Lithuanian Literature in Search of Historical Truth: Three Decades of Independence

The article focuses on the beginning of the Singing Revolution in Lithuanian culture and tries to identify the most significant dominant features in order to understand the entirety of the new changes in literature. In the face of political upheaval, such a dominant feature was the question of truth; however, the well-established poetry tradition – romantic, neo-romantic, modern neo-romantic, which coexisted with social realism in Soviet times, and experimental – did not raise such questions of truth but only reflected the nation’s collective expectations. The evolution of Lithuanian literature, which was highly fragmented during all the decades of the Soviet occupation, united the country through the expatriate poet Bernardas Brazdžionis while he was visiting Lithuania in the summer of 1989. Poetic texts predominated during the first demonstrations of Sąjūdis (the Reform Movement), but while trying to understand their position in the general Lithuanian culture and literature discourse, one needs to acknowledge the leading nature of poetry throughout the Soviet times: having its niche in the cultural system, poetry posed a large number of vexed questions, sought philosophical profundity, and was able to constantly address the deepest metaphysical questions even in strict censorship conditions. Lithuanian prose, which evaded the requirement by the doctrine of social realism to portray the world and characters engaged in class struggles, also found support in the poetry system and created a non-linear but coherent narrative where metaphors prevail. Lithuanian prose poetry became a sign of esthetic quality in independent Lithuania too, where the question of truth, which was important for achieving independence, found a way similar to that of poetry – through memoirs and essays to esthetics and little prose. At the beginning of independence, poetry, which had fed Lithuanian prose with its ideas, themes, conception of the world and esthetic solutions, also merged with memoirs and essays, thus being part of the discourse of telling the truth.

Sowieckie ludobójstwo i prawo międzynarodowe. Litewskie zmagania ze zbrodniami ZSRS w świetle orzeczenia Europejskiego Trybunału Praw Człowieka w sprawie Drelingas

The aim of the paper is to analyze the endeavors undertaken by the authorities of independent Lithuania to deal with the crimes committed by the Soviet Union against Lithuanian society, in particular against representatives of the anti-Soviet resistance movement, by using the notion of crime of genocide rooted in international law. The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Drelingas v. Lithuania of 12 March 2019, which approved the legality of the qualification of “ethno-national-political” genocide of “forest brethren” committed by the Soviet occupation authorities, was one of the key elements confirming the Lithuanian policy in this regard. This ruling reopens the discussion on the possibility of trying the crimes of the Soviet Union, at the same time raising certain legal and political doubts – as generally expressed by the Russian Federation.

„Atgimimo banga“ Challenge to Soviet Mass media: Reform Movement of Lithuania (Sąjūdis) Telecast as „Open Protest Field“ in Time of Political Changes (1988 June– 1990 March)

During the Soviet occupation, the whole Lithuanian SSR media was regarded as one of the key propaganda tools based on pure ideological content and socialist-communist messages. In such a media setting television played an essential role; together with radio (as in Moscow’s example) the latter felt under control of a committee ruled by the Council of Ministers (CM), Central Committee (CC) and Moscow patrons itself. But this situation was about to change when Sąjūdis (Reform Movement of Lithuania) came to public and tried to established its right to uncensored broadcast time via television for its own dissemination of information, which sometimes had a strong political message and was not in favour of ruling regime and party. Sąjūdis had a purpose which was totally new during Lithuanian SSR times since the start of television broadcasts in 1957 – it was uncensored broadcasting time. Based on archive sources, memoirs and press articles, this research focuses on the telecast “Atgimimo banga“ as one of the essential informational channels for Sąjūdis. This article tries to disclose its history, influence and conflicts between Sąjūdis and ruling regime, which tried to control and censor telecast’s content. Eventually, the sporadic telecast’s format had another effect: when in 1989 Sąjūdis became important part of the Lithuanian SSR political system, telecast’s popularity came to decline. One of the most popular perestroika time TV programs had some unfulfilled expectations, and, during the time, it made it as one of the most unpopular. The chronological boundaries of this research start at June of 1988, when Sąjūdis was created, and ends in March of 1990, when Lithuania declared its independence from Soviet Union.

Identity of Kaunas Inhabitants: Memories of Three Generations

The aim of this paper is to determine the identity of three generations of Kaunas inhabitants. Kaunas is the second biggest city in Lithuania. During the Soviet occupation, new districts such as Dainava, Kalniečiai, Eiguliai and Šilainiai were built. This paper is based on A. Assmann’s theoretical approach to communicative memory. Empirical material was collected using field research methods: in-depth, semi-structured interviews. 115 narratives were analysed, employing comparative, retrospective, narrative analysis methods. The results of this research suggest that narratives of communicative memory can help to create cultural identity related to specific urban places or the ones displaced from these places.

Spread of Information About Urban Elberfeld Social Care System in Riga (Late 19th – Early 20th Century)

Paper analyses the principles of poor relief of Elberfeld social care system that spread outside the Prussian Empire and Baltic provinces were among of the first territories of Russian Empire, where those ideas emerged. Urbanised and industrialised Riga was one of the empire’s cities where the system was incorporated. It was the first level of developing a future national social care policy in Latvia after 1918. The paper aims to restore the term and achievements of the Elberfeld system known to the social elite before the Soviet occupation when this term disappeared from academic research.

US Hegemony in Korean Studies and the Soviet Role in Early Postwar Korea

This paper examines some of the ways the US-centric framework of Anglophone Korean studies has distorted scholarship on post-colonial Korean history. First, an over-emphasis on the American role in the division of Korea has exaggerated the possibility that the US and USSR could have compromised to create a unified government for the peninsula. The Soviet documentary record reveals that Moscow was determined to obstruct such an outcome if it endangered Soviet security. Second, by focusing on the serious damage the American occupation inflicted on the South, scholars have understated the control Soviet occupation authorities exercised in the North.

From the Bronze Soldier to the “Bloody Marshal”: Monument Wars and Russia’s Aesthetic Vulnerability in Estonia and the Czech Republic

The article analyzes historical monuments as instruments of Russia’s attempts to impose its aesthetic hegemony in the post-Communist world. Drawing on case studies from the Czech Republic and Estonia, it argues that this hegemony is precarious and vulnerable due to inability to deal with the inherent ambiguity and complexity of historical events and figures. The Russian approach regards historical truth in absolute terms and is underpinned by a zero-sum game understanding of historical narratives. It does not tolerate a multiplicity of perspectives on history and has no appreciation for postmodernist deconstruction of historical symbols. This conflicts with a more diverse, reflexive and inclusive politics of memory as an intrinsic element of cityscapes of Prague and Tallinn where some of the controversial monuments connected with the Soviet occupation have been removed. Russia’s reaction to these changes reveals an inherently vulnerable nature of its aesthetic hegemony which is deeply dependent on recognition of the absolute nature of its historical truth that the monuments are supposed to embody.

POLITICAL RELATIONS BETWEEN THE SOVIET UNION AND AFGHANISTAN SOVIET OCCUPATION OF AFGHANISTAN 1979-1989 AD AS A MODEL

The research deals with the study of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan during the period from 1979 to 1989 as an example of the political relations between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan, where the world witnessed the outbreak of the Cold War between the two poles: the Soviet Union and the United States of America after the end of World War II in 1945 AD, and both of these two great powers were keen to highlight Its dominance in various aspects, especially the military, and this war received strong and strict international reactions, and the United States of America was one of the most prominent countries that condemned this war and demanded the withdrawal of the Soviet Union. The research aims to shed light on the roots of the interest of Russia and then the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and focus on the reasons that prompted the Soviet Union to launch war on Afghanistan and follow the events of the war and its escalation between 1979 and 1989 and focus on some international attitudes towards the war, especially the United States of America, and also clarify the reasons for the withdrawal of forces The Soviet Union of Afghanistan and its consequences. The research adopts the descriptive historical method, which was employed in deriving historical facts and talking about all aspects covered by the study, and the analytical method that was used in analyzing the information of documents and texts, and comparing them to reach information related to the subject of the study.

The Creation of East European Communist States

Soviet occupation of much of Eastern Europe at the conclusion of World War II facilitated Moscow’s imposition of communist regimes in five countries. In Yugoslavia and Albania, by contrast, communist regimes came to power largely on their own, and remained autonomous of Red Army control. In Czechoslovakia, an urban coup brought the communist party to power largely indigenously, but in the shadow of Soviet power. And in Austria and Greece, communist parties did not succeed in coming to power, and Stalin largely conceded that they would not.