Source: http://www.lkbkronika.lt/index.php/en/kgb-struggle-against-kronika-in-lithuania-and-in-the-west
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 16:19:28+00:00

Document:
1 LYA. F. K-l, C. d. 45, f. 500, sh. 96, 100, 105, 119, 124.
2 ibid. F. 501, sh. 51-76.
Because underground publications in the 1970s were not limited to only religious literature (catechisms, prayer-books) but also included philosophical works from a Christian point of view, the first persons to receive attention from the KGB were the publishers of this sort of literature: Petras Plumpa, Povilas Petronis, Jonas Stašaitis, and Juozas Zdebskis.3 After the appearance of the LKB Kronika (henceforth simply Kronika), many publishers of underground religious literature also became involved in its issuance. The publishing equipment, experience, and contacts which these people possessed comprised the material and organizational basis for publishing the Kronika.
As Archbishop Tamkevičius noted in his recollections, in the first years of its issuance Petras Plumpa (up to his arrest on 20 November 1973) was his irreplaceable assistant.4 The relations of these people with Moscow dissidents were helpful in establishing the Kronika's first bridges to the West.
3 ibid. Sh. 2-8. Plan of secret service-strategic measures. 17 May 1971.
4 Archbishop Tamkevičius. LKB Kronika. Volume XI. 1997, pp. 348-349.
5 LYA. Criminal Case No. 47706/3. Volume 4, sh. 11.
6 ibid. F.K-1, C. d. 8, f. 201, sh. 89-103.
From its first to last issue the Kronika was sent to the West. The first issue reached the newspaper Draugas (Friend) published by Lithuanians in the United States three months after its appearance in Lithuania.
8 LYA. LKP DS. F. 1771, C. d. 248, f. 15, sh. 15-17.
9 Vidas Spengla, Lietuvos Kataliku Bažnyčios Kronika. XI, pp. 56-68, 182-184.
The main aim of observing the Kronika was to find its publishers, to repress them and to stop its publication. The second, so called alibi, aim was to at least discover the channels through which the publication was sent to the West and to sever them. The broadcasting of information from the Kronika only in Lithuania was not as dangerous for Soviet policy as was its dissemination in the free world. The disclosure of the true policies of the USSR lowered its prestige and weakened its influence in the world. This was the essential danger of the Kronika.
In order to track down the organizers and publishers of the Kronika, the KGB diligently examined every copy they obtained, followed every person who copied or distributed it, tried to figure out who was the supplier of the published information so as to learn who were the organizers of the publication and its editors.
10 LYA. Criminal case No. 47706/3. V. 4, sh. 11.
11 ibid. F. K-l. C. d. 8, f. 210, sh. 200-201.
and return it to the person (so that the agent would not give himself away). When there was no need to return the copy, the KGB, nevertheless, retained it. From the 126 copies of the Kronika found in the repositories of the KGB more than 80 were given by agents. There were even 4-5 different copies of some issues, indicating that the Kronika was copied not in one but in many different places.
The KGB examined thoroughly the copies it received. A note was first attached to every copy indicating when and what agent had delivered it, as well as to which KGB division or subdivision the agent belonged and from whom the copy had been acquired. If a copy had to be returned to an agent, the KGB operation technical section first analyzed the copy searching for any traces of the so called 'MT' substance. (The KGB began to treat carbon-paper with a chemical substance which was given the code name 'MT'. Later they also treated paper with the same substance, and tried through their agents to give this treated paper to people who were suspected of being involved in the publication of the Kronika). When the KGB found traces of the 'MT' substance in an acquired copy, they knew the source of the printing. After detecting the printing sources they only had to establish which of them was the first, believing that the place where the initial copies were printed would help them find the editors.
As can be seen from the notes attached to the issues, many agents were, in fact, constant suppliers often receiving different issues of the Kronika from the same person. By tracking such a person, the KGB could effectively follow that person and find out where he/she had obtained the copy and thus draw closer to the primary source - the editorial office.
It was more difficult to do this with issues of the Kronika confiscated during a search. The records of interrogations indicate that the publishing assistants and distributors of the Kronika knew how to react to questioning: they would say that they had found the publication in their post-boxes or that some unfamiliar woman had given it to them in the church and so on. The chain was thus broken.
