O P I N I O N

by Peter Thabit Jones

Dear Mr. Hirsch

As a fellow poet and human being, I implore you to withdraw as a judge in a competition that will be part of a series of events misrepresenting things, in effect for the benefit of certain elements in the Lithuanian government. Alternatively, as suggested by colleagues, a simple requirement that each of the wrongfully defamed Jewish Holocaust Survivors who joined the anti-Nazi resistance be issued a full and public apology would bring the matter to a rapid close.

Please bear in mind the history and the inhumane Holocaust-era treatment of the Jewish people that is in effect manipulated and distorted by events such as these.

Is there not a time when a writer must question his or her involvement in certain literary matters for the cause of humanity and mankind, and to stand up for the historic truth when that truth is clouded by a manipulated literary event one has been invited to preside over?

With all good wishes,

• Peter Thabit Jones
• Poet and publisher, Wales