The Society for the Promotion of the European Human Rights Model, based in France, today published on its website a statement of protest concerning the decision by the Yivo Institute for Jewish Research to host Lithuania’s foreign minister as ‘guest of honor’ at a 22 September 2011 event to commemorate the Vilna Ghetto.
The statement, signed by the society’s president, Didier Bertin, begins with the following text:
“I have seen on your website your intent to host on 22 September 2011, the Lithuanian Foreign Minister as ‘guest of honor’ in the framework of a commemoration for the victims of the Vilna Ghetto. This invitation is particularly shocking and cruel for the Jewish communities of the world […]. I respectfully request the cancellation of this invitation or of the whole event if this can be easier for you than finding a more suitable guest of honor (for example survivors of the heroic Jewish anti-Nazi partisan movement in and around Vilna).”
FULL STATEMENT HERE