News & Views

The Unwritten Biography of Jonas Žemaitis: A Tale of Twists and Turns

Posted on 6 June 2013 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Evaldas Balčiūnas

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The modern Republic of Lithuania has been creating a cult of the partisans. Statues are built to memorialize them. There are commemorative plaques and streets are named after them, as well as schools. One of the most prominent to be hallowed by the cult is Jonas Žemaitis, also called Vytautas, Luke, Matthew, the Silent and general as well as president. His biography is a tapestry of events and adventures. One could write an adventure novel about them, except that… Žemaitis isn’t necessarily a hero.

Posted in Bold Citizens Speak Out, Collaborators Glorified, Debates on the Postwar "Forest Brothers", Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Dr. Arūnas Bubnys and State Holocaust Revisionism in Lithuania, Evaldas Balčiūnas, Jonas Žemaitis, News & Views, Opinion, Poland, Politics of Memory, Vilnius's Genocide Center and the Genocide Museum it Manages | Comments Off

“ISTME” Conference Slated for Cracow in September is Funded under EU’s “Science and Technology”

Posted on 3 June 2013 by Defending History

Newest Word for Holocaust Revisionism in Eurospeak? “ISTME” (pronounced Is-it-me?) comes under “Science and Technology”

Is the EU Again being manipulated by “Double Genocide”? Are fine scholars again unwittingly instrumentalized for DG?

More red-equals-brown movement dissemination, now via “Science and Technology”? Orwellian concoctions to downgrade the Holocaust and stifle debate have included: “Reconciliation of European Histories”, “Platform of European Memory”, “principle of non-discrimination of victimhood” and now, under “European cooperation in science and technology” a possibly brand new “Euro-classic”: In Search of Transcultural Memory in Europe (ISTME)…

Posted in Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, EU, Events, Free Speech & Democracy, News & Views, Poland, Politics of Memory | Tagged COST - ISTME, Double Genocide Movement, In Search of Transcultural Memory in Europe (ISTME), Politics of Memory, Red-Brown movement | Comments Off

A Lively Conference in Riga

Posted on 28 May 2013 by Defending History

[updated 12 June 2013]

Was a goodwill opportunity squandered when the director general of the Vilnius based “red-brown” commission used his lecture time (at the Riga conference on Holocaust commemoration in post-Communist countries) for personal remarks (with inaccurate comments about the editor of Defending History)?

MULTIMEDIA RECORD OF EVENTS: VIDEO OF RONALDAS RAČINSKAS’S (28 MAY) LECTURE (in Russian) IN RESPONSE TO DOVID KATZ’S (27 MAY) LECTURE (PDF OF HIS PP; VIDEO PROVIDED BY THE CONFERENCE; PARTIAL IPHONE VIDEO [BY JOE KOREN] ).

UPDATES:

Edward Jacobs in the Huffington Post (31 May 2013)

More materials (including videos of the entire conference) posted by conference organizers; videos also on YouTube (12 June 2013)

In the meantime there has been no apology to the Vilnius Holocaust Survivor the state-sponsored commission called a liar on its website (in 2013), or to its own founding member Yitzhak Arad. Resignations on principle from the commission and its associated committees include Sir Martin Gilbert, Prof. Gershon Greenberg, Prof. Konrad Kwiet, and Prof. Dov Levin. The state-sponsored “International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania” continues to flaunt the Prague Declaration on its website, in both Lithuanian and English.

Rehabilitation of the Past as a Tool of Modern Politics

Posted on 27 May 2013 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Milan Chersonski

RIGA—The following is the authorized text, in the original Russian, of Milan Chersonski’s paper delivered today at the international conference on Holocaust Commemoration and Memorials in Post-Communist Countries. See also: Milan Chersonski section.

