Lithuanian Politics Research Articles

Disinformation Narratives in Public Communication of Lithuanian Political Leaders during the COVID-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a large part of Lithuanian society was deprived of a direct contact and traditional means of communication and information sharing. The uninhibited publication and dissemination of any information provided by digital space had become a tool for some politicians not only to protect their constituents but also to seek transient popularity or other goals in manipulative ways. In a post-truth culture, such an approach based on ‘personal opinion’ or emotion has virtually become a substitute for scientifically proven facts and objective truth. The research on the phenomenon of disinformation draws upon analysis of individual narratives and the deconstruction of their structure and content. It involves the identification of the main false narratives developed by Lithuanian political leaders from January of 2020 onwards and the singling out those narratives that determined the politicians’ subsequent success or even the rise to popularity of some older or new social movements and political parties.

The Bishops of the Diocese of Vilnius and Lithuanian Domestic Politics in 1709–17: Attitudes, Problems, and Solutions

The article looks into the participation of the bishop ordinary of the diocese of Vilnius, Kazimierz Konstanty Brzostowski, and his suffragan, Maciej Józef Ancuta, in Lithuanian politics of the period between 1709 and 1717. The study has been based on the letters written by the bishops to the Lithuanian chancellor. It examines the bishops’ attitude towards Russian contributions, the taxation of Church estates, the arbitrary contributions raised by the Lithuanian army, the introduction of Saxon troops in 1713, the reaction to the king’s policies, and the attitude towards the nationwide uprising against the Saxon troops known as the confederations of Tarnogród and Vilnius. Finally, the bishops’ opinion on Russian mediation and the notorious Silent Sejm, where it was agreed that the liberum veto would be invalid. The bishops of the diocese of Vilnius were rather indifferent to the internal problems of Lithuania. They defended the immunity of the Church estates and disapproved of the introduction of Saxon troops. However, when the confederations were formed, they tried to manoeuvre between the noble and royal camps, not wanting to ruin their reputation on either side. The bishops often spoke on behalf of the diocesan clergy. Therefore, their adopted posture was often the expression of the opinion of the whole diocese’s clergy.

Juozas Gabrys and Lithuania at the League of Nations: Press, Business, Politics

The activity of Juozas Gabrys and his colleagues at the League of Nations in Geneva from 1927 until 1939 is the main subject of this article. The questions about this group of people are analyzed through several perspectives, such as journalism, business, and politics. The territorial and ethnical problems which were addressed by Lithuania at the League of Nations and the decisions of Lithuanian diplomats and politicians were overviewed in the press publications of Gabrys in various Lithuanian newspapers. In these texts he mostly focuses on two main topics in international interwar Lithuanian politics – the question of Vilnius its regarding mutual relations with Poland and the question of Memel and its region, which was intensely disputed by Lithuanian and German influences. Simultaneously, Gabrys had the intentions to develop business relations between Lithuania and Switzerland. He and his family worked in the fields of real estate and money exchange. Also, he established the Lithuanian Information Bureau in Geneva, which received irregular donations from the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, yet most of the publications were funded by Gabrys himself. The answer to the question of Gabrys’s real influence on Lithuanian foreign policy could be given only partially. As for now, the possibility to measure this influence is limited only to the press and information field, as Gabrys’s work in those fields, although forgotten and underestimated nowadays, was observed and evaluated by his contemporaries. Due to his publications, Lithuanians could form an opinion about the League of Nations and its decisions as well as the situation on the level of European policy.

Lithuania's Demarcation of Information from Poland's Solidarity Movement in 1980-1981

