| Abstract [eng] |
The material presented is the diary of the young Lithuanian partisan Monika Aluzaite, aka Aldona or Audra (1931-1997), written from the day she joined the Lithuanian anti-Soviet armed resistance (28 November 1950) to the day when the partisan camp was attacked and the diary was taken by the Soviet security forces (31 July 1951). The text is handwritten in a squared notebook. The diary is kept in the Lithuanian Special Archives, as part of Monika Aluzaite's criminal file. This diary differs from other diaries written by Lithuanian partisans. It does not contain many descriptions of the partisans' everyday life, reflections on their battles, stories and incidents, or 'portraits' of the partisans. The first pages seem to suggest a traditional diary, but after a month or so, the style and the mood change. The reflections of a woman longing for her home and family appear. Monika is plagued by questions of her own existence, about the trials and tribulations she and her family face. She writes about all this in her diary. For Monika, joining the partisans was like being propelled into the world of adulthood: she left her parents' home for the first time, and she made the decision without their knowledge. If we add to this the fact that she entered an unfamiliar and dangerous milieu, which she had to share with people she barely knew, and the fact that she was tormented by the uncertainty of her family's fate, and we can understand her difficult spiritual state and the heightened emotions recorded in her diary. The partisans lived in rather closed spaces. In these circumstances, added to the difficult spiritual condition, disagreements or friction occurred between partisans living together. Monika Aluzaite's diary mentions them only episodically, but it is clear that these disagreements did not improve her mood. There was little privacy in the bunker, and it was difficult to conceal not only the most intimate actions, but also thoughts, feelings and states of mind. The diary did not remain private either. It was undoubtedly read by some of those who lived in the bunker with her, who sometimes wrote something in response to Monika's thoughts. This may seem to indicate a close relationship and trust between the partisans, but it rather reflects the cramped life of the partisans in the bunker, where comrades had to put up with each other's emotions and moods. Monika tried to conceal some things in the diary, indicated by the presence of symbols, perhaps used as a code. It is not clear whether the intention was to conceal the information from her comrades-in-arms, or from Soviet security agents, in case the diary fell into their hands. In the summer of 1951, the Zemaitija District Headquarters, where Monika Aluzaite was working at the time, moved to a camp in Uzpelkiai forest, in western Lithuania, some distance away from where the headquarters had been operating until then. However, Soviet security agents found out about the remote camp surrounded by marshes, and attacked it with a small force at the end of July 1951. The partisans had to flee, leaving all their belongings behind. Among the items left behind was Monika Aluzaite's diary. The Soviet security agents found it covered with a page of the newspaper Tiesa (the Lithuanian version of Pravda). The diary was translated and studied by Soviet security officers. On the basis of Monika's gloomy thoughts, they concluded erroneously that the girl wanted to 'return to a legal life'. This only led to an intensification of the agents' activities against Monika and her family. |
