Genealogical Writing and Memory of the Holocaust in Lithuania

Abstract

ABSTRACT Diverse works of autobiographical non-fiction on the Holocaust in Lithuania reflect a pattern of generational memory familiar to students of German historical memory, but with key differences. Cold War taboos against discussions of local participation in the Holocaust delayed the appearance of second-generation Holocaust memory until the post-Soviet 1990s, such that it coincided with the natural emergence of third-generation memory. This overlapping of generations, along with the incipient convergence of perspectives from each side of the Atlantic, has contributed to the emergence of a transnational space of historical discourse. The dynamism of this discourse appears to have reinforced the fractured “memory regime” in Lithuania, dominated by ongoing efforts to place the legacy of the anti-Soviet resistance at the core of national memory and identity.