The aim of the article: Despite the fact that everything we know in Polish history about the emergence of Solidarity [Polish: Solidarność], Polish trade unions, in 1980-1981, and the conflict with the communist totalitarian regime is described in sources as ‘the Polish Crisis’, the question remains open about the contemporaneous deepening communication crisis of the communist government in Lithuania, whose history had long – until the middle of the 20th century – been very closely linked to the development of Poland. From 1951 to 1989, Lithuania was separated from Poland by a double barbed-wire Soviet border barrier without any border crossing points. Nevertheless, the author proposes delving into what type of information control measures the Soviet regime used in influencing the Lithuanian people by undermining their interest in the workers’ strikes and the expanding trade union movement in Poland 40 years ago, trying to set Lithuanians against Polish society, and also how the media in the West helped renew the dialogue between Lithuanian and Polish diaspora organisations. Research methods: The author performed a content analysis of KGB documents in the Lithuanian Special Archives and examined the content of the Lithuanian SSR mass media and the mass media of the Lithuanian diaspora in the United States. Results and conclusions: The Soviet concept of security that was implemented by the repressive structure of the KGB was largely associated with the restriction of information, censorship and self-censorship of the population. However, it was also associated with the recruitment of Lithuanian citizens into ongoing cooperation with the secret service to collect data about Polish people who were ‘disloyal’ to the regime and transfer information to the security service of communist Poland, so the content of these reports must be disclosed. Cognitive value: Thus, the article provides the broader context, in which the content of the propaganda press is only one element of the system that controlled the public space.

HENRY VALOIS'S COURT AND ELECTIVE KINGSHIP IN THE POLISH–LITHUANIAN COMMONWEALTH, 1573–1574

AbstractHenry Valois (1551–89) was elected king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1573 and arrived in Poland in January 1574. After five months, Henry fled Poland–Lithuania upon inheriting the French throne from his brother, Charles IX. As Henry III of France, he was branded a violent tyrant, who allowed his mignons to run the kingdom and isolated himself from his subjects. Historians have done much to rehabilitate Henry's reputation, but his first experience of kingship in the Commonwealth has been neglected in these reassessments. This article uses the previously unstudied treasury accounts of Henry's Polish court to re-examine his experience of the Polish–Lithuanian elective, parliamentary monarchy as crucial to the development of his characteristic style of kingship and court. Some of these practices were a response to the challenges posed by the Polish political system to a newly elected king. This allows us to recover a lost political connection between Poland and France. Secondly, the article demonstrates Henry's active engagement in the Polish–Lithuanian politics, challenging the narrative that he was a passive king anticipating his return to Paris. Instead, Henry planned to cement his rule in Poland by mounting his own faction and pursuing a bold diplomatic agenda.

Components for Measuring the Efficiency of the Intervention Measures to Support Business, Initiated and Implemented by the Government of Lithuania during the First Lockdown

A lockdown is a set of restrictive actions, in the implementation of which countries face a case of chain reaction: In order to protect human lives and health, the states, due to imbalances in fiscal and monetary policies caused by uncollected planned revenues and unplanned excessive budget expenditures, experience a socio-economic recession. The current paper focuses on the first lockdown implemented in Lithuania to control the spread of COVID-19, which took place from 16 March, 2020 until 16 June, 2020. The main object of the paper is the components that defined the efficiency of the government intervention measures intended to support businesses affected by the first lockdown regime. By generating the mentioned components, we followed the principle of the philosophy of sustainable development: the interdependence of economic, social, environmental, and institutional elements; coherence; and sustainable development. Efficiency is the art of choice, where it is necessary to anticipate the final aim, resulting in maximum benefit from the arrangement of the available limited resources. However, in order to measure the effectiveness of government interventions, we were faced with differences in interpretations of the measurement of the effectiveness of policy decisions. In the course of the research, after analysing secondary data, we identified and, by means of modelling techniques, visualised the main components to estimate the efficiency of the government intervention measures. The theoretical model demonstrated that economic instruments—volume, price, time, transparency, and results—defined the efficiency of their implementation.

Some spelling and language features of publicistic works by Povilas Višinskis

Povilas Višinskis was a significant figure of the Lithuanian culture, society, and politics at the end of the 19th c. and the beginning of the 20th c., an active advocate of the Lithuanian national movement, a member of the national revival organisation Varpas, and a supporter of the movement to regain the banned Latin characters for the Lithuanian language. His creative legacy includes various publicistic works, found in the press or published as separate booklets; that has yet received little attention. The paper analyses some characteristic spelling and language features of publicistic works by Višinskis.Concerning the spelling, a special focus should be on its promiscuity and randomness. The principles of spelling are mixed up, different word forms are used side by side in the same text, and often it is difficult to explain the reasons and consistency of a particular spelling. With this in mind, it is rather difficult to tell which language and spelling is authentic, and which is edited, proofread or corrected by editors. At the same time, it should be pointed out that such variation in spelling is common to Lithuanian writings of that time, reflecting a phase of the developmental process of the standard language at that time.What concerns the language of Višinskis’ publicistic works, it is characterised by the use of some Samogitian features, rather frequent retention of archaic morphological forms (dual number of nouns and verbs, supinum, athematic verbs, archaic pronominal forms) and cases of stem mixing of nouns. His vocabulary is full of dialecticisms, barbarisms, and semantic archaisms. His syntax contains a lot of non-Lithuanian, foreign constructions, especially those with prepositions.In conclusion, one could say that gradually Višinskis’ language and spelling became more homogeneous. In his latest publicistic works, this language and spelling uniformity becomes clear, while particular forms and constructions are used more consistently.

