Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights

The Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights, often called the Genocide Victims Museum, is on Aukų Street at Gedimino Avenue in Vilnius, Lithuania. The neoclassical building was built in 1899 as a court house of the Russian Empire. Under Soviet occupation from 1940 it was used by the NKVD, and during the German occupation of 1941 to 1944 it housed the Gestapo. After the war it served as the headquarters of the KGB until 1991. The museum opened in 1992 and examines Soviet and Nazi occupations, the deportations to Siberia, the partisan war of the late 1940s and early 1950s, and the nonviolent resistance that led to the restoration of independence. The main exhibition on the upper floors is arranged chronologically and thematically, with documents, photographs, uniforms, weapons, personal belongings, and recreated partisan bunkers. The ground floor tells of the first Soviet occupation and the Holocaust context, while later rooms present the deportations of 1941 and 1948 to 1951 and the wider Soviet system. The most striking part of the visit is the basement, where the original KGB prison remains intact, with cells, a padded cell, a water cell, an interrogation room, and an execution chamber. Many of the cells are preserved in their original condition, and guides or audio guides explain what took place. The courtyard displays names of victims on a memorial wall, and the building also holds the KGB records exhibition. The museum is one of the most important sites of memory in Lithuania, and a visit is serious and emotionally heavy. Visitors usually spend about 90 minutes to two hours. The museum is within walking distance of Lukiškės Square, Gediminas Avenue and the Old Town.