Memory diplomas granted: Biek拧ait臈 (Kibirk拧tien臈) Marija
Student Marija Biek拧ait臈 (Kibirk拧tien臈)
Student Marija Biek拧ait臈 (Kibirk拧tien臈, 1926鈥�2015) finished an accountancy course and worked as an accountant in forestry-related institutions for almost whole life. However, her dream was to study literature. Marija was born into a family of farmers in the village of Pamerkys of the Valkininkai rural district. She finished a primary school there and continued her schooling in Vilnius, where she finished the 2nd Gymnasium for Girls in 1945 and on 29 September of the same year became a student at the Faculty of History and Philology. The studies did not last long, though: on 22 March 1946, Marija was expelled from the university and arrested, and on 13 August 1946 she was sentenced to eight years in a labour camp and three years of exile. She was accused of support to partisans and dissemination of anti-Soviet literature and proclamation leaflets. Nine years after the expulsion, she filed a request for her personal documents 鈥� the gymnasium-leaving certificate and the certificate of birth 鈥� from the university archives. Marija Biek拧ait臈 was rehabilitated on 25 April 1990.