Dr. Neringa Klumbytė is a Professor of Anthropology and Russian and Post-Soviet Studies and the director of the Lithuania Program at the Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies at Miami University. Klumbytė is the author of Authoritarian Laughter: Political Humor and Soviet
Dystopia in Lithuania (Cornell UP, 2022), the winner of the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies Women’s Forum prize. Her recent research has focused on state violence and political participation in totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, the Holocaust and genocide, sovereignty, human rights, and historical justice.
Dr. Dovile Budrytė and Dr. Neringa Klumbytė in their presentation spoke about the research conducted on Lithuania's Jewish communities, focusing on the themes of robbery, restitution, and historical justice. It was anchored in extensive interviews with community members, exploring how these communities perceived the Lithuanian state's attempts to rectify historical injustices. The project examined “the relationship between the implementation of historical justice, including memorialization, and reconciliation, primarily looking at Lithuanian and Jewish relations.” The discussion included the significance of material violence in the Holocaust, church-state dynamics regarding property restitution, and how Lithuania's historical context shaped its approach to reparations for Jewish property taken during the Nazi and Soviet occupations.
The findings suggest that while Lithuania has made strides in recognizing its history with the establishment of restitution policies, there remains a critical need for deeper acknowledgment and education regarding the Holocaust and the participation of local populations in these injustices. Dr. Klumbytė noted that the families of the Holocaust Survivors and Victims emphasized not just financial restitution but primarily “the necessity to integrate the Jewish community and Jewish people into Lithuanian society, and that entails recognition of Jewish history and their version of historical justice.” The conclusion asserts that effective historical justice must address ongoing social challenges while promoting an inclusive understanding of history, ultimately contributing to reconciliation and social justice.