George Matulaitis Journal

On March 31st the people’s delegates who were determined to go to the Bolshevik authorities to protect me from being evicted came to see me. They discussed how to proceed: it was dangerous for the delegates to go by themselves, since they could be arrested when they got there; presenting the paper with the signatures was also risky because those who had signed would be exposed to repercussions. I told them that they should go and speak out calmly and politely. Both the Lithuanians and the Poles had sent letters of protest to the Bolsheviks, signed with false names. Right after the people’s delegates, a Bolshevik spy or provocateur came in. He called himself O =d ak 1 and said that he was a prison warden. He had heard everything I said to the people in the reception room. Fortunately, I had been careful. This O = dak, the prison warden, had been here before, ostensibly because he felt sorry for the prisoners. He suggested that I appeal to the people to send them bedding, clothes, and food. According to him, it would be easy to free some of the prisoners, especially the priests. He added that there was no reason why the people should not rise up against the Bolsheviks and drive them out with clubs and sticks. I told him that it would be difficult to send food and clothing since none was to be had in the city. People were starving. And even if something could he sent, it would probably not reach those for whom it was intended. I have no money to pay for the prisoners’ ransom and even if someone were able to ransom them, what good would that do? They can arrest the same people again, adding several more to their number. Then I added: “Why do they detain innocent people if they cannot provide for them?” As for staging a revolt, that would be a disaster. The Bolsheviks are armed and could easily put down unarmed people. That is why I am continually trying to calm the people, telling them to suffer patiently. However, I believe that a government that is based solely on weapons and violence cannot continue for very long. O = dak spoke to me in German, inserting a Russian word here and there. I suspect that he is a secularized Jew. 241 1 J. O=dak belonged to the Commissars’ Council of the Lithuanian-Belorussian Republic set up by the Bolsheviks in February of 1919.