Vidmantas Valiušaitis
Phone: (8 5) 239 8557
E-mail:
A journalist, publicist, editor and political and cultural analyst. He graduated in Engineering from the Kaunas Polytechnic Institute in 1979 and in Lithuanian Philology from Vilnius University in 1987. An editor, commentator and reviewer at various newspapers and magazines (1987/20), a reporter in Lithuania for Radio Free Europe (1989/99) and the chief executive of the radio station Laisvoji banga (2014/16). He taught essentials of a reporter’s work and ethics of journalism at Vytautas Magnus University and Klaipėda University. The Head of the Adolfas Damušis Centre for Democratic Studies at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania (2013/19); the author of 9 books; the editor and compiler of 10 books; the author of the scripts and a member of the creative teams of 3 historical documentaries; the winner of the Vincas Kudirka Publicist Award (2014) and the award of the Lithuanian Union of Journalists “For the Merits to Journalism” (2018).
He is interested in the development of the State and democratic society, the history of the independent Lithuania during the interwar period and World War II, the Lithuanian resistance movement after the war and social, political and cultural processes within the Lithuanian expatriate community. In his research, he applies analytical, genetic, comparative historical, synthetic, generalisation and interview methods.
Currently he is preparing the monograph Lietuvos diplomatinis korpusas Antrojo pasaulinio karo metais (1939–1945): tarp rezistencijos ir politinės konkurencijos (“The Lithuanian Diplomatic Corps During World War II (1939–1945): Between Resistance and Political Competition”). The monograph discusses issues related to the situation with Lithuanian diplomatic positions abroad after Lithuania lost its independence and when diplomats continued political and diplomatic resistance in order to safeguard the remains of independence abroad and prevent political legitimation of Lithuania’s occupation and de jure acknowledgement of the incorporation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union. It also addresses the relations of diplomats with other agents of the political resistance who were active in Lithuania and abroad during the war (the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania, the American Lithuanian Council, etc). The monograph draws upon documents and other sources.
