Some Things We Did in Vilnius

On our trip to Vilnius last weekend, besides visiting the Hill of Crosses, we were toured through the Museum of Genocide Victims. This museum is located in the former KGB headquarters for the Vilnius region. The tour was fascinating and heartbreaking all at the same time. When most of us Westerners think about WWII we quickly think of the gruesomeness of the Holocaust and often forget about the genocides that took place involving non-Jewish peoples.

Most of our tour of the Genocide Museum took place in the basement of the building where the KGB prison was located. The prison has changed very little from the time it was used (from 1940-1991). The prisoners brought to this prison were political prisoners who had in someway resisted the Soviet way.

We had been told that going to this museum was "essential" to a visit to Vilnius and I think that I agree. I feel like I have a much more informed perspective on history and culture having visited this museum.

For more information check out the museum's website here: The Museum of Genocide Victims

I have currently been reading a book in which the two main characters are discussing the topics of Jesus, the message of the Gospels, heaven, hell, etc. As I finished a chapter today, the characters were continuing their conversation as they were walking into the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. As they are entering the museum one of the characters asks what Jesus is doing or trying to accomplish by "using language of hell, plus all the other negative outcomes" in his parables. The other character replies, "He's trying to get us to repent so that places like this will no longer need to be built."*

That is my prayer. Not only is that our mission while we are in Lithuania, but for where ever and to whomever we are called.


*McLaren, B.D. 2005. The last word and the word after that: a tale of faith, doubt, and a new kind of Christianity. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.