KGB Surveillance in the Soviet Baltic Republics:
Documentary Evidence & Coping with the Past
A ONE-DAY SYMPOSIUM
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2020 Henry R. Luce Hall, Rm 203 34 Hillhouse Ave
DAYÂ 2
KGB Surveillance in the Soviet Baltic Republics SCHEDULE
Saturday, February 29, 9 am-5:30pm
9:00 COFFEE 9:25 WELCOMING REMARKS BY BRADLEY WOODWORTH ADASBALTIC STUDIES COORDINATOR, YALE UNIVERSITY 9:30-11:00 PANEL I: KGB DOCUMENTS IN LATVIA Chair: Doug Rogers, Yale University
Ainārs Bambals, National Archives of Latvia “Documents on KGB Surveillance in Soviet Latvia” Gints Zelmenis, National Archives of Latvia “KGB Surveillance in Latvia from the 1960s to the 1980s: Records and Research Possibilities”
11:00-11:30 COFFEE 11:30-1:00 PANEL II: KGB DOCUMENTS IN ESTONIA Chair: Aniko Szucs, Yale University
Meelis Saueauk, Estonian Institute of Historical Memory “KGB Documents in Estonia: What We Have and How We Have Used Them" Ivo Juurvee, International Centre for Defence and Security (Tallinn) “On the KGB Heritage in Estonia since 1991”
1:00-2:00 LUNCH
2:00-3:30 PANEL III: KGB DOCUMENTS IN LITHUANIA Chair: Bradley Woodworth, Yale University / University of New Haven
Kristina Burinskaitė, Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania “A Portrait of KGB Agents: Secret Collaborators Speak About Their Collaboration With the KGB” Ramona Staveckaitė-Notari, Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania “KGB Documents and Partisan Activities in Soviet Lithuania: Current Discussions and the Case of Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas”
3:30-4:00 COFFEE
4:00-5:30 PANEL IV: AN ALL-BALTIC PERSPECTIVE AND VIEWS FROM UKRAINE Chair: Claire Roosien, Yale University
Andriy Kohut, Director of the Security Service of Ukraine Archive “KGB Archives in Ukraine: Access and Description of the Holdings” Edward Cohn, Grinnell College “The KGB's Struggle with Anti-Soviet Activity Among Youth in the Baltic Republics”
PARTICIPANTS AINĀRS BAMBALS The National Archives of Latvia
Dr. Ainārs Bambals is a Latvian historian, archivist and public figure. He received his Dr.hist. (PhD) from the Faculty of History and Philosophy at the University of Latvia in 2012. For over 25 years, Dr. Bambals has been providing expert analysis of documents of the former Latvian SSR KGB. He has authored over ninety academic publications and participated in numerous international conferences addressing Soviet totalitarian repression of Latvian citizens in the twentieth century.
KRISTINA BURINSKAITĖ Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania
Dr. Kristina Burinskaitė heads the Occupational Regimes Activities Research and Publishing Division at the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania. She received her PhD (History) in 2011 from Vilnius University, where she also was a lecturer between 20122017. She has authored over a dozen academic articles and regularly participates in international conferences.
EDWARD COHN Grinnell College
Edward Cohn is Associate Professor of History at Grinnell College. A 1999 graduate of Swarthmore College, he earned a PhD in Soviet history at the University of Chicago in 2007 and specializes in the political and social history of the USSR after World War II. His first book, The High Title of a Communist, dealt with the Communist Party's system
PARTICIPANTS of expulsion and censure in the twenty years after World War II. He is now working on a monograph about the KGB's use of so-called "prophylactic measures" to fight political unrest in the Baltic republics after 1953. He has published articles on KGB "prophylactics chats" in The Russian Review and Kritika and has won support for his research from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Philosophical Society, and the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies.
IVO JUURVEE International Centre for Defence and Security
Dr. Ivo Juurvee is the Head of Security & Resilience Program at the International Centre for Defence and Security in Tallinn, Estonia. Prior to becoming a think tanker in 2017 he worked as a practitioner in the field of security for more than 13 years. He has served as an adviser at the National Security and Defense Coordination Unit of the Estonian Government Office and as the head of the Internal Security Institute of the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences (EASS). Juurvee has taught security-related topics at the University of Tartu, the NATO School at Oberammergau, and in the FRONTEX master’s program on border management. He has been an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Tartu (2013) and has authored two monographs and numerous articles on intelligence and counterintelligence topics.
PARTICIPANTS
ANDRIY KOHUT Director of the Security Service of Ukraine Archive
Andriy Kohut is the branch Director at the State Archive of the Ukrainian Security Service. He was one of the authors of the so-called “decommunization laws” in Ukraine. Formerly, he served as Acting Director of the Center for Research on the Liberation Movement and as Head of the Digital Archive of the Ukrainian Liberation Movement project. Kohut is an Expert at the Policy of National Remembrance working group, which is part of the Reanimation Package of Reforms civic initiative. His recent publications are devoted to Stalinist deportations from Western Ukraine and the history of the KGB in Soviet Ukraine.
MEELIS SAUEAUK Estonian Institute of Historical Memory
Dr. Meelis Saueauk (PhD History, University of Tartu) is a senior researcher at the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory. His main research topics include Stalinism, political history, and intelligence and counter-intelligence agencies in the Baltic Sea region. His 2015 monograph Propaganda and Terror is a history of the role of Soviet security organs and the Estonian Communist Party in the Sovietization of Estonia from 1944 to 1953. He is also author or co-author of a number of scholarly articles.
PARTICIPANTS DAY 2
RAMONA STAVECKAITĖ-NOTARI Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania
Dr. Ramona Staveckaitė-Notari studied contemporary history at the Faculty of History at Vilnius University, as well political science and Swedish history at Uppsala University. She currently heads of the Division of Historical Research Programs in the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania. The subject of her research is armed resistance in Lithuania between 1944 and 1953 (the partisan war).
GINTS ZELMENIS National Archives of Latvia
Dr. Gints Zelmenis is a Senior Expert at the National Archives of Latvia. He received his PhD in 2012 from the Faculty of History and Philosophy at the University of Latvia. He is the author of more than twenty scholarly publications on twentieth-century Latvian history. His work has also appeared in numerous popular outlets, including Latvian newspapers and Internet resources. He currently serves as Project Manager for the KGB Archives website hosted by the National Archives of Latvia.
NOTES DAYÂ 2
NOTES DAYÂ 2
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KGB Surveillance in the Soviet Baltic Republics: Documentary Evidence & Coping with the Past
Special Thanks to the Following Sponsors:
The Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Memorial Fund Keggi-Berzins Fund European Studies Council of the MacMillan Center