Politics of Memory

Is Tom Lantos’s Widow on Hungarian Government’s List of “Useful Foreigners”?

Posted on 2 February 2014 by Defending History

The Hungarian government, like others in Eastern Europe, is enlisting well-intentioned Western naifs in its plans to mobilize Holocaust commemoration itself as part of the East European revisionist Double Genocide movement. The effort seeks to downgrade the Holocaust, downplay local collaboration and participation, and to cover tracks with sophisticated revisionism. Along the way, memberships in august bodies, prizes, awards and junkets are generously offered to select foreigners. The efforts by the Lithuanian government have been in the forefront of the tendency.

Posted in Double Games, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, Hungary, News & Views, Politics of Memory, United Nations | Tagged Annette Lantos, Holocaust in Hungary, Hungarian Spectrum, Mária Vásárhely, Tom Lantos | Comments Off

Swedish Film Director Speaks Out on the Lithuanian Holocaust, Sort of, a Little Bit

Posted on 1 February 2014 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Geoff Vasil

Jonas Öhman is a Swede who has been coming to Lithuania and living here on and off from almost the beginning of modern independence in the 1990-1991 period. During that time he has produced a number of films, only one of which appears to his credit on the internet film database imdb.com, but all of which deal more or less with a mythologized version of the history of Lithuanian anti-Soviet partisans.

Posted in Arts, Film, Geoff Vasil, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Sweden | Tagged Double Genocide, Geoff Vasil, Holocaust in Lithuania, Jonas Öhman | Comments Off

Kaunas, Vilnius, Riga: Planned 2014 Neo-Nazi Marches (Summary Coverage to 26 Jan. 2014)

Posted on 26 January 2014 by Defending History

Kaunas, February 16th; Vilnius, March 11th; Riga, March 16th:

Will Lithuania’s President and Prime Minister Speak Out to Stop City-Centers on Independence Days Being Gifted to Neo-Nazis Again to Glorify the Holocaust’s Local Collaborators?

Last year, the president, prime minister and mayor failed to rise to the occasion of the neo-Nazi marches

Zabludoff’s Petition Nears the 3,000 Mark

First Stop — Kaunas on February 16th

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Celebrations of Fascism, Collaborators Glorified, EU, Events, Human Rights, Kaunas, Latvia, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Neo-Nazi & Fascist Marches, News & Views, Politics of Memory, Riga's Waffen SS Marches, Vilnius | Tagged Ambrazevicius Brazaitis, Antisemitism in Lithuania, February 16th neo-Nazi march, Holocaust in Lithuania, Neo-Nazi marches in Vilnius and Kaunas | Comments Off

Summary Coverage on Upcoming “Baltic March Season”

Posted on 24 January 2014 by Defending History

2014 Winter Nazi Marching Season in the Baltics?

Kaunas, February 16th; Vilnius, March 11th; Riga, March 16th:

Will Lithuania’s President and Prime Minister Speak Out to Stop City-Centers on Independence Days Being Gifted to Neo-Nazis Again to Glorify the Holocaust’s Local Collaborators?

Last year, the president, prime minister and mayor failed to rise to the occasion of the neo-Nazi marches

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Celebrations of Fascism, EU, Events, Human Rights, Neo-Nazi & Fascist Marches, News & Views, Politics of Memory, Riga's Waffen SS Marches, Vilnius | Comments Off

Double Genocide Movement’s “Prague Process” is Foundering — In Prague

Posted on 24 January 2014 by Defending History

The 2008 Prague Declaration was followed by the EU’s controversial establishment of the 2011 “Prague Platform” which has been a major disseminator of Double Genocide political and academic products intended to appear neutral rather than of the East European far right (see Double Genocide section for examples over the years). Internally, the movement has been torn by strife between the “witch hunters” who want to exclude from the Double Genocide movement (known by any number of Eurisms, e.g. “equal evaluation of totalitarian regimes”) persons who held communist related posts before the USSR’s collapse, and those who take a more moderate stance toward their own followers’ pasts.

Followers of our Media page have noticed the rapidly moving events in recent days:

Posted in Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, EU, News & Views, Politics of Memory, Prague "Platform", Sweden, The Czech Republic | Tagged 2008 Prague Declaration, Double Genocide, Goeran Lindblad, Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, Neela Winkelmann, Pavla Foglova, Platform of European Memory and Conscience, red-brown politics | Comments Off

Respublika’s Editorial on Nazi Symbols in Use

Posted on 22 January 2014 by Defending History

The following is a translation, by Geoff Vasil for Defending History, of the editorial that appeared on 17 January 2014 in the Vilnius daily Respublika (p. 4), a day after the front page story (16 Jan.) featuring photographs of Faina Kukliansky and Moishe Beirakas, and a day before the front story (17. Jan) featuring Gercas Žakas.

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

Respublika’s 16 January 2014 Front Page Article “Jews Don’t Want to Wear Nazi Symbols a Second Time”

Posted on 20 January 2014 by Defending History

The following translation, by Geoff Vasil, is of a front page article in the Vilnius daily Respublika (16 January 2014). The Lithuanian original is available online. See also: Geoff Vasil’s comment on the article which may serve as an introduction to some of the local issues and nuances.

Jews Don’t Want to Wear Nazi Symbols a Second Time

January 16, 2014 by Asta MARTIŠIŪTĖ and Olava STRIKULIENĖ, Respublika reporters MEP Vytautas Landsbergis, chairman of the Supreme Soviet/Restored Parliament of Lithuania, speaking at a solemn event to commemorate January 13 [1991], spoke in his speech about the Holocaust as well. Was it necessary to mention this at a ceremony dedicated to the 14 defenders of Lithuanian freedom who died and who hadn’t even been alive during Holocaust times? Beyond this, January 13 [commemorations] didn’t come off without yet another curiosity. A Wehrmacht symbol was used in the “Forget-me-not” campaign and MP Rasa Juknevičienė said next January it will be possible to acquire these symbols [lapel pins] throughout Lithuania, and not exclusively in the capital. Continue reading

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Human Rights, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Media Watch, News & Views, Politics of Memory, Swastikas in Lithuania, Symbology | Comments Off

Forget Me Knot

Posted on 17 January 2014 by Defending History

O P I N I O N

by Geoff Vasil

In an attempt to maintain their reputation as the most anti-Semitic major newspaper in Lithuania, the editors at Respublika have fired a new salvo in their information war against the international forces of Communist Zionism with a straw-man argument designed to rehabilitate the swastika as a Lithuanian cultural heritage symbol.

Posted in Double Games, Geoff Vasil, Human Rights, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory | Comments Off

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

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

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

New “National Council of Historical Memory” to Control Thought About History in Lithuania?

Posted on 24 December 2013 by Defending History

VILNIUS—Among other news portals in Lithuania, 15min.lt reported on 23 December that a group of nationalists in the Seimas (parliament) had proposed establishment of a new institution, the “National Council of Historical Memory” to set the “indisputable truth about historic events.” Coming on top of the 2010 red-brown criminalization of opinion law that has brought alarm from human rights circles in the European Union, this latest layer of state establishment of alleged historic truth would compound the damage.

Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, EU, Free Speech & Democracy, History, Human Rights, News & Views, Politics of Memory | Tagged Democracy in Lithuania, Holocaust in Lithuania | Comments Off

Head of Major Parliamentary Committee in Lithuania’s Parliament says: Israel should pay the pensions for Holocaust-era Rescuers; He Adds: “Jews Just Want to Take”

Posted on 24 December 2013 by Defending History

VILNIUS—Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) veteran Bronius Bradauskas, chairman of the parliament’s powerful Budget and Finance Committee, has sparked controversy in comments he made about whether those who rescued Jews during World War II deserve state pensions in line with “freedom fighters’ pensions” received among others by veterans of the postwar “Forest Brothers,” some of whom were recycled Holocaust perpetrators.

He told Baltic News Service (BNS):

Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Lithuania, News & Views, Politics of Memory | Tagged Bronius Bradauskas, Holocaust in Lithuania, Righteous Among the Nations in Lithuania | 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

A Question in Berlin about President Gauck’s Signature on the Prague Declaration

Posted on 20 December 2013 by Defending History

BERLIN—It was reported today that German president, Joachim Gauck, was cited at a 9 December 2013 news conference here about his signature on the controversial 2008 Prague Declaration, that is widely considered to be the foundation document of the “Double Genocide” movement in Europe that seeks to legislate complete equivalence between Nazi and Soviet crimes, thereby downgrading the Holocaust.

Posted in Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Germany, News & Views, Politics of Memory | Tagged Jewish Berlin, Miriam Magall, Prague Declaration + Presdent Gauck | Comments Off

World Union for Progressive Judaism “Fully Endorses” the Seventy Years Declaration (SYD)

Posted on 19 December 2013 by Defending History

LONDON—The World Union for Progressive Judaism released the following statement today, endorsing the Seventy Years Declaration (SYD). It also appears on the WUPJ website.

The news release, which was also circulated widely via the WUPJ’s emailed news reports, follows by half a year the SYD’s endorsement by Britain’s major Orthodox union, The United Synagogue, in the summer of 2013. [SYD text in European languages]

Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Estonia, EU, Events, Latvia, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Politics of Memory, United Kingdom | Tagged Double Genocide, Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF), Prague Declaration of 2008, Seventy Years Declaration, Waffen SS in Estonia, Waffen SS in Latvia, World Union for Progressive Judaism + Holocaust | 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

Summary Coverage of 1-2 December 2013 London Events at ORT and Westminster Synagogue Sponsored by Lithuanian Embassy

Posted on 6 December 2013 by Defending History

Monica Lowenberg Issues Public Letter on Lithuanian Embassy Event

Posted in "Jewish" Events as Cover?, Double Games, Events, Identity Theft of Litvak Heritage, Monica Lowenberg, News & Views, Politics of Memory, United Kingdom | Tagged British ORT, Lithuanian Embassy in London, London, Monica Lowenberg, Westminster Synagogue | Comments Off

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Politics of Memory

O P I N I O N

by Geoff Vasil

Kaunas, February 16th; Vilnius, March 11th; Riga, March 16th:

Will Lithuania’s President and Prime Minister Speak Out to Stop City-Centers on Independence Days Being Gifted to Neo-Nazis Again to Glorify the Holocaust’s Local Collaborators?

Last year, the president, prime minister and mayor failed to rise to the occasion of the neo-Nazi marches

First Stop — Kaunas on February 16th

2014 Winter Nazi Marching Season in the Baltics?

Kaunas, February 16th; Vilnius, March 11th; Riga, March 16th:

Will Lithuania’s President and Prime Minister Speak Out to Stop City-Centers on Independence Days Being Gifted to Neo-Nazis Again to Glorify the Holocaust’s Local Collaborators?

Last year, the president, prime minister and mayor failed to rise to the occasion of the neo-Nazi marches

Jews Don’t Want to Wear Nazi Symbols a Second Time

O P I N I O N

by Geoff Vasil

O P I N I O N

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

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.

**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.**