The leading neo-Nazi blogger in Lithuania, “Zeppelinus,” who was unmasked several months ago by a number of publications as a high official at the Ministry for the Economy and chairman of the nation’s Tripartite Commission, did not deny the identification.
Instead, quite incredibly, he complained to the press commission against those who would dare deem to be unacceptable his hateful racist, antisemitic, homophobic and pro-fascist productions.
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Remains of 1941 fascist leader Juozas Ambrazevičius (Brazaitis) met by honor guard at Vilnius Airport on 17 May 2012 and reburied in Kaunas’s Church of the Resurrection on the 20th, as city’s mayor dismisses criticism.SEE ALSO:
Collaborators Glorified section
Previous sanitization program
This petition will be delivered to:
Following the announcement that the Lithuanian Embassy is one of the generous co-sponsors of this month’s London conference on Jewish-Lithuanian issues including the Holocaust, we the undersigned ask the Embassy’s public support on the following urgent matters:
1) Rapid and elegant public apologies, released prior to the conference, to the Jewish Holocaust Survivors defamed in recent years by Lithuanian prosecutors, media and some government officials. The survivors are in their late 80s and 90s, making time essential if there is going to be a symbolic amelioration in the manner in which the Lithuanian state is ending a 700 year old history of Jewish settlement, and on what note, with the last survivors of the bona fide pre Holocaust generation. Most urgently, Rachel Margolis; also: Yitzhak Arad and Fania Brantsovsky and Joseph Melamed.
C O N T E N T S:
Introduction
Lithuanian Nationalism and Antisemitism Prior to the Holocaust
The First Soviet Occupation of Lithuania, 15 June 1940 – 22 June 1941
The Lithuanian Activist Front: Antisemitic Incitement
The German Invasion and the Organization of an “Independent” Lithuanian Government
The Period of Pogroms: Late June to Mid July 1941
The Lithuanian Press at the Time of the Pogroms: A Source of Incitement
The Lithuanian Provisional Government: Anti-Jewish Legislation
Systematic Mass Murder: German Design and Command, Lithuanian Perpetration (late July–November 1941)
Lithuanian Police Battalions and Their Role in the Murder of the Jews
The Lithuanian Catholic Church and the Holocaust
The Rewriting of Holocaust History and the Double Genocide Thesis — “The Jewish Holocaust and the Lithuanian Holocaust”
Anti-Soviet Guerilla Warfare in Lithuania
The Prague Declaration of June 2008 and the European Parliament Resolution of April 2009
Conclusion
Notes
In Lithuania, as in other places in Europe conquered by Nazi Germany, a thorough and comprehensive inquiry into the tragic events that occurred compels consideration of three factors:
Left to right: Sigita Rukšėnaitė, Anna Shepherd, Fiokla Kiure. Sign at right asks: “Just Envelopes?”
A dedicated Facebook page provides facts and photos on today’s dignified and courageous demonstration by a small group of young Lithuanian human rights advocates against Vilnius University’s proceeding with an exhibition of an envelope designer whose work features flagrant antisemitic, homophobic and racist material (larger selection here).
Fiokla Kiure’s images of the event are available here; a small selection follows this article.
BACKGROUND:
Earlier report (21 Sept)
Delfi.lt report by Eglė Samoškaitė (25 Sept) [English here]
A dozen samples of the envelope maker’s works
Revelation of an additional “humanistic” envelope by the same designer (27 Sept)
For years this artist’s antisemitic envelopes were on sale at the Main Post Office; the Jewish community’s newspaper exposed them in the June 2008 issue of Jerusalem of Lithuania.
The United Nation’s Human Rights Committee in its 11 July 2012 report, issued in Geneva, included the following text concerning the Lithuanian government’s arguments regarding the legalization of public swastikas and the ongoing authorization of neo-Nazi parades:
Can history be bought up by even a small state’s nationalist government that has talked itself into the idea that revision of history and wide acceptance of that revision is somehow a national cause? It becomes a serious issue when that state is willing to invest heavily in the enterprise, at a time when the targeted influential foreigners are far from the issues at hand and easily manipulated.
