https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray April 25, 1995 - Kaunus, Lithuania: While working on a construction site, my coworker and I stumbled upon a large glass jar. Inside were papers, drawings, and more. Among the contents was a letter that requested that we share the contents of this jar with the world. Discover for yourself what we've found... en-us 2017-07-02 20:06:02 UTC 2024-05-31 23:28:23 UTC hello@padlet.com lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177900557 Click below.

]]> 2017-07-02 20:16:07 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177900557 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177901047 Our journey was one filled with fatigue, cruelty, and death. We were shuttled into train carts like cattle - expected to live, breath, and survive in our own waste. Andrius and I met on your first leg of the journey - this was one of the few blessings of those trains. Our final destination was the Arctic Circle - we were castaways, destined to die there. ]]> 2017-07-02 20:32:48 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177901047 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177901145 2017-07-02 20:37:00 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177901145 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177901499 2017-07-02 20:44:01 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177901499 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177901533 Click --> Kept by the NKVD. Stolen by Lina after drawing a portrait of the commander. ]]> 2017-07-02 20:45:28 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177901533 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177901927 To count the days... We all lost track of time.]]> 2017-07-02 20:58:34 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177901927 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177902325 2017-07-02 21:08:19 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177902325 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177902386 2017-07-02 21:10:06 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177902386 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177902621 Timelapse]]> 2017-07-02 21:13:41 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177902621 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177903090 2017-07-02 21:24:42 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177903090 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177903178 They split us up into groups. Mother and I are digging ditches. Digging with our hands works better than digging with the shovels they provided us with. 

Today at the ditch they made me, mother, and two other women lay down in the ditch. There was nothing we could do but obey them. I thought this was our end. Mother and I held hands as they shot bullets into the dirt next to us. I don't think they were meaning to aim at us. I think they wanted to scare us, but I'm sure if they missed the dirt and hit one of our bodies they wouldn't have cared. ]]> 2017-07-02 21:26:51 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177903178 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177903360 A wretched man. Or is he? I always thought if I came in close contact with him I would rip him apart. Make him feel the pain he has made all of us feel. But he has a story too. His real name is Nikolai. I don't know what happened, but I know he helped mother, and that got him in trouble. He ended up in the Arctic with us. When he disappeared I had no idea he would be the reason we would be found. ]]> 2017-07-02 21:31:54 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177903360 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177903738 2017-07-02 21:41:54 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177903738 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177903776 2017-07-02 21:43:06 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177903776 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177903828 Sung by the lithuanian men on their trains.]]> 2017-07-02 21:45:01 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177903828 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177960125 Andrius found a stone of quartz and other minerals early in our journey. It's been passed around as a symbol of hope. We were stripped of all our possessions, aside from a few artifacts mother kept hidden in the lining of our coats. These few possessions could be traded or used to bribe soldiers, like the pocket watch that saved my brother's life and kept us together. I never traded the stone though, it stayed with us no matter what.
Read more about quartz stones here.]]> 2017-07-03 15:48:25 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177960125 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177968578 There was a village located outside of the beet farm. If you signed the workers document stating you'd work for 25 years, you were allowed to go into town. We had to bribe friends to go into town for us and mail letters to our family and friends. ]]> 2017-07-03 18:55:41 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177968578 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177968744 The NKVD were trying to get us to sign a contract stating we'd work for 25 years. Signing our names essentially meant enslavement. At first we all panicked, but there was strength in numbers as we realized if we all refused to sign there was nothing they could do. Our resistance wasn't so much about resisting work - we were working anyway. In the end, we were fighting to keep our spirits alive. If we caved and signed, Stalin would win. Some did cave eventually. But not me, mother, and Jonas. Below are the documents. ]]> 2017-07-03 18:59:18 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177968744 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177969213 2017-07-03 19:12:21 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177969213 lmpell22 https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177969342 A girl, only a few years older than Lina, gave birth right before we were deported. The baby didn't make it though. It died on the train. The mother went crazy and was shot and killed in cold blood. These soldiers will point and shoot at anyone who crosses their paths the wrong way. Lina vowed to draw this shooting.]]> 2017-07-03 19:15:34 UTC https://padlet.com/lmpell22/BetweenShadesofGray/wish/177969342