The former Soviet Union is brought to life again in a nuclear fallout shelter just outside the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. Not as a tourist attraction, but as an antidote against growing Soviet nostalgia.
Bunker complex
The clock is turned back to 1984, the year in which the bunker complex was built, but also the year in which George Orwell's book by the same name is set. His prophetic description of a totalitarian regime where every one is kept under close surveillance became reality in the Soviet Union.
The generation of Lithuanian school children which has grown up in liberty has no idea what it was like, but for a brief time today they will imagine themselves in the Soviet Union. Nervous giggling is immediately punished by a grim-looking man in a uniform and an officer's cap. Whoever fails to stand to attention rigidly can count on a stiff reprimand
Humiliation and interrogation
Five meters below ground, the school children are watching soviet propaganda on television, learn how to wear a gas mask and experience at first hand the humiliations and the interrogation practices that KGB officers used during the Communist era to keep Soviet citizens under control.
There appears to be a market in the Baltic states for tourist attractions showing the dark side of the Soviet past. In the Latvian town of Liepaja, tourists can have themselves locked up for one night to experience what the Gulag prison camps were like. This may be no coincidence, as both Lithuania and Latvia suffered greatly under Stalin's regime with hundreds of thousands of their citizens shipped off to Siberia for long periods of time, if not forever.
Nanny state
But that is not why the excursion was set up. Remarkably, an increasing number of Lithuanians are idealising life during the Communist era. Ruta Vanangaite, who took the initiative for the excursion, says "Some people are disappointed in what we have achieved over the past few years, and are longing for the safety of the Communist nanny state. They tell their children that everything was better back then. Apparently we cannot handle freedom".
Ms Vanagaite wants to provide a counterweight through this educational excursion, which is also available to adults. The tour has therefore not been set up as a commercial attraction. "It is a history class, intended to arm people against growing Soviet nostalgia".
Crying
Without let up, the KGB officers blaring voice keeps bouncing off the bunker's concrete walls. He speaks Lithuanian with a Russian accent, because most Lithuanian youths no longer speak Russian. The actor portraying the KGB officer says, "sometimes people will burst into tears, but that means I'm doing a good job".
Hounded by the sirens and the torrent of abuse, the school children run through the labyrinth of badly lit corridors on their way to the front door - which is locked. Ruta Vanangaite says it symbolises the impotence many Lithuanians felt under Communist rule. 'There was no way out, so resistance was futile. After the show the children will have a better understanding of why their parents did not protest against the regime".
Understanding
Even though the barking German shepherds were not used in the children's version of the tour, 18-year-old Neringa Kuklyte confirms afterward that it was pretty scary. The experience has given her a clearer understanding of Soviet methods. "I have read much about it, but now I had the opportunity to see how people were treated".
Not all Lithuanians appreciate the Soviet excursion. Many older people with bad memories of the Communist era find the tour in bad taste, while former Communist apparatchiks accuse the organisers of falsifying history. Ms Vanagaite acknowledges that "Of course daily life in the Soviet Union was a lot easier to bear, but we had to make it all a little more extreme to recreate this feeling in two hours".
Ms Vanagaite is even playing with the idea of developing a two-week excursion. "Not just in the bunker, but also working the land and laying flowers at the monument to Lenin". Afterward, the school children all got a glass of green Soviet lemonade and a certificate, stating that they were Soviet citizens for two hours of their lives. Most of them appeared convinced that two hours was quite long enough.
Tags: Communist, former Soviet Union, Gulag, KGB, Lithuania