The EUROPAST research component (part of Work package 2) focuses on the representation of the history of the Vilnius region in memory institutions and among diverse ethnic communities in the region.  

Although the region was historically inhabited by various ethnic communities and has a rich and diverse culture, its distinctiveness as well as different interpretations of its history are often not represented in public narratives. Thus, the focus of the research project was chosen based on gaps in existing research and the relevance of this case for the EUROPAST project. The research seeks to answer the following questions: Whose voices are included, and whose are excluded, in the representation of the history of the Vilnius region at the local and national levels? How has this changed over time? How is the multiethnicity, multilingualism and multiculturalism of the Vilnius region presented and valued in memory and public institutions as well as ethnic communities in the Vilnius region? What techniques have worked best to increase the engagement of citizens in the co-production of public history and strengthen democratic deliberation in the Vilnius region?  

Work on the research dataset, which will consist of oral history interviews with the representatives of the memory institutions, practitioners of history, and public historians from various ethnic groups of the Vilnius historical region, is well underway. Desk research for the design and preparation for the interviews is complete, and data collection, including focus group discussions, individual and joint interviews, and observation, is currently being conducted. The data is collected by a team of early-career researchers from VU, namely Rūta Vyšniauskaitė and Laura Puciataitė from the Institute of International Relations and Political Science (IIRPS) as well as Ignė Rasickaitė from the Faculty of History, led by the Project Leader prof. Violeta Davoliūtė. Once the data collection is finalised, the transcripts of the interviews and focus group discussions will be prepared and uploaded to the National Open Access Research Data Archive (MIDAS) under conditions foreseen in the EUROPAST Data Management Plan (DMP). The initial findings emerging from the collected data were presented on 5 July 2024 in the EUROPAST panel at the Mid-term project conference.