Anti-Lithuanian sentiment
[2][3] Some Belarusian scholars consider the statehood of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to be primordially Slavic, rejecting the notion that its origins come from Baltic Lithuanian tribes.
There were also accounts of Lithuanians facing racist or humiliating comments such as being called ‘dirty’, ‘Eastern European’ or noted as coming ‘from the Soviet Union’ in their certificate of employment.
Prominent officials consistently underscored national disparities in their writings, characterizing the Lithuanian peasantry as belonging to an inferior human race predestined to serve the Germans as their slaves.
Historically, Lithuanians in Latvia were called leiši, which apart from its primary meaning was also used to refer to someone who is negligent, lazy, uneducated and illiterate.
Following Latvia’s declaration of independence, this term was soon replaced by a neologism lietuvieši due to its negative connotations and official complaints from the Lithuanian Government regarding the designation of the nationality of their compatriots in Latvian passports.
In the 1950s and 60s, however, economically struggling Lithuanians were once again resettling in Latvia where they faced some degree of discrimination from the locals who did not consider them to be equal or trustworthy.
[18] The common Lithuanian people, as well as the lower nobility, often referred to as Samogitians (Polish: Żmudzini), were considered by Poles as barbaric and semi-pagan, speaking an incomprehensible, "bird-like" language.
[17] In the 19th century, ethnographers and researchers became increasingly interested in the simple Lithuanian folk, who, unlike the nobility, did not use the Polish language in their daily lives.
[21] The term took on a pejorative connotation when the Lithuanian national movement emerged, which generally viewed Polish influence in Lithuania negatively.
[24] In Polish public opinion, there was often a lack of understanding regarding the emerging Lithuanian movement, which was perceived as a harmful division of the Polish-Lithuanian community.
[30] The conflict over the auxiliary language (in addition to Latin) in churches within parishes inhabited by both Polish- and Lithuanian-speaking populations, which took place between 1904 and 1914, had a significant impact on the formation of mutual stereotypes.
[35] Thousands of Poles signed a letter of apology on Gazeta Wyborcza following the incident claiming that “in Poland, there’s no place for such primitive behaviour that insults the Lithuanian nation.”[36] After the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, most of Lithuania proper fell under Russian rule.
In 1953, the leadership of the Lithuanian SSR indirectly admitted that there were attempts to Russify Lithuania and plans to eliminate politics of national character.
Historical book The Western Part of the Lithuanian Ethnographic Territory written by Professor Pavel Kushner (Knyshev) [ru] exploring Baltic people’s ties to the region has been removed from all libraries of Kaliningrad and mainland Russia with possibly only a few copies in archives remaining.
In 2003, a bust of Kristijonas Donelaitis in Gusev was desecrated with oil paint before its unveiling ceremony — the periodical Kaliningradskaya Pravda did not investigate the incident.
Kaliningrad authorities have also removed a stone sculpture commemorating the famous Prussian resistance leader Herkus Monte.
[48][49][50] Russian programmes have also come under scrutiny for using deceitful language when spreading false historical narratives about Lithuania: most notable examples include insinuating that Lithuanians served in a national Waffen-SS legion[51][note 1] or labelling Antanas Smetona's regime as "fascist", from which Lithuania was then liberated by the Soviets, even though Moscow originally supported its initiators and even funded press publications owned by Nationalists.
[52] In 2015, Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky threatened the territorial integrity of Lithuania by urging Russia to “take back Klaipėda and Vilnius” on national television.
Despite Britain’s official explanation that the larger price is a result of Lithuania not ratifying the Social Charter of the European Commission of 1961, Embassy of Lithuania claimed this decision to be discriminatory and “not fully convincing” as the country did ratify the Social Charter of 1986, which “[f]rom a legal stance, is not a more inferior document.” Post-Brexit amendments affecting labour migration in Britain have also been seen as discriminatory against Lithuanian workers as it will cost much more for employers to employ them in comparison to other nationals.
In the words of the representative for IOM Audra Sipavičienė, additional taxes for employers “may contribute to Lithuanians being discriminated against in the labour market.
[61][62][63] In 2016, a twelve-year-old Lithuanian boy was beaten up in Manchester because of his nationality by his British peer who was ordered to do so by his mother waiting for him in the car.
