This Saturday at “Fort-Unija”, Fort IV: trench candles and postcards to soldiers at our tent

This Saturday, 29 August, from 1 to 5 p.m., our tent will stand at Fort IV of the Kaunas Fortress, at the “Fort-Unija” history festival. Come and make a trench-candle blank, see how such a candle burns, and write a postcard to Ukrainian soldiers. Entry is free.

When and where to find us

• Saturday 29 August, 1–5 p.m. – these four hours only, although the festival itself runs for two days.
• Fort IV of the Kaunas Fortress Park, Plytinės g. 15, Kaunas.
• Our tent is in the left inner courtyard, among the heritage fair stalls.
• Entry to the festival is free.

Add it to your calendar (.ics) – the reminder goes off two hours before.

What we will be doing at the tent

This is not a show to watch from a distance – sit down at the table and work with us. We will be making trench-candle blanks: a tin, a precisely cut strip of cardboard and a little patience. A blank is a candle waiting for its paraffin; every one made on Saturday goes back to our workshop and from there to the front.

We will not be melting paraffin at the tent – heating large cauldrons outdoors, in a crowd, is neither simple nor safe. Instead we will light a few finished candles so you can see how long and how quietly they burn. And we will explain why a tin and some cardboard are worth more at the front than they look: the candle warms hands and a dugout, heats food, and burns almost without smoke or a bright flame that would give away a position.

There will be paper and pens on the same table: children and adults alike can write a postcard to a Ukrainian soldier, and it will travel with our next shipment. We will also talk about everything else the fund does – vehicles, humanitarian aid, camouflage nets, where and how we volunteer. You can support the fund right there at the tent, or online once you are home.

And one circumstance that will not feel like a detail on Saturday: we will be talking about trenches while standing on the ramparts of a First World War fort. These walls and today’s Ukrainian trenches have more in common than anyone would wish.

Fort IV is not a stranger to us

It was at Fort IV of the Kaunas Fortress that we poured trench candles until June. Since June the fort has been closed for renovation: while new premises are being fitted out at Fort I, the “P.A.R.A.K.A.S.” community will temporarily host the pouring from September, and we keep making blanks and weaving nets at Žemaičių g. 31A, as before. So on Saturday we are coming back to the fort for one afternoon – with a tent and a stack of tins.

How many candles that has added up to, and where every euro went, is set out in our “Fire of Freedom” mid-project report.

What else is happening at “Fort-Unija”

The festival runs for two days, 29–30 August, under the motto of speaking about warfare through creativity. On Saturday at 2 p.m. the opening ceremony and the parade of reconstruction clubs take place by the central gates; from 1 to 6 p.m. the heritage fair fills the left courtyard, and from 1 to 7 p.m. history clubs from Lithuania, Poland and Latvia camp there – from Napoleonic units to post-war partisans. At 6 p.m. there is a small battle re-enactment.

In the evening the music comes from the fort’s caponier, right above the gates: “Bjelle” at 7.30 p.m., Saulius Petreikis and his band presenting a new album at 8.30 p.m., and at 10 p.m., in the fort’s tunnels, Tadas Greičiūnas playing with the echo alongside the “Illuminatio” light installation. On Sunday 30 August the fort’s little museum and the tunnels are open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., a guided tour starts at 11 a.m., and the “Sasutalas” sutartinės singers perform at 12.30 p.m.

There is plenty to touch as well: a ride in an armoured First World War “Rolls-Royce”, replicas of an Oberost-period (1915–1918) “Personalausweis” identity document at the Kaunas Regional State Archives stand, silent readings about war in literature, and carrier pigeons.

The festival is free, but it is easiest to pick up a free ticket in advance via Paysera Tickets. The full programme is on the event’s Facebook page. “Fort-Unija” is organised by the Kaunas Fortress Park as part of the Lithuanian–Polish “FORT-UNION” cooperation project.

If Saturday does not work for you

• Come and volunteer – Žemaičių g. 31A, Kaunas, every working day. No experience needed, we will show you everything; the schedule is in our volunteering calendar.
• Support us – monthly support lets us plan paraffin purchases ahead; a one-off gift finishes what is already prepared.

See you on Saturday at Fort IV. Visi išvien – all together. 🇱🇹🇺🇦