O P I N I O N
by Pinchos Fridberg
Editor’s note [with updates to 3 March 2013]:
Politics of Memory
A Counter-Question to Lithuanian Journalist Artūras Račas
Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", A 21st Century Campaign Against Lithuanian Holocaust Survivors?, Bold Citizens Speak Out, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Media Watch, Opinion, Pinchos Fridberg, Politics of Memory
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Evaldas Balčiūnas Remembers February 16th 2013 March in Central Kaunas
E Y E W I T N E S S R E P O R T / O P I N I O N
by Evaldas Balčiūnas
Editor’s note: This adapted translation from the Lithuanian original, by Geoff Vasil, has been approved by the author.
On February 16 I visited Kaunas. I heard the neo-Nazis would try to desecrate the nation’s freedom, for which people of the country of all ethnicities had struggled. Sadly, the neo-Nazis are now shouting loudly: “Lithuania for Lithuanians…”
One of the organizers of the march boasted the vanguard of the march would be carrying a portrait of Ambrazevičius.
It’s worth recalling what sort of person he was. In 1941 Ambrazevičius led the Provisional Government formed by the LAF (Lithuanian Activist Front), the Provisional Government which called Lithuanian policemen to serve the Nazis, set up a concentration camp (at the Seventh Fort, where it all ended in the murder of several thousand Jews), and even while realizing the Nazis no longer needed their service, this gang went on to promulgate the “Regulations on the Situation of the Jews,” which legally deprived their neighbors of human rights, while on the ground armed people were already murdering Jews throughout Lithuania.
The author and his friends and colleagues who constituted the small “anti-fascist zone” at the March 16th neo-Nazi parade in Kaunas, Lithuania on the occasion of the nation’s independence day.
Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Bold Citizens Speak Out, Celebrations of Fascism, Collaborators Glorified, Evaldas Balčiūnas, Events, Human Rights, Kaunas, Neo-Nazi & Fascist Marches, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory
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The Real Dope on the February 16 Neo-Nazi March in Kaunas (Kovno), Lithuania
O P I N I O N
by Geoff Vasil
Readers and supporters of Defending History likely realize there is a diversity of opinion and views held by contributors (made explicit on the About us page), and in that spirit I’d like to share my own impressions of the neo-Nazi march on Lithuanian Independence Day 2013 in Kaunas (Kovno), Lithuania’s second-largest city and the provisional capital in the interwar period.
First, Kaunas was colder than expected. The breeze contributed to the chill. There seemed to be half as many police as protestors at the staging area, Ramybės Parkas, next to the bus station in central Kaunas. The police wore three uniforms: green, grey and, I was told by someone representing himself as being from Interpol, a large number of plain-clothes officers dispersed among the crowd, presumably meaning the marchers, since the number of protestors was paltry, just a handful of people.
See also the memoirs of Evaldas Balčiūnas, Dovid Katz (and 2nd), Efraim Zuroff
Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Celebrations of Fascism, Geoff Vasil, Human Rights, Humor (Of Sorts), Kaunas, Neo-Nazi & Fascist Marches, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Swastikas in Lithuania
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Tolerance Education? State-Sponsored Commission Uses its Website to Call Holocaust Survivor a “Liar” & to Demand “Apology from Jewish Community”
O P I N I O N
by Dovid Katz
Somebody’s idea of “tolerance education”? Extract from the official website of the “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”)
Educators, diplomats, historians and journalists thought they had seen it all when it came to Holocaust-in-Lithuania issues in recent times. But an online attack by the state sponsored “history commission” on a local Holocaust survivor, Professor Pinchos Fridberg, who is deeply involved in honoring righteous Lithuanians who saved a Jewish neighbor, because he expressed his views against distortion of the Holocaust? That is a bit much even for here.
UPDATE of 21 February 2014:
One year later: Defamation continues on Commission website;
See Chronology of a Debate and what Pinchos Fridberg actually said…
Posted in "Jewish" Events as Cover?, "Red-Brown Commission", A 21st Century Campaign Against Lithuanian Holocaust Survivors?, Antisemitism & Bias, Double Games, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Dovid Katz, EU, Holocaust Policies of Mr. Ronaldas Račinskas and the State-Sponsored "International Commission" (ICECNSORL), Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, Pinchos Fridberg, Politics of Memory, United States
Tagged Holocaust in Lithuania, International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, Pinchos Fridberg, red-brown commission (Lithuania), Ronaldas Racinskas
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Pinchos Fridberg Provides Chronology of a Provocation
O P I N I O N
by Pinchos Fridberg
Translator’s note: The original article in Lithuanian with all the graphics is available at https://defendinghistory.com/vienos-provokacijos-fotografijose-chronika/49453.
An email was sent to the Lithuanian Jewish Community at the end of the work-day on February 5, 2013:
From: Janina Bucevičė siwe22@gma…. Sent: 4:56 P.M. February 5, 2013 To: info@lzb… Subject: response to article Hello, I read Pinchos Fridberg’s article on your internet publication which refers to a conference I organized. I would like to correct certain facts in that article. For that reason I come to you with an open letter. Thank you. Respectfully, Janina Bucevičė attached: Janina Bucevičė.doc
The email contained as an attachment an open letter, a portion of which you can see below:
Posted in Lithuania, News & Views, Opinion, Pinchos Fridberg, Politics of Memory
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Artūras Račas, editor-in-chief of Baltic News Service (BNS), Attacks Holocaust Survivor Prof. Pinchos Fridberg and SWC Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff
The following is a translation of the 10 February blog of Artūras Račas, editor-in-chief of Baltic News Service (BNS). Only embedded links (marked by underlining) have been added, along with editorial editions enclosed in square brackets [ ], enabling readers to better follow Mr. Račas’s attacks on Holocaust survivor Professor Pinchos Fridberg and Holocaust historian Dr. Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Israel office.
Posted in A 21st Century Campaign Against Lithuanian Holocaust Survivors?, Lithuania, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory
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Head of Baltic News Service (BNS) Tweets Against Efraim Zuroff and Pinchos Fridberg
Artūras Račas, head of Baltic News Service (BNS), the main news agency in the Baltics, in a tweet today heaped scorn on Vilnius Holocaust survivor Professor Pinchos Fridberg and on the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel office, Dr. Efraim Zuroff. The tweet is reproduced below and links to the tweeter’s article, which is also available in English translation [updates: Prof. Fridberg’s reply; later report].
Posted in A 21st Century Campaign Against Lithuanian Holocaust Survivors?, Antisemitism & Bias, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory
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US State Department Supporting Cassedy Book Tour Without Inclusion of Opposing Points of View
As readers of Defending History are aware, many American citizens and others who care deeply about the memory of the Holocaust being accurately transmitted have been devastated by the shift in US State Department policy toward appeasement of far-right Baltic revisionism, apparently in the context of various geopolitical issues. The topic is the focus of a section of DH.
BACKGROUND READING
Posted in Books, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Politics of Memory, United States, US State Dept Manipulated?
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Professor Fridberg’s Question about Mr. Zingeris to Dr. Alperovich, and Dr. Alperovich’s Reply…
Vilnius native and life-long resident Professor Pinchos Fridberg sent the following question to the leadership of the Jewish Community of Lithuania (JCL), and received the following answer. These official English translations, accepted by JCL, are reprinted verbatim, with permission from the website of the Jewish Community of Lithuania, where the question appears here and the reply here.
Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", Documents, Double Games, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, News & Views, Pinchos Fridberg, Politics of Memory, Shimon Alperovich (1928 – 2014)
Tagged Emanuelis Zingeris, Holocaust in Lithuania, International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Regimes in Lithuania, Jewish Community of Lithuania, Lithuanian-Israeli Relations, Misrepresentation of leadership of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pinchos Firbderg, Red-Brown Commission, Simon Aleperovich, Simonas Alperavicius, Vilnius
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Why Christine Beresniova is Out of Order
O P I N I O N
by Geoff Vasil
I’ve never met Christine Beresniova, but I’ve followed her career, so to speak, through the media and mutual acquaintances, and wish her only the best. She first came to my attention after apparently making some very limited and not very public criticisms of Lithuanian Holocaust education, which sufficiently pissed off the Holocaust Obfuscation establishment ensconced within the corridors of state power for them to label her some kind of Russian agent in informal conversations.
Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", Double Games, Geoff Vasil, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, US State Dept Manipulated?
Tagged Anne E. Derse, Christine Beresniova, Efraim Zuroff, Geoff Vasil (Vasiliauskas), Holocaust Education, Holocaust Obfuscation
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2013 Started on Wrong Note in Capitals of Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania
WARSAW: Statue of “Praying Hitler” is unveiled in the Warsaw Ghetto. Reports in the Guardian, Daily Mail, Huffington Post.
Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, News & Views, Poland, Politics of Memory, Ukraine
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US Researcher is Persuaded that the Problem in Lithuania is called “Zuroff and Katz”
O P I N I O N
by Dovid Katz
The blog Christine Beresniova and Rokas Beresniovas recently published the article “A lamentable absence of sexy scandals.” We will refrain from comment on their understanding of the concept “sexy scandals” and stick to the work of fellow human rights advocates, which entails standing up to powerful establishments on behalf of minorities, victims of prejudice, and in the case of Eastern Europe, the victims (and handful of survivors) of genocide. Those who stand up know all too well that to do so is not all that often convenient, easygoing or self-serving.
Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", Double Games, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, Human Rights, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, United States
Tagged Beresniova + Holocaust, Beresniova + Lithuania, Christine Beresniova, Dovid Katz and Efraim Zuroff, Efraim Zuroff and Dovid Katz, Fulbright Program in Lithuania, Holocaust in Lithuania, human rights studies in Lithuania, International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in Lithuania, Politicization of Fulbright Program, Red-Brown Commission, Rokas Beresniovas, tolerance education in Lithuania
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New Paper by Per Anders Rudling on the Ukrainian Far Right
An important new paper by Dr. Per Anders Rudling of Lund University, Sweden, has appeared in the new volume, Analysing Fascist Discourse: European Fascism in Talk and Text. The collective volume brought out by Routledge (New York & London) is edited by Ruth Wodak and John E. Richardson.
Dr. Rudling’s paper, entitled “The Return of the Ukrainian Far Right: The Case of VO Svoboda” comprises the sections:
Posted in Canada, Collaborators Glorified, History, News & Views, Per Anders Rudling, Politics of Memory, Sweden, Ukraine
Tagged Per Anders Rudling
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Lithuanian Supreme Court Upholds Algirdas Paleckis Verdict in Freedom-of-Speech Trial; Appeal to Strasbourg Planned
The small courtroom in the building of the Lithuanian Supreme Court a few yards away from the nation’s Seimas, or parliament, was packed with journalists and mostly older generation nationalist opponents of Algirdas Paleckis. Two judges, speaking in different sections, upheld the earlier verdict against him for having proposed a version of events for January 13th 1991 that is at odds with national historiography.
Posted in EU, Human Rights, News & Views, Politics of Memory
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Red-Brown Commission’s Newest Layer of Obfuscation: Are Names of Members Secret?
The Lithuanian government sponsored “International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes of Lithuania,” known for short as the “Red-Brown Commission” has recently added a new layer of obfuscation and opacity to its activities.
Its website has deleted the names of the “Members of the Commission” thereby rendering it a kind of “secret society.”
Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", Double Games, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, EU, Free Speech & Democracy, Media Watch, News & Views, Politics of Memory, US State Dept Manipulated?