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Collaborators Glorified, In Russian, Lithuania, Milan Chersonski (1937-2021), News & Views, Opinion | Comments Off

Two Members of Lithuanian Parliament Pass Antigay Proposals on First Reading

Posted on 21 May 2013 by Defending History

The following new item appeared today in For LGBT Equality:

On 21 May 2013 the Lithuanian Parliament accepted the amendment to the Code of Administrative Violations by introducing administrative liability for “public denigration of constitutional moral values and of constitutional fundamentals of the family life, as well as organization of public events contravening public morality” (proposed by MP Petras Gražulis) and the amendment to the Law on the Fundamentals of Protection of the Rights of the Child stipulating that “every child has the natural right to a father and a mother, emanating from sex differences and mutual compatibility between motherhood and fatherhood” (proposed my MP Jonas Rimantas Dagys) for the parliamentary deliberation.

Posted in LGBTQ Equal Rights, News & Views | Comments Off

British Updates

Posted on 15 May 2013 by Defending History

British Foreign Office on Latvia’s National Waffen SS Fest:

UK’S MINISTER FOR EUROPE ENTERS THE FRAY

MONICA LOWENBERG IN THE LONDON JEWISH NEWS

ANNA SHEINMAN IN THE JEWISH CHRONICLE

BACKGROUND: DAVID CESARANI IN THE GUARDIAN

Posted in Collaborators Glorified, Latvia, Monica Lowenberg, News & Views, Politics of Memory, United Kingdom | Tagged David Lidington, Michal Kaminski, Waffen SS (Latvia) | Comments Off

Baltic Times: Hitting a New Low with “Paid Advertisement” Advocating Migration of Latvia’s Russian Speakers?

Posted on 13 May 2013 by Defending History

O P I N I O N / M E D I A W A T C H

The half-page article on the “Business” page of the Baltic Times (dated 4-17 April 2013 but widely available this week here in Vilnius) carries at its end the words “This is a paid advertisement.”

But these words do not succeed in mitigating the moral responsibility of the increasingly ultranationalist, far-right newspaper in disseminating hate material against any minority, least of all of in an EU / NATO member state. The inherent equality of peoples and their races and languages and national and personal identities are an inseparable component of what the European Union and NATO are all about.

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, EU, Free Speech & Democracy, Human Rights, Latvia, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, Racism, Russian Speakers' Personal Status | Comments Off

The Neo-Nazis Hate the Feminists, Too

Posted on 13 May 2013 by Defending History

Protesters against ultranationalist groups must face police and prosecutors

O P I N I O N

by Lina Žigelytė

Lina Žigelytė

A spectre is haunting Lithuania — the spectre of feminism. All the powers of far-right Lithuania (this includes also far-rightists who know how to present themselves as center-right) have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: puritans and watchful police officers, bloggers and self-described patriots.

The word “feminist” has become the most recent label to define the enemy of the state. This is because grassroots strategies — theatrical protests, DIY media, art projects, and solidarity with social minorities — are rapidly changing the landscape of local feminism. What is important, these strategies also invigorate the broader fight against neo-Nazism.

Posted in EU, Film, Human Rights, LGBTQ Equal Rights, Lina Žigelytė, News & Views, Opinion, Symbology, Women's Rights | Comments Off

Lithuanian Government’s 2013 Vilna Ghetto PR Jamboree

Posted on 10 May 2013 by Defending History

Vilna Ghetto is Back in Focus

But Will “Vilna Ghetto Fest” Include Public Apologies to Defamed Vilna (and Kovno) Ghetto Anti-Nazi Jewish Partisan Heroes? Invitations to Come Join the Party?

UPDATES:

1. The Secret “Big-Bucks Vilna Ghetto Disneyland Theme Park” Project (minus the Jewish community, minus apologies to the Partisans of Vilna, minus removals of memorials to local Holocaust perpetrators).

