0:00:02 > 0:00:04BIRDS TWEET
0:00:14 > 0:00:16WATER RUSHES
0:04:22 > 0:04:26- This is the Revolt, the Peasants' Revolt?- Yeah, peasants.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30- This is the old church?- Mm-hm.
0:04:30 > 0:04:35- You see Mackiewicz.- The priest. It's in winter time in this photo.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38It's very different in winter.
0:04:53 > 0:04:59This is Father Skaiderus. And this is Gearoid from Ireland.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02We're here to find out about the book smugglers.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06- Yes.- Can we look inside? - You're welcome.
0:05:09 > 0:05:14The church was built by a young priest, Father Mackiewicz,
0:05:14 > 0:05:20who, several years later, became one of the main leaders
0:05:20 > 0:05:23of a national and social uprising in Lithuania and Poland
0:05:23 > 0:05:26against the Russian Empire.
0:05:26 > 0:05:31The rebel priest, he was one of the only priests to actually stand up?
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Yes. He was the only man of the cloth
0:05:34 > 0:05:39who engaged in armed rebellion.
0:05:39 > 0:05:45Bishop Valancius was engaged in cultural, national,
0:05:45 > 0:05:53political renewment also, but he said to that priest, Mackiewicz,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56"Don't go, you will lose your men
0:05:56 > 0:06:00"and yourself will be executed,"
0:06:00 > 0:06:05but a young man, a young heart, a burning heart for freedom,
0:06:05 > 0:06:10he didn't listen to the bishop, to the diplomatic.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12He wanted it right now.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17- But to take arms and to be leader... - Yeah.- ..and go to forest,
0:06:17 > 0:06:22to be a partisan, to be uncatchable, as the Russians called him - uncatchable guerrilla -
0:06:22 > 0:06:25was the only example.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48Book smugglers, book carriers, after the Revolt,
0:06:48 > 0:06:52that was the result of the crashed Revolt.
0:06:52 > 0:06:57The Revolt didn't succeed, but the fruits of it
0:06:57 > 0:07:03was more and more national and international, maybe, movements.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08- And this is the hanging itself? - Mm-hm.
0:07:08 > 0:07:14- There was a bishop who also organised the book smuggling and printing?- Bishop Valancius.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16And he published books
0:07:16 > 0:07:24and he founded the first illegal publishing and distributing organisation.
0:07:24 > 0:07:32That was the best part, as a result of the failed Revolt.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35It was like a fire burning in the future.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42So, was the resistance movement -
0:07:42 > 0:07:48was it more to do with Catholicism or language?
0:07:48 > 0:07:55Historically, everything worked together in one thing.
0:07:55 > 0:08:01At that time, Lithuanian identity, they could not separate the Church from the language?
0:08:01 > 0:08:04Not from the language and the faith.
0:08:04 > 0:08:11Today, it's more complicated, maybe, but in 19th century,
0:08:11 > 0:08:17it was, of course, inseparable, I suppose.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22So, what do you think about this priest?
0:08:22 > 0:08:24He's a good priest.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28It's good that the Church was on the side of the peasants
0:08:28 > 0:08:31and you had rebel priests to keep the language
0:08:31 > 0:08:33and help the book smugglers.
0:08:33 > 0:08:38So, did the Church not help in Ireland,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41to keep your language, to protect Irish?
0:08:41 > 0:08:46The strange thing is the Presbyterian, Protestant Church.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50They wanted to protect the language.
0:08:50 > 0:08:55They published Bibles in Irish, the New Testament in Irish.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57And in a way, the Catholic Church,
0:08:57 > 0:09:03by supporting the national school system in the 19th century, finished what the English couldn't do -
0:09:03 > 0:09:08they made the people speak English. They took control of the schools,
0:09:08 > 0:09:10and the school system.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14Children were punished if they spoke Irish.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19They were made to feel it was a sin and they had to wear a stick
0:09:19 > 0:09:25around their neck and if parents or older people caught children speaking Irish,
0:09:25 > 0:09:29they put a notch on the stick and then the children get beat.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34So it made them ashamed to speak the language.
