Author Archives: Defending History

Estonian Defense Ministry Denies Glorifying Nazi Collaborators, but Statement Fails to Mention Country’s Waffen SS

Posted on 8 January 2012 by Defending History

At a recent Waffen SS celebration in Estonia

In the face of mounting Western concern, the Estonian Ministry of Defense issued a statement on 5 January 2012 refuting a 27 (/28) December 2011 Delfi news portal story that reported on Russian Federation criticism, among other things, of the Baltic states’ policies of honoring their countries’ Nazi collaborator forces and militias.

The Defense Ministry’s refutation declares that “the government of the Republic of Estonia has not drafted nor will it draft something as absurd as a bill that would allow for honors to be given to Nazi collaborators.”

UPDATES:

Algemeiner Journal (10 Jan 2012)

Taz.de (11 Jan 2012)

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Celebrations of Fascism, Collaborators Glorified, Double Games, Estonia, News & Views, Politics of Memory | Tagged Daily Mail + Estonia, Double Genocide + Estonia, Estonia, Estonia + Waffen SS, Estonian Defense Ministry, Mart Laar | Comments Off

Joseph Melamed Replies to Article in VilNews.com

Posted on 3 January 2012 by Defending History

The following letter to the editor from attorney Joseph Melamed, chairman of the Assoiation of Lithuanian Jews in Israel, appeared today in VilNews.com.

Dear Editor,

The recent article by Dr. Irena Veisaite agreeing with the antisemitic establishment’s evaluation of the life’s work of Dr. Efraim Zuroff, Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel office and a leading historian of the Lithuanian Holocaust, has been a cause of great dismay to us, the world’s last active organization of Lithuanian Holocaust survivors and their descendants.

Posted in Joseph Melamed, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory | Tagged Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel, Dr. Irena Veisaite, Holocaust in Lithuania, Joseph Melamed | Comments Off

EU Ambassador to Afghanistan Writes in the Wall Street Journal that Nazi Rule in Lithuania was “A Few Years’ Respite from the Communists”

Posted on 2 January 2012 by Defending History

The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel Office today released a statement in which its director, Holocaust historian Dr. Efraim Zuroff, calls for an apology from the European Union’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Vygaudas Ušackas, for insensitive and misleading remarks on the Lithuanian Holocaust in a 6 December 2011 Wall Street Journal article. A letter of protest by Jack Zwanziger of Chicago appeared in the WSJ on 14 December 2011.

UPDATE:

Jerusalem-Kabul debate

Posted in Collaborators Glorified, Double Games, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, EU, Lithuania, Media Watch, News & Views, Politics of Memory | Tagged Efraim Zuroff, Holocaust Obfuscation, Holocaust Trivialization, Lithuanian Foreign Minister + Holocaust, Lithuanian government + Holocaust, Simon Wiesenthal Center Israel Office, Vygaudas Ušackas | Comments Off

A Reconstructed Shtetl — Minus its Jewish Component

Posted on 2 January 2012 by Defending History

by Dovid Katz

Rúmshishok (informally: Rúmseshik), some twelve miles from Kaunas (Kovno), was a beloved Lithuanian shtetl where Lithuanians, Jews and others lived together for many centuries in peace (the town goes back to the fourteenth century). The massacre of the town’s Jews during the Holocaust was close to complete (outlines of the history here and here). According to the new Lithuanian Holocaust Atlas, the perpetrators were comprised of “white armbanders” from the town plus “Lithuanian self-defense unit troops” from Kaunas.

Now Rumšiškės in modern Lithuania, the town is internationally known for its neighboring extensive open air museum of the Lithuanian provinces, including town, hamlet and rural settings, all meticulously reconstructed.

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Chaim Bargman, Commemorations for Destroyed Communities, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Double Games, Dovid Katz, Exotic Jewish Tourism, History, Human Rights, Litvak Affairs, Museums, News & Views, Politics of Memory, Yiddish Affairs | Tagged Holocaust mass graves in Lithuania, Lietuvos liaudies buities muziejus, marking of Holocaust mass graves, nationalist historiography, Open Air Museum Lithuania, Rumseshik, Rumshishok, Rumsiskes | Comments Off

2012 New Year’s Resolution for the Prime Ministers of the Baltic States

Posted on 1 January 2012 by Defending History

For 2012

“As long as I am prime minister of this great nation, there will be no neo-Nazi marches, no parades or events glorifying Nazi collaborators, no racist marches offensive to any citizens of our country of whatever background or belief, in the center of our cherished capital city, least of all on our national independence day or other holidays, when we celebrate independence, freedom, equality of all people, respect between all our communities, democracy and hope for our future. I will not stand idly by as our country’s proud name is defamed in the four corners of the earth by those who espouse fascism, racism, antisemitism, xenophobia, homophobia and other forms of hatred. Period.”

