For half a century, Soviet propaganda has been relentlessly telling lies, despising the June 1941 uprising, the commemoration of its participants, and politically persecuted them. They could not have done otherwise. They had to justify […]
In his article, Alvydas Nikžentaitis (a Lithuanian historian recently appointed as the director of the Lithuanian Institute of History – ed.) starts with a review of key trends based on a short period of Lithuanian […]
The historically necessary and courageous decision of Vilnius city Mayor Remigijus Šimašius to take down the commemorative plaque to Jonas Noreika General Vėtra (Storm) from the Vrublevskiai Library was ruined by the cowardly way it […]
With a hot summer underway, two history-related resolutions emerged in Seimas almost at the same time and it would seem that they will both be met with controversy. A resolution proposed by Seimas Speaker Viktoras […]
It wasn’t by chance that I spoke about my meeting with the daughter of Jonas Noreika – General Storm, Dalia Noreikaitė Kučėnienė, and the broad conversation that I had with her. I resolved to remember […]
The recent assertion by the Mayor of Vilnius, Remigijus Šimašius, regarding the Lithuanian diplomat and military officer, Col. Kazys Škirpa, and the pending attempt to “recall” the dedication of the street in Vilnius in his honour, compels me to respond. I do so in the name of truth and justice. The mayor opines that, while he concedes that Col. Škirpa was one of the first military volunteers to raise the Lithuanian flag at Gediminas Castle, on the other hand, he also allegedly called for the removal of the Jews. The Mayor goes on to say, “I am not inclined to agree that people, who have made such a declaration, be honoured by naming a street after them,” and he further asserts that “discussion on the matter has taken place” and now awaits “the decision of the Vilnius City Council on the matter.” […]
“What’s to become of Škirpa Avenue? It’s clear to everybody that this hound of Hitler’s was the main harbinger of the mass killing of Jews in Lithuania and therefore any service he did for Lithuania makes no sense” posts fiction writer Marius Ivaškevičius on his Facebook page. […]
Kazys Skirpa (1895 – 1979) was the head of the Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF) and whom in 1941 rebels declared the prime minister of an independent Lithuania. It is worth reading and making known a […]
No-brainer questions in Vilnius A bizarre debate has taken place in Vilnius a few days ago: should our municipality rename a street dedicated to Kazys Škirpa, a former Lithuanian diplomat notorious for his rabid anti-Semitic […]
For our freedom and yours, we heard this motto during the independence movement in 1990 inviting everyone–Lithuanians, us Jews, and others–to rally to fight for independence. And we rallied, believing that in that Lithuania–the Lithuania of today–we would all be equal, and not just before God. We thought we’d be equal before memory, and before our history. As brothers and sisters. Are we equal in memory? Are we equal before history? […]
The Vilnius Town Hall is hosting on Tuesday evening a discussion on whether or not to rename a street named after Kazys Škirpa, which is located in the heart of the capital. […]
In the summer of 2015 Vilnius municipality removed four Soviet statutes on the Green Bridge linking the suburb Šnipiskes with the city center. The statutes represented farmers, students, industrial workers and “defenders of peace”, depicting Soviet soldiers who liberated the city from the Nazis in 1944 and subsequently imposed the second Soviet occupation. The statutes were a prime example of Soviet realism and for Soviet standards quite innocent: there was little heroism to be seen, no images of political leaders like Lenin or Stalin, just examples of four classes of Soviet citizens being part of Soviet life. Yet for Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius they depicted a lie and for that reason should not be retained: “The statues represent a lie. Their heroic portrayal of the Soviet people – that is all a lie … The statues are a mockery of the real people who had to live during the Soviet period.” […]
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