«It is necessary to repeat what the faces who turned to S. Neries did not understand. We did not consider S. Neries as a poetess. We consider her as a person symbolizing authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. We assess this from the point of view when it comes to a specific public object,» said Elta V. Karchyauskas after the meeting held on Wednesday.
According to him, after receiving a request from the academic community to reconsider the question of evaluating S. Neries’ biography and work, the commission raised the question of the need to change the decisions already made. However, V. Karchyauskas assured that the commission will not change its opinion regarding the previously considered public objects named after S. Neries.
«The majority of commission members decided that there will be no turning back,» he said.
V. Karchyauskas emphasized that decisions regarding specific public objects are individual. As an example, he mentioned the question discussed on Wednesday about naming a street after S. Neries in Mariampole. V. Karchyauskas assured that additional materials related to S. Neries’ biography will be requested from the Genocide and Resistance Research Center (GRRRC) for this issue.