When three of us from the DefendingHistory.com community headed out from Vilnius on February 16th to confront the neo-Nazi march in central Kaunas, we were sure we would be joined by dozens, or more, true lovers of Lithuania — folks who cannot remain silent that perverted political leadership allows today’s neo-Nazis to achieve free reign in the center of a great city in the middle of the nation’s cherished independence day. Folks who cannot let the glorification of stylized swastikas (including the “Lithuanian swastika“), and white armbands (celebrating the LAF Holocaust perpetrators of 1941) go unchallenged in the country with the largest rate of murder of its civilian Jewish population in all Holocaust-era Europe. Folks who want to send at least some modicum of support to today’s minorities. And a message to the world that the neo-Nazis do not represent Lithuanian society.
It was a shock to find in Kaunas on February 16th, that the somewhat quixotic DefendingHistory.com threesome would find itself the only visible anti-Nazi presence during the march and the rally that followed.
In a decision with a surreal touch of a topsy-turvy world, Kaunas municipal authorities have announced that they are on “security grounds” revoking the permit for a pro-human rights march with a maximum of one hundred people. The march had been permitted for 4 PM this Thursday, 16 February, in the center of Kaunas, Lithuania’s second city. It was conceived in part as a response to the neo-Nazi march which has a permit for a maximum of one thousand people at 1 PM the same day.
A colleague sent me a link to an article on the webpage of Lietuvos rytas that appeared in their Sunday edition during the first week of December, 2011 (PDF of the print version; full English translation; report in Defending History.com). The heading on the email said the article was antisemitic.
Lietuvos rytas (“Lithuanian Morning”) has been Lithuania’s main newspaper pretty much since independence from the Soviet Union. The quality of the newspaper has varied over the years, but they at least usually refrain from printing overtly antisemitic material, whereas competing newspapers and their editors-in-chief have made this their bread and butter at certain periods, especially Lietuvos aidas and Respublika, although Lietuvos aidas has all but disappeared as a real newspaper and Respublika appears to have turned into an advertising-driven newspaper distributed for free.
O P I N I O N
On Wednesday, November 16th 2011, the Tolerance Center in Vilnius hosted a conference called: Tolerance and Totalitarianism. Challenges to Freedom.
[AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION OF THE LITHUANIAN ORIGINAL]
This letter was approved unanimously at a meeting of the board of directors of the Lithuanian Jewish Community on October 14, 2010, in which 21 board members participated.
To the President of the Republic of Lithuania
Ms. Dalia Grybauskaitė
15 October 2010
Your Excellency,
The Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes to express its great concern concerning the thoughts expressed by the foreign minister of the Republic of Lithuania, A. Ažubalis, which sow discord between Lithuanians and Jews.
Reports have appeared in the mass media that A. Ažubalis said that “Everyone knows very well” by whom this law (Lithuanian dual citizenship) is most needed, and explained that Jews of Lithuanian origin are the main force pushing this law to the forefront. Moreover, the politician hinted that they probably expect to regain property here more
easily in this manner.
PROPHET AMOS AWARDS
DH SECTION ON COURAGEOUS CITIZENS OF LITHUANIA
A number of citizens of Lithuania from diverse backgrounds have spoken out against antisemitism, racism, and Holocaust Obfuscation. See the Defending History sections dedicated to the authors Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, Kristina Apanavičiūtė Sulikienė, Evaldas Balčiūnas, Aleksandras Bosas, Milan Chersonski, Algis Davidavičius, Leonidas Donskis, Pinchos Fridberg, Vilma Fiokla Kiurė, Regina Kopilevich, Andrius Kulikauskas, Fausta and Michael Maass, Julius Norwilla, Jacob Piliansky, Kamilė Rupeikaitė, Geoff Vasil (Vasiliauskas), Nida Vasiliauskaitė, Tomas Venclova, Lina Žigelytė and others.
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Lithuanian film directors are at the forefront of producing bold new documentaries. See recent works by Saulius Beržinis and Alicija Žukauskaitė.
◊
SEE ALSO:
LITHUANIAN HOLOCAUST RESCUERS PAGE
AND THE
FIRST-WEEK RESCUERS PAGE (JUST GETTING STARTED — CONTRIBUTIONS WELCOME)
1 April 2016. Defending History: ‘Media Reaction and Reviews: Vanagaitė and Zuroff’s ‘Mūsiškiai’.
11 March 2016. Defending History: Neo-Nazis given central Vilnius again on March 11th Independence Day’ by Vilma Fiokla Kiurė.
