On the left, I am waiting to enter the "Military Exposition," the former missile base, now historic site. On the right, the top of a silo that housed intermediate range missiles aimed at NATO allies--either UK, Spain, France, or Turkey, depending on the needs of the moment. Everything you can see (the dome and the rusted carriage) in right picture would slide over to open the silo, allowing the missile to be launched.
On the left, the quarters for the personnel on duty. The men were posted, with their families, to the little town nearby, and then would do rotations at this base (there were 4 launchers here, in service from 1960 to 1978). On the right, standing at the top of the silo, looking down the 90 meter shaft.
I don't know...Anne Frank's hiding place, Auschwitz and the KGB prison in Vilnius (which I'll describe soon) all felt more overwhelming and disconcerting to me (and Sandy, I think). In a word, those places were creepy. The volume and quality of evil perpetrated in each was hard for me to stomach.
At this Soviet missile silo, I was just nervous to come close to that thing which scared me so much as a youngster. I used to have dreams about nuclear attacks on our town, even on our house. And then, about three nights before visiting the Soviet base, I dreamt about nuclear attack again.
Seeing the silos, I most definitely did not have the sense of some connection between these weapons and the necessity of pacifism. In fact, the great powers of Europe have been at peace with each other longer than any other time in their history as states, and I can't tell how much, but nuclear deterrence has had something to do with this.
Some material on display deep down in the silo bunker.
Various emblems of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.
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