Drawing the XXth Century. Comics on Lithuanian, Belarusian and German Family Stories by Viktoryia Andrukovič

UDK 741.5 Ac46 Felix Ackermann, Daivita Jackevičienė and Mawil (eds.)

Drawing the XXth Century. Comics on Lithuanian, Belarusian and German Family Stories Printing House „Ciklonas“ J. Jasinskio 15, 01111 Vilnius www.ciklonas.lt ISBN 978-609-8122-32-9

Contents Felix Ackermann. Preface

Mawil. Kinderland

Miglė Pužaitė. Knitting Memories

Lina Itagaki. The White Pig

Viktorija Ežiukas. Via Baltica

Viktoryia Andrukovič. Veranika

Preface

Comics as a medium of historical narratives. Perspectivity and the rethinking of the XXth century The starting point for this project is the observation of an obvious contradiction. Looking from 2016, the 20th century is over. Young citizens of Germany, Belarus and Lithuania in the early 21st century grow up in a changing world. At the same time, the memory of the 20th century, and in particular the violent experiences of societies during and in the aftermath of two World Wars, have not stopped being strong points of reference in public debates in Central and Eastern Europe. This contradiction explains why the first European war of the new century, in the nearby East of Ukraine, is perceived by many as a new form of hybrid warfare and at the same is used as evidence of an assumed continuity of 20th century practices of state triggered violence in the post-Soviet realm. For the participants of this project, who themselves grew up in Lithuania and Belarus after the end of the Cold War and for whom one of the first historical events they remember are the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, WWII is part of a rather distant past. They witness today medialized images of conflict, violence and migration. These are symptomatic of the presence of a continuously globalizing world, in which Central Europe is more peripheral to some of these waves than it was during the first half of the last century. While the 20th century has already been transformed into a history told in school, on TV and to be constantly rediscovered in the form of everyday political references in public discourse, the artists of this project focused on the question of how these larger histories are told in private. They explored narrative open ends of what is told and not told in their own family, in order to rethink the 20th century from a somewhat different point of view. By making this the starting point for a joint comic-project, we assume that actually not all the stories about the 20th century are already told. 5

In this project, we wish to examine how visualized family stories can reveal everyday aspects of life under different forms of authoritarian rule. And we are interested in an informed discussion of the relationship between modern statehood and various forms of violence. The workshop was led by the Berlin based comic artist Mawil. He grew up in the capital of the German Democratic Republic during the last decade of state socialism. He thus came face-to-face with the many contradictions of a modern state which officially was supposed to create a better Germany, but in fact enacted a continuous reorganization of how to limit its own citizens. The strength of Mawil’s comic strips is based on his strict focus on the perception of late GDR everyday life by a child. In Mawil’s work this does not lead to an infantilisation of the state, but rather to a more complex picture of the impact of the strict political regime on the education system and of the effects that the unexpected political changes of 1989 had on his childhood. In Vilnius, Mawil created a workshop which opened the doors for participants from Belarus and Lithuania to rethink how similar constellations played themselves out in the cases of their own families. A particular theme which reoccurred during the workshop, and is now visible in the book, is the everyday experience of ordinary people living in authoritarian regimes and during phases of war. It became quite obvious that in Lithuania the Soviet period, which ended finally only in 1991, is much more present than experiences of German occupation of the region during WWII. This is due to the fact that the Sovietization of Lithuania started in 1940 and lasted for five decades. On the other hand, in Belarus, which to this day is itself governed in an authoritarian way, WWII is much more present as memory of German occupation – although the West of Belarus was actually Sovietized in a similar way to Lithuania twice as consequence of the war. Putting these very different stories together without a strict contextualization risks re-echoing theories of totalitarianism which too easily equate German and Soviet rule in Central and Eastern 6

Europe. As editors, we wish to underline that the starting point for this project is rather to challenge the thinking of both in an equal way. Our starting assumption is rather that the experiences were quite different: we know from the historiography of the last decade that the practices of violence used by German and Soviet occupants were in some ways similar, but in their scope and scale different. German occupation of the territory of today’s Belarus led to the violent death of two million people, among them many Jews and prisoners of war, but also many Belarusian, Russian and Polish civilians. In Lithuania, during the three years of German rule almost all Lithuanian Jews – about two hundred thousand civilians – were murdered. From a German point of view, to equate this genocidal violence to the Soviet deportation of tens of thousands of Lithuanians and Belarusians during and in the direct aftermath of WWII is problematic, because it asserts an equivalence between the occurrence of genocide and state violence directed against various ethnic, social and religious groups. Pointing to the different scale and character of state violence under both regimes is not an attempt to symbolically diminish the suffering of tens of thousands, and the death of thousands, of Lithuanian citizens in Soviet prisons and in Siberia. By focusing on family stories, we redirect our attention to yet another scale: the perception of one particular family and the ways in which stories are told, or not told, between members of different generations. This might be helpful to better understand the longterm impact of authoritarian rule. But it is also problematic for two primary reasons. Firstly, the ways in which stories are told or not told is influenced by the meta-narratives of the societies the participants of this project live in. Thus, the assumption that the private and public memory of the 20th century are disconnected is not accurate. Actually, they are interlinked through both their narrative structures and some basic assumptions which help to reassure individuals and enable them to define their own positions vis-à-vis society at large. In this sense, the comics do not present a counter narrative or an opposite view, but propose rather to change the 7

dominant optics which are still connected to the national grand narratives about the 20th century. Another problematic aspect concerns the individual and collective strategies employed to legitimate one’s own position and to rationalize the behavior of one’s relatives. Thus, the comic strips constitute artistic attempts to reconstruct parts of reality, but as is true of all (his)stories, they are also newly woven structures which purposefully focus on certain aspects and do not cover others. For this reason, this comic book cannot replace a textbook or a visualized history book, forms which could to some extent represent the results of the systematic analysis of oral history accounts or written sources. Last but not least, we have to point to the problematic political context in which this project was organized. The annexation of Crimea by Putin’s Russia and the ongoing war in Eastern Ukraine strengthen ideas of historical continuity in Lithuanian public discourse. In many regards, the Hitler-Stalin-Pact seems to be a relevant historical experience which spreads anxiety among many in the Baltic States. A variety of references call on 1939 as a point of contemporary relevance in ways that contrive to make a perceived Russian threat part of a larger history. At the same time, the ongoing war in Donbas is part of a broader Russian attempt to reassert influence in former Soviet republics which are today independent states. To be more precise: it is an open attempt to promote instability in those post-Soviet societies who openly seek to tighten their relations with the European Union and NATO. Lithuania is a member of both organizations, but notwithstanding this, it perceives the war in Ukraine as a threat to its sovereignty. The German government supports Lithuania in this situation with a twofold strategy: on the one hand, a bundle of projects aims to support the resilience of Lithuanian society, particularly vis-àvis the impact of Russophone media which promotes the ratio of Putin’s state among Russian speaking Lithuanian citizens. On the other, the German government supports Lithuanian attempts to strengthen its ability to defend itself. Most prominently, this is ex8

pressed by a recent deal to sell German tanks to the Lithuanian army. As an outcome of this project, we propose to raise awareness of the long term impact of German occupation in this region. This could be a third component of a German strategy in the Baltic States. Thus, it is not enough to point to the continuity of a Russian threat in the region. This is particularly important, because the two German occupations during the 20th century were not only military projects to conquer land, but in both cases they were driven by a state ideology which saw Eastern Europe as a polygon for a new civilization shaped by German superiority. For the reason outlined above, we are glad to have received support from the German Embassy in Vilnius for this project on family (hi)stories which allowed us to point to both the long term impact of Soviet rule on Lithuanian and Belarusian families, and also to remember the need to include German atrocities in an updated vision of the history of the 20th century in the region. Furthermore, we are glad that this project could be realized by a Belarusian university in Lithuanian exile, which is supported by a broad range of European donors, and where a Center for German Studies is supported by the German Academic Exchange Service with funding from the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We are particularly grateful for the support of Milena Dech and Salomėja Pranckienė. As project partner, we were glad to cooperate with the Educological University of Lithuania, where Anna Nowodworska organized parts of the workshops. A presentation of Mawil’s comic art was hosted by Pavilijonas. And we are happy that we have started to cooperate with the comic association “Kitokia grafika” and its head Nerijus Smola who agreed to distribute this book in the Baltics.