29 February 2016. Jewish Community of Lithuania: ‘Lithuanian Jewish Community requests findings on Holocaust crimes of Molėtai priest’ by Faina Kukliansky.
29 February 2016. The Times of Israel: ‘Holocaust haunts Lithuanians as painful past comes to light’ by Vaidotas Beniusis.
29 February 2016. Defending History: ‘Media Reaction and Reviews: Vanagaitė and Zuroff’s ‘Mūsiškiai’.
11 February 2016. Lithuanian Jewish Community: ‘Musicians of the symphony of the lie’ by Sergejus Kanovičius.
4 January 2016. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Let’s dismantle the Sports Palace and revoke the revocation of hospitality’ by Andrius Kulikauskas.
24 December 2015. Defending History: ‘When both law enforcement and politicians cover up racism’ by Vilma Fiokla Kiurė.
14 December 2015. Defending History: ‘It’s not just about old Jewish cemeteries’ by Milan Chersonski.
7 December 2015. Defending History: ‘Why would the “Genocide Center” in Vilnius manipulate history and glorify murderers’? by Kristina Apanavičiūtė Sulikienė.
20 November 2015. VilNews.com: ‘Doing business in Lithuania — a country where rule of law is not expected’ by Grant Arthur Gochin.
16 November 2015. Defending History: ‘Roma in Lithuania: But what does the government need to do?’ by Vilma Fiokla Kiurė.
10 November 2015. Lithuanian Jewish Community: ‘Litvak youth protest honoring of General Vetra in Vilnius’ [extracts in English from the full 9 Nov. article in Lithuanian in 15min.lt by Paulius Gritenis].
4 October 2015. Defending History: ‘Police prevent Kaunas Jewish guide Chaim Bargman from attending annual memorial for the annihilated Jews of Ukmergė (Vilkomir)’ [introducing video interview of Chaim Bargman in Yiddish].
2 October 2015. Defending History: ‘Impressions of a conference on “Antisemitism, Radicalization and Violent Extremism”’ by Vilma Fiokla Kiurė.
25 September 2015. Defending History: ‘Vilnius names street for beloved Lithuanian rescuer Ona Šimaitė’.
1 September 2015. Defending History: ‘Public shrines to a Holocaust collaborator and a “secret” petition: A strange summer’s media circus’ by Evaldas Balčiūnas.
23 August 2015. Defending History: ‘What it is to defend your own history’ by Kristina Apanavičiūtė Sulikienė.
29 July 2015. i24: ‘Lithuania’s choice: between real and false heroes’ by Sergey Kanovich.
19 July 2015. Defending History: ‘What’s The Story With the Mass Grave Uncovered near Šiauliai (Shavl)?’ by Evaldas Balčiūnas?.
3 May 2015. Defending History: ‘Why we have not, do not and will not talk about the Holocaust in Lithuania’ by Rūta Vanagaitė. Posted on 4 May 2015 in En.Delfi.lt / The Lithuania Tribune.
1 May 2015. Defending History: ‘Legacy of Rūta Vanagaitė’s 17 April 2015 Conference at Vilnius City Hall’.
30 April 2015. Defending History: ‘A Jewish hideout discovered in Butrimonys’ by Andrius Kulikauskas.
24 April 2015. Lithuania Tribune / En.Delfi.lt: ‘Lithuanians and Jews: What’s changed and what hasn’t over the last 40 years?’ by Tomas Venclova.
20 April 2015. Defending History [courtesy of International Conference on Holocaust Education]: ‘Lithuanians and Jews: What’s changed and what hasn’t over the last forty years?’ by Tomas Venclova. In Delfi.lt (24 April 2015).
13 April 2015. H-Net. Humanities and Social Sciences Online: ‘Origins of the Holocaust in Lithuania’ by Andrius Kulikauskas.
12 Apil 2015. Defending History: ‘Graffiti debate on Hitler in a Vilnius housing complex’ [photograph] by Julius Norwilla.
6 April 2015. Defending History: ‘A new book on the Kaunas (Kovno) Ghetto by Arūnas Bubnys’ by Geoff Vasil.
30 March 2015. Defending History: ‘New memorial, on state land in western Lithuania, honors alleged murderer of thousands of civlians’ by Evaldas Balčiūnas.
19 March 2015. Mi Zdes: Correspondence between Vilnius Holocaust survivor Pinchos Fridberg and Yico director Jonathan Brent in Russian translation. In English (in DH); reprint in Operation Last Chance (Simon Wiesenthal Center). In Yiddish.
