In response to a letter from the editor of this journal, expressing concern at various internet and other threats against those who would dare oppose the neo-Nazi march scheduled for 16 February 2013 in the center of Kaunas, a reply has been received from the police in Kaunas which does not address the direct issue of safety, but makes it clear that the march is approved by the powers that be in the municipality.This is important because of the various rumors spread by various organizations that ultranationalist youth have decided to march through central Kaunas with or without permission. The letter reads, in translation:
Kaunas Police Confirm that Neo-Nazi March on Independence Day Proceeding with Municipality’s Blessing
Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Celebrations of Fascism, Collaborators Glorified, Kaunas, Litvak Affairs, Neo-Nazi & Fascist Marches
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Vienos provokacijos fotografijose chronika
O P I N I O N
by Pinchos Fridberg
2013 m. vasario mėn. 5 dienos darbo pabaigoje į Lietuvos žydų bendruomenę buvo atsiųstas el. laiškas
Posted in News & Views, Pinchos Fridberg
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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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Committee on Human Rights Leaders “Skeptical” about Gay Rights!
O P I N I O N
by Anna Shepherd
Westerners looking at the political landscape of Lithuania should not be duped into thinking, as has been stated on this site before, that those sitting on a board for Jewish cemeteries are necessarily in it for their dedication to the Litvak heritage, or, as I am about to illustrate here, that those sitting in committees for defending equal rights are necessarily in favor of universal equal rights.
The question we need to examine is why someone opposed to equal rights would aim to become a spokesperson of those same rights. Membership of such a committee or board can in fact be a good opportunity to hijack a concept in order to hide certain failures and shortcomings and to tailor its meaning to fit certain political goals. This is what in my opinion is happening in the appointment of Leonard Talmont as Chair and Mantas Adomėnas as Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights.
Posted in Anna Shepherd, Double Games, Human Rights, LGBTQ Equal Rights, Opinion
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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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LGBT Equality Protests Removal of July 2013 March from Vilnius’s Central Boulevard
LGBT Equality (the LGL — Lithuanian Gay League) today issued a statement on its website urging the Vilnius municipality to change its heart over a decision to ban the Baltic Pride march from the capital’s center in the summer of 2013, just as Lithuania will proudly be assuming the rotating chairmanship of the European Union. The statement follows an earlier 16 January statement.
In the meantime, a nationalist website has announced that the March 11th 2013 neo-Nazi march will proceed on the capital’s central boulevard as always, irrespective of any requests from the municipality. The statement is signed by a former long-term high official of the Genocide Research Center who was involved in organizing various neo-Nazi marches and defending them publicly.Continue reading
Posted in Events, Human Rights, LGBTQ Equal Rights, News & Views
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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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A Tale of Two Marches? LGBT Equality Releases Statement on Authorities’ Response to Baltic Pride 2013
LGBT Equality (the LGL — Lithuanian Gay League) today issued a statement on its website concerning the progress of the application to the Vilnius municipality to hold the Baltic Pride 2013 March for Equality on Gedimino Boulevard, the capital’s central avenue, on 27 July 2013.
In the meantime, the municipality, though it has requested that the neo-Nazi march planned for the nation’s March 11th independence day be moved from Gedimino Boulevard (where it has regularly been held since 2008 with participation of right-wing members of parliament and with few or no objections from Western embassies), seems not to be pursuing that request with any verve.
VILNIUS YEARS GONE BY:
Video of the first (2008) neo-Nazi march in the city center
Eyewitness account of 2010 Baltic Pride March across the river
Eyewitness account of 2011 Neo-Nazi March in the city center
Eyewitness account of 2012 Neo-Nazi March in the city center
Posted in Human Rights, LGBTQ Equal Rights
Tagged Baltic Pride March 2013, gay rights issues in Lithuania/Balics, LGBT rights in Vilnius, LGL, Lithuania, Neo-Nazi March Vilnius 2013
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Wiesenthal Center Welcomes Punishment of Hungary by FIFA for Antisemitic Behavior of Hungarian Fans in August 2012
Jerusalem—The Simon Wiesenthal Center today praised the steps taken earlier this week by the international football federation (FIFA) to punish the Hungarian Football Federation in the wake of the antisemitic behavior of many dozens of Hungarian fans at a friendly match against Israel held this past August 15 in Budapest.
Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Celebrations of Fascism, Efraim Zuroff, EU, Hungary, Racism
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An International Appeal from the Head of the Ukrainian Independent Council of Jewish Women
O P I N I O N
by Eleonora Groisman
The author is president of The Ukrainian Independent Council of Jewish Women, and edits the newspaper Jewish Kiev. Authorized translation into English provided by the author is by Mr. Valery Novoselsky (executive editor of Public Diplomacy Network and of Roma Virtual Network). See:
http://evreiskiy.kiev.ua
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Jewish_Daily_News/message/92
http://www.facebook.com/evreiskiy.kiev.ua
Appeal to the representatives of international governmental and non-governmental organizations by a group of social organizations and citizens of different countries concerned about the growth of antisemitism in Ukraine:
In the 2012 elections to the Verkhovna Rada the far-right nationalist Svoboda party passed. To date, the Svoboda fraction has 37 parliament members, within the total of 450 parliament members.
Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Eleonora Groisman, Human Rights, News & Views, Opinion, Ukraine, Women's Rights
Tagged antisemitism + Swoboda (Ukraine), antisemitism in Ukraine, Eleonora Groisman, fascism in Ukraine
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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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