photo courtesy Bogna Eliza Pawlisz

Under the leadership of Yidish lebt (‘Yiddish Lives’), a group uniting non-Jewish and Jewish enthusiasts and students of Yiddish language, literature and culture in Warsaw, a peaceful counter-demonstration is being planned in response to the neo-Nazi march slated to take place on November 11th, Polish Independence Day.  More details here. Image of the Yiddish group’s poster: Continue reading →

The first reading of the long-delayed restitution bill dealing with Jewish communal property in Lithuania passed the Seimas (Lithuanian parliament) today. It will next be considered by the Committee on Legal Affairs on 21 December. There are diverse opinions regarding various aspects of the text of the law and accompanying documents.

Most seriously, experts say that the document contains no clear mention of the actual legal recipient, leading to fears (despite verbal assurances)  that the project could in the future be diverted to the ‘Disneyland Vilna Ghetto Theme Park’ as per the wish of powerful forces in the government. That project is anathema to the Jewish community (see here and here).

When the bill was announced, the government’s official  Jewish Affairs Advisor, Arkadijus Vinokuras, published a blistering attack on the Jewish Community of Lithuania’s presumed role as future recipient of restitution. Mr Vinokuras is a close ally of Conservative Party MP Emanuelis Zingeris. English translation here.

Reports on  Alfa.lt;  BNS;  European Jewish Press;  Ottawa Citizen;  Reuters.

[updated 14 Nov 2010]

marks the 89th birthday of Dr Rachel Margolis (see also here and here).

אַ ליכטיקן געבאָרנטאָג טייערסטע רחל

Happy Birthday dear Rachel!

Facebook tributes here

Dr Shimon Alperovich (Simonas Alperavičius), chairman of the Jewish Community of Lithuania, turned 82. Notwithstanding his age and various health issues, he continues to provide proud, courageous, vigorous and independent leadership for the Jewish community at a time when various government agencies continue to pursue painfully disingenuous policies on a range of Jewish issues, including Holocaust history, antisemitism and restitution. His series of public statements (some produced in translation on the Bold Citizens page) have made the Lithuanian Jewish community a de facto champion of the battle for tolerance, multiculturalism and historic forthrightness throughout the region.  Happy Birthday!  Photo: Sebastian Pammer.

Algirdas Brazauskas (1932-2010), visionary first elected president and later prime minister of free Lithuania died today in Vilnius. In each of his land’s highest offices he proved himself a leader in the grand spirit of the multicultural Grand Duchy of Lithuania who will be properly appreciated long after our time.

From the start of Lithuania’s new history as a proud democratic nation, Algirdas Brazauskas understood that it did no good for his country that war criminals had been rehabilitated by ultranationalist officials. He paid tribute to Jewish partisan veterans for helping to free Lithuania from Nazi tyranny. As president, he  honored Prof Dov Levin. As prime minister, he issued a certificate of recognition to Dr Rachel Margolis.

President Brazauskas’s historic speech to the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem on 1 March 1995 will never be forgotten (full text here). But in modern Litvak collective memory, there is perhaps one incident, that took place one day before, that will be remembered even more. The Lithuanian delegation was met by a picket line of Holocaust survivors near Yad Vashem.  One elderly survivor, Y. Brosh, whose entire family was murdered at Ponar, made his feelings known robustly. Like the other survivors who protested, he was wearing a yellow star on his jacket. President Brazauskas went over to to the man, hugged him and kissed him.

From left: Kristina Brazauskiene, Algirdas Brazauskas, Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky, Dovid Katz.

In July 2008, when local dignitaries avoided anti-Nazi partisan hero Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky at the Vilnius US Embassy’s July 4th reception, Algirdas Brazauskas, deep in retirement, came over and asked to be photographed with her. The moment was captured by photographer [??] and appeared in Klaipeda (12 July 2008).

[Milan Chersonski contributed to this report]

Update of 7 October 2010:

See Daiva Repeckaite’s interview with President Brazauskas’s old Tel Aviv friend, Yeshayahu Epstein. Epstein tells the story of how he met President Brazauskas and kept in touch ever since, while recent political history of the country brought both challenges and opportunities to their friendship. Published in Atgimimas.

Dr Yitzhak Arad won a National Jewish Book Award for his new 700 page volume, The Holocaust in the Soviet Union (University of Nebraska Press).

The award was presented at the Center for Jewish History in New York on 9 March. Dr Arad, a Holocaust survivor whose family perished, is a veteran of the heroic anti-Nazi partisan resistance in the forests of Lithuania, and the Israeli War of Independence. 

A retired brigadier general and chief education officer of the Israeli Army, he served as director of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem for 21 years. He lives near Tel Aviv.  

Professor Leonidas Donskis was elected in Lithuania as a member of the European Parliament, running on the Liberal Party ticket. Born in Klaipeda in 1962, he has been for years professor at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, and dean of its Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy. He is the author of numerous seminal books on philosophy, political science and the history of ideas. His works have been translated into a dozen languages, and he has been a visiting professor in Britain, Sweden, the United States, and other countries. His unique television discussion show Without Anger (in Lithuanian) won a large following and promoted tolerance and openness. In recent years, Prof. Donskis has spoken out with inspirational courage and with unmatched sophistication, against the wave of antisemitism, Holocaust Obfuscation and ’Double Genocide’ misinformation in his country (see for example here, here, and here).

After the election of Professor Donskis to the European Parliament, Peter Lang brought out a new volume which he conceived and edited, A Litmus Test Case of Modernity. Examining Modern Sensibilities and the Public Domain in the Baltic States at the Turn of the Century (= Interdisciplinary Studies on Central and Eastern Europe V). Peter Lang: Bern et al 2009.  Information here.