LT Throws KGB Files in Russia's Face (And Yours)

On September 3rd, the Lithuanian Genocide and Resistance Centre launched a public website which allows visitors to view formerly confidential KGB documents online. Kgbdocuments.eu displays documents from various KGB departments as well as descriptive articles detailing the activities of Soviet agencies in Lithuania from 1940 to 1991. The material has been scanned from the original Russian-language documents and is also available in English.

The project was borne through the cooperation of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian historians seeking to jointly publish the original KGB documents that have been painstakingly collected in all three Baltic countries since they first broke from the Soviet Union around 1991. The Lithuanian Genocide and Resistance Centre, which operates the KGB Museum in Vilnius, was chosen to manage the website because it is state-financed and has more experience in archival services than its sister institutions in Latvia and Estonia. All former Soviet and Eastern Bloc countries have been invited to contribute material to the database, which the Centre hopes will soon become the best historical web resource on KGB activity in the former Soviet Bloc and the largest archive of original documents of the kind on the internet.

One of the project's main goals, it seems, is to shut-up Russia. Moscow has long attempted to claim that the Baltic countries voluntarily joined the Soviet Union. The documents tell a different story. "We are tired of hearing propaganda from people who want to rewrite history, the Centres spokesman Ricardas Cekutis told The Baltic Times. We would also like to show this to Russia to help the people open their eyes and know our history.

During 50 years of Soviet occupation, Lithuania lost about one million citizens and suffered financial damages estimated around 80 billion litas (23 billion euros).