The pride of
being Lithuanian

Illustration from: http://www.cafepress.com

Text: Aage Myhre
aage.myhre@VilNews.com

I've been asked why VilNews puts relatively much emphasis on articles with historical content. I've also been asked whether our journey around Europe in January should be presented in a publication that otherwise focuses on Lithuania.

My response is as follows:

Sooner or later the history knocks
at the door of the present
Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis recently said this about the still latent conflict between Armenia and Turkey on the mass killing that took place during the First World War. He is of course right, and the statement is valid for us all, also Lithuania.

The Lithuanian people have for 200 years largely been deprived of the opportunity to know their own nation's history presented in an objective and outspoken way. Those who published historical documentation here were often people who deliberately swept some parts of Lithuania's history under the carpet, exaggerated on other aspects and deliberately misinformed the people. During the years when Lithuania was under Tsarist Russia, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, truth and authentic information was often forbidden or falsified. Today it is no longer so, but I still feel that the knowledge about own history among the people here is not very deep or comprehensive in many cases.

Lithuania is a country that more than many others should be seen and understood in the light of historical perspectives...

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