Albina Treciokaite, a History Ph.D. from the Vilnius University spent several hours with our group this morning, lecturing on the history of Lithuania. Her talk began with the first instance where Lithuania was mentioned as a country in 1009 to the country's independence in 1990.
She moved quickly through the centuries, identifying the role of Gediminas as the founder of Vilnius, to the uprisings of Tsarist rule in the 1800s. She told us of the ban on books and publications during the period 1864-1904, and the role of the "Smugglers" who risked their lives to make the written word available within the country.
She spoke of Nazi rule during WWII, followed by the Russian occupation following the war. Her talk ended discussion the country's restablished independence in 1990 and admission into the UN in 1991.
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