TO OUR JEWISH READERS EVERYWHERE ON THE OCCASION OF RÒSHESHÓNE (THE JEWISH NEW YEAR):
אַ גוטן געבענטשטן יאָר
און אַ גמר חתימה טובה
News & Views
A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR!
Posted in Events, News & Views
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New Jewish Monument in Rokiškis (Rákeshik), Lithuania, Commemorates 3 Synagogues
E V E N T S / O P I N I O N
by Dovid Katz
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For many years, international visitors to Rokiškis (in Yiddish: Rákishok, or less formally: Rákeshik), in northeastern Lithuania, have remarked that the town’s central area seemed to preserve little (or no) trace or commemoration of its erstwhile Jewish population, though a large monument now graces the entrance to the old Jewish cemetery outside town. Before the Holocaust, this town was home to around 3,500 Jews (some 40% of the total population, and the overwhelming majority in its central area). Luckily, a short film of pre-Holocaust Jewish Rákishok survives (from 1937), and is available on Youtube. Thanks to Polish film maker Tomek Wisniewski for circulating the link in recent days.
Posted in Christian-Jewish Issues, Commemorations for Destroyed Communities, Dovid Katz, Events, Exotic Jewish Tourism, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Rákishok (Rokiškis), Swastikas in Lithuania, Symbology
Tagged Antanas Vagonis, Aurimas Širvys, Berl Kagan, Dovid Katz, Holocaust in Lithuania, Jewish Lithuanian towns, Jewish Rokiskis, Julius Norwilla, Lithuanian-Jewish relations, Litvak issues, Litvak SIG, Meilach Balczuk-Felin, Philip Shapiro / Jewish Gen / Litvak, Rakeshik, Rakishok, Rokiskis + Jews, Rokiškis Regional Museum
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Lithuanian Post Office Honors Sugihara and Zwartendijk on 75th Anniversary of “Visas for Life”
KAUNAS—The Postal Service of Lithuania today launched two handsome commemorative envelopes in memory of two celebrated European consuls in Kaunas who helped thousands of Jews obtain visas that enabled them to leave Lithuania during the final year before the Nazi invasion and the Holocaust came to the country. The two, Chiune Sugihara (1900−1986) of Japan and Jan Zwartendijk (1896−1976) of the Netherlands risked their careers, and more, to disobey instructions and the letter of the law to save those who came to them for help. These were primarily citizens of prewar Poland who found themselves in Lithuania in the summer of 1940, when the country was being absorbed into the USSR, and the consulates and embassies in Kaunas were under pressure to close down altogether.
Posted in Christian-Jewish Issues, Events, Japan, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Use and Abuse of Sugihara
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Julius Berman Remembers Uri Chanoch
O B I T U A R I E S / L I T V A K A F F A I R S
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The following message following the death of Uri Chanoch (1928-2015) was circulated this week by Julius Berman, president of the Claims Conference in New York.
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I am heartbroken to share the news that Uri Chanoch, a dear friend and stalwart supporter of the Claims Conference, and a member of the board of directors and negotiating committee, passed away at his home in Israel on Tuesday night, September 1. I wrote Uri a note earlier this week and told him how much we appreciate and look forward to his exhortations at board meetings as he cried out from the heart about the continuing despicable conduct of certain European nations regarding restitution.
Posted in Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Obituaries, Yiddish Affairs
Tagged Claims Conference, Julius Berman, Uri Chanoch
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Public Shrines to a Holocaust Collaborator and a “Secret” Petition: A Summer’s Strange Media Circus
O P I N I O N / C O L L A B O R A T O R S G L O R I F I E D
by Evaldas Balčiūnas
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In the midst of this past summer’s heatwave here in Lithuania, Delfi.lt, one of the most popular news portals in the land, exploded with discussions on commemorations and memorials for Nazi collaborators in our country. Rimvydas Valatka, a columnist for the portal and signatory of the Declaration of Independence, started it all with his article of 26 July. The “current events background” was the recent removal of the controversial Soviet-era statues of soldiers on Vilnius’s Green Bridge. Valatka, a veteran of Lithuanian journalism with the rarefied street-cred of a Declaration of Independence signatory, appealed for removal of the memorial plaque for Nazi collaborator Jonas Noreika (“Generolas Vėtra”) from a central Vilnius library building, and wrote about a petition for its removal signed by a group of intellectuals and public figures, and addressed to the mayor of Vilnius as well as to the director of the relevant library (Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences), where the plaque hangs prominently in the heart of Lithuania’s capital.
