A Dark History Amidst a Bright City - Vilnius, Lithuania

Behind the beautiful facade completed in 1890 to house the court of the Vilna Governorate, over 1000 prisoners were executed in the basement execution chambers. Lithuania was invaded by the Soviet Union in 1940 and became a reluctant Soviet Socialist Republic. Mass arrests and deportations followed, and the building's basement became a prison. In 1941 Nazi Germany invaded the country; the building housed the Gestapo headquarters. The Soviets retook the country in 1944, and until independence was re-established in 1991, the building housed KGB offices, a prison, and an interrogation centre. Most executions occurred between 1944 and the early 1960s, primarily for resisting the occupation. A beautiful facade hiding yet another example of human fuckery.

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