Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania

The Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos gyventojų genocido ir rezistencijos tyrimo centras or LGGRTC) is a state-funded research institute in Lithuania dedicated to "the study of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Lithuania; the study of the persecution of local residents by occupying regimes; the study of armed and unarmed resistance to occupying regimes; the initiation of the legal evaluation of the activities of the organisers and implementers of genocide; and the commemoration of freedom fighters and genocide victims." The centre was founded on 25 October 1992 by the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian Republic as the "State Genocide Research Centre of Lithuania". It is a member organisation of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience.

The Center considers the resistance to be the Lithuanian nationalist partisans during World War II who fought communist partisans. This includes fascist groups such as the Lithuanian Activist Front. One anti-Soviet partisan controversially honored by the center is Jonas Noreika (), who led the extermination of the Jews in the city of Plungė. The Centre recommends former members of resistance for larger state pensions and other awards.

The Center uses a broadened definition of "genocide" including the targeting of social, political, and economic groups by Stalin. The center declares an equivalence between Nazi and Soviet crimes, this "double genocide" formulation is common in Eastern Europe, particularly the Baltic States. However in practice the Nazi genocide of the Jews and Lithuanian collaboration is minimized, while the "genocide" of Lithuanians by Soviet partisans is described extensively. One plaque at the Genocide Center says that these partisans were “mostly of Jewish nationality [since] native people didn’t support Soviet partisans.”

In 1998, Lithuania passed a law restricting employment in the public sector for former employees of the KGB, the MGB, and other Soviet security institutions. The centre and the State Security Department had the authority to determine whether a person was an employee of the KGB. In 2002, commemorating the 30th anniversary of Romas Kalanta's self-immolation, Seimas listed May 14 as the Civil Resistance Day (Lithuanian: Pilietinio pasipriešinimo diena) based on recommendations by the centre.

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