The stone honoring Holocaust collaborator Jonas Noreika tops the lot on the facade of the Genocide Museum on Gedimino Boulevard in the Lithuanian capital, a stone’s throw from the nation’s parliament. When are we going to stop glorifying those who helped annihilate Lithuanian Jewry during the Holocaust? When is this going to come down?
Posted in Debates on the Postwar "Forest Brothers", Dr. Arūnas Bubnys and State Holocaust Revisionism in Lithuania, Evaldas Balčiūnas, History, Human Rights, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, State Glorification of Holocaust Collaborator J. Noreika, Vilnius's Genocide Center and the Genocide Museum it Manages
Tagged Evaldas Balciunas, Holocaust collaborators Glorified, Holocaust in Lithuania, Jonas Noreika (Generolas Vetra)
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Summer 2015 Debate on Removing Vilnius Public Honors for Nazi Collaborators
Balčiūnas, Gochin, Kanovich, and Valatka: Asking for Vilnius to Take Down Plaques and Street Names that Honor Holocaust Collaborators
But petition to mayor from group of intellectuals stays “secret”
And some local media regards the discussion itself as “a Russian plot”…
SEE DEFENDING HISTORY PAGE AND SECTION ON HONORS FOR PERPETRATORS
Posted in Collaborators Glorified, Debates on the Postwar "Forest Brothers", Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, State Glorification of Holocaust Collaborator J. Noreika
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The Holocaust was Also a Matter of Plundering the Jewish Victims
O P I N I O N / H I S T O R Y / L A T V I A
by Roland Binet (Braine-l’Alleud/Belgium)
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Having recently spent a few days in Germany, and watching different television channels, I once more realized that that country still broadcasts regular programs on the Holocaust. Nearly each and every evening during my stay, I had the opportunity to see fragments of such programs, broadcast on less popular channels (“ZDF History” for example). And, it is true, it is one of the things that I admire most in modern Germany — the regular televising of documentaries on the Holocaust, never hiding the enormous responsibility of the Nazis in the destruction of the Jews.
Posted in History, Latvia, News & Views, Opinion, Roland Binet
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Breaking the Silence
B O O K S
by Merilyn Moos
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While there has been some research on and recognition of the exiles from Nazism who settled in the UK, little is known about their children: the British second generation, and what the long term effects of their parents’ exile have been on them. Indeed, this has been a largely invisible group. My book Breaking the Silence. Voices of the British Children of Refugees from Nazism (Rowman and Littlefield, 2015) set out to cast light on this second generation group.
Posted in Books, Memoirs, News & Views, United Kingdom
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International Rabbinic Delegation Issues Press Release on Visit to Lithuania to Appeal for Reprieve for the Old Jewish Cemetery at Piramont
NEW YORK—A spokesperson for the rabbinic delegation from the United States, Israel and Europe that came to plea for a reprieve for the old Jewish cemetery in Vilnius issued the following press release upon completion of the group’s meetings. Its content contrasts sharply with the BNS report published in various Lithuanian media today.
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International Rabbinic Delegation Travels to Vilnius to Plea for the Cancellation of Development Plans on the Šnipiškės Cemetery
Group Meets Deputy Chancellor and the Vilnius Mayor to Relay Calls of World Jewry to Spare 500-Year Old Šnipiškės Cemetery from Further Desecration
VILNIUS—A rabbinic delegation visited Vilnius yesterday and met the authorities to plea with them to cancel plans to construct a congress hall on Šnipiškės Jewish cemetery. The Šnipiškės cemetery was established over five centuries ago, and it interred the most famous Jewish leaders of Vilnius.
Posted in Appeals to the European Commission on Piramónt, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok)
Tagged Jewish cemetery Snipiskes (Piramont), Lithuanian-Jewish relations, Vilnius Jewish cemetery
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A New Yorker’s Open Letter to the Vice President of the European Commission
THE PAPER TRAIL / THE OPPOSITION / DH SECTION / BACKGROUND
Mr. Berel Fried of New York City, an Orthodox Jewish scholar and businessman, has authorized this publication of his letter, sent earlier today to Frans Timmermans, first vice president of the European Commission, regarding plans for a convention center at the old Piramónt (Šnipiškės) Jewish cemetery in Vilnius. He is a frequent visitor to Vilnius, where he is known for his exquisite Torah readings at the Choral Synagogue. The most recent public response from the European Commission is here.