Images of the Lithuanian Political Elite in the Eyes of Citizens

The article aims to reconstruct the concept of the Lithuanian political elite from the citizens’ perspective, focusing on how the concept is perceived, how the political elite is recognized in social life, and what attributes are associated with this particular concept. Applied qualitative in-depth interview data gathering and inductive data analysis approaches demonstrate that the Lithuanian political elite concept consists of two images: legalistic and charismatic. Although these two images are completely divergent, they are intertwined and successfully coexistent in the minds of citizens. The citizens are tending to apply either a legalistic or charismatic image depending on the circumstances: the legalistic image is applied in recognizing and describing the political elite as an externally existing referent; meanwhile, the charismatic image is applied in building up the normative political elite portrait.

The Change in Attitude of the Lithuanian Political Elite towards Poland in 1934–1939

The Change in Attitude of the Lithuanian Political Elite towards Poland in 1934–1939 The present article analyses the efforts of the political elite of Lithuania to change the policy towards Poland in 1934–1939. The beginning of the changes is related to geopolitical changes, first of all, the coming of the National Socialists to power in Germany in 1933 and the German-Polish Agreement in 1934. Reacting to this, President Antanas Smetona appointed Stasys Lozoraits as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, who did not have a negative attitude towards Poland. In addition, other famous society members expressed the opinion to soften the attitude towards Poland; after Stasys Raštikis was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief in 1935, a large number of officials supported this opinion. Still, the processes were not changing immediately: the Lithuanian press was still dominated by the image of a Pole as an enemy despite the fact that diplomats and officials saw Germany, which was getting increasingly stronger, as the main threat. The political elite gradually perceived that Lithuania could not regain Vilnius in the nearest future, but there was a real threat to lose Klaipėda, the gate to the sea.These factors preconditioned the first changes. In 1937, in the plans of the Lith-uanian army, Germany was viewed as the main threat, and questions were raised that an agreement with Poland had to be made. It was difficult to achieve this; there-fore, the relations were established by an unpleasant way, after the Polish ultima-tum. This situation provoked a considerable moral and political crisis in Lithuania. The first Lithuanian Army volunteer, an officer, and diplomat Kazys Škirpa, who was renowned as the supporter of the “hard line” towards Poland, was appointed as the first envoy to Poland, while Aloyzas Valušis, the son-in-law of President Anta-nas Smetona was appointed as a military attaché. K. Škirpa attempted to change the relations with the Polish colleagues towards a more constructive direction and warned them about the aggression of Germany and its real plans. The heads of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sometimes had to stop the initiatives of the envoy, being afraid that society could understand them in a wrong way. For instance, the arrival of the influential members of the Polish political elite to Kaunas was post-poned due to the start of winter, as it was explained.After the Munich Conference, Germany posed even more threat to Europe, particularly to Klaipėda. Poland was not interested in Lithuania losing the port, and this was one more reason for closer contacts. In order to soften the pressure from Germany, Lithuania sent K. Škirpa to Berlin, as he had many acquaintances among the authorities of the Third Reich. For the sake of strengthening relations with Poland, it transferred the diplomat and the signatory of February 16 Act, Jurgis Šaulys, to Warsaw, who was a strong supporter of renewing relations with Po-land. Despite this, Germany annexed Klaipėda, while a closer connection between Lithuania and Poland was not created. Still, especially after the annexation of Klaipėda Region, Lithuanian society was much more favourable towards Poland. This was highlighted by the Lithuanian and Polish media, which described the visit of the Commander-in-Chief of the Lithuanian Army General, Stasys Raštikis, who was particularly popular in society, in a very warm way. The visit, which took place in May, 1939, was possibly the warmest episode in the Polish-Lithuanian relations during the whole interwar period.

Comparative Analysis of UK and Lithuanian Political Institutional Communicative Climate Change Discourses

The aim of this paper is to analyse the ways how climate change related risks are being constructed in political institutional discourses. We draw upon the political communicative texts, i.e. texts prepared by governmental authorities, from the pre- and post-Paris agreement period, i.e. 2015–2016. Our empirical analysis is guided by the relational theory of risk, theory of discursive institutionalism, critical discourse analysis, notions of interdiscursivity and interpretive repertoires. The main research questions are the following: What are the threats typically associated with climate change (source of risk)?; What are the objects-at-risk typically spoken of in political communicative discourses?; How are the relations of the risk source and object-at-risk discursively constructed (e.g. vulnerability, resilience, etc.)?; What is the overall ‘repertoire’ of typical climate change related risks as discursively constructed in political communicative texts? To answer the research questions, Lithuania and United Kingdom are taken for cross-national comparison. UK is regarded as a leader in international and domestic climate change policy, whereas climate change policies are treated instrumentally in Lithuania. Both Lithuania and UK, as EU member states, follow the general EU climate change policy. Yet because of differences in public attitudes and other socio-political contexts, the effectiveness of climate change policies is different. Contrasting the two member states and looking for underlying discursive practices, that serve as grounds for climate action, bring new scientific insights. The analysis of the sampled texts is conducted using NVivo.

Išeivija minties ir veiksmo kryžkelėse: vieno ginčo istorija

The task of this paper is to describe a uniquely interesting dispute among émigré Lithuanian intellectuals that played itself out in the publications of the liberal “Santara-Šviesa” and the centrist Academic Scouts. This controversy deserves to be regarded as a symbolically important episode in the development of the younger academic generation’s mentality and ideology. It involves two social scientists – Vytautas Kavolis and Thomas Remeikis – who for a period of several months publicly expressed their differences on issues dividing the attitudes of otherwise closely related intellectual and social currents of thought. Kavolis was the acknowledged leader of thinkers who joined in the “Santara-Šviesa” movement. Remeikis, a professor of political science and a tireless investigator of mid-twentieth century developments in Lithuanian politics, was an authoritative senior in the Academic Scout Movement, especially when he began to edit the journal “Mūsų Vytis”. He and his co-editor and colleague Algirdas Avižienis both picked up the gauntlet thrown down by “Santara-Šviesa” and sought to elevate the intellectual level of the Academic Scouts’ periodical as well as to prove the universal significance of the ideas they advanced. Their discussion not only raised the quality of Academic Scouts’ thought but also showed the productivity of friendship among the disputants.

Memory as a soft power: A case of Polish-Lithuanian dialogical memory

By the concept of dialogical memory we understand the process of creating transnational memory in the course of complementing individual national memories. In the opinion of its inventor, the German memoryologist Aleida Assmann, dialogical memory is particularly important for the nations with a difficult past. A responsible and empathic narration of a shared history can lay the foundation for a normal relationships in the future. The purpose of the article is to analyze the phenomenon of dialogical memory as exemplified by the Pol- ish-Lithuanian debate on the common past and its impact on the current political relations. In recent times we can observe the organized anniversary celebrations by the governments of both countries related to the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a common state that existed between the 16th and 18th centuries. A special historical celebration took place in Vilnius in November 2019. With the participation of the delegations from Poland, Belarus and Ukraine, the remains of the heroes who took part in the anti-Russian January Uprising in 1863-1864 were buried with honours. These celebrations mark a characteristic change that took place in the Lithuanian politics of memory in relation to the assessment of the traditions of the common Polish-Lithuanian state. A community of interests in the sphere of security, economy, and politics is deepening this process. Membership in the Eu- ropean Union and the Atlantic Pact are platforms joining Poles and Lithuanians in the 21st century. This membership provides opportunities for both states to cooperate and develop common interests and values. Common neighbourhood with the Russian exclave in Kalin- ingrad and a sense of threat from Russia deepens mutual Polish-Lithuanian understanding.