19 March 2015. Defending History: ‘An “Inner” View of the Neo-March on Vilnius, 2015′ by Geoff Vasil.
19 February 2015. Defending History: ‘February 16th 2015 in Kaunas…’ by Evaldas Balčiūnas.
5 February 2015. Defending History: ‘How did Lithuanians wrong Litvaks?’ by Andrius Kulikauskas.
4 February 2015. Defending History: ‘The Nazis are just nuts’ by Geoff Vasil.
2 February 2015. Defending History: ‘The Bubnys event at the 2015 Jewish Community Auschwitz commemoration’ by Julius Norwilla.
29 January 2015. Defending History: ‘Nine poems by Aleksandras Bosas’.
30 November 2014. Defending History: ‘Tomas Venclova speaks out on Banderism and its European analogues’.
23 November 2014. Defending History: ‘Member of Lithuania’s Jewish community speaks out on neo-Nazi Parades, and govt. flowers at monument to Hitler’s soldiers’ by Jacob Piliansky.
20 November 2014. Defending History: ‘What is the “program for Roma integration” in Lithuania?’ by Vilma Fiokla Kiurė.
11 November 2014. Defending History: ‘Meilach Stalevich (1923 — 2014)’ by Dovid Katz.
8 November 2014. LatvianNews.lv: ‘Herberts Cukrus. A criminal. Just a criminal’.
5 October 2014. Defending History: ‘Annual memorial for the Jews of Svintsyán (Švenčionys): small but well done’ by Defending History staff.
24 September 2014. Defending History: ‘Seven Prophet Amos Awards for human rights courage in Lithuania’.
21 September 2014. Tsemakh Shabad’s 150th birthday celebrated in style at the Lithuanian parliament’ by Defending History staff.
24 August 2014. Jewish Community of Lithuania: ‘Volunteers tackle cobwebs and dust at Vilna Ghetto Library’ by Geoff Vasil.
17 August 2014. Defending History: ‘Vilnius daily’s report on the Dyukov affair’.
26 July 2014. Defending History: ‘Aleksandras Bosas (1951—2014)’ by Geoff Vasil.
8 July 2014. Defending History: ‘Defending History’s Evaldas Balčiūnas again disturbed by police at his workplace’.
17 June 2014. Defending History: ‘The politics of history’ by Evaldas Balčiūnas.
22 May 2014. Defending History: ‘DH staff writer Evaldas Balčiūnas is investigated by Lithuanian police’.
22 May 2014. Defending History: ‘Statement of staff writer Evaldas Balčiūnas on summons from police’ by Evaldas Balčiūnas.
8 April 2014. Defending History: ‘Roma: Presumption of Guilt’ by Vilma Fiokla Kiurė.
28 March 2014. Defending History: ‘Is Vilnius police criminal division harassing veteran Holocaust researcher?’
21 March 2014. Defending History: ‘Holocaust Survivor stands up against proposal to close down Russian language media in Lithuania’.
8 March 2014. Defending History: ‘Olga Zabludoff’s comment on a February 2014 Yivo symposium’. Original 7 March 2014 publication in the Algemeiner Journal.
3 March 2014. Pinchos Fridberg’s Youtube: ‘Lakhn iz gezunt’ by Pinchos Fridberg [in Yiddish]. Reaction to a comment posted at Olga Zabludoff’s 13 February 2014 op-ed in the Algemeiner Journal.
23 February 2014. Defending History: Prof. Pinchos Fridberg’s sound file ‘Lakhn iz gezunt’ (in Yiddish) in response to R. Račinskas’s comment to Olga Zabludoff’s 13 February 2014 article in the Algemeiner Journal. Background here and here.
11 February 2014. Tablet: ‘A comment from Professor Pinchos Fridberg, Vilnius’. Reprint in DefendingHistory.com.
10 February 2014. Antifa.lt: Antifa.lt announces its 16 February 2014 protest against neo-Nazi march in central Kaunas; On Facebook.
21 January 2014. JosephLevinson.com: Joseph Levinson website launched.
17 January 2014. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Forget me knot’ by Geoff Vasil (Vailiauskas).
24 December 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘A Love Story’ by Pinchos Fridberg.
23 December 2013. Lithuania Tribune: ‘Lithuanian PM criticizes MP Bradauskas for statement on rescuers of Jews’.
22 December 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Raising Cain on the Resurrection of Abel’ by Geoff Vasil (Vasiliauskas).
