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DURING THE COLD WAR,

THE IRON CURTAIN
DIVIDED EUROPE FOR 46 YEARS.

ON THE EAST SIDE
OF THIS IRON CURTAIN

WERE THE BALTIC STATES OF
LITHUANIA, LATVIA AND ESTONIA,

OCCUPIED BY STALIN IN 1940.

PEOPLE LIVED UNDER
THE SOVIET REGIME

COMPLETELY ISOLATED
FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD.

STILL, THEY DREAMED OF FREEDOM.

From Washington,

this is the CBS evening news
with Walter Cronkite.

A week ago today
off New Bedford Massachusetts,

a crewman
from a Soviet fishing boat

jumped onto a U.S. Coast Guard cutter
and requested asylum.

A Lithuanian sailor jumped off the
Russian ship onto the American ship

and asked asylum
begging on his knees...

...and begged for political asylum.

After hours of uncertainty,

the Americans
let the Russians come on board

and drag the defector
back to their ship.

The President of the United States
is entering the East Room.

If he looks tired he should be
forgiven. He was up almost all night.

The President.

Should be seated, please.

Mr. President!

If you could tell us your personal
view on the defector problem,

this Lithuanian
who was beaten on this Coast Guard?

Mr. Congressman, what do you think
has happened to that defector?

Well, of course,
it's pure speculation,

but I understand that he was beaten
senseless on our ship,

and if they do that on our ship,

I imagine they finished him off, when
they got him back to the Soviet ship,

at least my opinion is

that he will never be heard from again
one way or another.

Either he will be beaten to death
or he'll be put away in Siberia

where he'll eventually die,
I think he's done for...

THE JUMP

My grandfather worked on ships
when he was young.

And he would always tell me stories:

"The waves, my child...
The waves are bigger than a house."

But how can waves
be bigger than a house?

"There are palm trees,
so green, my child, it's so beautiful."

I was mesmerized.

I wanted to see how it all looked.
What those palm trees looked like...

And all those different people
and strange languages...

Yellow, black...
I was fascinated...

That's why from my earliest days

I was enchanted by my grandfather's
stories about the sea, about freedom.

And then the occupation,
by golly, got in the way.

Here is our ship, "Sovetskaya Litva"
(Soviet Lithuania).

It was an unhappy prison for me.

All these darn Soviet ships
were prisons.

I spent almost 20 years
working on Soviet ships

and all those years
I was denied a passport.

Instead of the illusion
that I will see the world

and those amazing palm trees, I saw
only the leaden Atlantic and clouds.

NOVEMVER 23RD, 1970

United States waters,
near Martha's Vineyard

The Soviets are not taking
adequate care

while fishing
off the New England coast.

They have caused extensive damage
to U.S. fishing operations

and the U.S. Government wants
the harassments stopped.

The U.S. Government asked
for the meeting on the high seas

on behalf of the New England
fishing industry.

The Soviets named the place.

I read the radiogram
and learned we are meeting them.

I thought: We are gonna see
the Americans in the flesh!

So, the Vigilant sails towards us.

They're already waving at us from afar,

and shouting, "Hello, Russkies!"
when they see us.

We are silent.

Fear had paralyzed us.

Those are the imperialists!

Those bloody killers!
Capitalists!

We're standing there like mummies.

NEW BEDFORD
Massachusetts, USA

We found the Soviet ship anchored
on the shore of Martha's Vineyard,

which is part of Massachusetts, on
the Eastern Coast of the United States.

They were anchored in here,
because it was a stormy day

and they were sheltered
from the weather.

It was a sensible place
to be anchored that day,

but we never expected the day
to end the way it did.

RALPH W. EUSTIS
Captain od USCGC Vigilant

After they arrived
and started to transfer the men,

the Americans started throwing
us Marlboro cigarettes

and Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola...

There was no beer...
Coins, hats... All kinds of stuff!

They even threw jackets!
Somebody even threw their shoes.

By golly, it was nuts.

Here, now look at this.

"Hello, Russkies!.."

I liked them a lot.

I liked their friendliness,
their openness...

And then the Russians relaxed.

And they threw their cigarettes,
kopeks, hats, and other stuff.

By golly, what fun!
Excellent!

You know, it started out of
a very simple day, we were...

The Vigilant and my crew were simply
providing transportation

to get people to a meeting,
and it was a very important meeting,

it was the first time that there had
really been much direct conversation

between fisheries people
of the two countries.

So what happened was,

suddenly an American crewman
comes out

with about 30 magazines
in his hands.

Newsweek, Time... Smiling women
on the covers, and so on...

And he throws them up in the air
towards the Russian sailors.

One seaman grabs them,
then another seaman grabs them...

A few copies drop into the water,
the Americans threw some more.

And here comes the political commissar
all of a sudden.

And this political commissar says, "You
and you will never go to sea again."

And those magazines were like a spark.
It all exploded.

It hit my nervous system
and my memories.

Everything that had happened
came back to me.

