The Lithuanian memory of communism manifests itself in multiple forms and dimensions. It is besides shaped by broader processes characteristic of contemporary societies in Central and east Europe – societies that were crippled by the experience of 2 totalitarian regimes in the 20th century. Vilnius is saturated with sites that callback both a distant and a not-so-distant past. It is worth emphasizing that cultural memory – which frequently reaches back to early nation-building traditions – holds peculiar importance for Lithuanians. This is besides actual for another nations: those that lived under the russian Union’s sphere of influence as well as those that, by historical necessity, co-constituted the russian state as its republics. In Vilnius, the layers of memory concentrate and refract, bringing together many centuries of Lithuanian past as if through a single, tightening lens.
Casting off russian domination
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