7 December 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Žilvinas Butkus (Vilnius) and the Association of Lithuanian Jews (Tel Aviv) release August 2009 document’.
1 December 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘“Higher mathematics” of the Lithuanian Holocaust’ by Pinchos Fridberg.
1 November 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Chersonski replies to Aleksandravičius on the 2012 Kaunas reburial of the 1941 Nazi puppet prime minister’ by Milan Chersonski.
26 October 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘The “humanity” of the rewriters of history” by Evaldas Balčiūnas.
25 September 2013: DefendingHistory.com: ‘Chersonski replies to Aleksandravičius on the 2012 Kaunas reburial with full honors of 1941 Nazi puppet prime minister’ by Milan Chersonski [in Russian; English translation forthcoming].
18 September 2013: DefendingHistory.com: ‘“And, of course, the research that our commission’s historians are carrying out is very important”’ by Pinchos Fridberg.
13 September 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘In Parubanka, Roma people say history is repeating itself by Lina Žigelytė.
29 August 2013. The Baltic Times: ‘How memory prevails’ by Leonidas Donskis.
2 July 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Marching with the words: “No to falsification of history”‘ by Milan Chersonski.
23 June 2013. Around ten young anti-fascists from Antifa Lietuva stage a march in Kaunas protesting the glorification of the Lithuanian Activist Front who unleashed murder upon local Jewish populations on this date in 1941 in dozens of locations. Milan Chersonski reports from Kaunas. More on Antifa.lt and Facebook. The banner carried translates: ‘Real heroes rescued people instead of killing them. Remember the victims of the Holocaust’.
Antifa Lietuva’s sign reads: “Real heroes rescued people instead of killing them. Remember the victims of the Holocaust”
6 June 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘The unwritten biography of Jonas Žemaitis: a tale of twists and turns’ by Evaldas Balčiūnas.
27 May 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Rehabilitation of the past as a tool of modern politics’ by Milan Chersonski.
22 April 2013. Jerusalem Report: ‘Lithuania’s deceit’ by Bernard Dichek [see interviews with Fania Brantsovsky and Milda Jakulytė-Vasil].
10 April 2013. Defending History: ‘In Obeliai (Abél) and Rokiškis (Rákishok): More state-sponsored glorification of Nazi collaborators’ by Geoff Vasil.
29 March 2013. Žibutė (Lithuanian Feminist Program): Antifascism and a campaign of terror.
16 March 2013. Delfi.lt: ‘Latvių SS legiono veteranų eitynėse žygiavo J.Panka bei R.Čekutis, A.Paleckis’ by Eglė Samoškaitė.
15 March 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Believe it or not: Lithuanian parliament honors organizers of neo-Nazi march in central Vilnius’ [with full translation of Dovydas Pancerovas’s courageous article].
15 March 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Lithuania’s Social Democratic Party issues statement against neo-Nazi march’.
14 March 2013. Lithuania Tribune: ‘Social Democrats censure “manifestations of ultranatnionalism”’.
14 March 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Isn’t it time for the author of the myth to apologize?’ by Pinchos Fridberg.
11 March 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘3,000 participants in “unauthorized” neo-Nazi march in central Vilnius on 2013 independence day’ by Anna Shepherd [with reports on the courageous groups of Lithuanian citizens who turned out to oppose the neo-Nazi march in central Vilnius].
Fiokla Kiure carries a protest sign at the neo-Nazis’ independence day march in central Vilnius on 11 March 2013. Sign reads: “I’m ashamed to live in a country that’s run by Mankurts.”
24 February 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Evaldas Balčiūnas remembers February 16th 2013 march in central Kaunas’ by Evaldas Balčiūnas.
23 February 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘A counter-question to Lithuanian journalist Artūras Račas’ by Pinchos Fridberg.
23 February 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘The real dope on the February 16 neo-Nazi march in Kaunas (Kovno), Lithuania’ by Geoff Vasil.
A number of courageous young Lithuanians, affiliated with antifa.lt and anarchija.lt were among the tiny number of protesters at the February 16th neo-Nazi march in Kaunas that featured on the front banner the Nazi puppet prime minister of 1941. They were harassed by police who demanded their names and addresses. By contrast the police were highly courteous to Efraim Zuroff and Dovid Katz who came to monitor and protest the event.
