Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky (Fania Brancovskaja): 1922-2024

See also DH’s section Blaming the Victims page at: https://defendinghistory.com/blaming-the-victims

German President awards Fania Brantsovsky the Federal Cross of Merit

Posted on 28 October 2009 by Defending History

…Antisemitic Tirade Follows in Vilnius

Antisemitic reaction on Lithuania’s main news portal came within minutes of the German embassy’s press release announcing its award to anti-Nazi Jewish partisan veteran Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky, librarian of the Vilnius Yiddish Institute. The award is the president’s Federal Cross of Merit. It was presented to her by Germany’s ambassador to Lithuania Hans-Peter Annen in a ceremony at his embassy in Vilnius. Details at Responses (→ 28 Oct 2009).  [May 2010: Disturbingly, neither Fania’s award nor the antisemitic barrage against her has been mentioned to this day on the VYI website.]

English translation of the report on the Baltic internet portal Delfi, including the remarks of a ruling-party member of  parliament. It appeared with this caricature of the 87 year old Holocaust survivor who had just been honored by Germany’s president. Posted comments that threatened her with violence have now been removed. More details at Blaming the Victims (→ 28 Oct 2009). Daiva Repečkaitė and Milan Chersonski reply.

Posted in A 21st Century Campaign Against Lithuanian Holocaust Survivors?, Antisemitism & Bias, Bold Citizens Speak Out, Events, Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky (Fania Brancovskaja): 1922-2024, Germany, It Pays to Defend History: Success Over the Years..., News & Views, Politics of Memory, Vilnius Yiddish Institute | Leave a comment

Dovid Katz: The “Prague Declaration”: A European attempt to equate Communism with Nazism will falsify history

Posted on 21 May 2009 by Defending History

O P I N I O N
by Dovid Katz

Reprinted from the Jewish Chronicle (London), 21 May 2009

◊

Not many have heard about the Prague Declaration, which is currently making the rounds at the European Parliament. Proclaimed last June in Prague (but cooked up in the Baltics), its innocuous theme is “European Conscience and Communism”. Now who would oppose that? The heinous crimes of Communist regimes clearly merit full exposure. Victims deserve recognition. When the grand jamboree of freedom, fun and prosperity got under way for us lucky westerners in 1945, entire nations ceded to Stalin were condemned to totalitarian rule.

Continue reading

Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", A 21st Century Campaign Against Lithuanian Holocaust Survivors?, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Dovid Katz, Dr. Rokhl (Rachel) Margolis (1921-2015), EU, Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky (Fania Brancovskaja): 1922-2024, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Dovid Katz: The “Prague Declaration”: A European attempt to equate Communism with Nazism will falsify history

British Ambassador to Lithuania Organizes Vilna Ghetto Walk Led by Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky

Posted on 27 August 2008 by Defending History

At the initiative of the UK’s ambassador to Lithuania, HE Simon Butt, Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky, one of the Jewish partisan veterans being subjected to “war crimes investigations” by Lithuanian prosecutors, was asked to give a talk and lead a walk through the streets of what had been the Vilna Ghetto during the Holocaust in Lithuania. Fania was incarcerated in the ghetto from its first day, 6 September 1941, through to its last, 23 September 1943, when she and Dobke Develtov (now of Los Angeles) escaped through a hole in the wall to join up with the Jewish veterans in the forests where both women fought heroically against the Nazis and their collaborators.

The participants in today’s event to honor Fania Brantsovky and, by extension, the Jewish partisans generally, were:

Continue reading

Posted in A 21st Century Campaign Against Lithuanian Holocaust Survivors?, Ambassador Simon Butt, Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky (Fania Brancovskaja): 1922-2024, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Politics of Memory, United Kingdom | Comments Off on British Ambassador to Lithuania Organizes Vilna Ghetto Walk Led by Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky

Jewish Community and Union of Ghetto Survivors Speak Out on Harassment of Holocaust Survivors who Joined the Resistance

Posted on 19 June 2008 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Shimon Alperovich and Tuvia Jafet

The following Open Letter was published today by the Jewish Community of Lithuania in partnership with the Union of Former Ghetto and Concentration Camp Prisoners.

VILNIUS, 19 JUNE 2008

AN OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY VALDAS ADAMKUS, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

ČESLOVAS JURŠĖNAS, SPEAKER OF THE SEIMAS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

GEDIMINAS KIRKILAS, PRIME MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

ALGIMANTAS VALANTINAS,
PROSECUTOR GENERAL OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

 

The prosecutors of Lithuania do not cease to persecute anti-Nazi Jewish partisans. The Prosecution Service’s claims that “hundreds of witnesses are being questioned” are belied by the fact that only Jewish names are being heard in the media: Yitzhak Arad, Fania Brantsovsky, Rachel Margolis, and others.