0:09:34 > 0:09:40I think also in Lithuania, the Church defends first herself.
0:09:41 > 0:09:49And you understand that if they will defend the Catholic Church
0:09:49 > 0:09:54and they use Lithuanian language, Lithuanian prayer books,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58they will keep these peasants for all time.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44How do you feel?
0:11:52 > 0:11:55So, we're good? We go to work?
0:11:55 > 0:11:58- Let's go.- Let's go to work. - To catch book smugglers.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39MAN SHOUTS
0:13:40 > 0:13:43DOG BARKS
0:15:19 > 0:15:23And people are... Then they get the letters,
0:15:23 > 0:15:25the newspapers, books.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30They understand that there are a lot of people who think the same like they think.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32Understand what's happening outside.
0:15:32 > 0:15:38And I think they started understanding that we are Lithuanian nation,
0:15:38 > 0:15:43that we could get independence. It's real,
0:15:43 > 0:15:48because we have our language and so why we can't get our country freedom?
0:15:48 > 0:15:53- So the paper, the word became almost like a new weapon?- Yes.
0:15:53 > 0:15:59- I think an uncatchable weapon. - An uncatchable weapon, right.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02BUZZ OF CONVERSATION
0:16:33 > 0:16:38- What does it mean?- It's not to Siberia, just to the prison, but, you know?
0:16:38 > 0:16:40People went to work.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44- Hard work.- Or labour, labour camp? - Yeah.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48So it means to the labour camp.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30So, where to now?
0:17:30 > 0:17:33We are going to visit one couple.
0:17:33 > 0:17:38Her grandfather was a book smuggler.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40Right.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43- An actual descendant of the book smugglers.- Yes.
0:17:43 > 0:17:44WOMAN SINGS
0:20:59 > 0:21:01HE SINGS
0:23:03 > 0:23:08There's probably more to learn, as we go along, so...
0:23:16 > 0:23:21This barge will take us to the Baltic Sea.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24Before, there were a lot of these barges.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28Not smuggling, maybe, but just carrying wood from forests, or stones to sell.
0:23:28 > 0:23:33Now, this is the last one. Like the last connection to the past.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37And it's like the barge is carrying us through the past,
0:23:37 > 0:23:39through this smuggling territory.
0:23:39 > 0:23:45Soon we will get to Tilze. It was like the capital for the old smugglers.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47So, where are we now?
0:23:47 > 0:23:52100 years ago, there was Prussia.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55- This was... - Prussia, Prussia, Prussia.- Prussia.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57And there was Russia.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01And, now, there is Russia.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03And there is Lithuania.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07Russia... Prussia?
0:24:07 > 0:24:08Russia, Prussia.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10- Russia, Lithuania?- Lithuania. Yes.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15So, where is Prussia?
0:24:15 > 0:24:17Prussia disappeared.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20- Like an illusion?- Yes.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23This is Tilze.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28And now it's Soviet, the new name, this town here.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30- Tilze is now Soviet?- Yes.
0:24:31 > 0:24:36And it's where many Lithuanian books were published during the press ban.
0:24:36 > 0:24:43One of the biggest publishers of Lithuanian books was Otto von Mauderode.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48Maybe we can find his publishing house.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11OK. Let's go.
0:28:52 > 0:28:59This is from a short story that was written by Vincas Kudirka,
0:28:59 > 0:29:03called Memoirs Of A Lithuanian Bridge.
0:29:03 > 0:29:08It's a satire about Russification.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11It is the bridge that tells the story.
0:29:11 > 0:29:18The basic idea is that a Russian officer and a Jewish contractor make a deal
0:29:18 > 0:29:22to repair a bridge, each year.
0:29:22 > 0:29:27- But the bridge is...- Wasn't broken? - Wasn't broken,
0:29:27 > 0:29:33so year by year, the bridge becomes...
0:29:33 > 0:29:36- More Russian?- Yes.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39So they try to Russify the bridge?
0:29:39 > 0:29:42- They try to Russify, they change it...- Like the books?
