O P I N I O N
Lithuania’s major daily Lietuvos rytas today published a report on the just completed conference called “Legal Regulation of Communist Crimes” held at the European Parliament (full DH.com translation here).
70 Years Declaration
Red-Brown Campaigners Soften Rhetoric at Latest European Parliament Conference
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Double Genocide, EU, News & Views, Opinion
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Congratulating Algimantas Kasparavičius who Gets it Right: Trying to Manage History is a Big-Time Loser for Mature Foreign Policy
O P I N I O N
by Dovid Katz
It isn’t every Monday and Thursday (as the old Yiddish saying goes) that this journal publishes an opinion piece congratulating a contemporary historian in Lithuania who is a current mainstream player (rather than a pensioner, conceptual or actual exile, or someone painted up as a narrow ethnic-minority champion, anarchist, Soviet apologist, plain old personal maverick, or what-not). It is even more unusual for DefendingHistory.com to go out on a limb without even knowing said historian’s views on the issues that lie at the core of DH’s modest corner in the contemporary marketplace of ideas.
Let it be said at the outset that we sincerely hope that a vote of confidence and congratulations from DefendingHistory.com will not unduly (let alone fatally) harm the man’s future career prospects in the vaunted circles of Lithuania’s most powerful politicians, state institutions and history professors. But come to think of it, the improper leap-into-bed together of this untenable ménage-à-trois goes to the core of the conundrum.
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Bold Citizens Speak Out, Double Games, Dovid Katz, EU, Foreign Ministries: Holocaust Politics Abuse?, Free Speech & Democracy, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory
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Lithuanian Neo-Nazi Leader Calls for Murder of MPs
O P I N I O N
by Geoff Vasil
Ričardas Čekutis, “chief specialist” at Lithuanian’s state-sponsored Genocide Center in Vilnius old town, a fascist party leader and co-organizer of the annual neo-Nazi marches through Vilnius, has again made controversial comments on Facebook, this time apparently calling upon other Lithuanian neo-Nazis to murder three MPs. Two of the three are signatories to the Seventy Years Declaration (SYD) first published in DefendingHistory.com and presented to the president of the European Parliament in Strasbourg last month.
Confirming suspicions that SYD had angered not just the clique of apparatchiks who earn a good living from the Double Genocide industry in this part of the world, and had made wider waves in the Lithuanian neo-Nazi underground, Čekutis seemed to call for someone to shoot MPs Vytenis Andriukaitis, Justinas Karosas—both of whom signed the SYD—and the MP Petras Austrevičius.
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Free Speech & Democracy, Genocide Center (Vilnius), Geoff Vasil, Human Rights, News & Views, Opinion
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Saying No to “Double Genocide”
O P I N I O N
by Danny-Ben Moshe
This comment appeared today in the Jerusalem Post and is republished here with the author’s permission.
The Israel-South Africa Chamber of Commerce is hosting as guest of honor Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis at a gala dinner. Given the current Lithuanian government’s policies towards the Holocaust, it is a bizarre choice.
More than twenty years into their post-Soviet eras, Lithuania and other East European nations are understandably and appropriately seeking international acknowledgment for the suffering inflicted on them by the Soviet regime.
However, rather than commemorating this in its own right, Lithuania has led the campaign to tie this recognition in with the Holocaust, in a policy known as Double Genocide. By so doing, the recognition they seek for their own suffering under the Soviets ipso facto becomes a policy that distorts and downgrades the Holocaust, and undermines and threatens its memory.
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Danny Ben-Moshe, Double Games, Double Genocide, History, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, South Africa
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Seventy Years Declaration in European Languages
◊
THE 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
◊
Belarusian
Dutch
English
Finnish
French
German
Latvian
Lithuanian
Norwegian
Polish
Russian
Spanish
Ukrainian
Yiddish
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Collaborators Glorified, Double Genocide, It Pays to Defend History: Success Over the Years..., Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views
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Lithuanian Radio Panel Discussion on the Seventy Years Declaration
The Seventy Years Declaration, released on 20 January 2012, was the subject of a 31 January 2012 Žinių radijas (News Radio) station panel discussion including one of the Lithuanian signatories of the declaration, Social Democratic MP Vytenis Andriukaitis, himself a signatory of the Lithuanian Declaration of Independence. MP Andriukaitis was attacked by the foreign minister for signing.
