Monthly Archives: April 2012

Rabinowitz-Dorf PR Campaign for Lithuanian Embassy and “Fake Litvaks” Backfires Bigtime



[Updated 3 May 2012] The following is a reprint, including comments up to today, of the 13 April 2012 VilNews.com article “First-time event in Chicago this Sunday, April 15, to address lingering issues affecting Lithuanian-Jewish relations.” This page, as posted today [3 May 2012], is also preserved in webpage format here.

Rabinowitz-Dorf: Did the PR firm sell out Lithuanian Jewry to help the current right-wing government “change” the history of the Holocaust with American Jewish cover, while enabling “Fake Litvaks” to  misrepresent themselves as representing the Jewish community in Lithuania?

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Posted in American Jewish Committee (AJC) in Lithuania, Double Games, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, Identity Theft of Litvak Heritage, Media Watch, News & Views, United States, US State Dept Manipulated?, Use and Abuse of Sugihara, VilNews.com, What Do Fake Litvak Games Look Like? | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Rabinowitz-Dorf PR Campaign for Lithuanian Embassy and “Fake Litvaks” Backfires Bigtime

Neo-Nazi Youth Organization is Admitted into National “Lithuanian Council of Youth Organizations” (a recipient of European Union “Structural Funds”)


The Union of Lithuanian Nationalist Youth (ULNY), one of the organizers of the annual neo-Nazi march in the center of Vilnius on the nation’s independence day, has been made a member of  the Lithuanian Council of Youth Organizations, a body that is a recipient of European Union structural funds as well as Lithuanian government funding.

Media reports confirm that at the national conference last weekend, there were no votes against granting the ULNY full membership in the nationwide umbrella organization of accredited youth groups eligible for state funding. The vote was 19 in favor, zero against with seven abstentions.

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Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, EU, Human Rights, LGBTQ Equal Rights, News & Views | Tagged | Comments Off on Neo-Nazi Youth Organization is Admitted into National “Lithuanian Council of Youth Organizations” (a recipient of European Union “Structural Funds”)

The History of Three “Lithuanian Freedom Army” (LFA) Colonels Who Served the Nazis



O P I N I O N

by Evaldas Balčiūnas

 

I will begin with a recent document I found while collecting information about the Lithuanian Freedom Army (LFA), an organization formed during World War II which present-day historians are attempting to portray as an organizer of the anti-Nazi and anti-Soviet resistance in Lithuania.

On 31 October 2002, President Valdas Adamkus issued decree no. 1965 titled “On Promoting Volunteer Soldiers to the Rank of Colonel”  which gave the rank of colonel to three “members of the armed resistance: volunteer soldiers and soldiers of Lithuania’s pre-war military,” namely, Tauras military district chief Antanas Baltūsis-Žvejas (posthumously); Vytautas military district chief Vincas Kaulinis-Miškinis (posthumously); and Vytis military district chief Jonas Krištaponis (also posthumously). Five years later the president noticed he had made a mistake regarding one surname and on 5 January 2007, issued decree no. 1K-849 to correct the mistake, replacing Jonas Krištaponis with Juozas Krikštaponis (aka Krištaponis).

Regarding the anti-Soviet resistance, there really isn’t any argument: most of the LFA fighters heroically fought against the occupiers and died in that struggle.

Regarding the anti-Nazi resistance, however, many doubts are raised. These doubts arise because of the LFA’s position on the mass murder of Jews.

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Posted in Antanas Baltūsis-Žvejas, Collaborators Glorified, Dr. Arūnas Bubnys and State Holocaust Revisionism in Lithuania, Evaldas Balčiūnas, History, Legacy of 23 June 1941, Lithuania, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory | Tagged | Comments Off on The History of Three “Lithuanian Freedom Army” (LFA) Colonels Who Served the Nazis

Thinking About Those Anniversaries of 2011. . .



O P I N I O N

by Milan Chersonski

On 21 September 2010, that year’s annual commemorative event was held in the forest of Ponár (Paneriai) at the monument to the seventy thousand Jews who were murdered there and whose remains were then burned at the site.  Shortly before the ceremony’s conclusion it was announced that the Seimas (Lithuanian parliament) had decided to declare the year 2011 the “Year of Commemorating Lithuanian Residents who Became Victims of Holocaust.” The parliament’s move came as a complete surprise to the Lithuanian Jewish Community (LJC). The country’s Jewish community had appealed neither to the president of Lithuania nor to the parliament with any such request.

