crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes
Dalia Kuodyte
Lithuanian victims of communist occupation
There never has been such a difficult period in the thousand-year long history of Lithuania as the
second half of the twentieth century. It is not marked by achievements in the country’s economy and
culture, but by inter-changing occupations. 1940 and 1941 – the first Soviet occupation – brought the
first arrests, killings, the destruction of the Lithuanian army, and the first deportations to the remote
uninhabited places in Siberia. 1941 to 1944 – the Nazi occupation, brought the annihilation of the
Litvaks’ community, the Lithuanian Jews’, (200,000 people were killed, 96 % of that community). The
second Soviet occupation lasted from 1944 to 1990. It was marked by several waves of deportations
and the ten-year-long Lithuanian partisan war against the Soviet occupation. Agriculture was destroyed
by the collectivisation, religion was ousted by atheism and history was falsified – the roots of mentality
were damaged. Damages caused by fifty years behind the Iron Curtain has no material expression. In
1990, when independence was re-established, society had to come to terms with the past, and to find
some ways of reconciliation. But we were not always successful. Why? My speech – contains just a few
remarks on this.
When we speak about our experience in trying to achieve reconciliation, we have to begin with
the specific situation of the Baltic States, in the context of the eastern and central European countries.
The basic difference is – in the Baltic States besides the problems of national reconciliation, there is an
international level, marked by the Soviet occupation in 1940. However, it is necessary to emphasise one
more difference. The status of the Baltic States people who suffered under the regime is different from
the status of the people of Russia who also suffered under a totalitarian regime. The latter suffered at
the hands of their own authorities, while the people of the Baltic States were victims of the occupation
regime. Even though in both cases, crimes were committed, the difference is essential.
The demise of the Soviet Union happened a long time ago. The Russian Federation, claiming to
be its successor, could also be considered to have assumed its responsibilities, including reconciliation.
In this case, reconciliation is possible only on the background of one condition and one principle. It is
necessary that all the sides concerned strive for it and that they all keep to one simple principle, which is – the
truth, and nothing but the truth. In cases when one side denies obvious facts and uses propaganda for an
argument, which is a form of lie, its intention to reconcile is more than doubtful.
For many years, Russia has been denying the fact of the occupation and annexation of Lithuania,
although it was recognized in the 1991 treaty signed by Lithuania and Russia. The denial of this basic
fact distorts of the picture of the processes which took place in Lithuania at that time. Otherwise absurd
statements lead to the effect that 150,000 Lithuanian people asked to be deported to Siberia without
hope to return, or, even more, to survive under the most adverse conditions. As well as 200,000 political
prisoners were considered ordinary criminals and were kept isolated in hard labour camps for decades.
We consider such a treatment of the inhabitants of the occupied country as a crime against humanity.
The killing of 20,000 Lithuanian partisans who fought for Lithuania’s independence is considered a
war crime. Consequently, it is difficult to expect understanding and reconciliation unless these facts are
recognized.
We can often hear that the past should be forgotten, crimes should be forgiven, we should think
about the future. However, one-third of the Lithuanian population (about one million out of 3.5 million)
suffered from the occupation and we cannot forget it. In Lithuania, there is a whole generation which
still cannot speak calmly about their broken childhood and their youth in Siberia, in hard labour camps,
about the members of their families who were perished, about the lost opportunities to receive a decent
education; and about not fearing that you will be taken for an enemy in your homeland and deported
again.
A few years ago, the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania, in cooperation with
psychologists of the Vilnius University, carried out research in order to investigate how the lives of
victims, the political prisoners and deportees, are influenced by their painful past. The investigation
demonstrated that the victims experienced the same psychological trauma with long-lasting consequences
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