Monthly Archives: November 2014

Tomas Venclova Speaks Out on Banderism and its European Analogues

Posted on 30 November 2014 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

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venclova

Tomas Venclova

Editor’s note: Our colleague Prof. Pinchos Fridberg drew our attention to a page on Radio Svoboda’s website, by Elena Fanailova, featuring both the audio and transcript of a recent interview conducted by Donata Subbotko for the Polish weekly Gazeta Wyborcza with the famed Lithuanian humanist, poet, essayist and professor Tomas Venclova. Text of the Polish version appears in Gazeta Wyborcza. The Russian text also appeared, at Prof. Fridberg’s initiative, in Obzor.

The following brief excerpt, concerning Banderism in Ukraine and analogous tendencies in Lithuania and elsewhere, has been translated into English (from the Russian) by Ludmila Makedonskaya. See also Defending History’s section dedicated to Tomas Venclova. Our page on bold Lithuanian truth tellers includes some of Prof. Venclova’s writings from the 1970s onward. His famous essay from the period, Jews and Lithuanians, is available in his collection of essays Forms of Hope.

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Posted in Bandera, Belgium, Latvia, Lithuania, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Tomas Venclova, Ukraine | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Tomas Venclova Speaks Out on Banderism and its European Analogues

Text of US Rep. John Conyers’ Proposed Amendment Restricting Aid to Pro-Nazi Forces in Ukraine

Posted on 28 November 2014 by Defending History

 Defending History has obtained the full text, available to our readers as PDF, and as images (following this text) of US Congressman John Conyers’ proposed amendment that would have restricted US military aid to units that extol Nazi perpetrators or use Nazi, racist or white supremacist symbols. The amendment proposed by Mr. Conyers, who represents Michigan’s 13th congressional district, failed to pass.

The amendment, dated 19 May 2014, contains language that would instruct the Secretary of Defense to restrict aid in cases where he “has credible evidence that the unit or its members have taken public stances or taken actions that are indicative of extremism,” including three categories:

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Posted in News & Views, Symbology, United States, US State Dept Manipulated? | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Text of US Rep. John Conyers’ Proposed Amendment Restricting Aid to Pro-Nazi Forces in Ukraine

Persecution of Roma in Lithuania and Britain

Posted on 26 November 2014 by Defending History

H U M A N   R I G H T S    /    R O M A   I S S U E S    /    O P I N I O N

by Ruth Barnett

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Avivid description of the horrific treatment of Roma in Lithuania has just appeared in Defending History. This is yet another in a long line of reports of discrimination  and injustice against Roma in Eastern European countries – a catalogue of unacceptable situations.

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Posted in Human Rights, News & Views, Opinion, Roma, Ruth Barnett, United Kingdom | Comments Off on Persecution of Roma in Lithuania and Britain

Member of Lithuania’s Jewish Community Speaks Out on Neo-Nazi Parades, and Govt. Flowers at Monument to Hitler’s Soldiers

Posted on 23 November 2014 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Jacob Piliansky

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Iam proud to be a Litvak, and I am proud to be a citizen of independent and democratic Lithuania. I very much enjoy walking in our city’s delightful Vingis Park, as well as downtown in the beautiful city center area.

 However, I feel suddenly both sad and shocked, when I see neo-Nazi parades with swastikas and other fascist symbols  along  Gedimino Boulevard on our independence day repeating the yelled chants of “Lithuania for [ethnic] Lithuanians.”

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Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Collaborators Glorified, Jacob Piliansky, Kaunas, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Neo-Nazi & Fascist Marches, News & Views, Opinion, Symbology, Vilnius | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Member of Lithuania’s Jewish Community Speaks Out on Neo-Nazi Parades, and Govt. Flowers at Monument to Hitler’s Soldiers

A Historic Ukrainian Low for US (and Canadian) Foreign Policy?

Posted on 22 November 2014 by Defending History

UN Resolution for “Combating Glorification of Nazism”Passes in General Assembly Committee (115 for, 3 against, with 55 abstentions)

Resolution, offered by Russia, seen as inherently flawed by Putinist machinations, Russia-Ukraine crisis & East-West feuding; EU abstains, asBaltic nationalists gloat (Delfi.lt)

STILL A SHOCK that three member states voted against: Ukraine, USA,Canada. Ukraine’s government recently made “heroes” of Nazi collaborators; catalogue of the last year.

CUTOUT UN-Voting-Tally-21-Nov-2014

The State Department’s idea of American moral leadership?

Text of the Resolution

Are unchecked Neo-Con politics behind the failure to Just Say No to the adulation of Nazi collaborators?

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Posted in Canada, Double Genocide, EU, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, News & Views, Ukraine, United States, US State Dept Manipulated? | Comments Off on A Historic Ukrainian Low for US (and Canadian) Foreign Policy?

What is the “Program for Roma Integration” in Lithuania?

Posted on 20 November 2014 by Defending History

H U M A N   R I G H T S    /    R O M A   I S S U E S    /    O P I N I O N

by Vilma Fiokla Kiurė

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Fiokla Kiure by B Janusevicius

Vilma Fiokla Kiurė. Photo: Benediktas Januševičius.

Here in Lithuania, the words “Roma” and “discrimination” are regarded as inseparable. It seems that even the Roma community is reconciled with that. The situation, however, is worsening and what is currently happening in Kirtimai, a village on the outskirts of Vilnius, the capital city’s home to its most prominent tabor, or Roma settlement, and often referred to just as Kirtimai Tabor. What is happening is something larger than just “discrimination against Roma.”

For starters, the water has been disconnected in upper Kirtimai. There had never been a proper water supply but there was a water “column” used by some three hundred people. But it has been blocked off. Looking at the sight of baby carriages used for carrying urns of water is a sight unbelievable for the beautiful capital city of a European Union member state.

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Posted in Human Rights, News & Views, Opinion, Roma, Vilma Fiokla Kiurė | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on What is the “Program for Roma Integration” in Lithuania?

Which Issues Did the Exhibition Neglect to Cover?

Posted on 16 November 2014 by Defending History

M U S E U M S   /   O P I N I O N

by Milan Chersonski

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These observations do not claim to be a review of the traveling exhibition “Lithuanian Jews behind the Iron Curtain,” which was mounted by the Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum in Vilnius (hereinafter “the state Jewish museum”) from 13 March to 31 July 31 this year. By and large, issues raised refer to the fate of Lithuanian Jewry during World War II and contemporary issues regarding some issues in Lithuanian history.

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Posted in Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Milan Chersonski (1937-2021), Museums, News & Views, Opinion | Comments Off on Which Issues Did the Exhibition Neglect to Cover?

О ЧЁМ МОЛЧАЛА ВЫСТАВКА

Posted on 13 November 2014 by Defending History

МНЕНИЕ

Милан Херсонский

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Эти заметки не претендуют быть рецензией на передвижную выставку «Литовские евреи за железным занавесом», проходившую с 13-го марта до 31-го июля с.г. в Центре толерантности Государственного еврейского музея Литвы им. Вильнюсского Гаона (ГЕМЛ). Это размышления о судьбе литовского еврейства в годы Второй мировой войны и о современных проблемах освещения некоторых вопросов истории Литвы, связанных с этими проблемами.

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Posted in In Russian, Milan Chersonski (1937-2021) | Comments Off on О ЧЁМ МОЛЧАЛА ВЫСТАВКА

Max Kaufmann’s Book on the Latvian Holocaust Now Available in English

Posted on 12 November 2014 by Defending History

B O O K S

by Roland Binet (Braine-l’Alleud/Belgium)

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“For us, all of Latvia is a huge cemetery – a cemetery without graves or gravestones.”

— Max Kaufmann

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The English edition of Max Kaufman’s largely forgotten book, Churbn Lettland: The Destruction of the Jews of Latvia, now available online, is a most welcome, and important, addition to the library of serious works on the Latvian Holocaust.[1]

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Posted in Books, Latvia, Memoirs, News & Views, Roland Binet | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Max Kaufmann’s Book on the Latvian Holocaust Now Available in English

Meilach Stalevich (1923 — 2014)

Posted on 11 November 2014 by Defending History

O B I T U A R I E S

by Dovid Katz

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Vilnius has just lost one of its most powerful and authentic Litvak personalities, and one of the last Vilna-born prewar Jews still resident in the city. Meilach Stalevich, who was born on June 28th 1923 passed away peacefully during the night of 8 t0 9 November this month, in the middle of his ninety-second year, following a heart attack several days earlier.

For some who didn’t know him personally, he will forever be celebrated for his extraordinary soundbite in Wendy Robbins’ BBC radio documentary in 2010, when he was asked what he thought of the idea that the Nazi and Soviet regimes were similar in nature. In a few seconds, in the rich Yiddish tones of a Vilna native, he was able to debunk the current array of Holocaust revisionists rather more effectively than perhaps all of the academic efforts underway taken together.

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Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Obituaries, Yiddish Affairs | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Meilach Stalevich (1923 — 2014)

Defending History Brings Results: Yivo to Honor Arad (at Fundraising Banquet)

Posted on 10 November 2014 by Defending History

For First Time, NY Yivo to Honor (on Dec. 17) a Holocaust Resistance Hero Defamed by Lithuania’s Prosecutors

Event is for NY Yivo fundraising, but no Yiddish text included

HOPES RISE FOR LITHUANIAN GOVERNMENT PUBLIC APOLOGY TO DR. YITZHAK ARAD, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR, HERO OF THE ANTI-NAZI RESISTANCE AND ISRAEL’S WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, MAJOR HOLOCAUST SCHOLAR AND FORMER DIRECTOR OF YAD VASHEM

Yivo leaders manipulated by Lithuanian government PR operatives? Chronology of a crisis of confidence, 2011-2014 (in reverse chronological order)

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Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", Events, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Politics of Memory, United States, Yivo Manipulated? | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Defending History Brings Results: Yivo to Honor Arad (at Fundraising Banquet)