Historian about life near Smetona, the mythical escape from Lithuania and the alleged victims of his regime

For some, Antanas Smetona is the creator of modern Lithuania, for others – a dictator who silences critics. What was life like near Smetona and what role did the regime at that time play in it? Can we talk about the victims of A. Smetona’s regime and how to assess the country’s leader’s decision to withdraw from Lithuania in the 1940s? LRT.lt talked about all this with Vilnius University historian Assoc. Dr. Neriju Šepetius. “Antanas Smetona did not show helplessness, and we mostly blame him for that,” he emphasizes.