14 February 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Righteous among the nations: Zháger (Žagarė).
14 February 2013. The Baltic Times: ‘Lithuanian PM is against instigation of ethnic hatred’.
14 February 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Pinchos Fridberg provides chronology of a provocation’.
8 February 2013. VilNews.com: ‘A poem about the witches among us’ by K.R. Slade.
1 February 2013. Obzor: ‘Two questions of the leaders of the Jewish Community of Lithuania’ by Pinchos Fridberg [in Russian].
31 January 2013. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Why Christine Beresniova is out of order’ by Geoff Vasil.
16 January 2013. Jewish Community of Lithuania: ‘Instead of truth about the Holocaust — Myths about saving Jews’ by Pinchos Fridberg.
15 January 2013. The Algemeiner: ‘Instead of truth about the Holocaust — Myths about saving Jews’ by Pinchos Fridberg.
• Eight Lithuanian parliamentarians (six MPs and two MEPs) courageously sign the Seventy Years Declaration. They are rapidly attacked by the foreign minister, and defended by UK MP Denis MacShane, who wrote to each. The New York Times reports. Jewish Chronicle. Algemeiner Journal. MP Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis (now minister of health) replied powerfully. So did UK MP and author Denis MacShane. Andres Spokoiny’s tribute to MP Andriukaitis.
• Hundreds of Lithuanian citizens of all backgrounds, resident in Lithuania and in a dozen countries, courageously sign Olga Zabludoff’s petition asking the Lithuanian government to ban the neo-Nazi march from the central boulevard of Lithuania’s beautiful capital Vilnius on its proud independence day of March 11th.
• Many Lithuanian citizens, resident in Lithuania and elsewhere, courageously sign Krystyna Anna Steiger’s petition. It started as a petition asking Vytatyas Magnus University to cancel events honoring the 1941 Nazi puppet prime minister. Upon achievement of that goal it shifted to asking the government to cancel its reburial ceremonies. Following the reburial, it evolved to the current petition asking the government to remove memorials to Nazi collaborators on public property.
• Eight of the nine demonstrators who picketed the opening of a racist-homophobe’s art exhibition at Vilnius University on 27 September 2012 are Lithuanian citizens. Details here.
Among the nine demonstrators against Vilnius University’s mounting of an exhibit of the works of an antisemitic, racist, homophobic artist. Report at: https://defendinghistory.com/vilnius-university-calls-antisemitic-artist-humanistic-as-bold-young-lithuanian-intellectuals-protest-but-bloomington-borns-remains-silent/42357.
• Among the major bold and courageous contributions to the debate by Lithuanian personalities in 2012: Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis 1, 2, 3, 4; V.T. Andriukaitis & A. Sysas; Saulius Beržinis; Algis Davidavičius; Leonidas Donskis 1, 2; Darius Udrys, Alicija Žukauskaitė.
———
3 October 2012. DefendingHistory.com: ’Ignas Vylius-Vėlavičius: Lithuanian patriot or Holocaust perpetrator?’ by Evaldas Balčiūnas.
25 September 2012. Delfi.lt: ‘Parodos detektyvas VU: žydai pasipiktino dailininku, kairieji organizuoja protestą, universitetas sutrikęs’ [‘A detective story about an exhibit at Vilnius University: Jews upset by artist, leftists organize protest, university in disarray] by Eglė Samoškaitė.
17 September 2012. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Lithuania’s state Jewish museum responds to survivors’ concerns about London meetings together with (antisemitic) Genocide Center’ by Kamilė Rupeikaitė.
30 July 2012. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Crying over dead Jews’ by Geoff Vasil. Republication in the Algemeiner Journal. Republication in 15min.lt. August 1st 2012 pick of the day on Jewish Ideas Daily.
6 July 2012. DefendingHistory.com: ‘The Holocaust? It happens to everyone…’ by Algis Davidavičius.
4 July 2012. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Reburial as a means for the rewriting of history’ by Milan Chersonski.
29 June 2012. Defending History.com: ‘Another “resistance hero” or — war criminal who selected Jews for mass murder?’ by Evaldas Balčiūnas.
20 May 2012. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Dramatic confrontation on the floor of the Lithuanian parliament’.
17 May 2012. VilNews.com: ