News

On 12 May, a round table discussion “Through Exploring the Past we Shape the Future” was held at the Lithuanian Embassy in Warsaw. The Lithuanian Institute of History organized the discussion in cooperation with the History Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The Lithuanian and Polish parliamentarians, historians, journalists, representatives from Foreign Ministries and Lithuanian diplomats took part in the discussion. At the beginning of the event, greetings of Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis were conveyed to the participants of the discussion.

“Through mutual cooperation in a united Europe Lithuania and Poland must benefit from our rich heritage, develop an objective and open attitude to the past, and admit that even when dealing with complicated periods of our history, we need an open and sincere dialogue. I trust that this event will be another important step towards a common approach, which will allow us to gain better understanding of the glorious historic past of our nations,” Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs wrote in his congratulatory letter.

The discussion “Cooperation between Lithuanian and Polish historians over the past twenty years and its prospects” started with opening speeches by Prof. Andrzej Rachuba from the History Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Dr. Rimantas Miknys from the Lithuanian Institute of History. During the discussion, intensive contacts between the historians of our two countries were evaluated. However, the importance to institutionalize the cooperation of historians was highlighted. A possibility to establish a History Commission of the two countries was discussed.

Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas (Parliament) Emanuelis Zingeris and Chairman of the Group for Parliamentary Relations with the Republic of Lithuania of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland Tadeusz Aziewicz spoke during the second part of the event, which was called “Impact of joint history research on current bilateral relations”. T.Aziewicz stressed the necessity to fight with myths and stereotypes that harm the Lithuanian-Polish relations. The participants of the discussion underlined the necessity for Lithuania and Poland to research history more intensively, including the events in the 20th century history that are painful to both nations.