Tagged Double Genocide, Holocaust Denial, Holocaust Obfuscation, International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes of Lithuania, Lithuania, Red-Brown Commission Vilnius, US Embassy in Vilnius
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Instead of Truth about the Holocaust – Myths about Saving Jews
O P I N I O N
by Pinchos Fridberg
Editor’s note [updated 27 January 2013]:
Pinchos Fridberg, a native and resident of Vilnius, is a Holocaust survivor. He graduated from Vilnius University in 1961 and completed his PhD in theoretical and mathematical physics in 1965 and an additional doctoral science degree in radio physics in 1974. From 1961 to 1978 he was chair of the Laboratory of Theoretical Investigations at the Vilnius Scientific Institute of Radio Measuring Devices. In 1978 he joined Grodno State University, where he was named professor. In 1989 he became head of the Department of Theoretical Radio Physics at the Zondas Company in Vilnius.
Posted in "Jewish" Events as Cover?, "Red-Brown Commission", Bold Citizens Speak Out, Double Games, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Events, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Pinchos Fridberg, Politics of Memory, Yad Vashem and Lithuania
Tagged Double Genocide, Emanuelis Zingeris, Holocaust in Lithuania, Holocaust Obfuscation in Lithuania, Ingrida Vilkiene, International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, Lithaunia), Pinchos Fridberg, Red-Brown Commission Vilnius
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New Year’s Call on the US State Department to Reject Politics of Holocaust Denial
2013: Call on US State Dept to Reject Politics of Holocaust Denial and Appeasement of Eastern Europe’s New Far Right
Shock of 2012: When a NATO-EU Ally Reburied and Glorified its 1941 Nazi Puppet Prime Minister who Signed Orders for Kovno Ghetto
Instead of politely protesting, the US Embassy in Vilnius financed a camouflage symposium on Holocaust issues to deflect attention from the week’s event. Framed to honor T. Snyder’s book Bloodlands, it also featured the head of YIVO.
Continue reading
Posted in Double Games, Events, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, Free Speech & Democracy, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Politics of Memory, United States, US State Dept Manipulated?
Tagged Egidijus Aleksandravicius, Timothy Snyder's Bloodlands, US State Department + East European Far Right, US State Department + Holocaust Denial, US State Department + Lithuania
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2013: Call on US State Dept to Reject Politics of Holocaust Denial and Appeasement of Eastern Europe’s New Far Right
Shock of 2012: When a NATO-EU Ally Reburied and Glorified its 1941 Nazi Puppet Prime Minister who Signed Orders for Kovno Ghetto
Posted in Collaborators Glorified, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, United States, US State Dept Manipulated?
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Shock of 2012: 1941 Nazi Puppet Prime Minister Reburied with Full Honors
Compiled by Dovid Katz
◊
EU/NATO Ally Honors Holocaust Collaborator; Lithuanian Jewish Community Issues Protest; 3 US Congressmen Write to Prime Minister
Remains of 1941 fascist leader Juozas Ambrazevičius (Brazaitis) met by honor guard at Vilnius Airport on 17 May 2012 and reburied in Kaunas’s Church of the Resurrection on the 20th, as city’s mayor dismisses criticism.
Office of the prime minister, who signed off on government funding (€8,700 / US $11,000), defends reburial & honors of the 1941 Nazi puppet “prime minister” who personally signed the protocols confirming Nazi orders for (1) “all means” against Jews (but avoiding executions in public); (2) setting up a concentration camp for Lithuanian Jews [euphemism for the carnage underway at the Seventh Fort]; (3) all Kaunas Jews to be herded into a ghetto within 4 weeks (English here).
SEE ALSO:
Collaborators Glorified section
Previous sanitization program
Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", Antisemitism & Bias, Bold Citizens Speak Out, Celebrations of Fascism, Christian-Jewish Issues, Collaborators Glorified, Dovid Katz, EU, Exotic Jewish Tourism, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, History, Human Rights, In the Era of Yivo's 100th, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Media Watch, News & Views, Politics of Memory, United States, US State Dept Manipulated?
Tagged Antisemitism in Lithuania, Double Genocide, Holocaust in Lithuania, Holocaust Revisionism, Jonathan Brent, Juozas Ambrazevicius Brazaitis, Lithuanian Activist Front, Lithuanian Provisional Government of 1941, Lithuanian-Jewish affairs, Skirpa + Brazaitis, Tim Snyder, Vytautas Magnus University, Yivo, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
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