Lietuvos Ypatingasis Archyvas
- Lithuanian Special Archives
- LYA
Address
Phone
Fax
History
The Lithuanian Special Archives was established in 1995 within the Lithuanian Archives Department under the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Located at Gedimino Ave. 40/1, Vilnius, the former KGB Headquarters, the archives preserve and store documents of the USSR State Security Committee (KGB) LSSR unit, the LSSR Ministry of the Interior (MIA), Lithuanian Communist Party (LCP), LSSR institutions, companies and organisations, first divisions and anti-Soviet and anti-Nazi resistance.
Building(s)
The Lithuanian Special Archives have several reading rooms for KGB, LKP (Lithuanian Communist Party) and MVD (Ministry of the Interior) documentation.
KGB Document Reading Room
Address: Gedimino pr. 40/1, Vilnius
Telephone: +370 5 262 4923
Email kgb.skaitykla.lya@archyvai.lt
LCP (LKP) Document Reading Room
Address: Gedimino pr. 12, Vilnius
Telephone: +370 5 261 3738
Email: lkp.skaitykla.lya@archyvai.lt
VRM Document Reading Room
Address: O. Milašiaus g. 23
Telephone: +370 5 247 7872
Email: vrm.skaitykla.lya@archyvai.lt
Archival and Other Holdings
The Lithuanian Special Archive contains 7,855 collections, 23,270 listings, 1,355,451 units of account, which occupy 17,548 meters of shelf space, 3,889,184 microfilm shots, 395,547 microfiches, 1,830,663 documents digital images.
The archives preserve records of the former Lithuanian SSR division of the KGB, USSR, dated between 1940 and 1991, records of the Lithuanian SSR Ministry of Interior dated between 1944 and 1990 and records of communist and socialist organisations, dating from the 19th century until 1991, that bear witness to the genocide of the Lithuanian people.
Documents preserved in the Archives comprise several large groups:
• Documents of the State Security Committee of the Lithuanian SSR (NKGB-MGB-KGB): documents on the operational activities of the headquarters and its territorial divisions of 1940–1941 and 1944–1991, criminal files of the persons sentenced for their political convictions.
• Documents of the Ministry of Interior of the Lithuanian SSR (NKVD-MVD): fonds of the headquarters, municipal and regional departments of militia; the subordinate – imprisonment, fire and security, non-departmental security, departmental health care and education – institutions, camps of prisoners of war, selective check-up stations. There are also files of the deportees’ registers of 1940–1941 and 1944–1991.
• Documents of Lithuanian Communist Party (LKP) and Lithuanian Lenin Communist Youth Union (LLKJS): Social Democrats Party of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, Bundas (Organisation of Jewish Workers Social Democrats of Russia and Poland), Polish Socialist Party (PPS), Lithuanian Social Democrats Party, Lithuanian socialist organisations abroad, as well as other public organisations of workers, social democrats or communists active in Lithuania and abroad. The fond also includes personal collections, dated end of the 19th century to 1991.
• Documents of the military commissariats of the Lithuanian SSR under the Ministry of Defence of the USSR referring to their activities in 1940–1941 and 1944–1991;
• Document collections of Lithuanian Partisans;
• Collections of microfilm, photocopies and digital copies of documents related to Lithuania that are preserved in the archives of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Poland, and the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Finding Aids, Guides, and Publication
Lists of the fonds held in the three reading rooms of the Lithuanian Special Archives three can be found here:
Opening Times
KGB Document Reading Room
Monday to Thursday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday: 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
LCP (LKP) Document Reading Room
Monday to Thursday: 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
Friday: 7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m.
VRM Document Reading Room
Monday to Thursday: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Friday: 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Documents can be ordered through the Integrated Administrative Services System (IAPS) or by submitting a written order form to the reading room. A written order can be placed directly, sent by mail or e-mail to the appropriate reading rooms' email address. (kgb.skaitykla.lya@archyvai.lt / lkp.skaitykla.lya@archyvai.lt / vrm.skaitykla.lya@archyvai.lt)
Dates of Creation and Deletion
2013-12-29 JL
Copies
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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum holds copies of Holocaust-relevant archives from Lietuvas Ypatingasis Archyvas
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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum holds copies of Holocaust-relevant archives from Lietuvas Ypatingasis Archyvas