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Hon. Frans Timmermans
First Vice President of the European Commission
Posted in Appeals to the European Commission on Piramónt, Berel Fried, CPJCE (London), Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, Politics of Memory
Tagged European Commission + Vilnius Jewish cemetery, Franks Timmermans + Vilnius, Jewish cemetery at Piramont (Snipiskes
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What It Is to Defend Your Own History
O P I N I O N / C O L L A B O R A T O R S G L O R I F I E D
by Kristina Apanavičiūtė Sulikienė
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Kristina Apanavičiūtė Sulikienė
One can hear various stories about history here in Lithuania. The main narrative is about Bad Communists and Good Nazis. Yes, it is true. Especially very recently, after the civil (or whatever kind of) war broke out in Ukraine, the Nazis and those who justify and glorify them, both in Ukraine and Lithuania, have found new strength. Under the banner of “Ukraine Fights For All Of Us,” some have decided to bring back such “heroes” as the killer Antanas Baltūsis-Žvejas.
For my part, I would like to defend our Tauras district (in the Kaunas region) from the legacy of this genre of “hero.” For his history was not only one of guerilla warfare against Soviet forces but about what he was doing in 1941 when the wholesale slaughter of our Jewish population was underway. This has a lot to do with Lithuania, who we are as proud Lithuanians whose history, like every other people on this earth, has its high and its low moments.
Posted in Collaborators Glorified, History, Human Rights, Kristina Apanavičiūtė Sulikienė, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion
Tagged Antanas Baltūsis-Žvejas, glorification of Holocaust collaborators, Holocaust in Lithuania, Kaunas + Holocaust, Kristina Apanavičiūtė Sulikienė, street names in Lithuania
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Didier Bertin’s Letter to the President of the European Commission on the Old Vilnius Jewish Cemetery
Didier Bertin, president of the Association for the Promotion of a New Model of Human Rights and Duties, today sent this letter to the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. The text was released by the Association.
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- Monsieur Jean-Claude Juncker
- Président de la Commission Européenne
- president.juncker@ec.europa.eu
- Rue de la Loi / Wetstraat 200 – 1049 Bruxelles – Belgique
- Objet : Profanation du cimetière juif de Vilnius par les autorités lituaniennes utilisant pour cela des fonds de l’Union européenne.
- 22 Août 2015
Posted in Appeals to the European Commission on Piramónt, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Didier Bertin, France, Human Rights, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok)
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Motke Chabad Weighs In on Vilnius Debate
C E M E T E R I E S / P I R A M Ó N T / L I T V A K H U M O R
by Motke Chabad
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Our community has asked me to help them find a new chief rabbi, and to formulate the primary requirements specific to Vilna, as only Motke can. No problem.
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OUTSTANDING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
NEW ORTHODOX CHIEF RABBI OF VILNIUS AND LITHUANIA
MAJOR QUALIFICATION:
MUST BE A DEDICATED SUPPORTER OF A $25,000,000 CONVENTION CENTER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OLD JEWISH CEMETERY AND MUST PUT HIS SUPPORT IN WRITING UPON APPLICATION
Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Humor (Of Sorts), Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Motke Chabad, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, Politics of Memory
Tagged Chief rabbi of Lithuania, Jewish cemetery Snipiskes (Piramont), Litvak humor, Motke Chabad
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Grant Arthur Gochin in the Jerusalem Post on Memorials for Holocaust Perpetrator J. Noreika in Central Vilnius
Posted in Collaborators Glorified, Exotic Jewish Tourism, Human Rights, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory
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U.S. Author of Lithuanian Heritage Comments on “Cemetery Convention Center”
O P I N I O N / C E M E T E R I E S / P I R A M Ó N T
by Donna Druchunas
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Seriously, who wants to go to a convention on top of an old graveyard, Jewish or otherwise, anyway?
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Donna Druchunas is a Vermont based author of Lithuanian heritage. Her new book is Lithuanian Knitting: Continuing Traditions.
Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok)
Tagged Cemetery Congress Center in Vilnius, Cemetery Convention Center in Vilnius, Donna Druchunas, Snipiskes cemetery, Vilnius Jewish cemetery Piramont / Snipiskes
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Chairperson of Official Lithuanian Jewish Community Issues Statement After Sacking Chief Rabbi
D O C U M E N T S / C E M E T E R I E S / P I R A M Ó N T
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VILNIUS—Several hours after the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s website announced the effective dismissal of Chief Rabbi Chaim Burshtein (rapidly reported by JTA and in DH), the community chairperson issued the following statement, also on its website, focusing on the debate over the planned $25,000,000 convention center in Vilnius’s oldest Jewish cemetery, a project that has attracted considerable international opposition and press coverage, and has involved both political and financial intrigue. The text follows:
Posted in CPJCE (London), Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Faina Kukliansky, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok)
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Lithuania’s Chief Rabbi Fired Days After Public Statement on Old Jewish Cemetery
D O C U M E N T S / C E M E T E R I E S / P I R A M Ó N T
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VILNIUS—The following report appeared today on the website of the Jewish Community of Lithuania concerning Chief Rabbi Chaim Burshtein, who has held the position since March 2004. It comes several days after his public statement on the old Jewish cemetery, and following other disagreements with community head Faina Kukliansky, who recently posted statements on the subject. Defending History has attempted to provide fair representation to both community leaders (see Burshtein and Kukliansky sections), at a time when editorial policy is staunchly in agreement with the rabbi on the subject of the old Jewish cemetery, with personal malice toward none.
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Report by Vilnius Jewish Religious Community on August 14, 2015
We report that today, August 14, 2015, an extraordinary general meeting of the Vilnius Jewish Religious Community was held. The Vilnius Jewish Religious Community resolved that after the current contract with Chaim Burshtein ends, it will not be extended, and that Shmuel Yatom is to perform the function of rabbi temporarily, until a new rabbi is found.
Shmuel Levin
Vilnius Jewish Religious Community
Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok)
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Satmar Grand Rabbi and Rabbinical Court Call on Lithuanian Gov. to Abandon Convention Center in Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery
D O C U M E N T S / C E M E T E R I E S / P I R A M Ó N T
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BROOKLYN, NEW YORK—The high rabbinical court of the most populous Hasidic group in the world, Satmar, today released to the media the text of its judgment of 6 July 2015 calling on the Lithuanian government to abandon its multimillion dollar convention center project in the heart of Vilna’s old Jewish cemetery. The bilingual text, in rabbinic Hebrew and English, also calls on the American government to exert its influence to save the thousands of graves on the site from further desecration. The document was further signed, with an added note, by Satmar grand rabbi (der Sátmerer Rébe) Yekusiel Yehuda Teitelbaum on 10 July 2015.
“We were horrified to hear that the government of Lithuania intends to renovate an abandoned building in the heart of the ancient cemetery of Vilna, and turn it into a place of assemblage and entertainment; and invest a huge sum of money to make it into an attraction for the masses from their country and worldwide.”
— from the Satmar Rabbinic Court’s ruling
Posted in Appeals to the European Commission on Piramónt, CPJCE (London), Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Documents, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Politics of Memory
Tagged Lithuanian-Jewish relations, Piramont (Snipiskes) Jewish cemetery, Satmar-Litvak relations, Vilnius Jewish cemetery
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What Does the 27 May 2009 Cable from the US Embassy in Vilnius Tell Us About the CPJCE, Money and Secrecy?
D O C U M E N T S / C E M E T E R I E S / P I R A M Ó N T
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VILNIUS—The following is the text of a cable sent by the United States ambassador in Vilnius to Washington, on 27 May 2015, concerning the old Jewish cemetery at Piramont (Snipiskes). Though initially confidential, it enetered the public domain via publication by Wikileaks where the document is available at: http://cables.mrkva.eu/cable.php?id=208864.
SEE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT
Posted in "Good Will Foundation" (Jewish Restitution in Lithuania), CPJCE (London), Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok)
Tagged Benzion Shalom Eliezer Freshwater, Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe, CPJCE, Jewish cemetery + Piramont / Snipiskes, Jewish cemetery in Vilnius, Rabbi Herschel Gluck
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European Commission Redirects Cemetery Inquiry to Lith. Finance Ministry, Cites CPJCE’S “Close Cooperation”
D O C U M E N T S / C E M E T E R I E S / P I R A M Ó N T
VILNIUS—The following is the reply received to an inquiry concerning press reports that European Union funding of 13 million euros (around 14.5 million dollars at current exchange rates) would be sought as part of the new 22.8 million euro (= US 25.4 million dollar) budget for a convention and congress center in the heart of the historic Jewish cemetery at Piramont (Snipiskes). The current debate, entailing reports of high intrigue, has engendered a long paper trail and considerable international opposition to the project. A DH section is dedicated to the topic.
Posted in Appeals to the European Commission on Piramónt, CPJCE (London), Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, EU, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok)
Tagged Alice Richard (EU), Frans Timmermars, Jewish cemetery Piramont, Jewish cemetery Snipiskes, Vilnius Convention Center Project
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