Politics of Memory
The Seventy Years Declaration in Ukrainian
Posted in Politics of Memory, Ukraine
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The Seventy Years Declaration (Yiddish Text)
די זיבעציק יאָריקע דעקלאַראַציע
צום יאָרטאָג פון דער „ענדלייזונג“ קאָנפערענץ אין וואַנזע
דעם 20טן יאַנואַר 2012 \ פינף און צוואַנציק טעג אין טבת תשע″ב
צו אָט דעם זיבעציקסטן יאָרטאָג פון דער פאָרמעלער אָננעמונג דורך דער נאַצישער אָנפירערשאַפט פון דער „ענדלייזונג פון דער יידישער פּראָבלעם“, טרעטן מיר די אונטערגעחתמעטע אַרויס, בכדי:
פאַרגעדענקען:
Posted in Litvak Affairs, Politics of Memory, Yiddish Affairs
Tagged Seventy Years Declaration in Yiddish, די זיבעציק יאָריקע דעקלאַראַציע, צום יאָרטאָג פון דער „ענדלייזונג“ קאָנפערענץ אין וואַנזע
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The Seventy Years Declaration
The Seventy Years Declaration
on the Anniversary of the Final Solution Conference at Wannsee
On this the 70th anniversary of the formal adoption by the Nazi leadership of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Problem” we the undersigned
Posted in Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Dovid Katz, EU, History, Human Rights, It Pays to Defend History: Success Over the Years..., Lithuania, News & Views, Politics of Memory
Tagged 70th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference, definition of genocide, Double Genocide, Holocaust in European Parliament, Last Monday in Tel Aviv, Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF), Opposing Holocaust obfuscation & distortion, Prague Declaration, Seventy Years Declaration, SYD, Waffen SS (Estonia), Waffen SS (Latvia), Wannsee Conference
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Free Speech Reaffirmed by Vilnius Judge in Algirdas Paleckis Case
O P I N I O N / E Y E W I T N E S S R E P O R T
by Dovid Katz
One of the placards carried by pro-Paleckis demonstrators outside the Vilnius courthouse
Posted in Free Speech & Democracy, Human Rights, News & Views, Politics of Memory
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Jerusalem-Kabul Exchange of Ideas: Dr. Efraim Zuroff, head of Wiesenthal Center’s Israel Office, Replies to EU’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, Vygaudas Ušackas
THE DEBATE (IN REVERSE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER)
Background on DefendingHistory.com:
2 January 2012 report
13 January 2012, from Efraim Zuroff (Jerusalem):
EXCERPT FROM OP-ED IN HAARETZ. FULL TEXT HERE.
Posted in Collaborators Glorified, EU, Israel, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory
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The Seventy Years Declaration (Summary Page)
[last update 20 Jan. 2015]
THE ORIGINAL ENGLISH TEXT
Early history and coverage of the Seventy Years Declaration (Jan-Feb 2012)
Presentation at European Parliament (March 2012)
The documentary film Rewriting History now available free online; launched in Australia (Sept 2012) and in the United States (April 2013)
The film Defending Holocaust History (Spring 2013)
The SYD website
Defending History section on the Seventy Years Declaration
Historians’ mentions: Dan Stone; Gareth Pritchard & Desislava Ganeheva
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Politics of Memory
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Some Worrying Slippage at ‘Bernardinai.lt’?
O P I N I O N
by Geoff Vasil
Andrius Navickas, a religious studies expert and editor-in-chief of the Bernardinai.lt website, published a rather strange editorial at the end of 2011 taken from a speech he gave over Lithuanian Radio.
Posted in "Jewish" Events as Cover?, Christian-Jewish Issues, Geoff Vasil, History, Human Rights, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory
Tagged Andrius Navickas, Bernardinai.lt, Geoff Vasil
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Estonian Defense Ministry Denies Glorifying Nazi Collaborators, but Statement Fails to Mention Country’s Waffen SS
At a recent Waffen SS celebration in Estonia
In the face of mounting Western concern, the Estonian Ministry of Defense issued a statement on 5 January 2012 refuting a 27 (/28) December 2011 Delfi news portal story that reported on Russian Federation criticism, among other things, of the Baltic states’ policies of honoring their countries’ Nazi collaborator forces and militias.
The Defense Ministry’s refutation declares that “the government of the Republic of Estonia has not drafted nor will it draft something as absurd as a bill that would allow for honors to be given to Nazi collaborators.”
Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Celebrations of Fascism, Collaborators Glorified, Double Games, Estonia, News & Views, Politics of Memory
Tagged Daily Mail + Estonia, Double Genocide + Estonia, Estonia, Estonia + Waffen SS, Estonian Defense Ministry, Mart Laar
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Joseph Melamed Replies to Article in VilNews.com
The following letter to the editor from attorney Joseph Melamed, chairman of the Assoiation of Lithuanian Jews in Israel, appeared today in VilNews.com.
Dear Editor,
The recent article by Dr. Irena Veisaite agreeing with the antisemitic establishment’s evaluation of the life’s work of Dr. Efraim Zuroff, Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel office and a leading historian of the Lithuanian Holocaust, has been a cause of great dismay to us, the world’s last active organization of Lithuanian Holocaust survivors and their descendants.
Posted in Joseph Melamed, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory
Tagged Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel, Dr. Irena Veisaite, Holocaust in Lithuania, Joseph Melamed
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EU Ambassador to Afghanistan Writes in the Wall Street Journal that Nazi Rule in Lithuania was “A Few Years’ Respite from the Communists”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel Office today released a statement in which its director, Holocaust historian Dr. Efraim Zuroff, calls for an apology from the European Union’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Vygaudas Ušackas, for insensitive and misleading remarks on the Lithuanian Holocaust in a 6 December 2011 Wall Street Journal article. A letter of protest by Jack Zwanziger of Chicago appeared in the WSJ on 14 December 2011.
- UPDATE:
- Jerusalem-Kabul debate
Posted in Collaborators Glorified, Double Games, Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, EU, Lithuania, Media Watch, News & Views, Politics of Memory
Tagged Efraim Zuroff, Holocaust Obfuscation, Holocaust Trivialization, Lithuanian Foreign Minister + Holocaust, Lithuanian government + Holocaust, Simon Wiesenthal Center Israel Office, Vygaudas Ušackas
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Václav Havel and the Prague Declaration
O P I N I O N
by Efraim Zuroff
I hate to spoil the Havel and the Jews festival in the wake of his demise, but I feel that it is important to point out a terrible mistake Havel made which directly relates to Jewish affairs. I am referring to his signing the Prague Declaration of June 3, 2008 (along with 39 other East European politicians and intellectuals), which basically equates Communist crimes with those of the Nazis, warns that “Europe will not be united unless it is able to unite its history [and] recognize Communism and Nazism as a common legacy”and seeks to deny the Holocaust its deserved status as a unique case of genocide.
Posted in Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Efraim Zuroff, EU, Events, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory
Tagged Efraim Zuroff, Have + Prague Declaration, Havel + Jewish + Prague Declaration, Havel + Jews, Prague Declaration, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Vaclav Havel
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Lithuanian Ministry of Defense Honors ‘Lithuanian Activist Front’ (LAF) Nazi Collaborators (announced without comment on ‘Bernardinai’)
O P I N I O N
by Dovid Katz
The campaign to distort World War II history in the direction of East European far-right models and to glorify local Nazi collaborators and perpetrators continues apace.
Bernardinai.lt, usually a bastion of tolerance and resistance against racism and ultranationalism, today published without comment a press release from the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense verbatim, about yesterday’s ministry activities honoring the Nazi-collaborating Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF), on the occasion of an anniversary of the killing of some of its leaders and members by Soviet forces.
Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Collaborators Glorified, Double Games, Dovid Katz, Events, History, Legacy of 23 June 1941, Lithuania, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Vilnius's Genocide Center and the Genocide Museum it Manages
Tagged Holocaust collaboration in Lithuania, Lithuania Ministry of Defense, Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF), Nazi collaborators glorified
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Mainstream Lithuanian news portal, Delfi.lt, Again Publishes Antisemitic ‘Ethnographic History’
Expanding on his earlier antisemitic-spirited article — ‘Jews in the Service of Hitler‘ — Česlovas Iškauskas has now published ‘Jews in Service to the Bolsheviks’ on Delfi.lt, a mainstream Lithuanian news website. The article is available here.
Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Human Rights, Media Watch, News & Views, Politics of Memory
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Why Shouldn’t Lithuanian People See the Monument I Helped Place in Vilnius?
O P I N I O N
by Shelly Rybak Pearson
The project occurred to me when I was present during the earthquake in Mexico City in 1984, while visiting my family there. I decided that I wanted to do something to provide a fitting memorial to the destruction of over 95% of the Jewish community of Lithuania during the Holocaust.
My negotiations with the government authorities in Vilnius to erect the monument lasted over six years. During that time, the Lithuanian Embassy in Washington, DC informed me that they had lost the documents which I had submitted to them requesting approval for the installation of the monument. I had to start anew.
Posted in Commemorations for Destroyed Communities, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Shelly Rybak Pearson
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Why I am Translating Rozka Korczak’s Vilna Ghetto Memoir
O P I N I O N
by Evaldas Balčiūnas
The Vilna Ghetto memoir of Rozka Korczak-Marlé (1921–1988) is unfortunately completely unknown to Lithuanians today. I have therefore decided to translate the book into Lithuanian (from the Russian edition that Korczak herself edited), and have published two samples, here and here, on Anarchija.lt.
Posted in Bold Citizens Speak Out, Books, Evaldas Balčiūnas, History, Litvak Affairs, Memoirs, News & Views, Opinion, Poland, Politics of Memory, Yiddish Affairs
Tagged Holocaust in Lithuania
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Old Stones Speak to Young Pupils: Jewish Gravestones in the Walls of a Vilnius School Yard
O P I N I O N
by Dovid Katz
Photos by Richard Schofield (© R. Schofield)
The Lazdynai Middle School in Vilnius, built in the early 1970s, has an admirable reputation, inter alia for an excellent trilingual policy enabling Polish and Russian to flourish alongside the national language, Lithuanian, in a spirit of multicultural respect and harmony so fitting for the city’s history.
Updates to May 2013:
Return visit to the Stones of Lazdynai
♦
Updates to 15 December 2011
Samuel Gruber’s Jewish Art and Monuments
Facebook discussion thread
Work in Progress: A Cultural Dictionary of Lithuanian Jewish Gravestones
Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Dovid Katz, Exotic Jewish Tourism, Human Rights, It Pays to Defend History: Success Over the Years..., Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Symbology
Tagged cohen hands, fate of Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe, Jewish gravestones, Jewish sites in Vilnius, Lazdynai, Lazdynai Middle School, Olandu Jewish cemetery, use of gravestones in walls with letters showing, Uzupis Jewish cemetery, Zaretshe Jewish cemetery
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Suspense in Vilnius as Paleckis Verdict Day Nears
O P I N I O N
by Dovid Katz
Suspense is growing in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, concerning the verdict in the free speech trial of the flamboyant, controversial young left-wing politician, Algirdas Paleckis. The court’s ruling will be read from the bench next Wednesday 14 December 2011 at 2 PM at the First District Court at Laisves 79, Vilnius. The charge carries a possible one-year prison sentence if Mr. Paleckis is found guilty. A press release was received today from the Lithuania Without Nazism organization (not to be confused with the ‘secret’ internet group ‘Lithuania Without Neo-Nazism’, that some believe to be a manipulated group, somewhat sophomoric, or both).
Posted in Double Genocide: The New Form of Holocaust Revisionism & Denial, Events, Free Speech & Democracy, History, Human Rights, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory
Tagged Algirdas Paleckis, European Union free speech Lithuania, Free speech in Lithuania, Holocaust in Lithuania, Lithuania without Nazism, Lithuania without neo-Nazism, NATO Lithuania free speech, OSCE Lithuania
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‘Day and Night’ is an Epoch-Making Play for Modern Lithuania
O P I N I O N / R E V I E W
by Birutė Ušinskaitė
Cover of playbill
It was just another rainy and not overly cold evening in early December of the year 2011, but the play I was privileged to see at the Kaunas Chamber Theatre, Day and Night, proved to me, a proud Vilnius native and resident, that not all that is bold and brilliant originates in our capital.
For the first time in modern Lithuanian history, in my experience at any rate, a Lithuanian play on the Holocaust did not try to deflect attention ― or responsibility ― to the Germans or to some pseudo-objective forces of society, or to stick to some “kosher” theme like the dilemmas of Gens and the Judenrat in the Vilna Ghetto in order to avoid talking about what is frankly the main point for our country: the voluntary participation of many of our countrymen in the mass murder of the Jewish citizens of our own country, in some cases before the Nazis even arrived.
Posted in Arts, Birutė Ušinskaitė, Bold Citizens Speak Out, Events, Film, Legacy of 23 June 1941, Lithuania, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, VilNews.com
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