Shooting, corpses, interrogations...

I had been beaten
and interrogated myself...

There was a partisan in our family
who was killed.

I wasn't thinking anymore
about my wife, home, work... nothing,

I just left everything, everything.

I just wanted to leave
that damned sailing prison.

To get away from all those spies
and snitches and that whole system.

At about 10 o'clock in the morning

our operations officer Douglas Lundberg
came to me and said,

"There's this guy on the Soviet ship

that's making signals
like maybe he wants to come."

I said, "Are you kidding me?"

And there's an American,
he's swaying on the Vigilant.

I waved at him.
He waved back.

And he smiled.

And I looked at
the potential defector,

we just stared at each
other for a while.

Then I waved at him like this
and said "Gestapo".

He opens his eyes wide like this.

But there was no real communication.

And what was going
through his mind...

I don't know.
But he was desperate.

"I - Lithuanian",
"I - Lithuanian"...

Well, he understood me.
"Not Russian."

And I said, "I - you".

He doesn't understand me at all,
I don't know how to explain it to him.

I can see nothing will come of this.

Someone might see me gesticulating...

So I went to my cabin
and wrote a note:

"My dear comrade,
I up down off Russian ship

and go with you together."

I decided that he really was serious.

So I sent a message to Boston
and to Washington as well.

I said, "With 80% chance
he's going to defect."

I explained everything there - ta ta ta,
and signed my name - Simas.

There isn't much time. I go to my friend
and get a pack of cigarettes

I roll up the note, open the pack,
quickly put my note inside.

Then I go to the railing
and throw it like this.

He tries to grab it, but misses.
It falls down on the ground.

He bends and picks it up.
A very intelligent man.

He doesn't open it in public,
but goes inside.

Mr. Lundberg
came running to me again.

He said, "Look, he threw me a pack of
cigarettes. It's got this note in it."

Around five minutes pass.
He comes out and gives me a sign.

Because I don't know English,
he nods with his head.

He is waiting for a signal from us
and we are not giving him any signal.

Here you can see the...

The officer with the Vigilant stencil
on his back and Simas is right there.

I'm waiting to see what happens next.

The Americans are gonna sail away,
for Pete's sake.

Our Captain comes up from down under.
He seems to have had a few.

He says, "Well, Simas,
we're about to unmoor".

Ta ta ta, time to go...

I quickly leave my radio cabin.
Everything is working fine...

I run down onto the main deck.

The Vigilant is swaying up and down,
closer then further...

I wait for the right moment because
time is precious, I could get caught...

And now the ship shifts away.
The ship rises...

Then remains steady
and goes down too far...

It rose!

It leveled out. Jing!
And that's it!

I'm there!

And the traitor of the Fatherland is
giving the finger to the Soviet Union.

That's all it was.
Nothing else.

The Gulag is over there, damn it,
and freedom is over here.

USCGC VIGILANT
Florida, USA

It was like 4:15 in the afternoon.

The worst time of the day
for somebody to try to defect,

because in Washington they're
all going home in their car-pools.

In Boston, they're all going home.

And we can't find
the right person to talk to.

And I just remember
somebody saying, "he's aboard!".

So I quickly jumped over,

I was young back then,
and only wearing these slippers.

I managed to do it.

After I jumped over here
I went right to these doors,

the doors and the stairs upwards!

Oh, God!
Burkalis is in front of me!

The Commander of the Russian Navy.

He asks me,
"Simas, what are you doing here?"

I tell him, "I'm sorry,
I have no time to talk to you."

I squeeze past him
and run into the wheelhouse.

He jumped at just the time
we were getting ready to leave

and the Soviet officers were
getting ready to go back to their ship.

If he'd waited two minutes longer,
it would've all been different.

Finally...

Greetings!

Greetings, my God...

This place, this place.

This is where we were.

This is where the officer was
and we met.

We hugged.
I gave him my documents.

And then, by golly,
I don't really remember.

I think it was here.

And Simas comes up to me,
hugs me and says, "Comrade, comrade!"

So...
We decided to hide him.

Here, somewhere...

Here was toilet, and I was...

Officer took me from there,

locked, reopened door,

locked and said,

"Not reopen to nobody,
not reopen, not reopen!"

I understood.

I didn't know how the mechanism
works on an American ship.

I pressed it, open,
and it springs back.

The door opens - motherfucker!
I press it again.

And it opens up.

Jesus Christ, what should I do now?
I'm panicking.

I pressed my foot against the door

so that nobody could get in because
they said don't open it for anybody.

We now had a potential defector

and a group of Soviet officers
that were on board the Vigilant.

And then there was someone
knocking on the door.

I don't open it.
The knocking continues.

Finally, someone speaks in English.
It's an American.

So, I finally opened the door.

I think it was the Captain.
He asks me, "Who are you?"

I answer, "I'm Lithuanian,
a Lithuanian radioman."

"Asylum, asylum..."

