Speakers short Bio

Adrian Cioflâncă (video)
is director of department in The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile, researcher with the Romanian Academy, and associate lecturer at the “Al. I. Cuza” University. Member of the International Commission on Holocaust in Romania (2003-2004) and expert in The Presidential Commission for the Analysis of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania (2006), co-author of the Final Reports of the two commissions. Tziporah Wiesel Fellow of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum from Washington (2009). Editor of five volumes about the political culture in modern Romania, politics of memory, studies of cultural history, political rituals etc.

Aija Abens (video)
Her report is titled – Teaching History in the Soviet Union – memories of the intrusion of power. This study focuses on teachers of history during the Soviet era and concentrates on memory and the sharing of memories and how that affects identity in post-Soviet Latvia. Her research is based upon interviews with history teachers who taught history during the Soviet era and focuses on the effects of power on curriculum, evaluation, interactions with students, and family history as a determiner of success in their careers. She is a doctoral candidate at the University of Latvia. Also, she is an instructor at Liepaja University and a member of LOIB (Latvijas okupacijas izpetes biedriba) – the organization investigating the effects of Soviet occupation in Latvia.

Arūnas Streikus (video)
Dr. Arūnas Streikus is a professor of humanities and history at Vilnius University. One of his fields of interest is Persecution of Religion in 1944-1953. He published an article: The Resistance of the Church to Soviet Regime from 1944 to 1967, The Anti-Soviet Resistance in the Baltic States. Since 2009 he works as a secretary at Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Science.

Aurimas Švedas (video)
Dr. Aurimas Švedas works at Vilnius University as an associated professor. He is a doctor of Humanities (History). Most famous publications: In the Captivity of the Matrix: Soviet Lithuanian Historiography (1944–1985); The Whole Life is History: 12 Oral History Episodes. Edvardas Gudavičius is Interviewed by Aurimas Švedas: “The Models of Behaviour of the Old Generation Historians in the Presence of Sovietisation Process”; “Search for the Turning Points in the Soviet Lithuanian Historiography: 1956 (?)”; “Janus’ Puzzle: a Case of Creative  Application of Marxist Theory in the Soviet Lithuanian Historiography?”; “The Forms of Identity of Soviet Lithuanian Historians: the Level of Metaphor”. Currently two books are being prepared for publication: about a film director Almantas Grikevicius and an artist Petras Repsys.

Clara Mareş (video)
Clara Mareş, historian, between 2000 and 2005 researcher at the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives, co-editor of Nicu Steinhardt in Securitate Archives 1959-1989, (Bucharest, Nemira Publishing House, 2005), co-author of Members of C.C. of R.C.P. 1945-1989. Dictionary, (Bucharest, Publishing House Enciclopedică, 2004).Since 2006 researcher at The Institute for the Investigations of Communist Crimes and Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER), co-author of The Dictionary of the Romanian Communist Penitentiaries 1945-1967(Bucharest, Polirom Publishing House, 2008), senior editor of the IICCMER yearbook The Intellectuals and the Communist Regime. The histories of a Relationship (Polirom Publishing House, 2009). In 2011 she published a three years research about the writer Ion D Sirbu, The Wall of glace. Ion D. Sirbu in Securitate’s archives.

Indrek Paavle (video)
Indrek Paavle (b. 1970), historian, PhD 2009 (University of Tartu; thesis: “Sovietisation of local administration in Estonia 1940–1950). 1998–2008 researcher at the Estonian Foundation for the Investigation Crimes Against Humanity. From 2009 reasearcher at the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory. Main interests of research: history of political institutions on 20th century and political repressions in 1940–1991.

Inga Arlauskaite (video)
Inga Arlauskaite received her Master’s degree in European Studies from Vilnius University in 2008. She co-authored a book The Occupation Army in Lithuania in 2007, which analysed Soviet occupation in Lithuanian territory. She used the Radio Liberty and Voice of America collections for her research and dissertation on Western radio broadcasts to the Baltic States.

Ingrida Vilkiene (video)
Ingrida Vilkiene in 1994 graduated from Vilnius Pedagogical University (currently Educological University). She works as the Coordinator for Education projects and a deputy Executive Director of the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania coordinates education projects initiated by the Commission, is responsible for keeping contacts among Tolerance Education Centers and coordinating their activity, ensures the implementation of national and international projects, based on historical evidence of human rights violations and crimes against humanity, organizes national and international  teacher training seminars.