MP Andriukaitis’s response won international support, and there is reference in the panel discussion to the support from British human rights champion MP Denis MacShane for all eight Lithuanian parliamentarians who signed the Seventy Years Declaration.
Posted in "Red-Brown Commission", 70 Years Declaration, Bold Citizens Speak Out, Denis MacShane, Double Genocide, History, Holocaust Policies of Mr. Ronaldas Račinskas and the State-Sponsored "International Commission" (ICECNSORL), News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Vytenis Andriukaitis
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JFN’s Andres Spokoiny in New York City Congratulates Vytenis Andriukaitis in Vilnius
O P I N I O N
by Andres Spokoiny
Honorable Mr. Andriukaitis,
Your courage needs to be saluted.
I have followed with admiration your successive actions in favor of a proper appreciation of the unique crimes of the Nazi regime in Lithuania and beyond. From signing the Seventy Years Declaration to your letter to your parliamentary colleague the foreign minister, you have a shown a courage and a decency that, unfortunately, are rare in the Lithuanian political class.
You have defended the truth and the respect for the victims.
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Andres Spokoiny, It Pays to Defend History: Success Over the Years..., Lithuania, News & Views, Opinion, Vytenis Andriukaitis
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The Lingering Legacy of Nazism
O P I N I O N
by Milan Chersonski
Milan Chersonski (Chersonskij), longtime editor (1999-2011) of Jerusalem of Lithuania, quadrilingual (English-Lithuanian-Russian-Yiddish) newspaper of the Jewish Community of Lithuania, was previously (1979-1999) director of the Yiddish Folk Theater of Lithuania, which in Soviet times was the USSR’s only Yiddish amateur theater company. The views he expresses in DefendingHistory.com are as always his own. Authorized translation from the Russian original by DefendingHistory.com.
The twentieth of January 2012 made it precisely seventy years from the day when a conference of ministries and agencies of Hitler’s Germany was held at the Marlier Villa by Lake Wannsee. It went down in history as the Wannsee Conference. Nazi officials in a business-like manner in ice blood, discussed the problems of the Final Solution of the Jewish Question, the euphemism for genocide of the Jews in Europe.
Fulfillment of the Wannsee Conference decisions, which became directives, continued until the last days of the Nazi state. Not even the approach of the Red Army in the east or the successful landing of the anti-Hitler coalition in the west resulted in German leaders abandoning the project to annihilate the Jewish people. In the face of a string of crushing defeats, acute shortages of transport, ammunition, fuel and even food, the Nazis went on sending Jews to their death with a maniacal consistency.
But it would be a very serious mistake to think that the Wannsee Conference directives per se played the main role in the Final Solution of the Jewish Question here in Lithuania. In this part of the world the Nazis and their many accomplices had been quick to rob and massacre the majority of the Jewish population by December 1941. Before the Wannsee Conference.
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Antisemitism & Bias, Celebrations of Fascism, Collaborators Glorified, History, Human Rights, Kaunas, Legacy of 23 June 1941, Milan Chersonski (1937-2021), Neo-Nazi & Fascist Marches, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Vilnius
Tagged 2008 Prague Declaration, Azubalis + Holocaust, Azubalis + Jews, Holocaust in Lithuania, The 70 Years Declaration, Wannsee Declaration
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Lithuanian Parliamentarian Vytenis Andriukaitis, Signatory of 70 Years Declaration, Replies to Foreign Minister, Cites ‘Moustache’ Remark and the Implications of ‘Double Genocide’
O P I N I O N
by Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis
The following is an authorized translation from the Lithuanian text published on Delfi.lt on 9 February 2012. It is a reply to the foreign minister’s article published a week earlier (English translation here).
Honorable A. Ažubalis, Did You Pull Such an Understanding of History out of Thin Air?
by Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lithuanian Parliament
Honorable minister, looking at the headline of your public statement, I hoped at least that you would apologize for the position expressed earlier that “it is impossible to find any difference between Hitler and Stalin except in their moustaches (Hitler’s was smaller).” I agree with the position expressed by Dennis MacShane, member of the British House of Commons, that such jokes by foreign minister Audronius Ažubalis are inappropriate in discussing the mass murder of six million Jews.