The distributors of the Kronika knew that if copying equipment and copies were found in their premises they could not escape responsibility. Nevertheless, even then the search for the initial source of the Kronika would usually be broken off, the real client was not betrayed.
Another matter which interested the KGB was the source of the information published in the Kronika. The KGB would check some of the facts mentioned in the Kronika. The official purpose of the checking was to establish if such an event had really taken place. A copy of the Kronika item was sent to the KGB city department or district subdivision where the event described in the Kronika had taken place and the KGB authorities were asked to check the objectivity of the described event. Local KGB officers (and sometimes KGB officers from Vilnius) invited the people mentioned in the item and officially interrogated them. It can be seen from the interrogation records, though, that the officers had an obvious tendency to question the witnesses in such a manner that they would testify that the account was untrue and slanderous. Later these records were used to start criminal cases against the assistants of the Kronika and served as proof that by assisting the Kronika they "slandered the Soviet state and social order". The information, broadcast by foreign radio stations, was examined especially thoroughly. Using this evidence, the KGB asserted that Western radio stations were conducting anti-Soviet slanderous propaganda. The instructions to verify the validity of facts always included the demand to find out who had supplied the information to the Kronika.12 This demand, however, was usually not fulfilled because the described event was usually known to more than one person and it was impossible to establish who had supplied the information. Understandably, the security bodies tried to track down the informer because this might help them find the editorial office.
It was just as important to track down the channels through which the Kronika was sent to the West and to block them. These channels were most often established through Moscow. In the beginning Tamkevičius, Zdebskis, Plumpa, and others gave the Kronika to Moscow dissidents. Later, the number of couriers increased. At the end of 1974 after the arrests and interrogations of Sergei Kovalev and later Gleb Yakunin, Tatyana Velikanova, Viktor Kapitanchyuk, Lev Regelson, Dmitrii Dudko, the KGB learned about some of the channels but was unable to sever them because replacements were found for those arrested. (For example, the wife and son of Kovalev replaced him). It should be noted that none of the arrested publishers of the Kronika disclosed these channels.
Later more tourists from Western countries visited the USSR and Lithuania. Often tourists from the U.S. took the Kronika in microfilms home as a souvenir.
Lithuanian Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary from Putnam (U.S.A) were involved in this operation several times. As Archbishop Tamkevičius testified, when visiting the U.S. in the archive where issues of the Kronika were stored he saw not only the issues which he had sent but also issues sent by somebody else. In other words, the publishers of the Kronika were not the only people who were interested in sending copies to the West.13 The KGB watched very closely the tourists who came to Lithuania, and sometimes managed with the assistance of customs officials to search a tourist and confiscate a copy of the Kronika. The KGB acquired issues Nos. 12, 13, and 14 this way. When this method was not successful, the issues of the Kronika reached the West in other ways.
12 LYA. Criminal case No. P-14308-LI. V. 3, sh. 41-139.
13 Archbishop Tamkevičius. Opus quotation, p. 336.
The same institution - the KGB - observed the Kronika and organized the fight against it. The plans of the secret service-strategic measures provided not only for revealing its publishers and organizers but also for stopping its issuance or at least diminishing its influence.
Because the former KGB archive no longer holds the strategic cases against the Kronika and its publishers (except for strategic investigation case No. 242 involving Zdebskis), the methods for spying and the measures used in the fight can only be reconstructed with the help of this case and the remaining strategic and criminal material found in some other KGB divisions (but not the Fifth Service which dealt with this job directly because it succeeded in erasing its footsteps completely).
14 LYA. F. K-l, C. d. 45, f. 499, sh. 4-7.
15 ibid. F. 500. sh. 24, 74-77; f. 501. sh. 2-8, 111-115; f. 502. sh. 11-14.
to fight against them, is the plans of the investigative actions and secret service-strategic measures used to 'investigate' specific persons before their arrest or immediately afterwards. The latter plans were made by the Fifth Service of the KGB of the LSSR together with the interrogation department and approved by the KGB chief or his deputy.16 The analysis of these plans helps one to understand better the methods and measures used to watching and combat the Kronika.
16 ibid. C. d. 8, f. 201, sh. 89-103, 104-136: f. 207, sh. 37-51; f. 233, sh. 206-219.
17 ibid. C. d. 45, f. 502, sh. 246, 247, 253-255.
18 LGAM (Lithuania's museum for the victims of the genocide). LKB Kronika documents.
19 LYA. F. K-l, C. d. 15, f. 4359/3, sh. 1.
center - the editorial office. The KGB even drew maps of the possible locations of the Kronika's publishing centers, but one can declare that their maps were inaccurate because the Kronika was edited elsewhere.
Fixed or temporary observation posts were used to watch the movements of people under observation. Agents worked in fixed observation posts while KGB officers (from section 7) usually used temporary observation posts. They would list when a watched person departed and returned and who (car registration number, make) and when visited him. For example, two agents in Šlavantai (Lazdijai district) constantly watched Zdebskis. So called 'reliable people' (semi-agents) were at times also assigned to assist the task.
A few or even more agents were assigned to keep track of every suspected publisher of the Kronika. Because it was clear to everybody that the Kronika was published by believers, most likely priests and nuns, the KGB tried to utilize as many agents as possible from its priests and 'monk elements' (KGB expression - author) to watch over the publishers.
In preparing the first measure to liquidate the Kronika, on 30 October 1973 the Fifth Section and the investigation department of the KGB of the LSSR prepared and Lithuanian KGB Chief Petkevičius approved the "Plan of Secret Service and Strategic Means and Investigation Acts to Halt the Organized Hostile Activity of the Group of People Publishing the Kronika and Other Religious and Ideologically Harmful Literature". Fifteen such people were named. Among the first mentioned were the priests Zdebskis, Tamkevičius, Jonas Buliauskas, Jonas Lauriūnas, Algimantas Keina. Judging from the information presented about the suspects and the homes which it was planned to search (a total of 28) as well as those to be interrogated (a total of 33), it is clear that many agents were involved in the observations and they had gathered a lot of information.20 It should be noted that many of the people mentioned in this plan were really involved in the preparation of the Kronika.
20 ibid. C. d. 8, f. 201, sh. 104-136.
21 ibid. C. d. 45, f. 502, sh. 87-89.
22 ibid. P. Ill, 112. Report by agent ,Lilija', 14 April 1976.
As one can see, the KGB had little doubt, but lacked undeniable evidence and certainty, that their arrests would result in the liquidation of the Kronika and thus continued to weave its web further.
Secret Microphones (Measure 'T'). In order to collect more information about the suspected publishers of the Kronika, secret microphones were widely placed in the apartments of the suspects or their 'connections' (telephone conversations were monitored less frequently). This was called measure T. Such equipment was installed in the apartments of Zdebskis in Prienai, of Vytautas Vaičiūnas in Kaunas, of nuns in Kaunas, and of Jonas Kastytis Matulionis in Vilnius. In preparing secret service-strategic plans, the KGB would designate the homes of suspects in which secret microphones were to be placed.
23 ibid. C. d. 45, f. 503, sh. 123.
24 ibid. C. d. 8, f. 201, sh. 108.
While preparing for the first arrests and searches, using secret microphones, it was ascertained that Petronis had an Eros apparatus in Kaunas and that he was collaborating with the Kronika's initiator Zdebskis and its 'administrator' Buliauskas. It was also determined that there was an underground 'publishing location' in Titnago street in Kaunas in the cellar of Jonas Veprauskas's house. A very good source of information was the microphone in the apartment of Vaičiūnas. The KGB learned that following Petronis's instructions, Vaičiūnas had purchased parts of an obsolete Eros apparatus, which he had hidden and planned to use to make a new apparatus. The KGB also discovered that Petronis had used his Eros apparatus not only to copy some underground religious literature but also the Kronika. The KGB also learned that there were two Eros apparatuses about whose existence Virgilijus Jaugelis knew.
Information about other persons including Jonas Kastytis Matulionis27, the 'contacts' of Anastazas Janulis and Povilas Buzas28, the congregation sisters in Kaunas of the arrested Sisters Genovaitė Navickaitė and Ona Vitkauskaitė29, the nuns Veronika Beišytė and Julija Rutelionytė in Marijampole30, Kurtinaityte, Čekanauskaitė, Mačiokaitė, Paliauskaitė (in Kaunas and the districts of Telšiai, Mažeikiai, Akmenė)" were also collected using the same means. All of them were suspected of participating in the publication of the Kronika.
26 ibid. C. d. 45, f. 504, sh. 1-219.
27 ibid. C. d. 8, f. 207, sh. 37-51.
28 ibid. C. d. 8, f. 233, sh. 206-219.
30 ibid. C. d. 8, f. 216, sh. 32-40. " ibid. Sh. 32-40.
As long as the publishers of the Kronika were not aware of this method or did not realize its danger, the KGB learned a lot of information using secret microphones. When they became aware of this monitoring method, the publishers of the Kronika learned how to protect themselves: they would hold conversations by writing or outdoors or by speaking softly while loud music drowned their words.
External Watching (Measure 'NN'). While observing the suspected publishers of the Kronika, external watching - measure 'NN' - was used to determine the connections of the suspects, the locations where the Kronika was printed, copied, and bound, and the ways it was sent to Moscow.
The KGB usually conducted external watching by following a suspect in a car and registering the locations of all his visits as well as his meetings with people. Watched people were sometimes also secretly photographed.
32 ibid. Sh. 12-23; f. 242, sh. 3-5.
33 ibid. C. d. 8, f. 247, sh. 133, 144. Plan of main investigation acts and secret service-strategic measures dated 16 March 1984 in criminal case of Lapienis No. 10-2-016.
34 ibid. C.d. 45, f. 502, sh. 241. A report of agent 'Gerardas', 17 December 1973.
35 ibid. F. 505, sh. 81-132. Zdebskis's list of 'connections'.
36 ibid. F. 499, sh. 39, 40. Letter of chief of the KGB of the LSSR to section 5 of KGB of the USSR 23 November 1978.
37 ibid. C. d. 8, f. 201, sh. 104-136; f. 233, sh. 221, 222, 206-219, 192-205.
38 ibid. F. 233, sh. 206-219.
39 ibid. C. d. 45, f. 504, sh. 85-87. Mylėti artima. Vilnius, 1998, pp. 88-89.
As some of the people who were being observed constantly testified, sometimes the cars used during the operations had antennae of previously unseen construction. Maybe these were the measures carried out under the code names 'Stiklas' (Glass), 'Veidrodis' (Mirror) or 'Transit' which were mentioned in the Zdebskis files.
40 Sister G. E. Šuliauskaitė, „LKB Kronikos kryžiaus kelyje". LKB Kronika. XI, 1997, pp. 374-387.
41 LYA. F. K-l, C. d. 45, f. 523, sh. 3-7; Nijole Sadūnaitė. Skubekime daryti gera, Vilnius, 1998, pp. 190-199.
42 LYA. F. K-l, C. d. 45, f. 504, sh. 85-87, 102, 112-123.
43 ibid. C. d. 8, f. 201. sh. 89, 90. Plan of secret service-strategic measures and investigation acts in criminal case No. 345, 11 August, 1972.
45 ibid. F. 207, sh. 37-51.
46 ibid. F. 233, sh. 206-219.
47 ibid. F. 216, sh. 32-40.
Sometimes instead of secret searches agents or militiamen were sent to examine the rooms and other quarters of the watched people (if there were any typewriters, printers or simply suspicious people).
Secret searches were made in the homes of many suspected supporters of the Kronika. They were made in the apartments of Rev. Kazimieras Vasiliauskas (in St. Rapolas Church in Vilnius), in the apartments of editor of Aušra Rev. Lionginas Kunevičius, worker of underground press Jonas Stašaitis, Sister Loreta Paulavičiūtė and many others.
48 ibid. F. 207, sh. 37-51.
49 ibid. F. 201, sh. 124.
50 ibid. C. d. 45, f. 499-506.
51 ibid. F. 506, sh. 126-131, 209.
Control of Mail (Measure 'PK'). Control of mail served not so much to determine the participation of the watched people in publishing the Kronika, but to ascertain their relations more exactly. Letters which interested the KGB were photographed (There was no xerography at that time). The mail of many suspects was sequestrated and their letters detained. Nijolė Sadūnaitė, Robertas Grigas, Rokas Puzonas, Algirdas Statkevičius, and others were among such people in 1987-1988.52 Such measures were usually applied to the people who were going to be repressed.
The struggle against the Kronika was conducted on two fronts: within the country and abroad. There were also two methods of struggle: propagandistic and repressive. Propaganda against the Kronika was conducted not only within the country but also in the West. For the propaganda against the Kronika within the country, the press, radio, television, 'explaining work' organized by the KGB, party officials and agents were used. Especially great attention was granted to the agents operating in diocesan offices and among influential priests. In the West the struggle against the Kronika was conducted by trying to discredit the Kronika and its publishers and to lessen the influence of its publishers and persons who distributed information from it.
The repressive method can be divided into two forms: suppression and repression of publishers. Suppression was conducted using a variety of measures: using agents to spread slander about its publishers or to discredit them, creating the opinion that the publication of the Kronika harmed the interests of the Church, limiting them through the hands of the hierarchs and Soviet authorities, compromising and threatening them. Repression - open or secret - was taken only when other measures did not work. We will treat each method and measure separately.
There was no open and annoying propaganda against the Kronika in the press of Lithuania as there was no desire to note in public that such an underground publication existed. Propaganda was usually carried out only if any fact mentioned in the Kronika became public or some of its publishers were repressed. Most often such a campaign was carried on in local and regional press in order to depreciate the significance of the event and to minimize the spread of information.
52 ibid. F. 524, sh. 216-230.
clerical nationalistic elements in the republic as well as intensify anti-Soviet propaganda abroad by hostile Lithuanian emigrants.
In order to weaken the unwanted reaction, an article had to be prepared in time and published in the republican press and in the newspaper Gimtasis kraštas, which was published for Lithuanian emigrants. The article would expose the examined objects (i.e. the repressed per-sons-author) as profiteers who taking advantage of the feelings of believers sought personal benefit.
At the same time agents infiltrated among the leaders of the church and parish priests would carry out appropriate work among believers.
53 ibid. C. d. 8, f. 201, sh. 135, 136.
54 LYA LKP DS. F. 1771, C. d. 248, f. 20, sh. 275.
55 LYA. F. K-l, C. d. 8, f. 216, sh. 149, 150.
The agents, assigned to watch the suspected publishers of the Kronika, were also charged with the task of creating a negative attitude among the clergy and believers about the reasons why the Kronika was published. They alleged that the clergy in general lived quite well, and the Kronika only spoiled the relations between Church and state, provoked stricter demands by the state, and only hurt the Church.56 With such an explanation the KGB sought to achieve two goals: to diminish the meaning of the Kronika and to incite believers (and especially the priests) against the publishers of the Kronika. An especially large role in forming this opinion was assigned to the agents infiltrated in the diocesan offices: not only because they had more frequent meetings with priests but also because their word had greater influence on the average priest. The KGB would order them to use their authority and power to discourage the priests suspected of being publishers of the Kronika from this activity.
56 ibid. C. d. 45, f. 501, sh. 274. Task to agent written in a strategic report of agent 'Gediminas', 20 August 1974.
57 ibid. F. 503, sh. 148-151.
58 ibid. C. d. 8, f. 216, sh. 150.
59 ibid. C. d. 45, f. 500, sh. 100. Strategic report of agent 'Daktaras', 22 September 1970.
60 ibid. F. 501, sh. 94. Measures written in a strategic report of agent 'Vytas' to KGB.
61 Zdebskis personal archive. Letters from office of Kaunas archdiocese and Vilkaviškis diocese dated 2 September 1970 No. 412 and 15 January 1971 No. 6.
demands are correct. For what do I have to punish them?"62 All the previous prohibitions were the direct or indirect orders of the KGB "to keep the mentioned people from extremist activities."
One of the measures of struggle against the publishers of the Kronika was to discredit them. Slanderous campaigns, anonymous letters and special operations were organized against them. Section 3 of the Fifth Service of the Lithuanian KGB with the assistance of agents was also in charge of all this work. Using these measures the KGB wanted to undermine faith in the publishers, the Kronika (and the TTGKK) and to crush them morally and force them to be silent.
63 LYA. C. d. 45, f. 500, sh. 194. Strategic report of agent 'Sigitas', 24 February 1971.
64 ibid. C. d. 8, f. 216, sh. 150.
65 ibid. C. d. 45, f. 501, sh. 273.
66 ibid. F. 502, sh. 132. Strategic report of agent 'leva', 17 August 1976.
67 ibid. F. 502, sh. 134, 134a; f. 499, sh. 56.
68 ibid. F. 499, sh. 56, 138, 140, 141; Criminal case No. P-16577-LI. V. 1, sh. 340-345.
69 ibid. C.d. 45, f. 503, sh. 148-151.
In addition to the just mentioned secret measures, the KGB also took public and official measures against the publishers of the Kronika. They were frequently invited to meet with the deputy chairman (who was responsible for the work of clergy in the district) of the district executive committee as well as with administrative commissions and the authorized representative of the RKRT, who would warn, scold, or punish them. Of course, they were not blamed for publishing the Kronika (because the authorities could not declare this officially) but the officially specified reasons were just quibbles.
70 ibid. F. 499, sh. 133, 134.
71 ibid. F. 504. sh. 102. Coded telegram No. 5861 of deputy chairman of KGB of LSSR Zvezdenkov to chief of OTU of KGB of the USSR Diomin dated 20 August 1981.
paganda and agitation. On 29 August 1979 Tamkevičius, on 3 September Svarinskas, in December 1983 Rev. Leonas Kalinauskas and others received such warnings. They were warned for their work in the TTGKK.
72 ibid. C. d. 10, f. 388, sh. 149-155. Letter of the investigation department of the KGB of the LSSR to the investigation department of the KGB of the USSR dated 14 December 1973.
73 ibid. C. d. 8, f. 216, sh. 146.
74 ibid. F. 242, sh. 3-5.
75 ibid. C. d. 10, f. 388, sh. 149-155.
76 ibid. Criminal case No. P-14241 -LI. V. 17, sh. 142-211.
In order to substantiate these charges, as was previously mentioned, the KGB would organize 'an examination' of the facts published in the Kronika: the people who were mentioned there or who were involved in the described events were questioned, the interrogation records were made official and, as a rule, it was 'proved' that the information was incorrect and slanderous. The anti-Soviet content of the issues of the Kronika, for whose publication and distribution the arrested were charged, was ascertained by KGB invited experts. Relying on the conclusions of these experts and the investigation records the previously mentioned crimes were determined.
The first persons to be convicted for the Kronika (on 24 December 1974) were Petronis (4 years imprisonment in a high security camp), Plumpa (8 years imprisonment in a high security camp), Stašaitis (1 year imprisonment), Jaugelis (2 years imprisonment in general regime labor camp) and Patriubavičius (1 year and 1 month of imprisonment).77 Plumpa received the longest sentence not only because of his activities but also for his behavior during the investigation: he refused to present any evidence about the others.
Vladas Lapienis and Jonas Kastytis Matulionis were arrested in Vilnius on 19 October 1976. The KGB caught them in the act of typing issue No. 24 of the Kronika. The same day a search was also made in the apartment of Ona Pranckūnaitė in Panevėžys and she was also arrested on 17 January 1977. On 25 July 1977 all of them were sentenced. Lapienis was sentenced for the longest period - 3 years in a high security camp and 2 years exile - not only for publishing the Kronika but also for the many statements which were published in it and for his firm attitude during the investigations. Matulionis received a 2 year suspended sentence, and Pranckunaitė was sentenced to 2 years in a labor camp.80 Vladas Lapienis was already over 70 years old at that time.
77 ibid. Criminal case No. 47706/3. V. 16, sh. 46-206.
78 ibid. Criminal case No. P-14308-LI. Watching case, sh. 36-41.
79 ibid. Criminal case No. P-16577-LI. V. 9, sh. 214-234.
80 ibid. Criminal case No. 47707/3. V. 9, sh. 74, 75, 83, 90, 198, 199.
