My Father's Neighborhood
This is walking up Vaizganto Street. The white house on the left belonged to my Grandfather's brother, Petras Klimas who was one of the signers of the Lithuanian Declaration of Independence in February 1918. He was also the Lithuanian Ambassador to Italy and France and was acting Foreign Minister for a short time. When the Soviets occupied Lithuania, he was tried for the very serious crime of asking France not to recognize the Soviet annexation of Lithuania and was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor in Siberia. Upon his return to Kaunus in 1955, he was unable to return to his home and instead, lived across the street with the family of his wife's sister, Barbora Lesauskiene. He passed away in 1969 and is buried in Kaunus. Barbora's Granddaughters, Vaiva and Vita Lesauskaite, live there now with their mother, Valerija. They were kind enough to open their home to me on this trip and thanks to them, I had a very special tour of my Fathers hometown.
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