But then the Admiral
got on the phone and said,

"No, we don't want
to disrupt the fishing talks.

So, we'll have to give him back."

There were so many radio calls
back and forth...

"What's going on now?", they say.
"What's going on?"

"Why is it going so slow?"

It dragged on for hours primarily
because we didn't want to give him back.

Almost all throughout that entire
period, "Give him back, give him back!"

An hour passes by, then another.
By golly, the waiting is unbearable.

Bad thoughts
start going through my head.

It looks like something is not right.

Isn't it clear
that I'm asking for help?

The incident started
about 10 in the morning,

and it's now getting near
9 or 10 o'clock at night.

And he's aboard,
and the Soviets are aboard.

Admiral Ellis said, "Commander Eustis,
you have your orders."

I open the door,
the Soviets are staring at me.

I see they have a rope
in their hands...

So I told the Soviet officers

that they could take him back.

So I ran to the railing after
I broke free from the Russians.

I grabbed onto this
because I didn't have time.

And I quickly jumped over it.

I don't remember how I landed

down on the main deck.

I don't remember.

But this is where I jumped,
quickly, because I didn't have...

They were chasing me.
I disappeared down there...

As soon as I ran out of the darkness,
they saw me and screamed.

They were shouting like crazy,
"He's here! He's here!"

What should I do, by golly?

Should I jump in the water,
for Pete's sake?

They're coming!
I quickly climb over the gunwale.

Jump into the water and drown?
Or not jump?

I wasn't resolute enough.
I didn't do it.

I was a coward, by golly!
And they were right on my heels.

Four of them.

I hang onto this darn thing.

They start pulling my legs like this.

They keep pulling me, darn it!

They rip away my hands.

I stretch them up.
I grab onto another one.

They knock away my hands again.

They beat me and pull me
to the top of the stairs.

And right here they pull me up.

And when they pull me up here,
they won't let me go.

And they're pulling me,
and pulling me...

So I called Boston again,
I told them what happened.

And the response came back,

"Is the weather good enough
to give him back?"

I said, "The weather is not
the problem here. This is a disaster!"

There was a phone here and a cable.

They took the phone cable
and wound it around my neck, darn it.

They tightened it like this.

And an American saw it
and stopped them.

One officer came up to the bridge
to me and said,

"Mr. Pakos, they are beating him up,
but when I tell them to stop, they stop.

So what should I do?"
I said, "Well, you tell them to stop."

The American Captain gave a signal
to the machine room

to start the engines, the propellers,

and untied the mooring lines...

My operations officer said,

"Mr. Pakos, you're gonna get killed
with this hardware falling down."

Then everything starts falling down.
The Russians let me go.

...and it's just absolute chaos.

And then I go there...

The ship is sailing
and they got confused when it set sail.

What the hell
is going to happen now?

I fault myself there.

That might have been
one more opportunity

for me to say, "This is crazy!"

But I was so mentally
and emotionally exhausted,

after 12 hours of this incident
and trying to keep him,

that I just said, "OK, put him
on the boat and give him back."

And that's what we did.

There's a little boat here

and there's a bench here,
another bench, and another one.

They lay me down
on the benches like this

and sit on my back to break it.

In the end I saw how he was wrapped up
and confined in a blanket.

He wasn't handled very gently
when they threw him in the boat.

And any man would have

had to use a lot of force to...

make him go where
he didn't want to go that day.

I didn't know what they
would do with him.

But I knew his future
wasn't too good, but...

I saw nothing else
that I could do at the time.

VYTAUTAS URBONA
KGB Interrogator

I will be talking about the criminal
proceedings of Simas Kudirka.

I had to take on the case,
as interrogator.

Simas said that...

all he wanted,

without any political agenda behind it,

is to get abroad

in order to earn some money

and buy a Grundig tape recorder.

For some reason,
he liked that tape recorder very much

and he wanted to own it.

The case file states

that Simas, while being unsatisfied
with the Soviet government

and having a motive to undermine it,

had betrayed his homeland
by refusing to return to the USSR.

Here, the arrested was questioned.

He's got a wife,
Kudirkiene Marija Genovaite.

A son, a daughter.
She was born in 1960.

So she must have been
11 years old then.

And here is Simas Kudirka himself.

He looks pretty nice.

He doesn't look like I hurt him, no...

Television 7, Washington.

Good evening from Washington,

where President Nixon is about
to meet reporters at the White House

in his first televised
news conference since July.

Mr. President!

If you tell us your personal view
on the defector problem,

this Lithuanian who was beaten
on this Coast Guard.

As I already indicated, I was, as
an American, outraged and shocked

that this could happen.

I regret that the procedures

of the Coast Guard
informing the State Department,

the State Department
informing the White House,

were not adequate to bring
the matter to my attention.

I can assure you,
it will never happen again.

The United States of America for
190 years has had a proud tradition

of providing opportunities
for refugees

and guaranteeing their safety and we
are going to meet that tradition.

Mr. President!