SEE ALSO:
ANDRIUKAITIS SECTION
In your public statement, you again place two signed declarations in opposition to one another. One of them — the “only true one” — the “Declaration on European Conscience and Communism” signed in Prague in 2008, maintains that the precondition for a unified Europe is a unified view of history and the ability to condemn the last century’s crimes against humanity. The second, the Seventy Years Declaration — the declaration referred to as if it were a crime and condemned by you —was adopted marking the 70th anniversary of the Wannsee conference, a declaration which rejects attempts to trivialize the atrocities of the Jewish genocide.
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Double Genocide, EU, Free Speech & Democracy, History, Lithuania, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, United Kingdom, Vytenis Andriukaitis
Tagged Audronius Azubalis + Holocaust, Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism, The 70 Years Declaration, Vytenis Andriukaitis
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Seventy Years Declaration Joins the European Conversation
The Seventy Years Declaration
Solemnly commemorates the Holocaust and reaffirms human rights of all people. Opposes the Prague Declaration and ‘Double Genocide’ politics. Rejects glorification of the Waffen SS of Estonia and Latvia and the Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF).
Lithuania’s foreign minister’s “moustache response” came within minutes of SYD’s release.
———
TEXT AND LIST OF FOUNDING SIGNATORIES
PRESENTED TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
UPDATE: DOCUMENTARY FILM RELEASED
SYD TEXT IN BELARUSIAN; ENGLISH; FRENCH; GERMAN; LITHUANIAN; POLISH; RUSSIAN; SPANISH; YIDDISH; LIST OF UK SIGNATORIES; LITHUANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ATTACKS SIGNATORIES WITHIN MINUTES
MEDIA COVERAGE
———
Danny Ben-Moshe launches SYD in the Jerusalem Post. SYD published. Lithuanian Foreign Minister responds in minutes with infamous “moustache comparison” of Hitler and Stalin, later attacks Lithuanian parliamentarians who signed. UK MP Denis MacShane congratulates the Lithuanian Eight who signed. Vytenis Andriukaitis, signatory of nation’s Declaration of Independence, replies to FM. Roger Cohen in the New York Times. Gang-up on Lithuanian radio panel. AJ, Forward, Haaretz, JC.
British parliamentarian tells Lithuanian signatories of the 70 Years Declaration:
DefendingHistory.com congratulates the Lithuanian parliamentarians among the founding 70 signatories of the Seventy Years Declaration for their courage, integrity, love of all their country’s peoples, and genuine commitment to European values:
Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, MP
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, EU
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The Lingering Legacy of Nazism
М Н Е Н И Е
Милан Херсонский
У НАЦИЗМА НЕ ДОЛЖНО БЫТЬ БУДУЩЕГО
20 января нынешнего 2012-го года исполнилось 70 лет с того дня, когда в 1942-м году на вилле Марлир близ озера Ванзее состоялась конференция представителей министерств и ветвей власти гитлеровской Германии, которая вошла в мировую историю по названию озера – Ванзейская конференция. Это было совещание нацистских чиновников, которые деловито и хладнокровно обсуждали вопросы реализации «окончательного решения еврейского вопроса», то есть полного истребления евреев в Европе.
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Antisemitism & Bias, Collaborators Glorified, Double Genocide, History, Human Rights, In Russian, Lithuania, Milan Chersonski (1937-2021), News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory
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Press Release Issued by the Social Democratic Party in Lithuania
The following is a translation of the Lithuanian-language statement released today by the central offices of the Social Democratic Party in Vilnius:
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, News & Views, Politics of Memory, Vytenis Andriukaitis
Tagged Denis MacShane, Holocaust in Lithuania, Seventy Years Declaration, Vytenis Andriukaitis
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UK MP Denis MacShane’s January 24th 2012 Letter to Lithuanian MP Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis
The following letter, from UK MP Dr. Denis MacShane, was received today by the office of Lithuanian parliament member Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis:
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Denis MacShane, News & Views, Opinion, United Kingdom, Vytenis Andriukaitis
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UK MP Denis MacShane Rushes to Defense of Lithuanian Parliamentarians who Signed Seventy Years Declaration; Slams Foreign Minister’s Hitler-Stalin ‘Joke’
The following press statement was issued today by the office of UK MP Denis MacShane concerning the response of the Lithuanian foreign minister to the news that eight Lithuanian parliamentarians had signed the Seventy Years Declaration.
News Release 25 Jan. 2012
On the eve of National Holocaust Day, former Europe Minister Denis MacShane MP has written to Lithuanian MPs and MEPs who defied their political establishment to sign a statement on the Holocaust which attacks attempts to devalue the Nazi extermination of Jews by claiming it is no worse than the crimes committed by communists.
The Seventy Years Declaration was issued on 20 January 2012 by seventy European Union parliamentarians (MPs and MEPs) concerned about the return of antisemitism as an issue in contemporary politics. In January 1942, Nazi officials met at a conference at Lake Wannsee close to Berlin to plan the industrially organized extermination of European Jewry.
In recent years, European right-wing politicians have sought to gain acceptance for their view that the suffering under communist rule was the same as the Nazi extermination of Jews. This so-called “double genocide” thesis has been criticized by campaigners against modern antisemitism as leading to a devaluation of the unique specific Jew-hating roots of the Holocaust.
Now social democratic MPs and MEPs in Lithuania who signed this declaration have been attacked by government officials. Lithuania’s Foreign Minister went so far as to say there was no difference between Hitler and Stalin except the length of their moustache.Continue reading
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Antisemitism & Bias, Denis MacShane, Double Genocide, Human Rights, It Pays to Defend History: Success Over the Years..., News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, United Kingdom, Vytenis Andriukaitis
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Lithuanian Foreign Minister Berates his Country’s Parliamentarians who Signed ‘70 Years Declaration’; Says Hitler = Stalin Except for Length of their Moustaches
The foreign minister of Lithuania did not wait until the day was over.
“It is not possible to find differences between Hitler and Stalin except in their moustaches (Hitler’s was shorter).”
— The Foreign Minister of Lithuania, commenting upon the Seventy Years Declaration in the early hours of 20 January 2012, 70th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, Bold Citizens Speak Out, Double Genocide, Lithuania, News & Views, Politics of Memory, Yivo Manipulated?
Tagged Algirdas Sysas, Audronius Azubalis, Azubalis Hitler Stalin moustache, Double Genocide + Lithuania, Dr. Jonathan Brent, Emanuelis Zingeris, Justinas Karosas, Last Monday in Tel Aviv, Paul Berger, Prague Declaration, Vygaudas Ušackas
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The Seventy Years Declaration in Dutch
20 januari 2012
De Zeventig Jaar-Declaratie
ter gelegenheid van het jubileum van de Definitieve Oplossing-conferentie bij Wannsee
Op deze zeventigste verjaardag van de formele adoptering door het nazieleiderschap van de ‘Definitieve Oplossing van het Joodse probleem’, wij, de ondertekenaars van dit document:
Posted in 70 Years Declaration
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The Seventy Years Declaration in Ukrainian
Сімдесят років Декларації
З нагоди річниці конференції «Остаточного рішення»
З приводу сімдесятиріччя офіційного прийняття нацистською владою «Остаточного рішення єврейського питання», ми нижче підписуємо:
Posted in 70 Years Declaration, 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 70 Years Declaration, 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 in Spanish
Declaración de los Setenta Años
en el Aniversario de la Conferencia de Wannsee sobre la Solución Final
En este 70 aniversario de la adopción formal de la “Solución final del problema judío” por parte de los líderes nazis, nosotros, los abajo firmantes
Posted in 70 Years Declaration
Tagged Declaración de los Setenta Años en el Aniversario de la Conferencia de Wannsee sobre la Solución Final, Prague Declaration (reply), Seventy Years Declaration, Seventy Years Declaration in Spanish
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The Seventy Years Declaration in Belarusian
20 студзеня 2012 года
Дэклярацыя да 70-х угодкаў Ванзэйскай канфэрэнцыі па “Канчатковым рашэньні”
Posted in 70 Years Declaration
Tagged Prague Declaration (reply), Seventy Years Declaration, Wannsee Declaration, Дэклярацыя да 70-х угодкаў Ванзэйскай канфэрэнцыі па “Канчатковым рашэньні”
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