Thank you letter to Sydney, Australia

Posted on July 11, 2011

Barbora Nakutiene with her three children, Pranyte, Alfonsas and Grazinute, in Zalari, Irkutsk Oblast, near Lake Baikal. Her husband, Juozas Nakutis was deported 300 miles further, to Tayshet.

This letter was written by Grazinute to her uncle, Mykolas Nakutis, living in Sydney, Australia. She writes that she will be starting the 6th grade, Pranyte the 4th grade, and Alfonsas, the 3rd grade, and that they are all studying quite well. She is very thankful for having received a pair of warm shoes that she expects to wear for several years. She also expresses thanks for shoes that Alfonsas received. He seems to wear shoes out fairly quickly. He enjoys going to a stream a mile away to swim and try to catch fish. However, the stream is filled with shards of broken glass.

“It would be most difficult for our mother if nobody were to help. We would not be able to go to school. The cost of books and clothing just keeps going up and up. ”

“It is very difficult for our mother. She does not get a single minute of rest.”

The circumstances under which the Nakutis family was separated and deported to Siberia are not known.

This letter, and several hundred like it, are on display as part of the Hope and Spirit exhibit that I have organized at the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture in Chicago. The exhibit will continue through mid-January, 2012.