From back in 2011

Some of the shameful city center pro-Nazi events that went ahead in 2011 in Baltic capitals with legal permits (and support of some political elites):

Riga

Vilnius

Tallinn

Posted in Estonia, News & Views, Riga's Waffen SS Marches | Comments Off

Petras Stankeras Rides Again: Rehabilitating Fascism for the Lithuanian Mainstream

Posted on 27 December 2011 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Geoff Vasil

Petras Stankeras appeared on the pages of DefendingHistory.com in late November 2010, after publishing on 14 November 2010 in the mainstream Lithuanian weekly magazine Veidas an article in which he called the Holocaust “a myth”, described Ribbentrop’s hanging as a lamentable case of “victor’s justice” (also praising the Nazi foreign minister for conducting himself heroically), and called the Nuremberg Trials “a farce”. A full translation of the article is available here. A subsequent comment piece appeared in this journal early this year.

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Geoff Vasil, Human Rights, Lithuania, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion | Comments Off

Václav Havel and the Prague Declaration

Posted on 26 December 2011 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Efraim Zuroff

I hate to spoil the Havel and the Jews festival in the wake of his demise, but I feel that it is important to point out a terrible mistake Havel made which directly relates to Jewish affairs. I am referring to his signing the Prague Declaration of June 3, 2008 (along with 39 other East European politicians and intellectuals), which basically equates Communist crimes with those of the Nazis, warns that “Europe will not be united unless it is able to unite its history [and] recognize Communism and Nazism as a common legacy”and seeks to deny the Holocaust its deserved status as a unique case of genocide.

Posted in Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Efraim Zuroff, EU, Events, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory | Tagged Efraim Zuroff, Have + Prague Declaration, Havel + Jewish + Prague Declaration, Havel + Jews, Prague Declaration, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Vaclav Havel | Comments Off

Popular Daily has Full Front Page Spread on ‘The Jews’

Posted on 21 December 2011 by Defending History

European and North American human rights activists may have thought that Vakaro žinios (‘The Evening News’) could not outdo its past antisemitic sensations, but today’s full front page with a huge banner headline ‘THE JEWS’ may herald a new low in the series of 1930s grade dissemination of hate against Lithuania’s tiny and shrinking Jewish minority. Around 95% of the country’s Jewish population was killed during the Holocaust.

The front page article (PDF here; English translation here) continues on to pages 3 and 5. The outrage caps a December of mainstream publication antisemitic articles. This is the first to ‘feature’ Chabad rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky. Earlier in the month, long articles appeared targeting Dr. Shimon Alperovich, elected head of the Jewish Community of Lithuania, first in Lithuania’s most prestigious newspaper, Lietuvos rytas (report), and then in the same Vakaro žinios (report).

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Chabad in Vilnius, Human Rights, Media Watch, News & Views | Comments Off

Lithuanian Ministry of Defense Honors ‘Lithuanian Activist Front’ (LAF) Nazi Collaborators (announced without comment on ‘Bernardinai’)

Posted on 19 December 2011 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Dovid Katz

The campaign to distort World War II history in the direction of East European far-right models and to glorify local Nazi collaborators and perpetrators continues apace.

Bernardinai.lt, usually a bastion of tolerance and resistance against racism and ultranationalism, today published without comment a press release from the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense verbatim, about yesterday’s ministry activities honoring the Nazi-collaborating Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF), on the occasion of an anniversary of the killing of some of its leaders and members by Soviet forces.

The article is here. A full English translation is here.

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Collaborators Glorified, Double Games, Dovid Katz, Events, History, Legacy of 23 June 1941, Lithuania, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Vilnius's Genocide Center and the Genocide Museum it Manages | Tagged Holocaust collaboration in Lithuania, Lithuania Ministry of Defense, Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF), Nazi collaborators glorified | Comments Off

Mainstream Lithuanian news portal, Delfi.lt, Again Publishes Antisemitic ‘Ethnographic History’

Posted on 19 December 2011 by Defending History

Expanding on his earlier antisemitic-spirited article — ‘Jews in the Service of Hitler‘ — Česlovas Iškauskas has now published ‘Jews in Service to the Bolsheviks’ on Delfi.lt, a mainstream Lithuanian news website. The article is available here.

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Human Rights, Media Watch, News & Views, Politics of Memory | Comments Off

Why Shouldn’t Lithuanian People See the Monument I Helped Place in Vilnius?

