Imantas Melianas: Lithuanian Poles should not be demonized

National minorities in Lithuania should feel safe and stupid national and historical stereotypes shouldn’t be maintained – said Imantas Melianas, social democrat, a member of party National Minorities Comittee and historian, in interview for alfa.lt,

I. Melianas guaranteed, that idea of bilingual names of streets and localities doesn’t come from Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania, but is present in social democrats programme.

„On the other hand it’s positive, that good ideas are born in different places at the same time. In general, we should once and for all end this demonization of lithuanian Poles.” – said social democrat.

„I mean maintaining stupid national and historical stereotypes, which make our lifes more difficult and make our enemies from the east happy. (…) we have to write, that at the end of the XIX century and in the beginning of the XX between inhabitans of old Lithuania two modern nations were shaped: modern lithuanian nation and lithuanian faction of modern polish nation. Both nations were inheritors of old Lithuania. Ethnic processes go ahead all the time, thereby ethnic borders and teritories change. The most important thing is not to impose these processes. – explained I. Melianas

Historian added, that in the beginning of XX century, the majority of the people in the teritories of which Poland and Lithuania courted, had already shaped their national identity.

The process of displacement lithuanian language from these teritories by slavic languages begun in the times of Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

That’s why we can’t „re-lithuanise” lithuanian Poles, because their resistance is obvious and understandable. We should, as director of Historical Institute, Rimantas Miknys aptly said, integrate them. And we, in XXI century, fight with „polonisation”. That’s a clinical case already – suggested Imantas Melianas.

Source: http://zw.lt/wilno-wilenszczyzna/imantas-melianas-nie-nalezy-demonizowac-litewskich-polakow/

Tłumaczenie by Aleksandra Szcześniak w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Aleksandra Szcześniak within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.