DefendingHistory.com has been able to confirm the following exchange on the floor of the Seimas (Lithuanian parliament) on 17 May 2012. MP Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, the Social Democrats’ senior spokesperson for foreign affairs asked a question of the prime minister, Andrius Kubilius, and the foreign minister, Audronius Ažubalis, both from the ruling Conservative / Christian Democrats’ faction. It was answered by the foreign minister.
The following is a translation of the exchange.
Question to the Prime Minister & Foreign Minister
V. P. Andriukaitis (Lithuanian Social Democratic Party): My question, is, honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs [A. Ažubalis] and Honorable Prime Minister [A. Kubilius], we are talking about a specific event which was discussed in the Foreign Affairs Committee. I have in mind in this instance the Juozas Brazaitis reburial. I do not know whether all MPs got it, but I found a booklet that is being distributed for the Brazaitis commemoration.
The information published in the booklet has very serious omissions. I have in my hands the protocols of the [1941] Provisional Government of Lithuania relating to the establishment of a concentration camp for Jews, to the nationalization of Jewish property, and to organizing a Jewish ghetto in Kaunas. Unfortunately, this information is not contained in the booklet.
Do tell us, is it true that the government financed it and allocated 30,000 litas for the commemoration and moving the mortal remains and for organizing the events?
What is your government’s official position on the activities of the [1941] Provisional Government?
Answer from the Foreign Minister
A. Ažubalis (Lithuanian Conservative / Christian Democrats): I have not seen the booklet you mention, but I know that Mr. Brazaitis-Ambrazevičius was [posthumously] made Knight of the Order of the Cross of Vytis by decree of the former president, Valdas Adamkus. According to Lithuanian legal provisions and legal acts, a person who has received the highest award of the state has the right to a corresponding funeral. That is what is being done.