Jiří Urban (video)
has graduated the master programme of Contemporary history leaded by doc. Václav Veber at the University of Pardubice. Since 2005 he deals with the regional research of collectivization of Czech rural areas. He is the author of book The Countryside under the Collectivisation Knout: the Circumstances of an Exemplary “Kulak” Trial (2010) and several studies focusing on various topics related to the communist totalitarian era, mostly on the resistance against the violent collectivization. Since 2009 he has been employed as researcher of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. He is currently postgraduate student at the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy of the University of Pardubice, where at the same time lectures course The Dealing with the Communist Past.

Kristina Burinskaitė (video)
Dr. Kristina Burinskaitė works as a senior specialist – program coordinator in Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania and as an assistant professor at Vilnius University. She is an author of a book “Relationship between Lithuania and Russia in XV – XX centuries. Main fields of interest and selected articles: Control of former political prisoners and deportees according to KGB documents, Formation of public opinion by KGB methods: discreditation of people and its consequences in the 1960s – 1980s, Position of Soviet secret service in totalitarian Soviet Union. Paper „ Some new forms of anti-Soviet resistance in Lithuania and challenges of KGB after Prague spring”.

Linas Tatarūnas (video)
Linas Tatariūnas is Jewish history researcher. There are several publications such as: “The Situation of Lithuanian Jews during the First Soviet Occupation in 1940-1941”; “Jews in Soviet Lithuania: emigration problems”; ”The national Jewish Movement for Emigration to Israel”. Together with the YIVO-Bard Institute for East European Jewish History and Culture issued the history of Kupiskis Jews. He works as a lecturer, docent at Alytus College.

Pavel Kugler (video)
works at the Security Service Archive. Within his postgraduate study he has been focusing on political parties and organisations with the Christians program in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Germany Democratic Republic in years 1945-1989.

Renato Podbersič (video)
Renato Podbersič is from Slovenia. He works at Study Centre for National Reconciliation in Ljubljana. He studied  History at Filozofska fakulteta, University of Ljubljana. In 2004 Renato Podbersič received a Master’s degree in History. He has been studying the 20th century history and  the main subject:  “The Catholic Church during the First World War in the area of Gorica/Gorizia.”

Saulius Grybkauskas (video)

Valdemaras Klumbys (video)
Valdemaras Klumbys was born in Joniškis on 14th February in 1979. 1998 – 2002 Undergraduate studies at the Faculty of History of Vilnius University, specialization of New History, graduated with B.A. in history.2002 – 2004 Graduate studies at the Faculty of History of Vilnius University, graduated with. M. A. in History. The main period of scientific research covers Lithuanian history of the period of the Soviet occupation (the second half of the 20th century). The utmost attention is paid to Soviet society and culture, Soviet cultural elite, resistance in Soviet Lithuania and samizdat. He is a Researcher of the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania. Since 2007 subject „Lithuanian intelligentsia in Soviet times: between compliance and resistance „is lectured.

Vilius Ivanauskas (video)
Dr. Vilius Ivanauskas is a is a postdoctoral research fellow and lecturer at IIRPS VU, senior political analyst and research fellow at Lithuanian Institute of History and Eastern Europe studies centre. He received a PhD from the Lithuanian Institute of History in 2008, as well as MA degree in History (with specialization of social anthropology) from Vilnius University. “
Research visits and honours:
• February, 2010:  research visits to divisions/centres of East European and Russia studies in a few US universities (Indiana university, UC of Berkeley, Stanford university), and giving public lectures in UC of Berkeley and Indiana universities;
• April, 2009: Laureate (1 of 3 best dissertation of social-humanitarian sciences) in the contest „Best Doctoral Dissertations of 2008 in Lithuania“, organized by Lithuanian Society of Young researchers. Reward in the Presidency of Lithuanian Republic.

Volodymyr Viatrovych (video)
Ukrainian historian, researcher of the history of the Ukrainian liberation movement. In 2008-2010, while being the Director of Branch-Wise State Archive of Security Service of Ukraine, was busy with declassifying previously secret KGB archives and making them accessible. The Author of the first course for high school “Ukrainian Liberation Movement, 1920-50”. In 2002, Dr. Vіatrovych founded the Centre for Research on the Liberation Movement (CDVR) – non-governmental organization that deals with various aspects of the Ukrainian liberation movement in the ХХ century. CDVR publishes the journal “Ukrainian Liberation Movement” and collaborates with academic and state institutions of Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia.