On June 1, the Lithuanian Special Archives welcomed an interesting find of a gas mask case dating back to the Second World War. Found in a forest of Šiauliai district, the case contained documents belonging to the country's anti-Soviet partisans.
“Sometimes we can find gas masks, or their remains. But to find a gas mask case in such good condition, that’s rare,” said Linas Kvizikevičius, head of the Cultural Goods Protection Service. “This one is from 1937 [and] there weren’t that many of them at the time, during the war, since a new case standard was produced later.”
“The case was found in a forest marsh" in Šiauliai District, northern Lithuania, with "one of its ends protruding from the ground”, according to Kvizikevičius.
Researchers suggest that partisans could have been forced to dispose of it in a hurry, and then either buried it underground or dropped it by accident.
While the texts themselves are yet to be analysed, the documents presumably belonged to the partisans of Vytenis' squad in the Žemaičiai military district.
Although the documents are in a bad shape, they are thought to belong to the partisans due to a meeting agenda printed on one of the pages.
Archive restorers say that the gas mask case could contain some 30 documents. The exact amount will be determined once all of the pages are carefully dried and separated.
Aside from discovered texts, the case also contained empty pages and letters, as well as carbon paper for copying.
In case of coming across similar finds, the Lithuanian Special Archives ask to avoid handling the documents yourself and instead place them in a plastic case, store in a refrigerator, and contact experts.
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