George Matulaitis Journal

had swaggered along the streets and many young people were strolling around, especially girls but also a number of ladies and gentlemen. It seemed as though the Jews had gone into hiding; once in a while one would go by, looking frightened. Most of the Poles had white eagles pinned on and seemed confident that now they were in power. Here and there some of the Legionnaires rode by in sleighs. Today everything is different. The poor and working-class people, mostly Jews, have spilled out into the streets; young men and women have come out to greet the Red Army soldiers and are talking to them. Apparently, quite a few of the soldiers are Jewish, and the young people know some of them. The gentry have disappeared. Now the Red Army soldiers and the common people are riding around in sleighs. It looks like a different city. It is fairly quiet, but there are rumors of the arrests of some Legionnaires who had been in hiding. I have been advised to get away somewhere or at least to move into another house. I have decided not to go anywhere. It will be as God wills. If it be God’s will, they will arrest or even kill me—the way is the same everywhere. I do not feel that I have done anyone any harm or committed any crime, and so I am at peace. People say that the Bolsheviks are not behaving as they did at first; they are now treating people courteously and will so long as no one opposes them. I celebrated high Mass at the Cathedral. It was filled with people. January 7 Everything was quiet. The Bolsheviks have announced their take- over in a humane manner. 1 Rumor has it that the Bolsheviks have arrested more than a dozen Legionnaires and are carrying out house searches among gentry suspected of having collaborated with the Legionnaires. It is said that the Legionnaires have retreated to Lentvaris, where some of them were disarmed by the Germans, but 174 1 On Jan. 6 the Bolsheviks posted announcements in Lithuanian, Polish, and Russian that the Red Army had taken Vilnius and its government was now the Provisional Revolutionary Lithuanian Workers’ Council.