Posted on 19 December 2011 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Shelly Rybak Pearson

The project occurred to me when I was present during the earthquake in Mexico City in 1984, while visiting my family there. I decided that I wanted to do something to provide a fitting memorial to the destruction of over 95% of the Jewish community of Lithuania during the Holocaust.

My negotiations with the government authorities in Vilnius to erect the monument lasted over six years. During that time, the Lithuanian Embassy in Washington, DC informed me that they had lost the documents which I had submitted to them requesting approval for the installation of the monument. I had to start anew.

Posted in Commemorations for Destroyed Communities, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Shelly Rybak Pearson | Comments Off

‘Double Genocide’ Permeates Local Antisemitic Discourse in Report on Efraim Zuroff’s Operation Last Chance II in Berlin

Posted on 16 December 2011 by Defending History

Following a week of major international coverage of the Berlin launch of Operation Last Chance II, the popular antisemitic Vilnius-based daily Vakaro žinios (‘Evening News’) ran a short article on the subject on the International page of its weekend edition. The purpose of Operation Last Chance is to locate remaining Nazi war criminals so that they can be brought to justice and have a fair trial in their own country (see www.OperationLastChance.org).

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Media Watch, News & Views | Comments Off

Wyman Brent’s Speech at the Opening of the Vilnius Jewish Public Library

Posted on 16 December 2011 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Wyman Brent

Hello Everyone. Thank you for being here today.

No nation has ever become great by embracing racism, prejudice, discrimination, intolerance, and xenophobia. Such a country can only shrink within itself. Its people become small and bitter. No flower ever bloomed brighter nor smelled sweeter after having been dusted with hatred. Such a flower and such a people can only fade away.

Posted in Events, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Vilnius Jewish Public Library, Wyman Brent | Comments Off

Why I am Translating Rozka Korczak’s Vilna Ghetto Memoir

Posted on 10 December 2011 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Evaldas Balčiūnas

The Vilna Ghetto memoir of Rozka Korczak-Marlé (1921–1988) is unfortunately completely unknown to Lithuanians today. I have therefore decided to translate the book into Lithuanian (from the Russian edition that Korczak herself edited), and have published two samples, here and here, on Anarchija.lt.

Posted in Bold Citizens Speak Out, Books, Evaldas Balčiūnas, History, Litvak Affairs, Memoirs, News & Views, Opinion, Poland, Politics of Memory, Yiddish Affairs | Tagged Holocaust in Lithuania | Comments Off

Old Stones Speak to Young Pupils: Jewish Gravestones in the Walls of a Vilnius School Yard

Posted on 10 December 2011 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Dovid Katz

The Lazdynai Middle School in Vilnius, built in the early 1970s, has an admirable reputation, inter alia for an excellent trilingual policy enabling Polish and Russian to flourish alongside the national language, Lithuanian, in a spirit of multicultural respect and harmony so fitting for the city’s history.

Updates to May 2013:

Return visit to the Stones of Lazdynai

♦

Updates to 15 December 2011

Samuel Gruber’s Jewish Art and Monuments

Facebook discussion thread

Work in Progress: A Cultural Dictionary of Lithuanian Jewish Gravestones

Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Dovid Katz, Exotic Jewish Tourism, Human Rights, It Pays to Defend History: Success Over the Years..., Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Symbology | Tagged cohen hands, fate of Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe, Jewish gravestones, Jewish sites in Vilnius, Lazdynai, Lazdynai Middle School, Olandu Jewish cemetery, use of gravestones in walls with letters showing, Uzupis Jewish cemetery, Zaretshe Jewish cemetery | Comments Off

Suspense in Vilnius as Paleckis Verdict Day Nears

Posted on 9 December 2011 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Dovid Katz

Suspense is growing in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, concerning the verdict in the free speech trial of the flamboyant, controversial young left-wing politician, Algirdas Paleckis. The court’s ruling will be read from the bench next Wednesday 14 December 2011 at 2 PM at the First District Court at Laisves 79, Vilnius. The charge carries a possible one-year prison sentence if Mr. Paleckis is found guilty. A press release was received today from the Lithuania Without Nazism organization (not to be confused with the ‘secret’ internet group ‘Lithuania Without Neo-Nazism’, that some believe to be a manipulated group, somewhat sophomoric, or both).

