Sister Gerarda recalls Soviet era: students arrested, thrown into trucks like laborers

Sister Gerarda, also known as Elena Šuliauskaitė, recounted her experiences under Soviet rule in an interview with Vilnius University, describing how authorities arrested students during protests and threw them into trucks “like laborers.”

In 1973, Šuliauskaitė was dismissed from her position as a senior laboratory assistant at Vilnius State V. Kapsukas University (now Vilnius University) due to her religious beliefs and anti-Soviet activities. Her troubles began earlier, during her studies, when she openly challenged historical distortions in lectures.

Her first major confrontation with authorities came in 1956 during the All Saints’ Day student procession in Vilnius, organized in support of the Hungarian uprising. Šuliauskaitė joined spontaneously, recalling: “I see a group of our people. I ask, ‘What’s happening?’ They say, ‘Students are gathering.’ And I go with them.”

The peaceful march escalated when students decided to go to the city center. Police intercepted them, arresting participants. “They caught the students and threw them into trucks like laborers,” she remembered. Though she avoided arrest that day, interrogations followed.

Her outspokenness had already drawn attention. During one lecture, when a professor claimed Lithuania had “joined” Russia, she objected: “It was a partition, not a joining.” An activist responded: “Only an enemy of the Soviet Union would say that.”

She was subsequently expelled from Vilnius Pedagogical Institute in her third year. Official records stated she was removed for “failing to uphold the title of a Soviet student.” Finding work became difficult—even a newspaper kiosk job was denied on political grounds.

Despite persecution, Šuliauskaitė remained active in underground religious circles. She later joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Christ the King, which required a university degree. She completed Lithuanian language and literature studies through evening classes at Vilnius State University in 1968.

Her employment at the university ended in 1973 due to her continuing religious and anti-Soviet stance. Throughout her life, she worked various jobs—conductor, telegraph operator, statistician—while maintaining her faith and principles.