What Happened Here
The memorial stands by the old Medininkai customs post, near the Vilnius-Minsk road and the Belarus border. On 31 July 1991, one of the most painful tragedies of Lithuania's independence struggle took place here.
That day Soviet OMON, the Riga special-purpose militia unit subordinated to the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, attacked the Medininkai border-control post and brutally shot the Lithuanian officials on duty. This crime became a symbol of the independence struggle.
Seven Victims and One Survivor
Seven men died: customs officers Antanas Musteikis, Stanislovas Orlavičius, and Ričardas Rabavičius, who later died of wounds; traffic police officers Juozas Janonis and Algirdas Kazlauskas; and Aras unit officers Algimantas Juozakas and Mindaugas Balavakas. Only one, customs officer Tomas Šernas, survived with severe wounds.
The dead and T. Šernas received the state's highest honours. The victims are buried in Vilnius Antakalnis Cemetery, and their memory is honoured each year in late July. After long legal proceedings, one former OMON officer was sentenced to life imprisonment, and the killings were recognized by courts as a crime against humanity.
Monument and Museum
In 1993, a memorial was erected at the old customs site: a black granite monument with seven white crosses, recalling the victims. Its authors are architects Algimantas Šarauskas and Rimantas Buivydas.
In 2001, on the tenth anniversary, a museum-memorial was created as a branch of the Customs Museum. It displays the reconstructed trailer in which the officials were killed and tells the story of 1991 and the border posts.
How to Visit
Viewing the outdoor monument with crosses is free; interior visits to the memorial museum are arranged separately. The memorial with seven crosses stands outdoors; check Customs Museum information for current visiting arrangements. It is a place of quiet remembrance; 20-40 minutes is usually enough for the memorial itself.
The museum-memorial is visited by prior arrangement as a Customs Museum branch. Check the Customs Museum page for current arrangements and times. The visit combines easily with nearby Medininkai Castle.
