8 April 2026

A Small Exhibition: “A Young Man in a Young Nation: Remembering Normundas Valteris”

From 14 April to 3 May, the National Library’s Statehood Centre will host an exhibition featuring three items commemorating the Lithuanian soldier Normundas Valteris (1972–1996). 

After regaining independence, Lithuania began seeking membership in NATO and the European Union. Denmark, which had supported Lithuania’s bid for NATO membership since 1994, contributed significantly to the development of the Lithuanian armed forces: more than 800 Lithuanian soldiers participated in peacekeeping missions alongside Danish units, some of whom were trained in Denmark, and the Danish United Nations Peacekeeping Battalion (DANBAT) supported the formation of the LITPLA-1 platoon. 

Normundas Valteris, a Lithuanian soldier who was promoted to second lieutenant in 1994, was one of the first officers to graduate from the Lithuanian Military Academy and one of the first participants in international peacekeeping missions. From 1994 to 1996, he served in the LITPLA-1 unit and took part in the NATO mission in Croatia, and in 1996, he joined LITPLA-4 and participated in the mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina—both units were part of DANBAT. 

On 17 April 1996, while on a mission near the town of Maglaj, at the age of just 23, N. Valteris died alongside Danish soldier Andre Andersen. He became the first Lithuanian peacekeeper to lose his life during an international peacekeeping mission. 

The exhibition will feature an article about N. Valteris’ death from the magazine “Karys” (1996), a letter he wrote to his girlfriend, and a necklace he gave her. 

We invite you to pause and reflect on what security means, who creates it, and what its invisible cost is. 

The exhibition opening will take place on April 14 at 6:00 p.m. in the Statehood Room, 2nd floor. 

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In 2026, marking the 35th anniversary of Denmark’s de facto recognition of Lithuania’s restored independence, the National Library of Lithuania, together with the Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark in Lithuania and the Danish Cultural Institute in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, is organizing a series of events “A Year with Denmark: Bridges of Culture and Solidarity” and invites everyone to reflect on the friendship between the two countries, which has lasted for more than three decades, and to get to know our friend Denmark better. 

Briefly about the exhibition

Date and time

exhibition opening – April 14 at 6 p.m.
exhibition dates – April 14–May 3

Place

Statehood Room, 2nd floor

Attendance

free entry

More information

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Organiser

Statehood Centre of the National Library of Lithuania