On 26 January 1983 TTGKK member Alfonsas Svarinskas was arrested. Although he was not directly charged with publishing the Kronika, this was one of the main reasons for arresting him (this was his third arrest). Officially he was accused of signing 'the slanderous documents' of the TTGKK, of sermons in which he "slandered the Soviet system and reality" and of founding the TTGKK on 13 November 1978. By the way, one of the main charges incriminating him, Tamkevičius, and other priests whom it was planned to arrest was their 'slanderous sermons.' For several years before their arrests agents and reliable people were sent to churches to record their sermons with small tape recorders which the KGB gave them. The recordings were given to the KGB where they were printed and stored. Moreover, 'the listeners' had to present a written report about the contents of the sermon or the KGB did the same in an investigation record. Usually not one, but 2-3 'listeners' would listen to the same sermon and all of them had to make reports. Quite a large number (from more than 10 to scores) of sermons by priests, who were to be arrested, were documented in this way.
81 Lietuvos Katalikų Bažnyčios Kronika. Chicago. VI, p. 341.
82 Vidas Spengla, LKB Kronika, XI. 1997, p. 325.
Editor of the Aušra Rev. Lionginas Kunevičius.
The Supreme Court sentenced Svarinskas on 3-6 May 1983 to 7 years in a high security camp and 3 years exile.83 Svarinskas spent a total of 22 years in Soviet camps.
83 LYA. Criminal case No. P-14241-LI. V. 17, sh. 249-324.
84 ibid. Criminal case No. P-16557-LI. Watching case, sh. 104-123.
85 Spengla, pp. 325, 326.
86 LYA. Criminal case No. 47707/3. V. 9, sh. 1-24.
87 Ibid. C. d. 45, f. 525, sh. 329.
arrested and to make him condemn publicly his former activities. However, during the 17 years of publishing the Kronika there was not a single person who condemned his activities. This fact is worth attention because it says much about the strength of the beliefs the people who were doing this work had.
Prison ward agents were sent to everybody but except for a few small details they did not manage to find out anything more serious.
The punishment for cooperating with the Kronika was not as severe as it was in post-war times, but it was quite large for more important personalities: 3, 4, 6-8 years in high security camps followed by 3-4 years exile. One can be amazed by the strength of spirit of those who were sent to the Gulags for the second or third time.
More persons were repressed for the Kronika than for any other underground (excluding post-war times) publication in Soviet Lithuania: 22! Two of them (Vladas Lapienis and Rev. Jonas Kastytis Matulionis) were sentenced twice for the Kronika. In spite of total watching, discrediting, repressions, the Kronika survived up to Lithuania's Atgimimas (Revival): the last issue - No. 81 - is dated 19 March 1989. The reason for the survival was not only the strength of the spirit of its publishers and contributors but also the support of Lithuanians from Western countries who spread its word throughout the world.
Understanding the significant role of Catholic Lithuanians living in the West (especially in the U.S.A.) in spreading the information of the Kronika in the world and the harm done to the prestige of the USSR in the world by making known its policy concerning the rights of believers and human freedoms, the KGB of the LSSR devoted considerable effort to the fight against the Kronika and its publishers in the West. This work was carried out on several fronts.
88 ibid. C. d. 46, f. 1656; LGAM. LKB Kronika documents.
chief of section 5 of the KGB Colonel Edmundas Baltinas ordered the KGB subdivision of the Lazdijai district to prepare and send condemning letters to Vatican Radio and to the leaders of the Lithuanian Catholic Church after coordinating the contents of these letters with them (section 5 of the KGB).89 The order was carried out.
The KGB tried to discredit the Kronika and Vatican radio with such letters and by accusing them of spreading slander to quiet them. These measures organized by the KGB were not successful because everybody understood who were the real organizers and writers of these letters.
It would have been an impressive victory for the KGB over the Vatican and all the supporters of the TTGKK and the Kronika if after carrying out the special measure against Zdebskis - by chemically scorching him - the KGB had managed to fabricate (to enter in official medical records) that he was suffering from venereal disease. They would have then been able to proclaim: "Such immoral priests publish the Kronika and you trust it!" That would have been a strong blow because it would not have been easy to prove the truth.
89 LYA. C. d. 45, f. 503, sh. 153, 154, 159.
91 ibid. F. 499, sh. 24. Strategic report of agent 'Daktaras', 19 June 1978.
