The Second Directorate of the Soviet Lithuanian KGB (Fond No 41)

The documents in the collection represent KGB activity in the sphere of counter-intelligence, persecuting various forms of expression of the anti-Soviet movement, as well as KGB work against what was understood as cultural opposition. Until the autumn of 1967 (when the 5th Department of the KGB was established), the 2nd Directorate was responsible for counter-intelligence work in ideology. From 1967, its main direction was the security of state secrets. The KGB continued to use the 2nd Directorate to fight against dissidents and opposition, but it applied a new interpretation: the underground and expressions of nationalism were seen as a danger to state secrets. 

Greetings cards, cartoons, posters and covers of newspapers and journals made by Lithuania’s anti-Soviet partisans. These works show the reaction of the partisans to Soviet policy and the international situation. This card in particular demonstrates how the Lithuanian partisans saw and interpreted the international situation.

This music-optical experiment is a sort of a proto-video clip.

The black and white visualisations resemble an archaic arcade game played on a hulking machine, only to switch to surrealistic photomontage, which passes on to automatically generated abstract animation However the film, recorded with use of a 35 mm celluloid stock, was created in 1944 in the UK, where Agnieszka and Stefan Themerson emigrated during the World War II.

The soundtrack comprises four songs by Karol Szymanowski, performed in English. What we see in the screen is the interpretation of the songs. Each one is briefly introduced by a speaker who explains the method used to connect the sound with the images.

Some of them are metaphorical images inspired by the lyrics of the songs, some form an analysis of the components of the songs, with different images assigned to different groups of instruments, e.g. one instrument is represented with a simple geometric figure, which fluctuates depending on the tone.