English
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Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska
“What should I live for? For this system to kill me slowly and mercilessly? It would be better to end my life at once… There will never be freedom here. Even the word freedom has been forbidden.” These were the final thoughts of Romas Kalanta, a 19-year-old night-school student from Vilijampolė, Lithuania, before his tragic and powerful act of protest.
On May 14, 1972, Kalanta doused himself with three liters of gasoline and set himself on fire in front of the Kaunas State Musical Theatre—the very place where the Soviet puppet parliament had, in 1940, proclaimed the Lithuanian SSR and petitioned to join the USSR. His self-immolation was a desperate and courageous protest against the Soviet occupation of Lithuania.
Kalanta’s act shocked the nation and ignited the largest public unrest in Soviet Lithuania since World War II. His final note, kept hidden by the regime until the fall of the USSR, read: “Blame only the regime for my death.” (Lithuanian: Dėl mano mirties kaltinkite tik santvarką.)
His Life and the Aftermath
Romas had hoped to become a priest, as mentioned in a school essay—an aspiration that led to surveillance and scrutiny by the authorities. With long hair, sympathy for the hippie movement, and a habit of drawing, he was later portrayed by Soviet propaganda as mentally unstable in an attempt to discredit his act.
He attended night school while working in a factory. After his self-immolation, he suffered second- and fourth-degree burns and died early the next morning on May 15, 1972.
The Soviet authorities responded with panic. Kalanta’s funeral was moved up by two hours in an attempt to prevent public gatherings. But it was too late. Thousands took to the streets of Kaunas, chanting: “Freedom for Lithuania!” and “Long live independent Lithuania!” Demonstrations on May 18–19 drew the largest anti-Soviet crowds in the USSR at the time. Soviet troops, paratroopers, and secret police brutally cracked down, arresting over 400 people, including workers, civil servants, and students.
The unrest marked a turning point in Soviet Lithuania. In 1972 alone, 13 others followed Kalanta’s example and committed self-immolation, including V. Stonys (24) in Varėna, A. Andriuškevičius (60) in Kaunas, Zališauskas (62), and Juozapas Baracevičius (40) in Šiauliai. The protest tactic continued in later years, such as Antanas Kalinauskas’s self-immolation in a Soviet military unit in 1976.
Legacy and Recognition
International awareness of Kalanta’s death spread quickly—just days before U.S. President Richard Nixon’s state visit to Moscow on May 22, 1972. Lithuanian communities abroad began annual commemorations of his sacrifice, using the occasion to call for Lithuania’s independence.
Kalanta’s death helped fuel the growing movement for national liberation, ultimately contributing to the rise of Sąjūdis, the Lithuanian Reform Movement of the late 1980s.
Romas Kalanta became a national symbol of resistance. The face of Kaunas’s iconic Freedom Warrior statue was modeled after him. His memory is honored every year on May 14. Lithuanians around the world have erected monuments, issued commemorative stamps, and published works about his life and sacrifice.
On July 4, 2000, Romas Kalanta was posthumously awarded the 1st Class Order of the Cross of Vytis. (The Order of the Cross of Vytis is a Lithuanian presidential award conferred for heroic defence of Lithuania’s freedom and independence.) He was officially recognized as a freedom fighter in 2005.His grave was declared a historical monument in 1990, and in 2005, he was officially recognized as a freedom fighter.
Image: Freedom Warrior, Kaunas ©Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska
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