Opinion

The “Double Genocide” Backdrop to Current Disarray of the Red-Brown “Platform”

Posted on 15 January 2014 by Defending History

This week has seen a further public and, in most assessments, vitriolic attack, from the president of the (Prague-based) “Platform of European Memory and Conscience,” the European Union financed body responsible for “enacting” the 2008 Prague Declaration, against one of its own founding constituent members, the (Prague-based) “Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.”

Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, EU, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Prague "Platform", Sweden, The Czech Republic | Tagged 2008 Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism, Double Genocide, Genocide Center in Vilnius, Platform of European Memory and Conscience, Prague Platform + Prague Institute, Prague Platform on former communists | Comments Off

Giedrius Grabauskas on Freedom of Speech

Posted on 8 January 2014 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

Note: For our readers’ interest, we provide an English translation (by Geoff Vasil) of Giedrius Grabauskas’s article, “Kodel paminama žodžio laisvė?” that appeared on 6 January 2014 in Akcentai.info at: http://www.akcentai.info/271-kodel-paminama-zodzio-laisve.html.

As in all signed articles, the opinions are those of the author.

The final part of the opinion piece, starting here, deals with issues that Defending History focuses in on, including the glorification of Holocaust collaborators, campaigns from high places against those who dissent, and the related implications for human rights and democracy in NATO and the EU.

Posted in Bold Citizens Speak Out, Collaborators Glorified, EU, Free Speech & Democracy, Human Rights, News & Views, Opinion | Tagged Giedrius Grabauskas-Karoblis, human rights in Lithuania, Lithuania | Comments Off

Artists Knew, Allied Leaders Kept Silent

Posted on 6 January 2014 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

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

When I was in New York last year, I saw an extraordinary exhibition of paintings by Marc Chagall, “War, Exile and Love” at the Jewish Museum. The focus was on the works he produced during his years of exile in the United States. This exhibition, well attended, shed an interesting light on what the artist knew about the horrific events unfolding in Europe at the time of his sojourn in the United States.

Posted in Arts, History, Human Rights, Museums, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Roland Binet, United Kingdom, United States | Tagged Jan Karski, Roland Binet, Szmul Zygielbojm, What did the Allies know about the Holocaust? | Comments Off

Žilvinas Butkus (Vilnius) and the Association of Lithuanian Jews (Tel Aviv) Release August 2009 Document

Posted on 3 January 2014 by Defending History

D O C U M E N T S

Editor’s note: By agreement of Žilvinas Butkus, author of the following 12 August 2009 email, and its recipient, the Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel, the document is now published. Note that the draft law appended at the end of the document was adapted by the parliament and signed by the parliament in revised form in June 2010. The bill’s framers had made it clear that promoting Double Genocide in Europe lay close to the heart of this legislative initiative.

August 12, 2009

Hello!

Posted in Bold Citizens Speak Out, Collaborators Glorified, Documents, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Free Speech & Democracy, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion | Comments Off

Efraim Zuroff Interviewed in Belgrade, Serbia by Aleksandar Roknić

Posted on 1 January 2014 by Defending History

I N T E R V I E W

**Efraim Zuroff is interviewed in Belgrade by Aleksandar Roknić. Translation from Danas, 28 December 2013, by Vesna Milosevic.**

Efraim Zuroff: World War II History is Being Rewritten

Dr. Efraim Zuroff, director of the the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel office

Even if I were Superman I wouldn’t be able to bring to justice all remaining Nazis. Of course not. It is impossible. Nobody can do it. But if you ask me what is better — a bit of justice or injustice, I would always say — a bit of justice. You know, to me it is clear that even when the last Nazi dies, a battle is not over, because it begins over and over again.

And it is a battle with history which is more important than people may think and understand. Facing the history with sincerity is the best way to build a better future, says Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, while answering a question on whether he thinks that he would be able to bring to justice all remaining Nazis.

Posted in Croatia, Efraim Zuroff, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory | Tagged Efraim Zuroff, Holocaust in Eastern Europe, Holocaust in Lithuania, Serbia + Holocaust | Comments Off

A Love Story

Posted on 24 December 2013 by Defending History

R E P L Y / O P I N I O N

by Pinchos Fridberg

NOTE: Translated from the Russian by Ludmilla Makadonskaya (Grodno). In the event of any matter arising or doubt, the Russian original is alone authoritative.

BNS (Baltic News Service), Tuesday, November 19, 2013, 15:04:

Social Security Ministry: there is no money for possible pensions for [Holocaust-era] Rescuers of Jews.

Continue reading

Posted in Double Games, Lithuania, News & Views, Opinion, Pinchos Fridberg, Politics of Memory | Tagged Holocaust in Lithuania, Pinchos Fridberg, Righteous Among the Nations (Lithuania) | Comments Off

Raising Cain on the Resurrection of Abel

Posted on 22 December 2013 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Geoff Vasil

And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Genesis 3:13

And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. Genesis 4:10

Driving east out of Rokiškis, fields give way to forest, and the lake country leads on to strange and wild hills in an abandoned quarter of the country bordering Latvia. The lake country is beautiful, almost alpine in its effect, and spotted with small settlements and villages of varying sizes, some even boasting gas stations and schools.

Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", Arts, Christian-Jewish Issues, Collaborators Glorified, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, Geoff Vasil, Lithuania, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Rákishok (Rokiškis), Symbology | Tagged Genocide Center in Vilnius, Geoff Vasil, Lithuania, Obeliai | Comments Off

Facebook Discussion (3 to 11 Dec. 2013) on a Nov. 2013 University of Toronto Event

Posted on 19 December 2013 by Defending History

Dovid Katz shared a link.

December 3 ·

Friends in TORONTO and CANADA: Some links relating to the recent “Holocaust in Lithuania” symposium at the University of Toronto: https://defendinghistory.com/summary-coverage-of-toronto-24-nov-2013-symposium-on-the-holocaust-in-lithuania/61406 Toronto | DefendingHistory.com defendinghistory.com

Posted in "Jewish" Events as Cover?, "Red-Brown Commission", Canada, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory | Tagged Christoph Dieckmann, Christoph Dieckmann + Holocaust in Lithuania, Fern Smiley, Holocaust Studies in Toronto, International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, Sara Ginaite | Comments Off

Yiddish Roulette? One Resigns in Bloomington, Another Rides In from Buffalo

Posted on 19 December 2013 by Defending History

Sources in Bloomington, Indiana and Vilnius, Lithuania, confirmed this week that Dr. Daniel R. Berg, an eminent physician in the greater Bloomington area, has resigned from the rump “Board of Friends” of Sarunas Liekis’s “Vilnius Yiddish Institute” (VYI). The institute’s website abruptly removed Dr. Berg’s name and photograph from the board. No letter of resignation was released to the media, but a source close to the doctor said he was dismayed to see the institute’s resources being dedicated to a campaign of defamation against its own former Yiddish professor and founder, whose name and contributions have been deleted from the historic faculty page, in the classic Soviet style of revising history.

Posted in "Jewish" Events as Cover?, Bloomington-Borns Program Manipulated?, Double Games, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Richard Maullin, United States, Vilnius Yiddish Institute, Yiddish Affairs | Tagged AHEYM, Bloomington, Borns Jewish Studies Program at Bloomington, collector's item Yiddish t-shirt, Dan Opatoshu, Dov-Ber Kerler (Boris Karloff), Dr. Daniel Berg (Bloomington, Indiana University, Jerold Frakes + Jerusalem of Lithuania (Vilna), Jerold Frakes + Vilnius Yiddish Institute, Liekis + Yiddish institute, Richard Maullin, Sarunas Liekis, Sarunas Liekis + Yiddish institute, Steven Spielberg + Holocaust, Vilnius Yiddish Institute, Vilnius Yiddish Summer Program, Yiddish at Borns Jewish Studies Program, Yiddish at Buffalo | Comments Off

Wiesenthal Center’s Israel Office Releases 2007 Correspondence with LA Board Chief of Vilnius Yiddish Institute

Posted on 6 December 2013 by Defending History

Editor’s note: The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel office today released for the record the following September 2007 email exchange with the director of the Los Angeles based “Friends of the Vilnius Yiddish Institute” (VYI).

Posted in Documents, Efraim Zuroff, News & Views, Opinion, Richard Maullin, United States, Vilnius Yiddish Institute, Yiddish Affairs | Tagged Darius Udrys, Efraim Zuroff, Grant Gochin, Holocaust in Lithuania, Richard Maullin, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Steven Spielberg + Hoocaust in Lithuania, Vilnius Yiddish Institute | Comments Off

An Open Letter to Steve Linde, Editor-in-Chief of the Jerusalem Post

Posted on 5 December 2013 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Olga Zabludoff

Editor’s note: This and other responses were first offered to the Jerusalem Post for publication.

The Lithuanian government is pouring ever more resources and doing an ever better job with its PR campaign to turn Litvaks (Jews of Lithuanian origin) into virtual PR agents who now go further than they do themselves: painting a picture of the New Jewish Paradise in Lithuania without even mentioning the existence of painful current issues. Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief Steve Linde no doubt meant only the best with his Chapter-of-Psalms, and will, I feel confident, now be happy to give the issues some rounded airing.

Posted in Collaborators Glorified, Double Games, Identity Theft of Litvak Heritage, Israel, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Media Watch, News & Views, Olga Zabludoff, Opinion, Politics of Memory, South Africa | Tagged Brothers Zingeris (Lithuania), Holocaust in Lihuania, Jerusalem Post + Lithuania, Olga Zabludoff, South Africans + Lithuania, Steve Linde | Comments Off

Europe: A Renewal of Extremism?

Posted on 4 December 2013 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Didier Bertin

The French original of this article appeared in the December 2013 issue of Cahiers Bernard Lazare. This adapted English translation appears with the authorization of the author and permission of Cahiers Bernard Lazare.

New names: VB, FPÖ , FN , PVV. new faces, but underlying factors and what they refer to remain unchanged. It is sometimes called NFR (new far right); the NFR has not done anything new and reflects deeply rooted convictions transmitted from generation to generation on soil that is fertile for them: Europe. There are extremists in the left wing and among the Greens but in case of crisis the far right attracts a significant number of people from many social classes including the workers. We will thus focus our analysis on extremism on the right wing and also — on European governments.

Posted in Didier Bertin, EU, Human Rights, News & Views, Opinion | Comments Off

A Decision to Not (!) Regard Holocaust Rescuers as Heroes of the Nation

Posted on 4 December 2013 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Evaldas Balčiūnas

Authorized translation from Lithuanian by Geoff Vasil

This week the Lithuanian government resolved not to grant so-called hero’s pensions to surviving rescuers of Jews.

The decision is an odd one and raises doubts concerning the values to which this government claims to adhere. Although truth be told, this isn’t the first instance of unseemly conduct showing disrespect to hundreds of thousands of people murdered just because they were Jewish and towards those Lithuanians who attempted to save those scheduled for execution.

Posted in Evaldas Balčiūnas, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory | Comments Off

“Higher Mathematics” of the Lithuanian Holocaust

Posted on 1 December 2013 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Pinchos Fridberg

NOTE: This English version of a recent piece by Professor Pinchos Fridberg (of Vilnius), translated by Lumilla Makedonskaya (of Grodno), is for our readers’ information. In the case of any doubt or matter arising, the original Russian text alone is authoritative.

Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", Lithuania, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, Pinchos Fridberg, Vilnius's Genocide Center and the Genocide Museum it Manages | Comments Off

Monica Lowenberg Releases Text of Letter to British ORT on Latest Lithuanian Embassy Sponsored “Litvak Do” in London

Posted on 27 November 2013 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Monica Lowenberg

Monica Lowenberg’s office has released for publication the following public letter sent to British ORT.

British ORT, FAO The Chief Executive, Mr. Dan Green

25 November 2013

Dear Mr. Green,

It is with deep regret that my 90 year old father, Ernest Lowenberg, former Berlin ORT pupil and I write to you today.

Posted in "Jewish" Events as Cover?, Collaborators Glorified, Documents, Double Games, EU, Events, Identity Theft of Litvak Heritage, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Monica Lowenberg, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, United Kingdom, World Jewish Congress (WJC) and ORT | Tagged British ORT, Egidijus Aleksandravicius, Lionidas Donskis, Lithuanian Embassy in London, Litvaks, Monica Lowenberg, University College London (UCL), Vytautas Magnus University, Westminster Synagogue | Comments Off

Latvian State Dance Troupe Displays Nazi Swastika

Posted on 24 November 2013 by Defending History

R E P O R T / O P I N I O N

by Graeme Atkinson (Hope Not Hate) and Monica Lowenberg (DefendingHistory.com)

Source: HOPE not hate/DefendingHistory.com Sunday, 24 November 2013.

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Arts, Celebrations of Fascism, Human Rights, Latvia, Monica Lowenberg, News & Views, Opinion, Racism | Comments Off

Jerusalem Post, Again, Fails to Post Dissenting Comments on a “Lithuania Ecstasy” Story

Posted on 22 November 2013 by Defending History

M e d i a W a t c h / O p i n i o n

Readers on several continents again report to Defending History that the Jerusalem Post has failed to post perfectly polite comments to yet another ecstatic ode to issueless Lithuanian-Jewish love. This time it’s the story “Growing Lithuanian Business Ties Beget Political Support” which reported on the recent visit to Israel of the Lithuanian Minister for the Economy Evaldas Gustas.

The rejected comments pointed out that a senior specialist employed at his ministry was exposed last spring as Lithuania’s most hateful internet blogger, responsible for a series of images disparaging to Jews, Blacks, Gays, and to the history of the Holocaust in Lithuania (sampling of images here). Our Open Letter to the minister essentially asks why the hateful top official is still in office. Is such a question taboo for a major English language daily in Israel?

Posted in Citizenship, Double Games, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, Israel, Litvak Affairs, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, South Africa | Tagged Jerusalem Post's coverage of Lithuania, Lithuanian-Jewish relations | Comments Off

Lithuanian State Language Commission Turns Down Jewish Community’s Suggestion for a Spelling Rule that “Holocaust” Be Spelled with a Capital “H”

Posted on 21 November 2013 by Defending History

VILNIUS—Defending History today obtained from local sources a copy of the official statement of the Lithuanian State Language Commission concerning the spelling, in Lithuanian, of the word for Holocaust, usually Holokaustas.

For some it will sound astounding that in the country with the highest percentage of Jews killed (96.4%) in Holocaust era Europe, where a massive state effort has been underway to promote “Double Genocide” and the “Prague Declaration,” a simple suggestion from the tiny remnant Jewish community that Holocaust be spelled with a capital letter (denoting its status as a unique event in history) has drawn a tortured, convoluted reply from the state language commission, one that seems to wittingly confound the capitalization question with the issue of whether holocausts strike far and wide, like hurricanes.

Posted in Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Lithuania, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Symbology | Comments Off

Street Names Honoring Holocaust Collaborators

Posted on 20 November 2013 by Defending History

Text of a Letter to the Editor in today’s International New York Times:

Lithuania’s Holocaust debate

Regarding “Lithuania’s unloved sentinels” (News, Nov. 13): James Kanter admirably sums up the pros and cons of retaining in central Vilnius “the last major monuments on public display here that still trumpet Communism,” namely a set of statues on Green Bridge. Although he mentions that there is “now little trace of a once thriving Jewish community obliterated in the Holocaust,” he neglects to mention the street names, museum exhibits, public plaques and more that honor local Holocaust collaborators and perpetrators (on the grounds that they were “also” anti-Soviet). The lively debate raging here shouldn’t be kept from Western eyes.

Dovid Katz, Vilnius, Lithuania

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

Vilnius Genocide Center Releases a New Graywash on the Vilna Ghetto

Posted on 19 November 2013 by Defending History

B O O K S / O P I N I O N

by Dovid Katz

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The unfortunate and wasteful campaign of Holocaust obfuscation waged by certain East European state institutions continues apace. The level of investment continues to strike outsiders as puzzling, given current economic and cultural issues and the younger population’s clear focus on the future and a better life for all in the new and multicultural European Union. Here in Lithuania, the first victims of the government’s (rather Soviet-style) “genocide industry” are the hard-working people of the country who deserve more judicious disbursement of their nation’s resources. The state-sponsored Genocide Center has just released three simultaneous editions (English, Lithuanian and Russian) of a new book on the Vilna Ghetto by historian Arūnas Bubnys, its own “director of the Genocide and Resistance Research Department.”

Dr. Bubnys is also a member of the state-sponsored “International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania” (known for short as the “red-brown commission”). He was one of a minority of members of the Commission who refused to sign the (in the opinion of some, inadequate) letter of 14 October 2013 to Dr. Yitzhak Arad.

Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", Books, Double Games, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Dovid Katz, Dr. Arūnas Bubnys and State Holocaust Revisionism in Lithuania, Dr. Rokhl (Rachel) Margolis (1921-2015), EU, History, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Poland, Politics of Memory, Ponár (Ponary, Paneriai), Vilnius's Genocide Center and the Genocide Museum it Manages | Tagged Arunas Bubnys, Genocide Center Vilnius, Holocaust Obfuscation, International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, Lithuania, Vilna Ghetto, Vilnius, Yitzhak Arad | Comments Off

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Opinion

O P I N I O N

O P I N I O N

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

D O C U M E N T S

I N T E R V I E W

Efraim Zuroff is interviewed in Belgrade by Aleksandar Roknić. Translation from Danas, 28 December 2013, by Vesna Milosevic.

Efraim Zuroff: World War II History is Being Rewritten

R E P L Y / O P I N I O N

by Pinchos Fridberg

NOTE: Translated from the Russian by Ludmilla Makadonskaya (Grodno). In the event of any matter arising or doubt, the Russian original is alone authoritative.

O P I N I O N

by Geoff Vasil

Dovid Katz shared a link.

O P I N I O N

by Olga Zabludoff

Editor’s note: This and other responses were first offered to the Jerusalem Post for publication.

O P I N I O N

by Didier Bertin

O P I N I O N

by Evaldas Balčiūnas

O P I N I O N

by Pinchos Fridberg

O P I N I O N

by Monica Lowenberg

R E P O R T / O P I N I O N

by Graeme Atkinson (Hope Not Hate) and Monica Lowenberg (DefendingHistory.com)

Source: HOPE not hate/DefendingHistory.com Sunday, 24 November 2013.

M e d i a W a t c h / O p i n i o n

B O O K S / O P I N I O N

by Dovid Katz

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

**Efraim Zuroff is interviewed in Belgrade by Aleksandar Roknić. Translation from Danas, 28 December 2013, by Vesna Milosevic.**