2. Renewed International Petition.

3. Ghetto survivors who joined the anti-Nazi resistance have been criminalized.

4. Government delegation in South Africa trying to pry Disneyland “investment” from unsuspecting South African Jews.

SEVEN SIMPLE SOLUTIONS

Posted in "Jewish" Events as Cover?, Double Games, Dr. Rokhl (Rachel) Margolis (1921-2015), Events, Exotic Jewish Tourism, Identity Theft of Litvak Heritage, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Politics of Memory, South Africa | Comments Off

Vilnius Jewish Community Honors Veterans of the War Against Hitler

Posted on 9 May 2013 by Defending History

Jewish Community of Lithuania Honors Veterans of the War Against Hitler

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Jewish children lead each of the surviving Jewish veterans of World War II to the rapturous welcome of a huge crowd at the Jewish Community of Lithuania’s headquarters in central Vilnius.

Posted in News & Views | Comments Off

Estonian Fascist Admirers Preparing Midsummer Waffen SS Fest

Posted on 9 May 2013 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Leena Hietanen

Estonian ultranationalists traditionally celebrate Hitler’s victory on the Sinimae Hillls in eastern Estonia annually at the end of July. This year is no exception. The festivities are slated to start on the 27^th of July at Sinimae.

As usual, the Estonian government is quietly giving its blessing to the proceedings. Old Estonian Waffen SS Legionaries gather on the hills to commemorate their participation on the Second World War on the side of Nazi Germany. In the battles of Sinimae Hills during the spring and summer of 1944 Estonian Waffen SS soldiers together with their fellow pro-Nazi combatants from Scandinavia, Belgium, Holland and Germany halted the progress of the Allied/Soviet front for half a year in the Eastern part of Estonia postponing the collapse of Nazi-Germany and condemning untold civilians to ongoing Nazi atrocities. Almost half of a million Hungarian Jews lost their lives in Auschwitz thanks to Estonian Legionaries. They would have survived had the Soviet advance not been tied up the Germans’ prime allies among the Estonian fascists.Continue reading

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Celebrations of Fascism, Collaborators Glorified, Estonia, Human Rights, Leena Hietanen, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory | Comments Off

The Homophobic Track Record of MEP Vytautas Landsbergis

Posted on 6 May 2013 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Anna Shepherd

Lithuanian conservative politician, former Head of the Lithuanian Parliament and current EPP Member of the European Parliament Vytautas Landsbergis has consistently expressed homophobic views and spoken out against initiatives to strengthen LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) rights in the European community, and particularly in Lithuania itself.

SEE ALSO:

LANDSBERGIS’S TRACK RECORD ON JEWISH ISSUES

ON THE GLORIFICATION OF LOCAL NAZI COLLABORATORS

Landsbergis expressed his views about LGBT rights unambiguously in his outlandish claim in 2010 that paedophilia is connected to homosexuality. This claim was made at a parliamentary hearing on the sexual abuse on children organised in the European Parliament. According to Landsbergis, children should be protected from “homosexual propaganda” and “homophilic [sic] paedophilia”. Landsbergis’ claims were condemned by Cecilia Malmström, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs; and the European Parliament’s Intergroup for LGBT Rights, which stated that it condemns paedophilia unreservedly, as do all recognized LGBT organizations worldwide.

Posted in Anna Shepherd, EU, Human Rights, LGBTQ Equal Rights, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion | Tagged LGBT Rights, Vytautas Landsbergis & Gay Rights | Comments Off

Zeppelinus Images Revealed as Media Claims he is a Government Official

Posted on 5 May 2013 by Defending History

Three Major Lithuanian Sites Claim that Neo-Nazi Internet Figure “Zeppelinus,” a Hater of Poles, Jews, Roma, Russians, Blacks and Gays is actually…

Director of the Economic Ministry’s Human Resources Dept and the Government’s Rep on the “Tripartite Council”

◊

Samples of Zeppelinus’s hate images on the internet:

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, EU, Human Rights, LGBTQ Equal Rights, Media Watch, News & Views, Racism, Russian Speakers' Personal Status | Tagged Antisemitism in Lithuania, Zeppelinus | Comments Off

On the Preservation of Lithuania’s Old Jewish Cemeteries

Posted on 5 May 2013 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Joseph Levinson

Joseph Levinson (Josifas Levinsonas) in Vilnius, 2013. Courtesy of the Levinson family.

