January 13th, Freedom Defenders’ Day, was commemorated with the civic initiative “Memory is alive because it proclaims.”
On the morning of January 13th – Freedom Defenders’ Day- Lithuanian educational institutions, state institutions, organizations, and all people of goodwill have been invited to join the civic initiative “Memory is alive because it proclaims” for the past fifteen years. This initiative aims to remember the events of January 1991, to honor those who died and those who suffered, and at the same time to be proud of the civic victory won over the aggressor. The symbol of the initiative is a candle, which represents life, light, justice, memory, and unity. At 8.00 a.m., candles of unity and remembrance were lit in the windows for ten minutes.
This civic initiative has been organized since 2008 when more than 100 schools took part in the observance. The number of educational institutions and other institutions supporting the initiative has grown every year. Since 2010, the initiative “Memory is alive because it proclaims” has been actively supported not only by Lithuanian schools of general education but also by Lithuanian embassies abroad, state institutions such as the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, the Presidency of the Republic of Lithuania, the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and Science, museums, libraries, hospitals, police commissariats, border guard units, and a large number of other institutions and organizations.
This year, more than 2,000 people and institutions (kindergartens, schools, Tolerance Education Centres, other educational institutions, organizations, etc.) joined the civic initiative.
The civic initiative is organized by the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania.
You can find more moments from the civic initiative in the gallery.