– Felix Ackermann

Mawil is a comic book

artist based in Berlin. His books are published by Reprodukt, as well as in many foreign countries. In addition, he illustrates for magazines and newspapers, such as Der Tagesspiegel, teaches at art schools and gives workshops. Sometimes, he is also to be found preparing for an exhibition or working on a new book. The following pages are an excerpt from a longer graphic novel created by Mawil - â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kinderlandâ&#x20AC;?.

www.mawil.net 10

MiglÄ&#x2014; PuĹžaitÄ&#x2014; - an artist living and working in Vilnius, Lithuania. She completed a BA and MA in graphics (printmaking) at Vilnius Academy of Arts, and is especially interested in creating book designs, artists books, comics, printmaking and drawings. Her work concerns such themes as memory, family history and precious personal things. She frequently participates in group shows, exhibitions and workshops.

mpuzaite miglepuzaite

migle.migla@gmail.com 24

Lina Itagaki â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an illustrator, comics and zine artist from Lithuania. She completed graphic art (printmaking) bachelor degree studies at Vilnius Art Academy in 2014. She actively participates in group exhibitions, comics competitions and zine festivals. Characters from her comic-in-process, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mr. Pinkmanâ&#x20AC;?, can be found as big wall drawings in Riga, Latvia.

lina.itaga ki.artist Lina _ki@yahoo.com 48

Viktorija EĹžiukas - is a Lithuanian illustrator sharing her world views through comic, colorful and honest art works. She was born in Klaipeda and has graduated from Vilnius Art Academy, with bachelors and masters degrees in Visual Design. At the moment, Viktorija works as a freelance illustrator: she illustrates children â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s books, draws comics, and participates in a number of comics and illustration projects and fairs.

ViktorijaE ziukas 68

Andrukovich.Vika andrukovich.viktoria@gmail.com AndrukoviÄ? Viktoryia was born

in Grodno, Western Belarus. This part of the country has a very unusual and difficult past that, in many ways, is reflected in the story told in the comic. In 2016 Viktoryia graduated from the European Humanities University in Vilnius (Lithuania), specializing in Media and Visual Design. She likes drawing and dreams to bring something good to this world through art and creativity. For Viktoryia, the comic became an opportunity to tell the public about events that took place during World War II in the native village of her grandmother, Veranika. It is an attempt to show different sides of the war â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the loss of loved ones and sincere faith, hunger and the struggle for life, collectivization and the defending of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rights, occupation and humanity. 78

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UDK 741.5 Ac46

Felix Ackermann, Daivita Jackevičienė, Mawil (eds.) Drawing the XXth Century. Comics on Lithuanian, Belarusian and German Family Stories. Vilnius: JSC „Ciklonas“, 2016. 112 p.: illustr.

Project: Center for German Studies, European Humanities University, Vilnius Support: German Federal Foreign Office, Embassy Vilnius Comics: Lina Itagaki, Mawil, Miglė Pužaitė, Viktorija Ežiukas, Viktoryia Andukovič Proofreading & Translation: Benjamin Cope Cover Design: Viktorija Ežiukas Layout & Typeset: Viktoryia Andrukovič Font: DIN Pro, Open Sans Publishing House: JSC „Ciklonas“, J. Jasinskio 15, 01111 Vilnius, www.ciklonas.lt, www.skaityk.lt

ISBN 978-609-8122-32-9