The source informs that while visiting Rome in 1978 Bishop Labukas met emigre Lithuanians priests Tulaba, Jatulis, Kazlauskas, and Krasauskas who read a letter to Labukas, which the priests of the Vilkaviškis and Kaunas dioceses were said to have addressed to him. The letter contained many criticisms of Labukas and the other administrators (of dioceses) for following the wishes of the authorities and not caring for the matters of Catholic Church. Labukas laughed and told the prehistory of this letter. This letter was brought to the diocesan office by Rev. Zdebskis, who did not dare to give it to the bishop personally and only left it at the chancellery. After finding out that Zdebskis had been in the diocesan office and did not want to meet the bishop, Labukas ordered that the sealed letter be put in another envelope and be sent back to Zdebskis. A little while later Zdebskis appeared with this letter at the office again and said: "There was probably some mistake. I received this letter sealed, probably sent by you instead of some other document." The chancellors explained that there had not been any mistake and told him that if he desired he could hand the letter in person to the bishop who was waiting for him. Zdebskis got confused but did not go to the bishop. Labukas was waiting for Zdebskis and was ready to talk to him like this: "You are concerned with the affairs of bishops and consider if they are suitable for working as bishops and you are concerned about the affairs of the whole Catholic Church. But what have you done in your parish? There are many complaints lodged against you on the grounds that the believers of your parish are forced to appeal to the priests from other parishes for religious services because you are rarely at home. It is known that your son wants to enter the theological seminary. What is going to happen if after a while he enters the theological seminary and we shall have to appoint your son as a vicar in the same parish with you?
What will the people say then? Won't you then be bringing shame on the whole Church? So, sit and do what you have to do." The source added further that such priests make a lot of noise but are not decent themselves.
Moreover, Labukas told Tulaba and the others present about the speech Rev. Svarinskas made at the funeral of Rev. Aleksa in Tabariškiai in the presence of Bishop Povilonis in which Labukas was groundlessly criticized. The emigres Tulaba, Jatulis, and Krasauskas were greatly surprised that priests would act so tactlessly with their spiritual leaders. Emigre Kazlauskas said: "We considered Zdebskis, Svarinskas, and Jokubauskas to be among the most knowledgeable in church matters, but if they behave in this way, aren't they serving the authorities?" Labukas answered: "Make your own decisions..."
Note: Zdebskis, Svarinskas, and Jokubauskas are extremist priests. Labukas was given the task from agent ,Daktaras' to discredit them in the eyes of emigres.
Using its emissaries abroad - the KGB had them among local Lithuanians (as shown by KGB documents) - the KGB tried to sow distrust in the Kronika and to suppress its local supporters and distributors. During a Lithuanian meeting in the U.S.A local Lithuanian intellectuals came up to Rev. Kazimieras Kuzminskas, the chairman of the Lithuanian Union of the Chronicle which published volumes of the Kronika, and asked sarcastically: "Is it really true, dear priest, that people in Lithuania are so unhappy?"92 The KGB tentacles reached further than just the direct publishers and distributors of the Kronika in Lithuania whom the KGB with the help of its agents and letters by 'a group of priests' accused of splitting the Church, slander, disobeying their hier-archs, lack of love, and other sins. The KGB reached beyond the USSR border. Local 'intellectuals' influenced by KGB emissaries could consciously or subconsciously carry out KGB tasks: to discredit the publishers of the Kronika, its translators and especially the leaders of Union of the Chronicle and thus suppress the voice of the Kronika.
As was mentioned earlier, 22 people in Lithuania were sentenced for assisting the publication of the Kronika (however some of them were charged with other 'crimes'). They received sentences totaling 79 years (54 years imprisonment in high security camps) and 20 years exile. Knowing the inhuman conditions of imprisonment in Soviet camps we can understand the greatness of the sacrifice these people made for the Church and Nation. The contribution of the countrymen taken by the storms of war to the West cannot be underestimated because they also assisted with prayers and work at times even taking risks so that the voice of the Kronika would be heard in the world and that Lithuania and its Church would be free again. Glory and gratitude to them!
92 Arvydas Žygas, "LKB Kronikos pamokos" [Lessons of the LKB Chronicle], Naujasis dienovidis, No. 13, 27 March - 3 April 1992.
93 LYA. F. K-l, C. d. 49, f. 233, sh. 99.

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