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Posted in Collaborators Glorified, Double Games, Double Genocide, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, Legacy of 23 June 1941, Lithuania, Milan Chersonski (1937-2021), News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Use and Abuse of Sugihara | Comments Off on Thinking About Those Anniversaries of 2011. . .

Baltic “Double Genocide” Discourse Slips into Naive American Jewish Articles on Lithuania



O P I N I O N

by Dovid Katz

Can history be bought up by even a small state’s nationalist government that has talked itself into the idea that revision of history and wide acceptance of that revision is somehow a national cause? It becomes a serious issue when that state is willing to invest heavily in the enterprise, at a time when the targeted influential foreigners are far from the issues at hand and easily manipulated.

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Posted in American Jewish Committee (AJC) in Lithuania, Double Games, Double Genocide, Dovid Katz, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, Identity Theft of Litvak Heritage, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, United States | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Baltic “Double Genocide” Discourse Slips into Naive American Jewish Articles on Lithuania

MEP Donskis


When the news came out, he issued a bold statement within minutes
Then he wrote an essay that could outlive all the rest
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Baltics


Estonia: Valentine’s Day Law
Latvia: Waffen SS
Lithuania: Nazi ‘PM’ Honored. UN on swastikas.
Posted in Boxes | Comments Off on Baltics

Hungary


State honors collaborator:  Elie Wiesel & Knesset Speaker Rivlin react

Romania

Obfuscator is appointed minister

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Lithuania Tries to Whitewash its Role in the Holocaust



O P I N I O N

by Olga Zabludoff

Note: The following letter to the editor appeared in today’s Baltimore Sun.  It is republished here by permission of the author. [Update of 2 May 2012: The editor of VilNews, in a 29 April article, said of the letter’s author: “In this case, she goes too far.” This in turn elicited a response from the editor of DefendingHistory on 1 May.]


 

In response to Ellen Cassedy’s “We are here” (April 18), I offer a second opinion.

Can there be hope for a country that claimed the highest percentage of Jewish deaths in all of Europe? More than 95 percent of Lithuania’s Jews were annihilated — most of them murdered by Lithuanian collaborators who began the frenzied executions of their Jewish neighbors even before the Germans had marched into Lithuania. Yes, there can be hope — if lessons are learned from their past and if the truth is faced by this nation which is now an EU/NATO democracy.

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Posted in Lithuania, News & Views, Olga Zabludoff, Opinion, Politics of Memory | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Lithuania Tries to Whitewash its Role in the Holocaust

РАЗМЫШЛЕНИЯ О ЮБИЛЕЯХ 2011-го ГОДА



М Н Е Н И Е

Милан Херсонский

 

21-го сентября 2010-го года, – в Паняряйском лесу, возле памятника 70-ти тысячам расстрелянных, а затем и сожженных евреев проходил ежегодный траурный митинг. Незадолго до его окончания было объявлено, что Сейм постановил провозгласить 2011-й год «Годом памяти жителей Литвы, ставших жертвами Холокоста». Постановление Сейма было полной неожиданностью для Еврейской общины Литвы (далее – ЕОЛ): ни к президенту Литвы, ни в Сейм, ни к правительству ЕОЛ с такой просьбой не обращалась.

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Posted in Double Games, In Russian, Milan Chersonski (1937-2021), News & Views, Opinion | Tagged , , | Comments Off on РАЗМЫШЛЕНИЯ О ЮБИЛЕЯХ 2011-го ГОДА

News Box on Winter 2011-12 Antisemitic Outrages in Lithuania (to 21 April 2012)



Lithuanian Government, Human Rights Monitors, Antisemitism Envoys, Western Embassies Fail to React to Outrages

1: Neo-Nazi marches on national holidays in the city centers of Kaunas (16 February 2012) and Vilnius (11 March 2012). Both with state-issued permits and both addressed by members of parliament.

———

2: Front page of mass circulation newspaper on ‘The Jews’ being tax cheats with large image of a local rabbi (21 December 2011). REPORT HERE.

———

But the Simon Wiesenthal Center rapidly reacted to both. See here and here.

