The dissonant heritage: the case of the Soviet memorial in Antakalnis cemetery, Vilnius

ABSTRACT

This paper examines dissonant heritage from the perspective of sustainability, i.e. should we maintain and preserve artefacts from our Soviet past, such as the war memorial in the Antakalnis cemetery, which honours soldiers of the USSR who died fighting on Lithuanian soil during the Second World War? Currently, there is an intention on the part of Lithuania’s political authorities to remove this apparently dissonant monument. Its presence – and/or removal – raises more than a few issues of sustainability, including those of the socio-cultural environment, policy(ies) for heritage, and matters pertaining to the legal system. Accordingly, the paper analyses this particular example of Lithuania’s dissonant heritage by reference to the relevant literature, and also by presenting historical aspects of both the cemetery and the memorial. The opinions of the cemetery’s visitors concerning the Soviet memorial are also analysed. The empirical research covers the purposive group of Antakalnis cemetery visitors during All Soul’s Day (2 November 2022).

KEYWORDS:

• Dissonant heritage
• Soviet memorial
• ideology
• heritage policy
• legal system
• democracy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Lietuvos Mokslų Akademija [Sustainable Urban Development (SUD) concepts].

Notes on contributors

Tomas Kačerauskas

Tomas Kačerauskas, PhD is Full Professor and head of Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania. He is chair of Lithuanian Communication Society. He is the author of 6 monographs and more than 120 scientific articles in English, German, Russian, Polish, Slovakian, Ukrainian, Latvian, Spanish and Lithuanian. His last monograph “In Between Communication Theories Through One Hundred Questions” (together with A. Mickunas, Ohio University) is published in Springer (Switzerland). His monograph “Creative Society” is translated into English, German, and Russian. He leads the international scientific project on creative city. His Hirsch Index is 11 (Web of Science) and 16 (Google Scholar). His research interests are following: creativity studies, philosophy of communication and creative city.