Vilnius is a lovely place. It has many green gardens, lots and lots of fascinating and beautiful and very varied churches, and an interesting old town. The Black Madonna is for R, T, S, and B to see!
There was a Ghetto here - all that remains is the Choral Synagogue. The truth of it is too terrible.
We took the train to Vilnius from Trakai. The last stop before Vilnius is the Paneriai Forest where both Jews and Lithuanians were shot and buried.
However our most chilling experience in Vilnius was the Museum of the Occupation by the Soviets that is inside the actual KGB prison. On the outside it could be a government office in Whitehall. In the basement though . . . torture and murder as a political tool of passionless bureaucracy.
All this was going on 20 years ago at the same time as similar stuff was happening in South Africa. I was unable to stay down there.
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