The White House says that
President Nixon got the full details

only by reading news reports
over the past weekend.

Today the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees

Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan,

said the United States may have
violated an international convention

on legal and political
protection for refugees.

Today that incident has grown
to one of major proportions,

echoing all the way from
Martha's Vineyard to the White House.

Inside, the Coast Guard
was quietly convening

an official board of investigation
on the case.

The Captain and crew
of the Coast Guard cutter Vigilant

aboard which the seaman had
sought asylum, were first to testify.

I was directed to return the man to
the custody of the Soviet government.

I turned the man over
to the Soviet party aboard here.

They placed him under arrest and...

forcibly returned him
to the Soviet vessel.

The Captain of the Coast Guard ship,

when he was ordered to turn
the defector back to the Russians,

followed his orders,
but he was in tears when he did so.

That's from a civilian
who was aboard, Robert Brieze,

he was out there representing
the local sea food association.

Robert Brieze, himself a defector
from Soviet occupied Latvia in 1944,

described what happened aboard
the Vigilant on Thanksgiving Day.

Captain was emotional,

he was, in one moment, in tears,

then he say, "Bob, I know,

"this man could be punished,

"maybe by death.

"But I have to fulfill
my higher commander's orders."

Immigrants from Iron Curtain countries
marched here for the 3rd strike day

in protest against our return
of the Lithuanian sailor.

In Washington,
developments continued today.

The emotion mounted
over the weekend,

as demonstrations hit
the streets in Boston,

Philadelphia,
Cleveland and Chicago.

When Simas Kudirka
was dragged

and beaten
by the communist commissars...

When all hope was gone,

I promised myself
to tell the story of Simas Kudirka.

Simas Kudirka may be dead
but we cannot forget him.

On November 23rd, 1970,

a Lithuanian sailor was denied asylum
on United States territory.

The U.S. government's embarrassment
over the asylum incident

spread like ideological measles today.

White House spokesman Ron Ziegler

said the situation
was very poorly handled,

obviously an error
in someone's judgment.

We are angry and we are tired.

But we will protest,
again and again.

Until the people responsible for this
deplorable act against human rights...

Make the Baltic States free!

The State Department fingers the
Coast Guard for prime responsibility

in allowing Russians
to board an American ship,

to beat a Russian citizen
into a state of unconsciousness

and then to drag him back
to their own ship.

Three Coast Guard officers
have now been suspended

during the investigation.

They are: R. Adm. William Ellis,

Commandant of the 1st
Coast Guard district, Boston,

his Chief of staff,
Capt. Fletcher Brown

and Commander Ralph Eustis,
skipper of the Vigilant.

R. Adm. William Ellis
told the subcommittee

he considered his decision to return
Kudirka reasonable and proper.

Ellis told the committee

he didn't believe any real harm
would come to the seaman.

He did not believe the Russians
were barbarians.

This seemed to anger Hayes,

who then suggested there was a large
gap in the Admiral's education

that might be filled
by a trip to Russia.

There were blows struck?

Yes, there most certainly were,

however they were all struck
in the attempt to keep him subdued

and restrain him
so he could be returned.

The Vigilant goes to sea tomorrow.

It's not likely that the crew will be
presented with another defector

but if they are, this time...

I've had to go on with my life,

the change of career,

and the memories that...

Often you think and you wonder
what could you've done that day

to have made things
come out differently, but...

FORMER KGB PRISON
Vilnius Lithuania

Here's no. 12,

and here is no. 13.

Good evening,

an old occupant of this cell
has returned.

It's strange,
it doesn't look the same.

It looks different to me now,
even if you put a gun to my head.

I don't recognize my place.

There should be a toilet.
Where is the toilet?

This was my home.

Oh, God.
Poor guys, Jesus.

Vytukas, Jesus, here?
My god, Vytulis!

Poor guys...

Vytelis... Poor guy.

Simas Kudirka has now been sentenced
by a Soviet court

to 10 years in prison
on the charge of treason.

Demand release of Simas Kudirka
and his family to the free world!

QUEENS
New York, USA

At the time, I was raising five sons,
they were young,

I was not involved in politics.

And I said, "Something has to be done,

"something has to be done
to correct this horrible injustice."

I was burning with this thing.
And I wasn't gonna let go,

until I felt that we did everything
possible to get him back.

So we organized little demonstrations

and we were raising young children,
everybody had young kids,

so we were basically
young mothers,

and tried to come up
with different ways

that maybe we could do something.

Then, my husband found out,

and also what we found out from other
escapees, and potential escapees,

was that the Soviets
had decided to broadcast

to all of their citizens

that if you try to escape,
we have an agreement with the U.S.

and they will give you back.

Which in essence made
the United States the jail keepers

for the Soviet Union.

Well, boy, you know, we have
a historic policy on granting refuge

to people that are oppressed
and fleeing oppression,

or fleeing persecution.

That's what our country stood for
from its very beginnings.

This was an error, it was a mistake,
it was a tragic mistake.

