ENChristmas Eve of 1944 in Lithuania was a day of sorrow. All over Lithuania dozens of farmsteads were set on fire by the NKVD (Soviet Security Police) executioners and flames could be seen Hashing in December wind. Pavandenė, a village in Žemaitija, and the neighbouring area did not escape the tragedy. On that day five farm-steads were turned to ashes here, and the majority of their inhabitans were either deported to Siberia or fell in the resistance struggle. The red monster of genocide, started in 1940-41, was sweeping Lithuania.