Experience with Violence Refreshed
Lithuania’s Politics of History and Russia’s War in Ukraine
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Lithuanian society did not observe the Euromaidan in Ukraine from afar. It saw itself directly affected. Russia’s annexation of the Crimea and the war of intervention in eastern Ukraine unleashed fears of a similar aggression on the part of Russia in the Baltic region. The war also changed Lithuanians’ self-understanding of their country’s own history. In debates over German and Soviet rule, an escalation and relativisation of positions is taking place. History and memory are becoming a screen for projecting the present political conflict with Russia.
(Osteuropa 3/2016, pp. 111–128)