"Study history thoroughly" Lithuanian woman to hammer and sickle waving students

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“Please study history thoroughly” Lithuanian woman tells hammer and sickle-waving Italian students

Neringa Budryte received wide praise in Italy for her open letter that has sparked a wider discussion about gaps in education.

After weeks of seeing hammer and sickle flags being waved freely in the streets of Italy during protests, Lithuanian expat Neringa Budryte decided to write an open letter sharing the experience of those who have experienced those regimes.

“This is not about denying the existence of social injustices, inequalities, or the right to fight for a better world,” she wrote in her letter. “You are free to take to the streets to demand a more just society—but you should not idealize a system that denied so many people the very things you are free to exercise today: the right to choose, to believe, to speak, and to dissent. Before wearing a T-shirt with "CCCP" on it, listen to those who experienced that world. Talk to the deportees and their descendants; read the accounts of those who endured the gulags and forced exile to Siberia. Learn what it meant to be stripped of your freedom, your home, your loved ones—and even any prospect of a normal life—simply because of your background or your beliefs.”

Around 7,000 people have shared the post so far, delivering it to the Facebook newsfeeds of around a million people.

“Since the post was in Italian, most of the people I saw sharing it were Italian. So I think I achieved my goal of showing another side of communism,” she explained in an interview with Lithuania’s public broadcaster, LRT. “I did not expect it to reach so many people because I am not an influencer and do not have a huge following. I was afraid I would be attacked by an army of bots, but the exact opposite happened. That surprised me the most.”

The post attracted thousands of comments, including from many Italians who have experience visiting communist regimes or with family who were persecuted under communism.

Many discussed gaps in Italy’s education system in which the experience of people who have lived under communist regimes is rarely taught. In addition, the Nazi-Soviet Pact rarely gets attention, despite sparking the Second World War by dividing European nations into spheres of influence by the two colluding totalitarian powers.

Budrytė says that although the Communist Party has no seats in Italy’s parliament, various communist organisations actively try to recruit young people and act as a vehicle for spreading propaganda.

X user Gryn, a fellow Lithuanian living in southern Europe, posted that although Budryte’s letter is addressed to Italians, it’s also very relevant to Greek, Spanish, Portuguese and French young people too.

Lithuanian 🇱🇹 woman writes a viral open letter to Italian 🇮🇹 youth on Facebook, receives immediate support from Ukrainians 🇺🇦 living in Italy. This is a very interesting case that we should talk about more. Link to the letter in the last comment, but here's a short thread 🧵 pic.twitter.com/N5IlchYMYh

Gryn adds that, while visiting Santiago de Compostela in Spain, she spotted posters under a bridge that praise Lenin. When she checked out the group behind it, she found Russian pro-war propaganda at the front of their website, depicting Ukrainians as Nazis.

“This tells you everything you need to know about who is behind such organisations in Southern Europe,” she says. “No one in Santiago de Compostela cares about Azov, almost no one knows anything about them.”