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M.Kareniauskaitė has been working at LGGRTC on and off since 2010, but in December last year decided to leave it due to a sense of pressure, underestimation of professional competencies and the government’s desire to avoid criticism. 15 minutes said the historian.
She says she decided to avoid open conflict and get out when the opportunity to work on another project arose.
In addition, according to the historian, if a similar situation had not happened to her former colleagues, she would not have said so publicly.
“But when I learned that my former colleagues at the Center, whom I consider great historians, had received similar pressure and even professional sanctions, it became important to make my case public,” he writes on a social network.
I learned that there was similar pressure and even professional penalties.
The evils began with a change of leadership
Until last summer, the Center was headed by Teresė Birutė Burauskaitė, but as of July 2020, this position was assumed by Professor Adas Jakubauskas.
According to M. Kareniauskaitė, before the changes in the management of LGGRTC, the psychological climate was “basically good”, it was possible to express the opinion freely in the organization.
“I earned little, but the former CEO respected freedom of expression, opinion and belief. For example, there has been pressure to fire workers because of recent political opinions, other things, but she has resisted.
In addition, in the press or on social networks, the employees were able to express our opinions, criticism, discuss and ask questions, ”he said.
However, according to her, after A. Jakubauskas took the place of the manager, the situation changed significantly.
Photo by Lukas Balandus / 15min / Adas Jakubauskas
During their leave, it was decided not to invite the Heads of Unit to the meetings of the Center’s Advisory Council. Although M. Kareniauskaitė stated that she had verbally expressed her desire to participate in the meetings, according to her, such request was ignored.
“I did not receive any more invitations. I could only see the protocols in the electronic system, after all. That is why decisions about the future of the Center, today, have since been made behind closed doors, without communicating with the department heads ”, He emphasized.
It is not possible to criticize the management of the Center
At that time, misunderstandings arose with Vidmantas Valiušaitis, the new senior advisor, journalist, publicist and author of the books, the center director A.Jakubauskas.
He is seen ambiguously in the community of historians. Some historians have doubts about his ability to hold office.
The Lithuanian Jewish community has asked the CEO of LGGRTC to reassess whether V. Valiušaitis can fill the positions that were assigned to him, but still does.
In addressing the director of the Center, the community expressed their concern that V. Valiušaitis is directly involved in Jewish history and its distortion.
Kareniauskaitė herself says that she had never had preconceived notions about him before. But later, his competencies began to raise doubts.
Photo by Lukas April / 15min / Ceremony in honor of the victims of the Lithuanian Jewish genocide
When the esteemed advisor began to argue in the internal debate at the Center that the June uprising and the postwar armed resistance were the same phenomenon, and that the LGGRTC’s research programs were formulated in violation of the Center’s law, I found it at least unprofessional. , She said.
After these speeches by V. Valiušaitis, M.Kareniauskaitė affirms that he has offered to deepen once more in the context of academic research on these topics within the Center. However, such an initiative was ignored.
Therefore, after such things, I really questioned the professional competencies of V. Valiušaitis to perform the task indicated in his position.
It seems that the management of the Center and the main advisor are not interested in what is happening in the field of resistance in the Lithuanian and foreign academic field.
“So, after those things, I really questioned the professional competencies of V. Valiušaitis to carry out the task indicated in his position: to work in the training of the research programs of the center. And I realized that the internal criticism of the Center is not heard by the management, it is not taken into account ”, he said.
Management of the center “shut up”
M. Kareniauskaitė became convinced once again that any criticism directed at the LGGRTC management was not tolerated when he submitted a comment on the granting of participant status in the Freedom Struggles on the LRT Ryto Garsai radio show.
In this program, it was discussed whether the adviser to the center, V. Valiušaitis, was reasonably granted the status of participant in the Freedom Fights. It is granted by the LGGRTC.
Photo by Lukas Balandus / 15min / Vidmantas Valiušaitis
Although M. Kareniauskaitė only presented his opinion, in which he stated that V. Valiušaitis could have been granted such status, then he says that after receiving his email, “he explained the decision to leave the center.
According to her, the letter also indicates that the staff of the center have no right to comment on the work of the Resistance Rights Commission at all.
But she doesn’t understand why.
“The Resistance Rights Commission, as it states, is free in its work, independent from the Center, accepts inquiries about participants in the Freedom Fighters and other legal statutes without the intervention of the Center and acts as a separate unit.
So if the commission works separately from the Center, why can’t the historians of the Center comment on its work and decisions? ”He asked rhetorically.
This is how the management of the Center closed its mouth to any criticism, it is already inaudible inside.
M.Kareniauskaitė also pointed out that his colleague, Dr. M.Jurkutė received an official sanction for the same comments on the LRT.lt program and on his personal Facebook account.
If he got that second, he would be fired, according to a former LGGRTC employee.
“This is how the management of the Center closed its mouth to any critic – inside you don’t listen, outside – you try, but you will be punished or even fired,” summarized M. Kareniauskaitė.
Public protest
Monika Kareniauskaitė, who shared her story on the social network, says she announces “a public protest against the evils at the LGGRT center.”
According to her, it currently restricts freedom of expression, professional and scientific expression. There is pressure on the professional historians who work at the Center.
Furthermore, the Center’s department heads and professional historians are excluded from shaping the Center’s affairs, strategy, and mission. The research directions and the training of the centre’s program are not in the hands of professional historians.
It points out that “the protest is not directed exclusively at the person of V. Valiušaitis, nor even more so at Valiušaitis’s books and articles. We all have the right to freedom of expression. “
M. Kareniauskaitė calls for the evils mentioned in the center to be resolved.
I believe that an institution designed to investigate and perpetuate the repression of totalitarianism should not operate in an authoritarian way.
Also “create a non-authoritarian governance in the Center”, “avoid internal and external censorship, follow the ideals of freedom of expression and the rule of law and justice”, apply high academic standards to the activities of the Center, research , publication “, etc.
“I believe that an institution designed to investigate and perpetuate the repression of totalitarianism should not operate under authoritarian methods, and in particular against such methods against its staff and academics,” he concluded.
M. Kareniauskaitė says that she does not plan to work at the Center again.
Head of the Center A.Jakubauskas: guided by rumors
15 minutes After contacting the director of the Genocide Center A.Jakubauskas, he presented a slightly different version of events.
According to him, M. Kareniauskaitė, when announcing her resignation, indicated other reasons why a former employee of the Center had decided to pursue a completely different activity with her husband.
“She had come to me for an interview. We did such an intellectual session and after that intellectual session he said that I realized that I had a completely different way of life and would see a different option, “he explained.
And the historian, according to him, made the final decision by attending the leaders’ conference: “he realized he had to do something else,” he said.
When asked why it was decided not to invite department heads to the Center’s Advisory Board, the professor said that this decision was made democratically.
A. Jakubauskas said that in July of last year, when he assumed his new position, the first Council of the Center was convened, all departments and division heads.
Photo by Lukas Balandus / 15min / Adas Jakubauskas
According to him, the meeting was attended by about 17 people, and when asked if they wanted to participate in all the meetings or only in those in which topics that fall within the competence of historians will be discussed, the employees, according to A. Jakubauskas, voted for the second proposal.
“Here is a democratic decision,” he said. However, M. Kareniauskaitė was on vacation at the time and did not participate in the vote.
No question about competencies
In response to doubts expressed about the competencies of V. Valiušaitis, the director of LGGRTC said that he did not doubt him. According to him, the fact that a senior advisor does not have a degree in history is not a problem these days, because even without it a person can know a certain scientific field.
“Valiušaitis has been interested in war, post-war resistance, armed resistance since the time of the Sąjūdis, that is, for 30 years.
The professor also emphasized that V. Valiušaitis has been hired to work only part-time with a fixed-term contract, so his influence is highly overrated.
Irmanto Gelūno / 15min nuotr./Vidmantas Valiušaitis
“The spears in Valiušaitis are unnecessarily broken when he is accused, but nowhere are those accusations supported by quotes that he did not write or say that, but accuse him of not liking Valiušaitis,” commented A. Jakubauskas.
Freedom is not restricted
The head of the LGGRTC also assured that the freedom of work of historians is not restricted.
“It just came to our attention then. And it is very strange that historians, who have to rely on documents and substantiated material all the time, are guided by rumors,” he was surprised by the accusations.
He added that all emerging issues and issues could be discussed in the Center. Although M. Kareniauskaitė stated that the issues raised are not resolved.
The Commission found that he had acted unethically.
Recalling the case described above of the historian M.Jurkutė who worked at the center, when she, having expressed her opinion on the program, received a sanction, A.Jakubauskas stated that such a decision was made by a commission made up of employees.
“The Commission found that he had acted unethically, that he had violated the Director’s Order of 2015, which must include various aspects of respect for colleagues and other matters.
In the end, he questioned the work of the resistance commission itself, perhaps in a non-transparent way. I could have raised this problem within the center, but not questioned it outside ”, he commented on the activities of the center’s historian.
Your V. Valiušaičiu 15 minutes contact failed.
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