On April 25th 2013 an event dedicated to the recording, maintenance and preservation of old Jewish cemeteries in Lithuania was held at the Vilnius premises of the Lithuanian Jewish Community. It was organized by the NGO “Maceva” and chaired by one of the NGO’s founders and leading figures, himself a resident of Brussels.

The April 25th evening in Vilnius went “smoothly” until a veteran member of the Jewish Community politely pointed out that much of the work that the NGO was taking credit for and presented as a miracle dropped from the heavens had in fact been carried out many years earlier by the very Jewish Community in whose premises the event was held. There was a moment of shock when the event’s chairman reacted by saying “There are different kinds of Jews!” instead of thanking the senior member of our community for his well-intentioned, polite and factual corrective remarks from the floor.

Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Joseph Levinson, News & Views, Opinion | Tagged Joseph Levinson, Maceva | Comments Off

Swastikas From Latvia in Center of Šiauliai (Shavl), Lithuania, as Police Look On

Posted on 4 May 2013 by Defending History

Since 2010, when a Lithuanian court proclaimed public swastikas legal and included in its ruling the “historical wisdom” that it only a harmless ancient Baltic symbol, swastikas have proliferated at public events sponsored by the far right, with police looking on listlessly. Most painfully for the dwindling numbers of Holocaust survivors here and abroad, swastikas and other fascist symbols, along with glorification of local Holocaust collaborators, have figured in sanctioned independence day marches in Kaunas on February 16th each year, and in the capital city Vilnius, each March 11th.

In 2012, the United Nations’ Human Rights Committee commented publicly.

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Bloomington-Borns Program Manipulated?, Events, In the Era of Yivo's 100th, Latvia, News & Views, Swastikas in Lithuania, Symbology | Comments Off

Wikipedia Entry for Seventy Years Declaration Rapidly Sabotaged

Posted on 2 May 2013 by Defending History

The recently entered Wikipedia entry on the Seventy Years Declaration has been rapidly distorted by the usual right-wing Baltic nationalism operatives who use the free on-line encyclopedia to foster the misimpression that Prague Declaration politics are “neutral” while its opponents who oppose glorification of Nazism in Eastern Europe are “left wing.” Moreover numerous inaccuracies and impertinent points have been introduced in an obvious attempt to render the entry untenable and have it removed, while the far-right’s Prague Declaration politics continue to be propagated on Wikipedia with the energy of a full-time PR team.

EARLIER VERSION OF WIKIPEDIA ENTRY

AFTER SABOTAGE BY THE FAR RIGHT’S WIKI SQUAD

Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Collaborators Glorified, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, News & Views, Politics of Memory | Comments Off

Reports from Lithuanian Media Claim that Neo-Nazi “Zeppelinus” is Unmasked as — A Government Official!

Posted on 2 May 2013 by Defending History

Lrytas.lt today published an article by Martynas Čerkauskas, “Lithuanian Economics Ministry Accused of Nationalism” which follows this week’s exposés in Antifa.lt, Baltas.lt, and Kauno Žinios, which all imply or claim that the neo-Nazi internet “hero” who calls himself “Zeppelinus” is actually director of the Economic Ministry’s Expansion of Human Resources Department and a member of the Tripartite Council (labor, business and government), where he is the chief representative of the government’s interests.

UPDATE OF 15 JUNE 2013: See our Open Letter to the new economy minister with appendix of “Zeppelinus” images including English translations of text.

A sampling of images attributed to “Zeppelinus” is provided here.

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Collaborators Glorified, EU, Human Rights, LGBTQ Equal Rights, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Racism | Comments Off

Facebook Discussion of 23-29 April 2013 on the May 2013 Global Forum in Jerusalem

Posted on 29 April 2013 by Defending History

A paste-in of the Facebook discussion to date on the upcoming Global Forum conferences in Jerusalem is available at:

https://defendinghistory.com/facebook-discussion-on-2013-global-forum-23-29-april-2013.

