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On May 16 at the meeting with the U.S. historian Timothy Snyder in Vilnius, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis thanked the historian for perpetuating the historical memory of the crimes of the totalitarian regimes, which is significant to Lithuania and the entire Eastern Europe, and emphasized Lithuania’s active efforts to commemorate the memory of the victims of the atrocities of the 20th century.

“Thank you for your courage and determination to remind the entire world of the fact that in the 20th century Europe suffered from two totalitarian regimes that are responsible for horrendous crimes against humanity. Despite the fact that the form of expression, methods, or scale of the terror of Fascism and Stalinism were different, we should honour the memory of the victims of both regimes rather than contrast the regimes,” Ažubalis said.

He acquainted the historian with Lithuania’s activities, dedicated to honour the victims of the atrocities of the 20th century. According to Ažubalis, efforts of the country’s Government are aimed in two directions.

“The Seimas declared 2011 as the Year of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania.  Therefore, many projects dedicated to the commemoration of the Genocide of the Jewish victims were implemented during the last year. This large-scale programme was designed to pay tribute to the victims of the Holocaust, to perpetuate the Litvak heritage and to fight anti-Semitism at the national and international levels,” Ažubalis said.

Among other activities of Lithuania, he singled out the Law on Good Will Compensation for Real Estate of Jewish Religious Communities that the Seimas adopted and the restoration of the fragments of the historic Jewish Quarter in Vilnius, the memorialization of the old Jewish cemetery in Šnipiškės. The Lithuanian government-funded archaeological research excavation of the site of the Great Synagogue of Vilnius has already been carried out and the Vilnius Jewish Public Library has been established.

According to the Minister, the uniqueness of the tragedy of the Holocaust cannot be denied, but we also must speak about other painful experience in Eastern Europe – Stalin’s terror.

“We have launched the discussion on historical conscience and memory at EU level and are continuously supporting the cooperation of research centres, academic institutions and non-governmental organizations in their fight against the loss of memory about Soviet crimes. Our goal is to persuade the Council of the European Union to start the criminalization of the denial of the crimes committed by both totalitarian regimes at European level,” Ažubalis noted.

On 28 September last year, the book “Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin” by Timothy Snyder was presented at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The book examines the terror of the Communist Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

Snyder studied history at the University of Oxford and is currently Professor of History at Yale. His research areas include history of Eastern Europe and the Holocaust. He received several awards for his books, including the George Louis Beer Prize of the American Historical Association in 2003.