It does not represent any change

in the view and the people
and the spirit of the United States.

Free the Baltic States, now!

...perpetrated on Simas Kudirka
will never happen again.

Thank you.
God bless you.

Simas Kudirka has become
an international symbol

of outrage of free men.

Lithuanians, Cubans,
Hungarians, Czechs, Polish,

all the people around the world
who have lost

the most precious thing
a human being can have, freedom,

must unite!

Throughout the United States there were
a lot of people who were really upset,

but nobody knew what to do.

I'm sure there were a lot of people
who contacted their Congressmen

and their political representatives,
to see if anything can be done,

but there was nothing
anybody could do.

A month ago, sources in Moscow
told the Associated Press

that Lithuanian fisherman
Simas Kudirka

was force fed to break a hunger strike
that left him pale and weak,

and that his wife
has not been permitted to visit him

since January 1st.

The sources also say

secret police searched the homes
of his friends and relatives...

This photo and a photo
of my wife Genute

were given by me
to the crew of the ship,

that's how it later
got into the newspaper.

They brought me to Mordovia.
From there to Perm.

Perm is near the Urals,
so it's quite far off, it's cold there.

You can feel the breath of Siberia.

Pure horror. And here too.
Everywhere was horrible.

Everywhere was horrible,
but, Lord, this one...

And Vorkuta...
God help us!

So over here...

Over here...

Right here we would spend:
a day, a year, two years,

ten years, fifteen;
solely in that territory.

You only leave for the cemetery
or the hospital.

Or the court.

Otherwise, you rot here.

A blanket of snow, meaning it's winter.
We'd reach -50°C.

Very cold.

And a sparrow...

And gone.

REQUIEM FOR SIMAS

As the year went by,

and Simas was tried and sent
to the labor camp,

it was just
the idea was there,

"Look, we did everything we could,
and there is nothing more we can do."

And that was it.

"There's no way
they're gonna release him."

The nights were so hard.

You wouldn't sob during the day, right?

I'm not as strong, as I may appear.

I'm not so strong.

What could I do about Genute,
whom I loved dearly?

The children, my mom...
What could I do?

It's gone, lost, over!

In August of 1973,

a letter came
to my aunt in Waterbury, Connecticut,

from her sister,
who was in Griškabūdis, Lithuania.

And she said that she had met,

Ona said that she had met
Maryte at the market.

And they start
talking to each other.

So, during the conversation, they ask
each other their maiden names.

And, Maryte discovers
that she and my aunt in Waterbury

know each other.

And that they were both born
in the United States.

And in the letter it said,
"Maria is Simas' mother."

Now, she put the two together
and then she thought,

I know Maria,
I know Maria Kudirka,

she, like I, was born in the U.S.

and then repatriated back to Lithuania
and was living in Lithuania.

She also remembered the name
of the priest that baptized her.

And where the church was.

But this is like 1911-1918.
We are talking about - way back.

So my dad
called some priest and said,

"Hey, where was
this particular priest in that year?"

After one day he calls
my husband Romas back,

and says, "You'll never believe it,
but right in front of me

"I have Simas Kudirka's mother's
baptismal certificate,

"stating that, yes,
she was born in the United States."

Wait a minute, maybe,

just maybe, Simas could be
somehow an American citizen?

CHICAGO
Illinois, USA

I was given an assignment
by my group

to back a man running for Congress,
Robert Hanrahan.

I went to see him.

I said, "There are about
40,000 Lithuanians in your district,

"and we can get them to vote for you,

"but you have to speak up
for Lithuanians."

So he said, "I don't know anything
about Lithuanians."

So I said,
"Did you hear about Simas Kudirka?"

Yes, he heard something about him.

And I wrote him a little one-page speech
about Simas Kudirka.

So he introduced himself,

he read the statement about Kudirka
and he got a standing ovation.

Come November 7, when I'm elected
congressman, I will makes sure that...

He called me and said,
"Paul, what did you write, there is...

"It was fantastic!
Everybody's applauding. I'm a hero."

I'm being sincere, I want to get this
man out of the concentration camp.

He got to the House of Representatives

just about the time when Mrs. Kezys and
Mrs. Paegle discovered the documents.

And he started representing Kudirka
in the House of Representatives,

raising the issue constantly.

The very first resolution,

which, by the way, was signed
by Republicans, Democrats,

Liberals, Conservatives...

Yeah, they were happy
to sign the Resolution,

but they said,
"Bobby, you've got rocks in your head.

"There's no way you gonna get
him out of that concentration camp."

Then we spoke to the attorney.

Because the attorney
was the one who said,

"Alright, the mother was born
in the United States,

"but you need the father
also to be an American citizen."

So now we have a big problem:
how do we find Simas's father?

As it turned out, we found out
that Simas was illegitimate,

that Simas did not have a father.

So now you have...
When you think about it, my God...

In those days when she was pregnant
in a Catholic country,

I am sure it was
a horrible thing for her.

And to have that be the thing

that someday might save her son's
life... It's just unbelievable.

Talk about destiny.

Red prisoner
may be a U.S. citizen

Then, my husband said,

"You're calling Lithuania.
You're calling Griškabūdis."

And I was like,
"What am I supposed to say?"

He said, "I don't know, just talk.
Just make a connection, talk."

OCTOBER 1973

A call to the post office
in Griškabūdis village,

Soviet occupied Lithuania

Is this Griškabūdis? This is
Grazina... Is this Griškabūdis?

- Hello!
- Hello!

A lot of the townspeople,
the village people,

were telling her
that this is a provocation,

that this is the KGB doing it.

Because how can you possibly
have wires going across the Atlantic?

So there's no way you could
have America calling you.

She said that well,

I had an American accent,
I did not have a Russian accent,

and so she said,
"You have to trust somebody."

So she was going to continue talking
to me and trust me to some extent.

She had to go
to the American embassy in Moscow

and prove to American authorities
that she is an American citizen.

You described the mother
as a spunky woman,

why do you say that,
what's she like?

Well, the mother...

she is the one...

After we established
a reliable contact with her

it was up to her to get
through the encirclement

that the Soviets have
round the American embassy.

And to reach the American officials
in the embassy in Moscow

and establish
her citizenship claims.

And the lady was arrested
on the road once

and her escort was arrested a couple
of times, and on the third time,

I think, thanks in large part
to the news media

who knew that
she was coming through there,

they were watching every move
of the bureaucracies involved,

that she made it.

We heard it on the radio.

It was on national news
and we were driving,

and, "Simas Kudirka has been declared
an American citizen."

It was like "Wow!"

But how do you get him out?

We had to believe
that he was still alive.

Lithuanian fisherman Simas Kudirka
never made it to freedom,

since U.S. officials let the Soviets
shanghai him from an American ship.

Nevertheless, his unhappy presence
lingers over Washington.

The State Department
has appealed to the Russians

to return the would-be defector
to American custody.

At a meeting yesterday,
revealed only today,

Russia's number two diplomat
disdainfully rejected this appeal,

adding,
"The defector is a criminal,

"the administration is guilty
of a deliberate anti-Soviet campaign

"and Moscow
considers the case closed."

ASK FOR AMNESTY
HELP HIS FAMILY

AID HIS COUTRY

Let Soviet Citizens Emigrate

...preserve, protect and defend
the Constitution of the United States.

...the Constitution
of the United States.

- So help me God.
- So help me God.

Congratulations, Mr. President.

Congressman Robert Hanrahan
went to President Ford.

Hanrahan sold him, said,
"I need you to save Simas Kudirka,

"whose mom was an American citizen,
so you could and should get him back.

"And it will help my elections,
my re-elections."

So it was practical,
not idealistic, it was good politics.

So, I go on my regular call,

and this time, I call,
and it's the aunt that wrote the letter.

She's on the phone.

And she said,
"Maryte didn't come today.

"Because your 'cousin' is home."

"You've got to be kidding,
what are you talking about?

"That Simas is home?"

And then immediately I call Congress.

And I start,
I tell the Congressional people

of my latest telephone conversation.

And they call the State Department,

and State Department says,
"We don't know anything about it."

Dr. HENRY A. KISSINGER
Former U.S. Secretary of State

Kudirka has been released from
detentiona as a result of a Pardon.

I must be frank to say that nobody
thought that this would ever happen.

And then, the Soviets seemed to think,
and they were right,

that improving the relations
with the American President

was important to them.

The door opens,

and they say,
"Kudirka, pack your stuff."

"Well, Kudirka,
what did you dream last night?"

I tell him, "Such is the palace
and so are my dreams."

Well, he says, "Don't joke!"

He says, "Good news for you!
Pleasant news."

He says, "You who tried to defect,
to leave,

you are now going there.

You are free."

Ford gave in
and he talked to Brezhnev,

and he got Brezhnev
to release Simas Kudirka

on condition that it would be
after elections.

God!

But wait wait wait...

He knew what would happen to prisoners
that were suddenly released,

they would never arrive
at their destination.

He had this fear that

"they're trying to get rid of me,
they're trying to kill me..."

I say, "You know what,
it's been over three years."

I say, "You showed me all the
dirt of this place,

"and now you tell me that I'm free?"

I say, "How can I believe you?"

I'm, of course,
an immigrant myself,

so I'm always sympathetic
to immigrants.

But, I think,
this was a special case.

If you don't strive for the best,
you will never make it.

We are here

to bear witness,

that Gerald Ford
always did his best.

He stunned me
in the fifth day in office,

when he used the first call to him
by the Soviet ambassador

to intervene on behalf
of a Lithuanian seaman.

Against all diplomatic precedent

and, I must say,
against the advice of all experts,

Gerald Ford requested
that the seaman in a Soviet jail,

not only be released,

but be turned over
to American custody.

He did this as a gesture
to one human being.

