“The author shows the same inter-war era from a different angle – through technical progress. This technical progress was close to the retrofuturistic dieselpunk style of the present. Today, we would be puzzled to read what the people of Klaipėda were enjoying then. They were happy that the archaic electric public transport was finally being replaced by modern fossil-fuel buses, even though they were manufactured in Klaipėda. That the authentic stone pavement is being resurfaced. Progress in Klaipėda in those 16 years has been effervescent. Rumpiškės International Airport has built lines of taxiways to Copenhagen, Helsinki and Petrapil. The railway carriage to Kaunas could travel at speeds of up to 120 km/h. Motorised snow ploughs began to clear the streets. The Post Office patiently taught subscribers how to use their new smartphones by turning a dial. There were also the usual things that were done in an unusual way: the Biržos Bridge was also repaired, but at night, so as not to interfere with traffic,” writes Linas Poška, a friend of the author who will also be attending the event, in the annotation of his book.
In the book, you can find out when Klaipėda engineers started to consider the possibility of television; which street had the worst traffic jams; who was raped by the Klaipėda municipality’s Apartment Rape Department; how the people of Melnragiškės wanted to get the city’s amenities, but pay the same taxes as in the countryside; what kind of zeppelins the Germans in Klaipėda liked; which job led to nervous breakdown, anaemia, hecticness and disability after only 10 years; why the parish priest didn’t approve the broadcasting of the Catholic mass on the Klaipėda radio; how the magistrate dealt with the undisciplined cyclists and many other old stories from the newspapers of the time.
The publication is heavily illustrated with inter-war photographs, copies of archival documents and press advertisements – it is rare for a page to be made up entirely of text.
This book is self-published in an edition of only 100 copies and will only be available for purchase at this event.
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Please note that photography and filming may take place during the event. Participants may be visible in photos and videos, which may be published on social networks and media.
Please note that photography and filming may take place during the event. Participants may be visible in photos and videos, which may be published on social networks and media.