0:29:42 > 0:29:44- Like the books.- The alphabet?- Yeah.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50- Here is the...the Russian. - The Russian.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52- And this is the Jew?- Jewish, yeah.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56It's a very stereotyped caricature.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59- You can't now...- Compare?
0:29:59 > 0:30:00Yeah.
0:30:00 > 0:30:07These nationalism today and 100 years ago, because...
0:30:07 > 0:30:14I think maybe Kudirka was trying to help Lithuanians define themselves
0:30:14 > 0:30:16and contrast to other people who live here.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20- So, you find out who you are by saying who you're not?- Yes.
0:30:20 > 0:30:25Do you know, when I read this story, I thought it was a bit anti-Semitic.
0:30:25 > 0:30:31It made me worry if too much nationalism is a bad thing.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45Kudirka, I think, was the main leader
0:30:45 > 0:30:51- of our ideology of national... - Consciousness.- Consciousness. Yeah.
0:30:52 > 0:30:58And, here also, in Kudirkos Naumiestis where Kudirka lived.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01- This is where he lived?- Yes, he lived and died in this town.
0:31:01 > 0:31:07And the museum is on the same place where his house was standing.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27Kudirka was also a translator.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31- Joan of Arc?- Yes. - The Maid of Orleans.
0:31:31 > 0:31:36Ukininkas, The Farmers' Journal, and Varpas, The Bell -
0:31:36 > 0:31:41these were illegal newspapers that Kudirka founded in Soviet,
0:31:41 > 0:31:44in Tilze, where we just left.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48These are prayer books.
0:31:48 > 0:31:52- It's written in Lithuanian language, but only...- Cyrillic?
0:31:52 > 0:31:53..Cyrillic alphabet.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00And this guy in the model is Muravyov.
0:32:00 > 0:32:01- The hangman?- Yes.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03How many people did he hang?
0:32:03 > 0:32:08- I don't know. I think...- A lot? - ..a lot, yeah.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18- The national anthem. - National anthem.
0:32:18 > 0:32:23Kudirka wrote the words and music also for the national anthem.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25And what is your national anthem?
0:32:25 > 0:32:27We have three.
0:32:28 > 0:32:34One for the soldiers, one for the Queen and one for the rugby players.
0:32:40 > 0:32:47I bring some examples for Varpas in double-bottom of my magic box.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53- It's The Bell.- Varpas, The Bell. - Yes.
0:32:53 > 0:32:54Just a normal newspaper?
0:32:54 > 0:32:57- I think...- But illegal, yeah?- Yeah.
0:32:57 > 0:33:02So he was bringing modern news of what's going on around the country,
0:33:02 > 0:33:04simple journalism...
0:33:04 > 0:33:06And also he puts his translatings.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09- And translations. - Translations, yeah.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12- And also traditional folk songs. - Yes.
0:33:12 > 0:33:18So, Varpas really was... The Bell really was to awaken people...
0:33:18 > 0:33:22to the importance of their own language,
0:33:22 > 0:33:24rather than Polish or Russian?
0:33:24 > 0:33:27Yes. That is why Kudirka is so important for us,
0:33:27 > 0:33:29as Basanavicius was also.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33These publishers are our national heroes.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37You can see their names everywhere, in every town and city.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30Why do they plant oak? Why choose oak?
0:34:39 > 0:34:45Also, in Ireland, it's a tree which is linked to old mythology
0:34:45 > 0:34:49and old pagan times, almost, like a magical tree.
0:37:58 > 0:38:03Is it possible to be Lithuanian without Lithuanian language?
0:38:07 > 0:38:08Can you ask?
0:38:14 > 0:38:20So, in Ireland, we have two languages.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24And there was a shift to English.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28Would he still consider them to be Irish - the ones who do not speak...?
0:39:32 > 0:39:40From my own experience, sometimes I work writing poetry in Irish,
0:39:40 > 0:39:46talk in Irish, and sometimes I drift, I forget Irish,
0:39:46 > 0:39:49and communicate in English.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53But, in essence, I still feel Irish.