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Events, Human Rights, News & Views | Comments Off on News Box on Winter 2011-12 Antisemitic Outrages in Lithuania (to 21 April 2012)

Lithuanian Government Calls for “Bigger Investments from Litvaks” as South Africa’s Glasenberg is Welcomed


Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of Glencore: Celebrated Litvak scion is feted by government operatives in Vilnius

According to a BNS news report released today (full text below), the Lithuanian prime minister’s advisor Mykolas Majauskas reported that discussions were held with Glencore’s CEO Ivan Glasenberg concerning plans to inspire more Litvaks to invest in the country. Mr. Majauskas also claimed that “some Litvaks are considering buying farms in Lithuania in order to take active part in communal activities.”

DefendingHistory.com takes the view that Litvak investment should progress in tandem with genuine progress on Lithuanian-Jewish issues, and not as long as the present “dual-track” (“double game”) policies continue to be applied. Ruses attempted have on occasion entailed usurpation of the Litvak identity by government agencies.

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Posted in "Jewish" Events as Cover?, Double Games, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, Identity Theft of Litvak Heritage, News & Views, South Africa, What Do Fake Litvak Games Look Like? | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Lithuanian Government Calls for “Bigger Investments from Litvaks” as South Africa’s Glasenberg is Welcomed

No Gesture at Ponár


 


Note: This news box was posted on page one until the end of 19 April 2012.

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Posted in Commemorations for Destroyed Communities, Double Games, News & Views, Ponár (Ponary, Paneriai) | Tagged | Comments Off on No Gesture at Ponár

Glorification of Local Holocaust Perpetrators in Lithuania



Note: This page, last updated on 18 April 2012, covers some of the more recent and/or still-standing state-sponsored events and memorials honoring the LAF and other Holocaust perpetrators as “heroes” of Lithuania.

See also the COLLABORATORS GLORIFIED section

SPRING-SUMMER 2012 UPDATE:

STATE HONORS FOR THE 1941 NAZI PUPPET PRIME MINISTER


Vilnius: In an EU capital, in 2011, state-sponsored adulation of the local collaborators and participants in the Holocaust; key event is addressed by a former head of state, on the 70th anniversary of Hitler’s invasion

PARLIAMENT-SUPPORTED DOCUMENTARY FILM GLORIFIES 1941 ‘LITHUANIAN ACTIVIST FRONT’ (LAF) FASCIST MURDERERS & COLLABORATIONIST PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT (PG) ON 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OUTBREAK OF THE LITHUANIAN HOLOCAUST

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Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Collaborators Glorified, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, Genocide Center (Vilnius), History, Legacy of 23 June 1941, Lithuania, News & Views, State Glorification of Holocaust Collaborator J. Noreika | Tagged | Comments Off on Glorification of Local Holocaust Perpetrators in Lithuania

Lithuanian Foreign Ministry Manipulates ‘Chicago Litvaks’


The following news box was posted on page one to the end of 15 April 2012:

 

Foreign Ministry’s Litvaks?

Sunflower Litvaks” who “resell”  Lithuanian Foreign Ministry “Holocaust history” ran a key PR event Sunday 15 April in the Windy City. Their claim that the Lithuanian Jewish Community was represented is refuted by the actual LJC in Vilnius. 
 THE LITVAK HERITAGE HIJACKED?
Posted in "Jewish" Events as Cover?, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, Identity Theft of Litvak Heritage, News & Views, United States, US State Dept Manipulated? | Comments Off on Lithuanian Foreign Ministry Manipulates ‘Chicago Litvaks’

Three Progressive Members of Lithuania’s Parliament Ask Prosecutors to Investigate Threats by Genocide Center’s “Chief Specialist”



On 1 April 2012, three members of the Lithuanian Parliament — Petras Auštrevičius, Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis and Justinas Karosas — submitted a formal letter to prosecutors asking for an investigation into the threats made by a “chief specialist” (PDF here) at the state-sponsored Genocide Research Center, who has also published antisemitic, racist and homophobic statements and participated in the organization of neo-Nazi marches (see e.g. here, here, here, here and here).

[Two of the three targeted parliamentarians are signatories to the Seventy Years Declaration, and were recently attacked by the foreign minister; see here and here; see also MP Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis’s response here.]

The Lithuanian original of the three parliamentarians’ 1 April letter to prosecutors is here. A full English translation follows below.

[See also the 5 April 2012 article by MP Andriukaitas (English here), Ignas Krasauskas’s 4 April report, and Geoff Vasil’s 12 April analysis.]


To the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Lithuania

1 April 2012 No. 04-11/2012

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Posted in Free Speech & Democracy, Genocide Center (Vilnius), Human Rights, News & Views, Opinion, Vytenis Andriukaitis | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Three Progressive Members of Lithuania’s Parliament Ask Prosecutors to Investigate Threats by Genocide Center’s “Chief Specialist”

Lithuanian Neo-Nazi Leader Calls for Murder of MPs



O P I N I O N

by Geoff Vasil

Ričardas Čekutis, “chief specialist” at Lithuanian’s state-sponsored Genocide Center in Vilnius old town, a fascist party leader and co-organizer of the annual neo-Nazi marches through Vilnius, has again made controversial comments on Facebook, this time apparently calling upon other Lithuanian neo-Nazis to murder three MPs. Two of the three are signatories to the Seventy Years Declaration (SYD) first published in DefendingHistory.com and presented to the president of the European Parliament in Strasbourg last month.

Confirming suspicions that SYD had angered not just the clique of apparatchiks who earn a good living from the Double Genocide industry in this part of the world, and had made wider waves in the Lithuanian neo-Nazi underground, Čekutis seemed to call for someone to shoot MPs Vytenis Andriukaitis, Justinas Karosas—both of whom signed the SYD—and the MP Petras Austrevičius.

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Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Free Speech & Democracy, Genocide Center (Vilnius), Geoff Vasil, Human Rights, News & Views, Opinion | Comments Off on Lithuanian Neo-Nazi Leader Calls for Murder of MPs

MP Vytenis Andriukaitis: Open Letter to Genocide Center “Chief Specialist” Ričardas Čekutis



O P I N I O N

by Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis

Authorized translation from the Lithuanian original that appeared on Balsas.lt on 5 April 2012.


 

Yesterday, April 4, my colleague Petras Auštrevičius sent me a fragment of some internet correspondence between you, Ričardas Čekutis, and Morta Vidūnaitė. You, commenting upon the conversation, expressed this thought:

“But a nationalist [or “ethnic”] state, Morta, is one where government, i.e., sovereignty, belongs to the [ethnic] nation, which is what is written in the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. Not to some sort of ‘citizens’ but to the [ethnic] Lithuanian people. This is also the principle of the supremacy of national law over all transnational formations, such as the EU, into which we were shoved through deceit and forgeries.

“In a nationalist [ethnic] state, for example, characters such as Auštrevičius, Andriukaitis and Karosas would be shot without hesitation, and that would be right, for treason. Well, you’ll see, very soon…”

I wouldn’t want to argue with your thought that they would shoot us, because an opinion is an opinion. But this sentence that “well, you will see, very soon,” understood rather clearly from the context that we will see some shootings has a very different meaning. But more about that a bit later.

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Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Bold Citizens Speak Out, Free Speech & Democracy, Genocide Center (Vilnius), Human Rights, Neo-Nazi & Fascist Marches, News & Views, Opinion, Vilnius, Vytenis Andriukaitis | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on MP Vytenis Andriukaitis: Open Letter to Genocide Center “Chief Specialist” Ričardas Čekutis

Discussion: Ambassador Linas Linkevičius and Geoff Vasil



O P I N I O N

An  English translation of Ambassador Linas Linkevičius’s recent article on Delfi.lt, followed by Geoff Vasil’s reply on DefendingHistory.com.


When Will We Comprehend the Whole Truth about the Holocaust?

by Linas Linkevičius

10 April 2012

 

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was characterized by diversity of religious belief and religious tolerance. Neither is it any accident that Lithuania was called the Northern Jerusalem for centuries. Cultural tolerance was the pride and strength of our country. Why is it that we have to speak of this in the past tense? Who edited our genetic code?

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Posted in Geoff Vasil, Lithuania, News & Views, Opinion | Tagged | Comments Off on Discussion: Ambassador Linas Linkevičius and Geoff Vasil

Light and Darkness Do Not Mix



O P I N I O N

by Geoff Vasil

 

Saulius Beržinis is an astounding filmmaker. Somehow the Lithuanian director of documentaries has a knack for drawing out frank admissions on camera, even from collaborators who recount how they murdered Jews.

Beržinis has a great reputation in Holocaust studies around the world, but, as the saying goes, a prophet is often unrecognized in his native land, and the cloak of invisibility around the Lithuanian Holocaust cast by the activists in the Double Genocide industry has marginalized the documentary maker at home, where his “The Happy Faces of the Murderers” is basically unknown.

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Posted in Arts, Bold Citizens Speak Out, Film, Geoff Vasil, News & Views, Opinion, Saulius Beržinis | Tagged | Comments Off on Light and Darkness Do Not Mix