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On the occasion of the International Day for Tolerance on 16 November, Vilnius is to host an international conference “Tolerance and Totalitarianism. Challenges to Freedom” with a focus on the activities of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group in defending human rights.

Participants of the conference will discuss tolerance situation in today’s world, background of anti-Semitism, xenophobia and other forms of hatred, and how to overcome their manifestations.

The global economic crisis is driving radical ideas, which can present a serious challenge to the development of a tolerant society. Therefore, Lithuania, the country that found itself at the very epicentre of the Nazi and Soviet totalitarian regimes in the 20th century, suffered the Holocaust and occupation, aims to look at its historical past openly, to foster respect for human rights and to contribute to the spread of the values of democracy and tolerance.

Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, former supporter of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group Audronius Ažubalis and Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas (Parliament) of Lithuania Emanuelis Zingeris will deliver welcome speeches during the event at the Tolerance Centre of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. Speeches will be also delivered by the U.S. State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism (U.S.A.) Hannah Rosenthal, Chairman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community Simonas Alperavičius, representatives from the academic community of various countries, members of minorities and other public organizations, clergy and journalists.

The first session of the event will focus on the freedom of expression in the grip of a totalitarian regime. The second session will be dedicated to the problem of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, racism and other forms of discrimination in modern society. The third session will draw attention to religious liberty.

At the conference, speeches will be also delivered by former member of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group, scientist and journalist from Germany Eitan Finkelstein, leading researcher from Russia Andrey Piontkovskiy, Director of the Israel Radio International ‘The Voice of Israel’ Shmuel Ben-Zvi, Deputy Chairman of the Foundation “Jewish Forum of Ukraine” Euhen Dyky, Prof. Gintautas Mažeikis and Prof. Šarūnas Liekis from Kaunas Vytautas Magnus University, Priest Julius Sasnauskas and Rev. Tomas Šernas, former first Director of the Department of National Minorities Halina Kobeckaitė, and others.

The Conference is organised as part of the programme of the Year of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania.

The event will also mark the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the Helsinki Groups, which led to democratic changes in Central and Eastern Europe.

Setting up Helsinki Groups was the idea of famous Russian dissident Andrei Sakharov. These groups explored breaches to the decisions of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and informed world society about them, also the governments of the signatory countries.

The Lithuanian Helsinki Group was formed on 25 November 1976. Among the founders of the Lithuanian Group there were Priest Karolis Garuckas, Ph.D. (Physics) Eitan Finkelstein, poet, teacher and former prisoner Ona Lukauskaitė-Poškienė, former political prisoner Viktoras Petkus and poet, translator Tomas Venclova.  

In 1995, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared November 16 the International Day for Tolerance. This day is now observed in many democratic countries every year. Tolerance education is one of the priorities of Lithuania’s Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The conference is co-organized by the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the Prime Minister and the Tolerance Centre of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum.