Remembering Difficult History: The Holocaust in the Baltic Museums of Occupation

Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia all share a traumatic history in the second half of the 20th Century. From 1940-1991, all three countries were continuously occupied by either Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union. These occupations make up a critical part of the three nations’ identities, and the museums of occupation in each country’s capital serve as sights of memory for the suffering of the countries’ people. The suffering of different groups under occupation is not treated equally in these museums however, and this is representative of a larger struggle in the Baltic states over the memory of the Nazi and Soviet occupations. All three museums focus heavily on the Soviet occupation and their crimes committed against the dominant ethnic group in each country. Where each museum differs is on how the Nazi’s genocide of the Baltic Jewish population is discussed. Hundreds of thousands of Baltic Jews were murdered during the Nazi occupation, most by local Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians who willingly chose to aid the Nazis in their genocide. This history of collaboration with the Nazis and the Baltic peoples’ role in the Holocaust is a topic of deep contention in the three countries. This project seeks to explore this contention around the Holocaust and the Baltic peoples’ role in it. By using the museums of occupation as a litmus test, I will look at all three museums individually, explore how the Holocaust is represented in each, and discuss how the museums represent a larger struggle over national memory.