Posted in Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Events, Free Speech & Democracy, History, Human Rights, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory | Tagged Algirdas Paleckis, European Union free speech Lithuania, Free speech in Lithuania, Holocaust in Lithuania, Lithuania without Nazism, Lithuania without neo-Nazism, NATO Lithuania free speech, OSCE Lithuania | Comments Off

Main Lithuanian Paper Caves In to Antisemitic Sentiment as Economy Sours

Posted on 9 December 2011 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Geoff Vasil

A colleague sent me a link to an article on the webpage of Lietuvos rytas that appeared in their Sunday edition during the first week of December, 2011 (PDF of the print version; full English translation; report in Defending History.com). The heading on the email said the article was antisemitic.

Lietuvos rytas (“Lithuanian Morning”) has been Lithuania’s main newspaper pretty much since independence from the Soviet Union. The quality of the newspaper has varied over the years, but they at least usually refrain from printing overtly antisemitic material, whereas competing newspapers and their editors-in-chief have made this their bread and butter at certain periods, especially Lietuvos aidas and Respublika, although Lietuvos aidas has all but disappeared as a real newspaper and Respublika appears to have turned into an advertising-driven newspaper distributed for free.

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Geoff Vasil, Human Rights, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion | Tagged Andrius Kubilius, Antisemitism in Lithuania, Arkadijus Vinokuras, Arkady Vinokur, Audronė Urbonaitė, Emanuelis Zingeris, Geoff Vasil, Holocaust in Lithuania, Jewish restitution in Lithuania, Lietuvos rytas, Tomkus, Vakaro zinios, Vilius Kavaliauskas | Comments Off

‘Day and Night’ is an Epoch-Making Play for Modern Lithuania

Posted on 8 December 2011 by Defending History

O P I N I O N / R E V I E W

by Birutė Ušinskaitė

Cover of playbill

It was just another rainy and not overly cold evening in early December of the year 2011, but the play I was privileged to see at the Kaunas Chamber Theatre, Day and Night, proved to me, a proud Vilnius native and resident, that not all that is bold and brilliant originates in our capital.

For the first time in modern Lithuanian history, in my experience at any rate, a Lithuanian play on the Holocaust did not try to deflect attention ― or responsibility ― to the Germans or to some pseudo-objective forces of society, or to stick to some “kosher” theme like the dilemmas of Gens and the Judenrat in the Vilna Ghetto in order to avoid talking about what is frankly the main point for our country: the voluntary participation of many of our countrymen in the mass murder of the Jewish citizens of our own country, in some cases before the Nazis even arrived.

Posted in Arts, Birutė Ušinskaitė, Bold Citizens Speak Out, Events, Film, Legacy of 23 June 1941, Lithuania, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, VilNews.com | Comments Off

Second Mass Circulation Daily Prints Antisemitic Yarn, Revised and with New Images

Posted on 5 December 2011 by Defending History

For the first time, there has appeared to be a ‘coordinated antisemitic campaign’ among Lithuanian mass circulation daily newspapers of very different orientations. As reported on DefendingHistory.com yesterday, a massive three page tabloid spread on the 3 December weekend edition of the mainstream paper considered the country’s best, Lietuvos rytas, was replete with the kind of inflammatory language, references and images sure to cause a noticeable upturn in antisemitism in the country.

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Human Rights, Media Watch, News & Views | Comments Off

Three Page Antisemitic Mini-Tract runs in Lithuania’s Mainstream Daily

Posted on 4 December 2011 by Defending History

The weekend edition (dated 3 December 2011) of Lithuania’s most prestigious daily, Lietuvos rytas, contained a massive three tabloid-page antisemitic article on the subject of the restitution law finally passed by the Seimas (parliament) last June. It was constructed as a journalistic inquiry but is replete with multiple and inflammatory antisemitic referencing.

A PDF of the article, which is announced on a front page blurb (titled ‘Mystery of the Millions’), is available here. The web version is here. A full English translation is available here.

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Human Rights, Media Watch, News & Views | Comments Off

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Author Archives: Defending History

by Dovid Katz

For 2012

From back in 2011

Some of the shameful city center pro-Nazi events that went ahead in 2011 in Baltic capitals with legal permits (and support of some political elites):

O P I N I O N

by Geoff Vasil

O P I N I O N

by Efraim Zuroff

O P I N I O N

by Dovid Katz

O P I N I O N

by Shelly Rybak Pearson

O P I N I O N

by Wyman Brent

O P I N I O N

by Evaldas Balčiūnas

O P I N I O N

by Dovid Katz

Photos by Richard Schofield (© R. Schofield)

Updates to May 2013:

Updates to 15 December 2011

O P I N I O N

by Dovid Katz

O P I N I O N

by Geoff Vasil

O P I N I O N / R E V I E W

by Birutė Ušinskaitė

**Scholars & journalists: When you use DH, please cite DH.**