Be patient, readers.  There is a review in your future, but first—a history lesson.  Lithuania is a relatively small (about 3 million people) country on the Baltic Sea, bordering both Russia and Poland.  Once a prominent European Duchy, Lithuania has spent most of the last few centuries occupied by one foreign power or another.  Lithuanians won their independence at the end of WWI, and it looked like they would after many generations, enjoy autonomy.  But Europe erupted in war again, and the little land by the Baltic was invaded, first by the Soviets in 1940, then by the Germans a year later.  An era of tumult and privation followed, scarring several generations of Lithuanians, including the generation of actor/playwright Paul Rajeckas. [Read more...]