It was amazing, it showed
the advantages of innocence,

because no professional diplomat
would ever have done that.

It was a great tribute to Ford.

A great thing for America

and wonderful for the world.

NOVEMBER 1974

- Hello?
- What did she say?

- Good day.
- Hello, Simas.

Simas, here is congressman Hanrahan.
He wants to talk to you a little bit.

Jesus, that makes me uneasy...

- Why?
- I am just a small man...

Dearest Grazina,
please tell me what to bring

because we'll have to fly soon,
with my dear wife and the kids.

Tell me about the bedding.
Should we take it with us?

Leave it,
don't worry about that!

OK...

Simas, wait a bit, the congressman
wants to talk with you.

OK...

- Simas?!
- Yes.

This is congressman Hanrahan.

This is a great honor for me
to talk to you this morning.

I want you to know that you have many
friends here in the United States,

in Congress, who are very happy
to learn of your return home

out of the concentration camp,
and to know that you are well.

And I hope to see you very very soon
here in the United States.

Simas Kudirka was in Siberian
prison camps for 4 years.

Now he's free, on American soil
and he can't believe it.

Kudirka doesn't speak English,

but in halting German,
he told me it was like a dream.

"My heart is full," he said.

"It's so beautiful here,
there are no prisons!"

Liberty!

Freedom, yes! Freedom!
This is my mother.

What did you do today, sir?

We went in shop, in shops...
American shops.

It is wonderful!

What did you see
that you liked most?

I don't understand!

Excuse me.

His 8-year-old son couldn't understand
his new American playmates,

but they got along just fine.

The son, the wife,
the grandmother, the daughter.

I would like to take
this opportunity to welcome

Mr. Kudirka and his family.

He brought with him his wife, his 67
year old mother and two children.

I feel like I have just left hell.

And your struggle saved my life!

Gentleman by the name Kudirka

probably has done
as much for freedom,

and as much for getting America
back on track

as anybody
has done in a long period of time.

I think the most important thing
that he has done

is to go around the United States
and let people know

just exactly what life is
behind The Iron Curtain.

THE BRONX
New York, USA

Simas Kudirka, today, he is
the superintendent and part owner

of an apartment building
in The Bronx, New York.

There is nothing dramatic
about what he does now,

just the ordinary routine
of keeping his building in shape,

providing for his wife
and two children.

It is in this ceremony,
which he conducts every day,

that Simas Kudirka begins to reveal
an extraordinary devotion

to what many others casually
take for granted.

It is in the simple raising
of the American flag

that this native of Lithuania

brings the human rights issue
down to fundamentals.

It was 1976.

This was the living room. Here.

And over there was the bedroom.

So, this used to be our wigwam.

Our property was behind these bars.

With the help of the interpreter

we talked with Simas Kudirka
in his Bronx home.

When you first got to the United States,
what was your initial reaction?

I was shocked.

Richness in airport...

Too rich!

In airport was under carpets!

Without barbed wires
and without towers with machine guns.

It is ocean of food,
ocean of clothes.

When you walk out, you live
in a crowded part of New York,

the streets are narrow,

there's garbage in the street,
it's dirty, the people...

You're a foreigner.

In our garbage
we have so much things.

- In the garbage?
- Yes.

What you see,
my receiver is from garbage.

TV - from garbage.

My God! For this TV
I must work one year in Russia!

- You can, this...
- What do you mean?

- You picked them up on the street?
- Yes!

- Stereo, my God, this is stereo!
- You think we Americans waste a lot?

Americans are so rich.

And...

Not appreciate...
how to say this?

Not evaluate,
not appreciate what they have.

Stereo music...

it is unbelievable,
rich for soul!

I cry, when I hear beautiful music.
Why people need drugs?

In America!

In Russia, yeah, drinkers, drinkers,
because conditions...

Dante's "Inferno!"

Maybe worse.

Then we drinking.
But in America...

- Barbara!
- Simas!

This is you?

- Dear Barbara!
- How are you?

You look good!

You think? I lost my tooth.

- You what?
- Lost tooth. I fight, I fight.

- You're boxing?
- Yeah.

No, I kidding...

- That's the thing about you!
- Barbara, my God!

Where is yours? It is five.

- Right, you remember?
- Of course I remember.

Oh my God,
you really fixed up the place.

Remember,
how Genele painted windows?

Right!

So are you still a celebrity?

Do you remember when you were
a super here and every day

they used to come in
with the cameras and video you?

And from the TV stations?

Right!

And once,
they put up a flag over here,

and you had to raise
the American flag up for the program?

We never had a flag there since!
You know that?

- You never have?
- No. No. Never.

You, damn it, American!
A flag!

Be patriot!

In the meantime,
I'm thinking about something else.

Do you remember the movie
that they made about your whole story?

It was on the television
and everything.

And you know that
when that movie was on,

everybody in this building
stayed home and watched it.

People in the neighborhood
who knew about you, they stayed home.

