SUMMARY:

In 1972, nineteen-year-old Romas Kalanta set himself on fire in Soviet Lithuania leaving a note saying, “only the system is responsible for my death.” Kalanta’s “dead body” was employed by the Lithuanian popular front Sąjūdis in 1989 as a powerful symbol of the nation’s oppression and suffering under Soviet rule. Just over a decade later, however, Kalanta was no longer useful as a national symbol, primarily due to the manner of his death. By 2002, Kalanta’s act of suicide discouraged rather than encouraged identification with him, and the issue of mental illness continued to taint his potential as a national hero. Instead, emphasis shifted to the street demonstrations by young people that followed his funeral. In this case, the live bodies of young people engaged in popular protest became a more powerful symbol than Kalanta, as Lithuanians claimed the moral value of civil resistance and a “Sixties” youth culture with the West.