Semiotical Narrative of the Greimai Bridge in Prienai

In 2017, the world celebrated 100 years since the birth of Algirdas Julien Greimas (1917–1992). The anniversary inspired many commemorative works, events, conferences, research projects, etc. That is also the case with this paper.Here, instruments of semiotic analysis are applied to a rather unusual object – a bridge located in the town of Prienai, Lithuania. In 2010, the bridge was given the name of Greimai by the Government of Lithuania as a way of paying tribute to Julius Greimas (1882–1942), schoolteacher and burgomaster of Prienai (1934–40), and his son Algirdas Julien Greimas, literary scientist and semiotician who as a child liked to wander the woods of Prienai.The paper discusses the semantics and narrativity of the Greimai bridge. The main focus is on its function, the characteristics of the bridge and its shores, the semantic universe it embodies. Also considered is the transformation from a simple and concrete structure with a clearly defined function to a symbolic monument.The findings of this small research suggest that the bridge’s characteristics make the Greimai name a good fit and that it creates additional meanings: one recognizes plurality and duality, the echo of the father-son relationship, cyclicality and rituality, etc. In addition, the bridge appears to act as a mediator between nature and culture, life and death.

Media sentiment analysis for measuring perceived trust in government

This study employs sentiment analysis of articles published in popular Lithuanian media outlets in an attempt to determine the citizens’ trust in the Lithuanian government at a given time. Based on the classical political theory by Thomas Hobbes and contemporary political theories of divisionary politics and the “rally ‘round the flag” effect, it is hypothesized that with an increased sense of insecurity, the population puts more trust into their government. The hypothesis is tested by examining the sentiment expressed in articles concerning governmental affairs published in Lithuanian media and the user-generated comments published on Facebook for the period of six months prior to and after March 2014 – Russia’s annexation of Crimea, an event that created a sense of fear among the Lithuanian public. The analysis of the gathered data found that the decrease in sentiment towards Russia correlated with an increase in the sentiment towards the government of Lithuania in conventional media. The analysis of Facebook comments suggested the same result, but overall was inconclusive.

Media sentiment analysis for measuring perceived trust in government

This study employs sentiment analysis of articles published in popular Lithuanian media outlets in an attempt to determine the citizens’ trust in the Lithuanian government at a given time. Based on the classical political theory by Thomas Hobbes and contemporary political theories of divisionary politics and the “rally ‘round the flag” effect, it is hypothesized that with an increased sense of insecurity, the population puts more trust into their government. The hypothesis is tested by examining the sentiment expressed in articles concerning governmental affairs published in Lithuanian media and the user-generated comments published on Facebook for the period of six months prior to and after March 2014 – Russia’s annexation of Crimea, an event that created a sense of fear among the Lithuanian public. The analysis of the gathered data found that the decrease in sentiment towards Russia correlated with an increase in the sentiment towards the government of Lithuania in conventional media. The analysis of Facebook comments suggested the same result, but overall was inconclusive.

Populism and Political Party Institutionalisation in the Three Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania make for interesting comparative case studies in the rise of contemporary populism in Europe. All three countries share a similar modern history, democratic political system, level of economic development and are in the same western-oriented regional clubs (NATO, European Union, OSCE, European Council and, in the case of Estonia and Latvia, OECD, etc.). However, they do differ in the extent to which populism has played a role in their national politics. Populism has played a marginal role in Estonian politics, but has long been central to the Latvian party system and influential in Lithuanian politics. This article tackles two key issues in the study of populism. First, it focuses on political party institutionalisation as the key variable in explaining the differing impact of populist political parties across the Baltic states. It examines and explains the higher turnover of political party creation and destruction in Latvia and, to a lesser extent, Lithuania and argues that institutions—and particularly the laws that frame party organisations and participation in elections—create political opportunities for populist parties. The second part of the paper considers the different types of populist parties to have emerged in the Baltic states in recent decades. While previous studies of populism in the Baltic states (such as Auers and Kasekamp in J Contemp Eur Stud 17(2):241–254, 2009; Auers and Kasekamp, in: Wodak et al (eds) Right wing populism across/beyond Europe, Bloomsbury Academic Press, London 2013) have explicitly focused on Radical Right Populist parties, this article additionally identifies a number of parties in the region that are not explicitly radical right, but are certainly populist.

Paul Hymans’ Forgotten Negotiations: The Dispute over the Vilnius Region in Brussels and Geneva in 1921

The dispute over the Vilnius Region was one of the most complicated political issues of the interwar period. Politicians of the Republic of Lithuania (1918–1940) proclaimed Vilnius the country’s capital. However, the authorities of neighbouring Poland treated Vilnius and the surrounding areas as an inseparable part of their state. Thus, in April 1919 and in October 1920 Polish troops occupied the territory. The dispute was long negotiated by the Council of the League of Nations. Authorised by the League, the well-known Belgian politician Paul Hymans mediated the negotiations between Lithuania and Poland in 1921. Two projects for the resolution of this issue were linked to his name. Paul Hymans’ archive at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and related materials from the archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France document consultations with numerous French, British, and Belgian politicians, diplomats, and the militaries. George Curzon, British Foreign Secretary, and Aristide Briand, Minister of Foreign Affairs of France, were actively involved in the formulation of the projects of the resolution. Hymans’ first resolution noted a great impact of Poland for it was closely related to the agreement proposed by Alexander Babiański, a left-wing Polish general. A proposal for a federal state, most likely based on this project, was sent from Warsaw to London and Paris by the envoys of the Entente states. However, it was unacceptable to the right-wing government of Poland, which proposed an unconditional incorporation of Lithuania. Slightly changed, Hymans’ second resolution was to some extent more beneficial to Lithuania and therefore even less acceptable to Poland, and caused significant dissensions in both states. The negotiations tended to the loss of independence of Lithuania, and the government of Lithuania was the first to abandon these later in 1921. Hymans successfully negotiated the separation of the Malmedy region from Germany and its annexation to Belgium; he also took a part in defining the international status of the Scheldt River (Dutch: Schelde) in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. He participated in the process of the consolidation of political and trade relations with France and especially with Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Meanwhile, his negotiations for Lithuania and Poland had failed. In his memoirs, this mission was mentioned only fleetingly, as though deemed to be forgotten.

Lithuanian Political Parties’ Attitudes toward European Integration: an analysis of 2016 Parties’ Manifestos

The paper introduced here focuses on the particularities of Lithuanian political parties’ discourse on European integration. The questions which this paper seeks to answer are: how much ‘Europe’ actually figures into parties’ national election manifestos and what parties says about the nature of the European polity and the policy objectives to be implemented by the EU? The results of the analysis show that, although in principle there is a support to the European integration, political parties follow the logic of instrumental rationality containing strategic actions and specific domestic interest implementation in the united Europe. These contradictions may lead to the inconsistencies of party politics toward European integration.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ppaa.16.3.19344

NŪDIENOS TEISĖKŪROS PROCESO REGLAMENTAVIMO LIETUVOJE IR JOS VEIKSMINGUMO SANTYKIS

Straipsnyje analizuojami vykdomosios valdžios teisėkūros veiksmingumo aspektai: paliečiama formos dominavimo prieš turinį problema, socialinio vaidmens įtaka, reglamentuojančių teisės normų didelio skaičiaus įtaka teisėkūros veiksmingumui.

The Consciousness of a Partisan: Rather Die than Be a Slave

The topic addresses the very “essence” of what comprises a human being. While there are many answers employing various categorical and even cultural definitions, our quest is philosophical, leading to a distinction of a “species” called “homo sapiens” into “natural slaves” and “free beings”. The distinction is based not on species similarities, but on activity. Societies, living under the premise of pure power relationships – autocratic, theocratic, dictatorial – where causal explanations of action are prevalent, cannot invoke such notions as freedom, responsibility, rights, truthfulness, honor, dignity, since such designations have no meaning in such societies. One such society, the Soviet empire, invaded and destroyed Lithuanian Political Society. The latter is premised on open public space in which all issues are discussed rationally, with every citizen having a right, duty and responsibility to maintain the free arena of public dialogue and thus the citizens’ upholding of his / her autonomy, equality, responsibility and honor. This means that political society, founded by classical Greeks is one where human beings can exercise what slaves cannot: their human essence, in contrast to the sub-human societies living only in power relationships. The slave Soviet empire was joined by many Lithuanians who also became servants and slaves of that empire. Others chose to forfeit all their possessions and even lives – the partisans – in order to remain free, responsible, and thus human. Their self-understanding: it is better to die on one’s feet than to live on one’s knees.