{"id":448,"date":"2025-09-23T11:05:29","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T10:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/konferencijos.lnb.lt\/begaliu-galybe\/?p=448"},"modified":"2025-09-23T11:05:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T10:05:29","slug":"partisans-in-a-former-soviet-base-memory-work-and-place-making-in-kopusteliai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/konferencijos.lnb.lt\/begaliu-galybe\/en\/partisans-in-a-former-soviet-base-memory-work-and-place-making-in-kopusteliai\/","title":{"rendered":"„Partisans in a former Soviet base?”: memory work and place making in Kop\u016bst\u0117liai"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rusn\u0117 Marija Poligait\u0117<\/strong> (Vilnius University)<\/p>\n

The presentation introduces a case of transformation of Soviet heritage in Kop\u016bst\u0117liai village (Ukmerg\u0117 district), which has not yet been explored in academic discourse. From 1958 to 1988, one of the four Soviet missile bases in Lithuania operated here. After the withdrawal of the Soviet army and failed attempts to repurpose the former military site, Kop\u016bst\u0117liai became an abandoned borderland zone. On the one hand, it reflected the new state’s desire to turn away from a painful period of occupation; on the other, it mirrored the social, economic, and political turmoil that followed the restoration of independence in 1990. However, 2012 marked a turning point in the history of this territory \u2013 a club of partisan history enthusiasts called \u201cForest Brothers\u201d settled here, revitalizing and restoring the former missile base. They repurposed it not only to commemorate the former military unit but also to promote knowledge about the resistance struggles of 1944\u20131953. This (re)shaping of Kop\u016bst\u0117liai is striking in its unexpected hybridity: by preserving its past, the site also becomes a storyteller of the partisan war against the occupation regime \u2013 the very regime whose security forces once operated in the area now taken over by resistance narratives. As a result, this once-unwanted Soviet legacy has turned into a representative site of the Ukmerg\u0117 district and a location of historical memory \u2013 a status now reflected on the official city tourism website.<\/p>\n

This transformation \u2013 combining seemingly incompatible elements: the legacy of a Soviet missile base and the revitalization of resistance history \u2013 raises broader questions about how the long-marginalized and controversial material culture of the Soviet occupation period can be reinterpreted to meet contemporary needs. The presentation analyzes the transformation of Kop\u016bst\u0117liai through the memory work carried out by its main actor \u2013 the \u201cForest Brothers\u201d club. The study is characterized by the innovative use of analytical and methodological approaches. Instead of relying on traditional concepts typically associated with state-driven memory studies \u2013 such as „heritage” and Pierre Nora’s notion of „sites of memory” \u2013 the concepts of \u201clegacy\u201d and \u201cmemory work\u201d are proposed, highlighting the role of personal initiative in memory processes. Additionally, the study employs an ethnographic method rarely used in memory studies. The presentation is based on fieldwork conducted in Kop\u016bst\u0117liai, where data was collected through (non-)participant observation \u2013 describing and visually documenting various memory-related activities (children\u2019s and youth groups focused on the partisan movement, a guided tour about the Cold War and the site’s past, etc.) \u2013 and through semi-structured in-depth interviews with members and staff of the \u201cForest Brothers\u201d club.<\/p>\n

The research reveals several aspects relevant to the conference’s themes. First, by showing how civil society actors can participate in (re)shaping and nurturing collective memory, the case of Kop\u016bst\u0117liai encourages us to think of memory not only as a hegemonic structure but also as a democratic and pluralistic process open to (re)interpretation. Second, the activities of the \u201cForest Brothers\u201d reflect a contemporary need for inspiration and symbols of freedom. One of the key motivations for developing the narrative of freedom struggles at the former Soviet missile base is the perception that, at the state level, the memory of the partisan war is not sufficiently acknowledged\u2014especially in the context of Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine. In this context, the aggressor is identified as a historically unchanged existential \u201cOther\u201d that still poses a threat to Lithuania, and the example of the postwar partisans is seen as a vital link connecting the past, present, and future. Finally, it is suggested that the microcosm of Kop\u016bst\u0117liai functions as a unique reflection of broader macro processes. Although the condemnation of the Soviet occupation as a painful traumatic experience remains a firm axiom, the radical erasure of this period from memory\u2014common in the first decades of independence\u2014is no longer seen as a sustainable way to build the future. On the contrary, in light of current geopolitical realities, the duty to remember and preserve Soviet heritage, which distinguishes the former occupier from the occupied, becomes a symbolic victory and a demonstration of strength of the powerless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rusn\u0117 Marija Poligait\u0117 (Vilnius University) The presentation introduces a case of transformation of Soviet heritage in Kop\u016bst\u0117liai village (Ukmerg\u0117 district), which has not yet been explored in academic discourse. From 1958 to 1988, one of the four Soviet missile bases in Lithuania operated here. After the withdrawal of the Soviet army and failed attempts to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abstracts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/konferencijos.lnb.lt\/begaliu-galybe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/konferencijos.lnb.lt\/begaliu-galybe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/konferencijos.lnb.lt\/begaliu-galybe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/konferencijos.lnb.lt\/begaliu-galybe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/konferencijos.lnb.lt\/begaliu-galybe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/konferencijos.lnb.lt\/begaliu-galybe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":449,"href":"https:\/\/konferencijos.lnb.lt\/begaliu-galybe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions\/449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/konferencijos.lnb.lt\/begaliu-galybe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/konferencijos.lnb.lt\/begaliu-galybe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/konferencijos.lnb.lt\/begaliu-galybe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}