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Let’s say you’re on vacation in the Lithuanian countryside. (Already this is sounding strange.) Dad suggests that your family stop at the latest historical attraction, Išgyvenimo Drama, an interactive experience which claims to transport visitors back to the heady Cold War days of 1984. Approaching it, you see that the whole thing is housed in a disused Soviet bunker, and start to get a queasy feeling in your stomach. A soldier appears and starts barking orders at you. You don’t know what he’s saying, but his intent is clear: On your knees! You drop, suddenly sure that you’re in for (and hoping you’ll survive) Eastern Europe’s strangest tourist attraction: the Survival Drama, in which you get to become a Soviet citizen circa 1984 for roughly three hours.
It was an idea hatched by a few enterprising Lithuanians, who saw a perfectly good bunker going to waste and decided to put it to good use. Built in 1980, in its past life it protected a key TV transmitter and housed Soviet troops. The Red Army may have been long gone, but at 4,000 square meters and 5 meters deep, the bunker wasn’t going anywhere.
According to Environmentalgraffiti, “tourists pay 120 LTL ($US 220) each to step back into 1984 as a temporary USSR citizen for 2.5 hours. On entry, all belongings, including money, cameras and phones, are handed over and under the watchful eye of guards and alsatians, tourists change into threadbare Soviet coats and are herded through the bunker.”
Experiences include watching TV programs from 1984, wearing gas masks, learning the Soviet anthem under duress, eating typical Soviet food (with genuine Soviet tableware) and even undergoing a concentration-camp-style interrogation and medical check.
The Soviet Bunker is not a theme park for the faint-hearted; all of the actors involved in the project were originally in the Soviet army and some were authentic interrogators, however there are performances tailored specifically for school groups so they know when to cool it, too. Before heading back into the real world, participants are treated to a shot of vodka. They leave with a better understanding of life under Soviet occupation and, no doubt, a new respect for their elders past.
The pictures are one thing — this video is another. The weirdness really comes across when you see the tourists’ faces as they start to realize — these guys are serious.
This reminds me of the Stanford Prison Experiment.
posted by Pink Coat on 12-3-2008 at 1:01 pm
I’m sure for every kid who did this as part of school group who thought, “This is scary,” there is a kid who thinks, “I would’ve wanted to be one of the Soviet soldiers.”
posted by Shasta on 12-3-2008 at 1:15 pm
Wow! What a strong educational tool. I remember going on a walk through experience of a slave ship and it really made the horror come alive. They had a place where you were packed in a small crevice and they played these awful sounds of people suffering. Still gives me goose bumps
posted by Marty on 12-3-2008 at 1:48 pm
“Un-fun” sounds like an understatement. I find it hard to believe that classrooms of children or even families are shelling out $220 per person to participate.
posted by Sandi Mays on 12-3-2008 at 2:58 pm
S & M in the name of history? weird
posted by JaneM on 12-3-2008 at 3:44 pm
Do the school groups get the shot of vodka at the end, too?
posted by KB on 12-3-2008 at 3:52 pm
Your conversion is incorrect. The Lithuanian Litas is worth about 33 American cents, so people are shelling out around 48 dollars rather than 220 dollars.
posted by Antanas on 12-3-2008 at 4:01 pm
Ah, frak. The video site seems to be goinked with traffic. I’ll check later.
posted by Johnny Cat on 12-3-2008 at 4:43 pm
My mom took me to a World War II concentration camp reenactment when I was about 4. I cried durring the simulated “standing room only” train car ride because I was scared of the mean nazi that put us on the train car. I wonder why my mom thought it was appropriate to take a 4 year old to something like that?
posted by The Queen on 12-3-2008 at 4:51 pm
Queen,
That’s horrible! But I bet your mom got a lot of use out of “be good, or I’ll send you back to the concentration camps”. That’ll keep a kid in line :)
posted by tiffany on 12-3-2008 at 5:44 pm
I find this intriguing, and a great educational tool. My father lives in Europe, and I would bet that he would have taken me at some point had he known about it. Thanks for the post–I may check this out someday.
recaptcha: Riggs Financially
posted by Orange on 12-3-2008 at 5:54 pm
This reminds me of how I felt about high school. Except we didn’t have those cuddly dogs.
posted by Pete on 12-3-2008 at 6:16 pm
Although this is my idea, you can have this…
National Lampoons Soviet Vacation
posted by Don on 12-3-2008 at 6:48 pm
You know what? I want to go.
posted by Ellen on 12-3-2008 at 9:32 pm
Whoa! Taking the whole ‘real experience’ vacation to a new level. Kinda cool - kinda creepy.
@Don - outstanding! Anybody seen Russ?
posted by Dave on 12-4-2008 at 5:55 am
Welcome to City 17!
posted by Matt on 12-4-2008 at 6:18 am
another fear-mongering, anti-Russian crap.
posted by cooler on 12-5-2008 at 1:21 am
“Your conversion is incorrect. The Lithuanian Litas is worth about 33 American cents, so people are shelling out around 48 dollars rather than 220 dollars. ”
The sentence with the conversion is a direct quote from another site.
But, yeah, it is incorrect.
posted by Dawn on 12-8-2008 at 10:24 pm