It was quiet on the street here,
because you were a celebrity.

Why jump ship?

America, free.
I want free.

- He has requested asylum.
- No!

Alan Arkin,
Richard Jordan,

Donald Pleasence,
Shirley Knight...

"The Defection of Simas Kudirka"
next!

Kudirka!
What are you doing here?

I don't really have time to talk now.
Excuse me.

Simas Kudirka!

Come with me.

My God, when movie was...

...when started movie
about defection,

from kids around United States
we have thousands of letters.

It is full box of letters.

How to answer, tell me?

And everybody,
everybody asking how you feel,

how was there,
how was situation,

how you healthy...
Ta ta ta, very interesting...

Very interesting.

- It is you?
- It is me!

- Here, Simas!
- Oh my goodness, Simas, come on in!

Oh my goodness,
you are a hero.

Years upon years upon years...

- Tell me, you are a hero...
- Oh my goodness, hello!

Today I have here...

And if you read, maybe you...

- I'm gonna cry.
- Maybe you remember...

And I, in person,
I thank you for your good heart.

I'm a 13 year old student
at Holy Assumption school,

writing to you in response
of the television program

"The Defection of Simas Kudirka."

This is back in the seventies.
I just bought it and watched it.

But when I was thirteen,
I saw it for the first time,

it touched my heart,
and I never forgot it.

- Kitchen...
- This is where the cooking happens.

And here is your small damned
American refrigerator.

It is small.
You can live inside.

Yeah, you see,
you are asking what kind of work...

Like today Mexicans, refugees...

Getting, what?
Grass cutting.

- Gardeners.
- Do whatever you can.

- We did the same.
- OK.

Toilet cleaning, and...

What need... dirty jobs...
Scraping, painting...

Until this story,
it put something in my mind:

You know that... Why do people
want to come here so bad?

What is here?

And you know,
one thing it really taught me is,

I wanna help immigrants.

And I think it stemmed
from around this time.

You are a hero!
This is amazing to me!

No, no, I do not joke!

- I take my shoes off.
- No, you don't need to.

You are my guest!
Leave them on, please come in.

No, no, no...

- In Europe, I learn something.
- Oh my goodness...

Here is your creative corner...

Where I stand, here?

How I must jump?

I'm gonna have you
stand over here and jump.

OK?
And I'll tell you when to go.

Go!

- It's good or not?
- It's perfect!

OK, on three.
One two three, go!

OK, great!
That's wonderful!

Good job!

OK, ready, go!

Again, a hidden challenge
for a panel,

at this time you are going
after an international story.

Betty, would you start for us,
please.

The music is rather gloomy.

Is this a story that is filled
with suspense and danger?

Would you call it dangerous,
your story, Sir?

I hope yeah.

I was cleaning toilets.

And later I was giving a speech.

Is it a naval type story?

I don't mean American navy,
but were there ships involved?

Was involved, yes.

Yes, they were involved,
but that's not the important thing,

it's just that to be on water and not
be wet, you have to be on a boat.

What celebrity?

Does that mean a celebrity?

What kind of celebrity?

I was a small fry there
and here a small fry.

Mr. Kudirka, we are very happy
you could be with us in our program,

we are very glad that your story
has a happy ending,

we wish you well in your new life
in the United States, thank you.

What does it matter
that senators invited me

to meet them, Senator Jackson,
or Percy, or Javits...

So what?
What have they done?

Nobody cared that
there were Gulag camps,

that millions of completely
innocent people are crammed there,

that they are starving there,
and freezing...

They knew nothing about it.

Only those that took an interest knew,

and there were very few of them.

My first and foremost efforts were
put into saving the political prisoners.

All the places I went to,
Venezuela, Argentina...

I collected signatures,
I sent petitions to the Pope,

also to France,
Germany, Australia.

I did not rescue anybody.

All my efforts came to nothing.

All of them.
I didn't save a single prisoner.

How are you feeling now,
what could you say to our viewers?

Well, since then,a lot of water
has flowed under the bridge

and of course, my perception
of the world has changed a bit.

Palms always look pretty from afar,

but when you come close,
and need to trim them,

they prick painfully.

But life is following its own path...

But why should I die in America

and get buried somewhere

when I have a homeland
where my ancestors, my mommy, lie...

Why should I die here?

It's beautiful, but not for me.

PILVIŠKIAI
Lithuania

I only hope the bugger won't break.

Jesum Crow...
How I've gained weight!

That's it for me.
No Pompidou.

An execution is always political.

Gena.

Simi.

It's over.

This is so American in style.

We are, Simas...

It is all arranged, you, me,
the children, mama, all of us.

We're going to America!

If that were a dream,
you wake up and everything's OK.

But, by golly,
it wasn't a dream.

It comes at a price.

In 2007 Simas Kudirka and his wife Gene
returned to independent Lithuania.

Gene passed away in 2015.

Their children remain
in the United States.

Revised and Synchronized by
FAST TITLES MEDIA