Lithuania – From Soviet Past, Dissidence, and Exile to Present-Day Russia

Lithuania had a very difficult fate in the Second World War. In the aftermath of the Hitler Stalin pact it was first invaded by the Soviet Union, then subjugated by Nazi Germany and again conquered by the Red Army. The postwar period is seen today as a Soviet occuptation. Tomas Venclova (born 1937) is a witness of this era. His father was an important communist functionary. Revolting against the system meant for Tomas Venclova also revolting against his own father. Venclova eventually emigrated to the USA where he became a professor of Slavic Studies at Yale. He is the most eminent Lithuanian poet of the 20th century and maintained a close friendship and literary exchange with the Nobel prize winners Czeslaw Milosz and Joseph Brodsky. In a discussion with Yves Partschefeld Ulrich Schmid, Tomas Venclova will explain the conundrums of the Soviet Lithuanian relationship and the current situation of Lithuania towards Russia.