As I peered through the cold, damp leaves at Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin’s foreboding scowls, I was reminded of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s determined gaze from high atop his horse. I was walking through the shadowy gray forest of Gruto Parkas, the outdoor memorial where Soviet statues are sequestered in Lithuania, when I became haunted by the controversy surrounding Confederate statues in my former home state of Virginia. Now that Virginians will be allowed to remove those statues, putting them in a Lithuanian-style forest memorial like Gruto Parkas could minimize cost and controversy while maximizing historical and learning opportunities.
On April 11, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill allowing localities “to remove, relocate, or contextualize Confederate monuments” in a way their community finds suitable starting July 1. The bill stipulates that the locality hold a public hearing before voting on the statue’s fate, and that it must be offered to “any museum, historical society, government or military battlefield.” Unlike these statues, the mission of Gruto Parkas is to teach future generations of Lithuanians, and visitors such as myself, about the horrors and oppression inflicted by the Soviet Union so that this chapter in their history can never repeat itself.
Conversely, the American Civil War poses a much more complex and politically sensitive issue of evaluating the legacies of its actors. The national debate is heating up over whether the statues should be re-labeled to provide additional information about their subjects’ roles in U.S. history or be removed altogether because they are increasingly seen as offensive. Some communities will likely remove these statues. There are several reasons why an American version of Gruto Parkas is one viable option for their relocation.
Gruto Parkas occupies privately owned land, allowing it to avoid controversy about government or public funding. The park is three miles from a resort town called Druskininkai in southern Lithuania, making it easily accessible for those who’d like to visit. However, it is a winding drive off the main road into the forest surrounding the park, which allows visitors to feel as if they have been transported into a Soviet forest and be immersed in the gravitas of the experience without glorifying or admonishing the men depicted by the statues.
Rather, each statue is fitted with a plaque that provides a short, factual biography about the person it represents. This is a significant strength of the memorial. Information and artifacts are presented without commentary, and visitors are allowed (and basically required) to think critically about this period in history and draw their own conclusions, making the experience much more poignant.
Nestled between the walking paths and greenery of the park sits a log cabin “cultural house” that stores a vast collection of Soviet paraphernalia and news articles from the time. Immediately following the park entrance and a USSR-themed restaurant, there is an oddly discomforting “zoo” that houses a lonely albino kangaroo, several confused swans, and an assortment of peacocks and other birds which make it more enticing as a family attraction. Between the zoo and the first looming art-deco monument of Soviet laborers sits a playground full of authentic and hazardous-looking slides and swings from the mid-20th century. The haunting ambiance is completed by the Soviet national anthem playing on a loop from eerily invisible speakers.
While this setup might seem inappropriate for an American version, the park successfully gives visitors the feeling of stepping into another world, making it a much more effective learning opportunity. The park also charges a small entrance fee to care for the animals, but with enough private funding, an American version could avoid admission fees.
It goes without saying that Confederate generals in the American Civil War didn’t cause anywhere near the devastation or loss of life that Stalin or Lenin facilitated during their reigns as Soviet dictators. The purpose here is not to make such a comparison. However, Confederate memorials have a sensitive but important role in U.S. history, as do the Soviet monuments. Perhaps Lithuania’s example could help Virginia minimize offensiveness and maximize learning opportunities. This solution could appease Democrats that feel these statues gloss over slavery in the Confederacy, and Republicans, such as Virginia state Sen. Amanda Chase, who suggested that instead of taking all these monuments down, we must “remember our past, and we learn from it.”
Moving the statues to a new home in the forest is an opportunity to do just that.
Megan Rohn is a Fulbright English Teaching alumni who writes about foreign policy and veterans issues.