Continue reading

Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", A 21st Century Campaign Against Lithuanian Holocaust Survivors?, Double Games, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky (Fania Brancovskaja): 1922-2024, History, Human Rights, News & Views, Politics of Memory, Shimon Alperovich (1928 – 2014), Yitzhak Arad | Comments Off on Jewish Community and Union of Ghetto Survivors Speak Out on Harassment of Holocaust Survivors who Joined the Resistance

Ireland’s Ambassador Donal Denham Hosts a Reception for Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky at his Residence in Vilnius

Posted on 3 June 2008 by Defending History

The Embassy of Ireland in Lithuania issued a certificate of lifetime achievement to Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky, signed by HE Ambassador Dónal Denham, who presented the award at a reception today at the ambassador’s residence. Ambassador Denham’s speech concluded with the words: ‘Fania is one brave woman! You are a beautiful person, a special person, an inspiration to us all.’

Continue reading

Posted in A 21st Century Campaign Against Lithuanian Holocaust Survivors?, Ambassador Dónal Denham, EU, Events, Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky (Fania Brancovskaja): 1922-2024, Human Rights, Ireland, It Pays to Defend History: Success Over the Years..., Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Politics of Memory, Prof. David E. Fishman's Lithuanian Adventures, Vilnius Yiddish Institute | Comments Off on Ireland’s Ambassador Donal Denham Hosts a Reception for Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky at his Residence in Vilnius

Efraim Zuroff Hands the Lithuanian Ambassador a Letter of Protest in Tel Aviv on her State’s Campaign against Jewish Partisan Heroes in Vilnius

Posted on 28 May 2008 by Defending History

At an event today in Tel Aviv the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel office, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, hand-delivered a letter of protest to the Lithuanian ambassador to Israel, HE Asta Skaisgirytė Liaukšienė.

Dr. Zuroff’s letter (PDF here, and reproduced in full below from facsimile transmission), in addition to noting the neo-Nazi parade held with police help in the center of Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital on March 11th this year, and the ongoing “investigation” against former Yad Vashem director Dr. Yitzhak Arad, emphasizes the shocking events earlier this month, when police in Vilnius came looking for two Jewish women Holocaust survivors and heroes of the Jewish partisan resistance against Nazi Germany, Dr. Rachel Margolis and Ms. Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky.

Continue reading

Posted in A 21st Century Campaign Against Lithuanian Holocaust Survivors?, Documents, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Dr. Rokhl (Rachel) Margolis (1921-2015), Efraim Zuroff, Events, Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky (Fania Brancovskaja): 1922-2024, News & Views, Politics of Memory, Vilnius Yiddish Institute, Yitzhak Arad | Comments Off on Efraim Zuroff Hands the Lithuanian Ambassador a Letter of Protest in Tel Aviv on her State’s Campaign against Jewish Partisan Heroes in Vilnius

Police Come to Rachel Kostanian’s Residence, Looking for Vilna Ghetto Survivors Rachel Margolis and Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky

Posted on 7 May 2008 by Defending History

Continue reading

Posted in A 21st Century Campaign Against Lithuanian Holocaust Survivors?, Antisemitism & Bias, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Dr. Rokhl (Rachel) Margolis (1921-2015), Events, Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky (Fania Brancovskaja): 1922-2024, Free Speech & Democracy, Human Rights, Lithuania, News & Views, Politics of Memory, Rachel Kostanian, Vilnius Yiddish Institute | Comments Off on Police Come to Rachel Kostanian’s Residence, Looking for Vilna Ghetto Survivors Rachel Margolis and Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky

US Ambassador to Lithuania John Cloud Issues Award to Fania Brantsovsky; Presented by Political Attaché Joe Boski

Posted on 30 April 2008 by Defending History

The Embassy of the United States of America in Vilnius, Lithuania, today issued a Certificate of Appreciation to Holocaust survivor and veteran of the anti-Nazi Jewish partisans Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky. The certificate, signed by the American ambassador to Lithuania HE John A. Cloud,  was presented by political officer Joe Boski at a Vilnius luncheon hosted by the Vilnius Yiddish Institute, and partly videographed for the records of history.

The historical significance stems from the recent spate of mainstream media and academics’ attacks on Fania Brantsovsky, Dr. Rachel Margolis, and other heroes of the anti-Nazi resistance calling them “war criminals” for escaping the Vilna Ghetto to emerge in the anti-Nazi resistance. They are heroes of the free world.

Continue reading

Posted in A 21st Century Campaign Against Lithuanian Holocaust Survivors?, Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky (Fania Brancovskaja): 1922-2024, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Politics of Memory, United States | Comments Off on US Ambassador to Lithuania John Cloud Issues Award to Fania Brantsovsky; Presented by Political Attaché Joe Boski

Dovid Katz’s Memo to American Friends of the Vilnius Yiddish Institute Following Mass-Media Defamation of Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky

Posted on 30 March 2008 by Defending History

The following memo was today circulated by Professor Dovid Katz to the board members of the American Friends of the Vilnius Yiddish Institute, centered in Los Angeles, California. It references the public defamation of the institute’s beloved librarian Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky, a survivor of the Vilna Ghetto and veteran of the anti-Nazi Jewish partisan resistance in the forests of Lithuania. Please use the page-turning handles in the upper left-hand corner, or access as PDF.

Continue reading

Posted in Dovid Katz, Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky (Fania Brancovskaja): 1922-2024, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Vilnius, Vilnius Yiddish Institute, Yiddish Affairs | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Dovid Katz’s Memo to American Friends of the Vilnius Yiddish Institute Following Mass-Media Defamation of Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky