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Against the backdrop of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine and its ongoing political warfare against the West, Lithuanians have mounted a social and cultural campaign to elevate the post-WWII anti-Soviet insurgents as exemplars of patriotic resistance and statesmanship. Yet some critics have pointed to the controversial aspects of this armed struggle. The article outlines the historical and cultural context to an emotionally charged debate, arguing for a full and frank examination of the traumatic past.
A recently published personal story by American-Lithuanian writer Silvia Foti about her grandfather's involvement in the Holocaust in Lithuania has raised critical questions in the Lithuanain public about who has the right and authority to pronounce judgement on the nation’s history. The article reviews this debate and discusses how intimate and self-critical stories like Foti's fit within the official narrative and public celebration of the resistance nation in contemporary Lithuania.
In early 2021, the Director of the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre (GRRC) in Vilnius was replaced provoking a wide-ranging debate on the inner workings and public mandate of the nation’s leading memory institution. The article discusses the Centre's past performances between conducting historical research and engaging in memory activism and it reflects on the new appointment's potential to strike a better balance.
While Putin’s plan to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been widely understood as irrational, it is entirely consistent with the “anti-fascist” discourse of his regime. The article discusses how this discourse draws on the political and cultural neo-traditionalism crystalized in 1970s Soviet TV serials that vilified the West, defined a new Soviet war hero, and nurtured a cryptic fascination with Nazism.