Vilnius - "Back in the USSR" is a well-known song by the Beatles. It is also the name given to a unique project in Lithuania which enables visitors to experience at first hand the ideology and brutality of the communist regime during the Soviet era and one of the most offbeat tourist attractions in Europe. The project is housed in a 4,000 cubic-metre bunker buried more than five metres below the earth's surface. The psychodrama played out here is one of the first activities to mark the Lithuanian capital Vilnius' role as "European Cultural Capital 2009," a title it shares with the city of Linz in Austria.
"Ras, dwa, ras, dwa, dawaj, dawaj, ras, dwa" ("One, two, one, two, one, two, come on now, get a move on!") - the orders reverberate through the forests north of Vilnius.
Around 30 mainly young people are trying to march to commands being barked by a uniformed man. No-one dares to wipe away the raindrops on his face. Instead the voices shout back in unison "Yessir!" For a good two-and-a-half hours there is no time to think about the attractive "Moscow girls" sung about by the Fab Four. The cheerful strains of "Back in the USSR" are a long way from the minds of these people.
The bunker was constructed in the 1980s to house a clandestine television transmitter. In 1991, as Lithuania struggled to throw off the Soviet yoke, the bunker was used as a base by Soviet troops for an attack on the TV tower in Vilnius in which 13 people were killed.
Disused since that time, the underground labyrinth was chosen by director Jonas Vaitkus as the backdrop for what he calls a "survival drama." It features actors playing the roles of communist functionaries and a maximum of 40 visitors or temporary "citizens of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania."
These "Soviet citizens" hand over their cellular phones and cameras before donning threadbare working clothes. They are searched before marching to a ceremony outside where a flag is hoisted. The ritual takes place regardless of the weather. Those who snicker or grin are forced to do sets of press-ups on the ground.
From here the "citizens" are led down a steep flight of stairs into the bunker. They are made to briskly march up and down the subterranean corridors until their shouts of "Yessir!" are considered enthusiastic enough to satisfy those in charge. They are also made to stand with their faces to the wall, shoulder to shoulder. The baying of a German shepherd dog can be heard behind them - no-one is laughing now.
A strong smell of mould pervades the room where the gas masks are kept and by the time the visitors are forced to try one on, some of them are looking distinctly queasy. The rest try to suppress their nausea as best they can. Meanwhile, one of their number is forced to stand with his hands behind his head. He is on the receiving end of a "KGB-style" interrogation for having done something wrong. Somewhere, somebody is being beaten with a leather belt.
Suddenly the room is plunged into darkness. After marching around the bunker, those taking part lose all sense of time. Have they been here for two, five or 30 minutes? Of course, they wouldn't be Lithuanians if they didn't break into song at some point but the sound is punctuated by helpless, almost hysterical bursts of laughter.
Finally, as a kind of "chill-out" after this unnerving experience, participants can visit the Soviet shop and tuck into a Soviet tinned- meal washed down with vodka.
Under the Soviet rulers, the terror knew no bounds but during this exercise in overcoming the past no-one is subject to deliberate physical harm. For all that, there are attempts to break the will of those taking part and to humiliate and degrade them.
The playacting is designed to show what it was like to live under Soviet occupation. Call it "Gulag tourism" or a a grim glimpse of the past, those taking part are more likely to compare the experience with undergoing therapy than with visiting a theme park.
When the heavy steel door swings open to mark the end of the time spent in the bunker, there is a collective, deep sigh of relief. The participants have managed to escape tyranny for the time-being but the physical and mental repercussions of what they have been through will linger.
Internet: www.sovietbunker.com/
