Uproar over a partisan
Comments on a Lithuanian debate on memory
Alvydas Nikžentaitis, Joachim Tauber
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
At the end of 2017, the Lithuanian general public was rocked by a fierce debate, which was triggered after claims were made by the publicist Rūta Vanagaitė that the partisan leader Adolfas Ramanauskas had been involved in the murder of Lithuanian Jews and had later worked for the Soviet secret service. These claims proved to be untenable, yet the intensity of the discussions surrounding the issue is indicative of how strongly the partisan fight is anchored in the national myth. Anyone who casts doubt on this myth is perceived to be attacking the heroic Lithuanian self-image of a nation fighting for its freedom.
(Osteuropa 6/2018, pp. 83–90)