The museum has an official name - the Museum of Genocide Victims, but when referring to the museum in everyday speech, as well as when making travel around the city of Vilnius is most often used the name of KGB Museum.

The museum was opened on 14 October 1992 to the order of Minister of Education and Culture and president of the Union of political prisoners and exiles. The museum was housed in the building in which the repressive Soviet structures - NKGB-MGB-KGB and NKVD - were located since the mid-1940s and up to August 1991. These organizations were engaged in drawing up plans for the arrests or links of Lithuanian residents, carried presledovatelskuyu activities of dissidents, and by all means to suppress all made people desire to try to restore the lost independence.

In addition, for the Lithuanian nation, this building served as a symbol of the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, which took place 50 years ago. For this reason it is very important for the Lithuanians what this place has found its place Museum of Genocide Victims, which must and will remind current and future generations of such a tragic and difficult years for the entire nation (1940-1990 years). The museum itself is also unique in that it is the only one of its kind in the former so-called republics of the USSR, which was open, where previously it was located before the General Directorate of the KGB.

By 1997, the museum was reorganized. Rights-founder of the museum were given to the Center of the study Genocide and Resistance of Lithuanian residents (TSIGRZHL) in accordance with the governmental decree of the Republic of Lithuania on 24 March 1997. Resolution was called "On the transfer of the Centre for Research of repression and the Museum of Genocide Victims and Resistance of Lithuanian people."

At the moment, the museum is a constituent element of the Memorial Center Department said. Its mission is to collect, store, study and promotion of historical-documentary materials that reflect the methods and forms are not only physical, but also spiritual genocide of the Lithuanian people, conducted by the Soviet occupation regime. In addition, it considered the scope and methods of resistance to the occupation regime.

The museum exhibition was housed in the building that became a symbol of suffering and sorrow for a vast number of Lithuanian residents, where in the years 1940-1990 was the headquarters of the KGB. Around the corner unsorted municipal building it was located prison. Every day there are hundreds of political prisoners were subjected to the most severe torture and sentenced to death, which was held at the same venue.

The work of the Museum holds exhibition Lithuania in 1940 and 1941. While the repression began. In 1940, Soviet troops invaded Lithuanian territory. The country was full of opposition-minded people. It is for this reason that the very first step of the Soviet power was the creation of institutions dealing with dissent in the country. At that time, the NKVD secret police have already accumulated enough experience to fight the Soviet regime this disgruntled citizens. Only in the month of July 1940 more than five hundred of Lithuanian patriots, who were representatives of the authorities and intellectuals were subject to arrest.

Visitors can look at the former chambers 19, an insulator in Q3. meters, as well as three torture chambers. The camera is in the green state and quite heated. Furthermore, in the same cell at 9 kV. meters once was twenty prisoners, which was strictly forbidden not only to sit and lie down, and turn a blind eye. Torture chamber were covered with special zkukonepronitsaemym materials that absorb the loud cries of the victims, who applied a heavy blow to the torturers. But the worst was that the people who are forbidden to sleep in the dark and just sit in complete soundproofing, began to lose orientation in space and just went crazy. The floors are so-called "wet" cells with cold water, thus, prisoners were forced to stand on a disk of metal, not allowing them to subside for days.

The museum has guides who were political prisoners in the past. Each guide always shows his camera.