and unable to defend
ourselves against this great dictatorship. We pray very earnestly that the West
will help us to become free again. How can anyone be truly happy when millions
are slaves?

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