Kaunas Mayor & City Council Deciding
whether to again allow neo-nazis sporting banners adulating Holocaust collaborators to take over the city center on Lithuania’s cherished February 16th Independence Day next week
PREVIOUS YEARS IN KAUNAS IN VILNIUS IN RIGA DH SECTION
Banner from last year’s takeover of central Kaunas on Feb. 16th: Same again?
From left: Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas, Jonas Noreika, Povilas Plechavičius, Kazys Škirpa, Antanas Baltūsis-Žvejas, and Juozas Ambrazevičius-Brazaitis, under the banner translating “We know our nation’s heroes”.
On Škirpa see last November’s event at Vilnius Old Town Hall. On Noreika see Jewish Community head’s Nov. 2016 letter, the Feb. 2017 letter from President of Lithuania’s office, and 2015 Jewish students’ protest.
Also: Where is the Israeli ambassador? Last year Ambassador Amir Maimon came one month after the Holocaust collaborator glorifying march to offer gushing public praise for the Kaunas mayor and council for their “dedication” to Jewish remembrance. But Lithuanian Jews do not forget the ethos and legacy of a previous late ambassador of the State of Israel. Related: Shmuel Rosner’s New York Times op-ed on current Israeli policy on Holocaust issues.
Every Jewish community in prewar independent Lithuania celebrated February 16th with the same patriotic fervor as all the population. One famous photo is from the 1928 celebration of the tenth anniversary of Lithuania’s 1918 independence, with a huge banner in Hebrew and Lithuanian, in Dorbyán (Darbėnai)…