0:39:53 > 0:39:58Doesn't matter if I'm writing in English or Irish?
0:39:58 > 0:40:03I can switch, but still feel the same essence.
0:40:10 > 0:40:16You are the same. Without language, you are not the same.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38Is it not possible to keep a balance?
0:40:40 > 0:40:42It's impossible?
0:41:19 > 0:41:22He called me an illusion.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25He don't call YOU an illusion.
0:41:25 > 0:41:26You are real.
0:41:26 > 0:41:31But your imagination that you could put two things together,
0:41:31 > 0:41:38two languages together, and still feel yourself, like Irish?
0:41:38 > 0:41:41- That's an illusion? - It's an illusion, he said.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45People who don't speak Irish, they're also an illusion?
0:41:46 > 0:41:54No, they don't think that they need Irish,
0:41:54 > 0:41:58so it's not illusion.
0:41:58 > 0:42:06But illusion is when you are thinking about unreal things, yeah?
0:42:06 > 0:42:09I think, as he said,
0:42:09 > 0:42:16that you wrote your poetry in two languages?
0:42:16 > 0:42:22It's illusion that you want to be an Irishman,
0:42:22 > 0:42:25so you should write in Irish, not in English.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29But Irish people have English and Irish.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31- Yeah.- So they can move from one to the other.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34- It's illusion.- It's not illusion. It's real!
0:42:34 > 0:42:37It's illusion if you move from one to another.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45- Now I'm speaking in English.- Yeah. - Which one is the illusion?
0:42:56 > 0:43:01# Pretty river Sing a river song
0:43:04 > 0:43:08# Pretty river Sing a river song
0:43:11 > 0:43:16# Pretty river Flowing on and on... #
0:43:43 > 0:43:47# ..Pretty river Flowing on and on
0:43:49 > 0:43:55# Pretty river Flowing on and on
0:43:57 > 0:44:02# Pretty river Sing a river song. #
0:44:36 > 0:44:38HE SPEAKS IRISH
0:44:45 > 0:44:47HE PLAYS BACK RECORDING
0:46:17 > 0:46:19HE SINGS
0:48:03 > 0:48:08So, there is very famous doors into university library.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11It's like history of our language.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14And, of course, the history of our country.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17- Knygnesys?- Yeah, Knygnesys.
0:48:17 > 0:48:22Jonas Basanavicius, Jurgis Bielinis also.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26- Vincas Kudirka.- Vincas Kudirka.
0:48:26 > 0:48:27They're all there, yeah.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29- Come in.- Right.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31What if there had been no book smugglers?
0:49:31 > 0:49:36And everyone here was reading Russian?
0:49:36 > 0:49:39- Or English.- Or English.
0:49:39 > 0:49:41Or Swedish.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45What was if - it's like fairy tale. We never know.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11- The Tower of Babel?- Yes.
0:50:11 > 0:50:16But it seems that this tower became the tower of bubbles.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18The tower of bubbles?
0:50:18 > 0:50:21Yes, people speaking a lot of languages,
0:50:21 > 0:50:24they have their own bubbles, their own space.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28It seems they can't live without a bubble.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31Do you think Lithuanian has a bubble?
0:50:31 > 0:50:38It's a bubble from one side to live in the bubble of languages.
0:50:38 > 0:50:43- You isolate yourself, yeah? Isolation.- Isolate, yeah.
0:50:43 > 0:50:49But what is interesting, then two bubbles met, together.
0:50:49 > 0:50:56What happens? Do they become the bigger bubble?
0:50:56 > 0:50:59- Or they broke?- Burst?
0:50:59 > 0:51:04Yes, and everything disappear, like illusion?
0:51:04 > 0:51:07Like nations disappear from history.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11- Like Prussia? - Yes. Like Prussia example.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15Each time you need to find a compromise,
0:51:15 > 0:51:19to live in your own bubble, in your own language, in your own country,
0:51:19 > 0:51:22and communicate with others.
0:51:22 > 0:51:28And how to save your bubble, because it's very thin.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31- It's very...- Fragile. Yeah.- Yeah.