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Efraim Zuroff, Israel, Monica Lowenberg, News & Views, Opinion | Comments Off

“Rewriting History” on the Road in the USA

Posted on 28 April 2013 by Defending History

Rewriting History: New Documentary Film on the Shocking New Holocaust Revisionism in Eastern Europe

REVIEWS OF REWRITING HISTORY

Film’s website ◊ Sign the Seventy Years Declaration ◊ Donate HERE

◊

April 28th 2013 in LA

Continue reading

Posted in Arts, Danny Ben-Moshe, Events, Film, Lithuania, News & Views, Politics of Memory, United States | Comments Off

Lithuanian Authorities Continue to Play Games with this Summer’s Baltic Pride, Bringing Potential Ridicule to Launch of EU Presidency

Posted on 25 April 2013 by Defending History

The following news report appeared today in For LGBT Equality:

Forthcoming EU Presidency Capital Persistent in Banning Baltic Pride March on Central Avenue

On 24 April 2013 Vilnius authorities appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania, indicating that, despite the judgment by the first instance court, the municipal authorities have the right to propose a location for a public assembly other than that demanded by the organizers. “The law does not provide an organizer with the right to choose the location for a gathering unconditionally,” the municipality claims in its statement.

Posted in EU, Events, LGBTQ Equal Rights, News & Views | Comments Off

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O P I N I O N

by Evaldas Balčiūnas

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Newest Word for Holocaust Revisionism in Eurospeak? “ISTME” (pronounced Is-it-me?) comes under “Science and Technology”

Is the EU Again being manipulated by “Double Genocide”? Are fine scholars again unwittingly instrumentalized for DG?

[updated 12 June 2013]

MULTIMEDIA RECORD OF EVENTS: VIDEO OF RONALDAS RAČINSKAS’S (28 MAY) LECTURE (in Russian) IN RESPONSE TO DOVID KATZ’S (27 MAY) LECTURE (PDF OF HIS PP; VIDEO PROVIDED BY THE CONFERENCE; PARTIAL IPHONE VIDEO [BY JOE KOREN] ).

UPDATES:

Edward Jacobs in the Huffington Post (31 May 2013)

More materials (including videos of the entire conference) posted by conference organizers; videos also on YouTube (12 June 2013)

RELATED:

O P I N I O N

by Milan Chersonski

British Foreign Office on Latvia’s National Waffen SS Fest:

O P I N I O N / M E D I A W A T C H

Protesters against ultranationalist groups must face police and prosecutors

O P I N I O N

by Lina Žigelytė

Vilna Ghetto is Back in Focus

But Will “Vilna Ghetto Fest” Include Public Apologies to Defamed Vilna (and Kovno) Ghetto Anti-Nazi Jewish Partisan Heroes? Invitations to Come Join the Party?

UPDATES:

1. The Secret “Big-Bucks Vilna Ghetto Disneyland Theme Park” Project (minus the Jewish community, minus apologies to the Partisans of Vilna, minus removals of memorials to local Holocaust perpetrators).

2. Renewed International Petition.

3. Ghetto survivors who joined the anti-Nazi resistance have been criminalized.

4. Government delegation in South Africa trying to pry Disneyland “investment” from unsuspecting South African Jews.

Jewish Community of Lithuania Honors Veterans of the War Against Hitler

O P I N I O N

by Leena Hietanen

O P I N I O N

by Anna Shepherd

SEE ALSO:

Samples of Zeppelinus’s hate images on the internet:

O P I N I O N

by Joseph Levinson

UPDATE OF 15 JUNE 2013: See our Open Letter to the new economy minister with appendix of “Zeppelinus” images including English translations of text.

Rewriting History: New Documentary Film on the Shocking New Holocaust Revisionism in Eastern Europe

◊

April 28th 2013 in LA

Forthcoming EU Presidency Capital Persistent in Banning Baltic Pride March on Central Avenue

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