By Karolina Aleknavičė, LRT.lt

“Freedom truly is a wonderful thing,” says Kaunas resident Monika Gineikienė, one of more than two million people who, 36 years ago, joined hands across the Baltic Way in hope of liberty. “Freedom is also just the freedom to carry a flag, to be able to listen to a song that you yourself choose. We wanted an independent state, where we could decide for ourselves,” she recalls.

What Gineikienė remembers most vividly from August 23, 1989, are the kindness of strangers, the openness in people’s eyes and their warm smiles.

Although she was active in rallies organised by Sąjūdis, by the summer of 1989 Gineikienė had resigned herself to the idea that she would not be able to join the Baltic Way. She remains grateful to her uncle, who unexpectedly invited her to travel with him. For her, a 29-year-old woman raised in a family marked by Soviet repression, the day carried special significance.

“My father was in hospital after surgery and my mother was at his side, unable to travel. My sister-in-law had just given birth, so my brother couldn’t go either. At the time, I was just busy with family worries, but when my uncle visited, my mother – knowing how important the Way was to me – asked him to take me along,” she says.

Gineikienė recalls that, in the run-up to the Baltic Way, people brought flowers to Kaunas Castle – she joined them with her uncle.

More read: LRT.LT