Exile-born Onutė finds creative life in a Dzūkija village

Onutė Drobelienė, who was born in exile, now lives in Margionys, a village in the Dzūkija region, where she says community life and creative work are thriving. She spoke to LRT about her journey and how village life is changing.

Drobelienė was born in Inta, Russia, to a family of political prisoners. Her father was sent into exile first, after being tortured in Lukiškės, and her mother followed. The family eventually settled in Komi.

Three children were born to the couple in exile: Petriukas, Jonukas and Onutė. They were born prematurely, before reaching seven months, in temperatures Drobelienė recalls as about 60 degrees below zero. Her father was first told he had a son, then a second son, and finally a daughter. As news of the triplets spread, people around him offered to help the family.

The family lived in exile until the children were five. One of the boys died after developing pneumonia. After Stalin’s death, the parents entrusted their other son to neighbours who were taking him to Lithuania to live with his grandparents. When asked about the boy, they showed documents belonging to the child who had died.

A newspaper report about the triplets described them as the children of a “Soviet miner” and gave their names as Piotras, Ivanas and Ana, without mentioning that the family had been deported. Drobelienė recalled her mother’s ingenuity in making clothes from worn garments. She still keeps a teddy bear her mother sewed in exile.

Creative work later led Drobelienė to Dzūkija. She learned to spin and weave, made candles and even walked through snow in traditional woven shoes. She says village life has changed, with many creative people drawn to the peace of nature. “There are many opportunities not to become isolated, not to stay stuck in your village and grumble about all the world’s governments and systems,” she told LRT.

She says people in the village can hear a medieval harp and experience the importance of community.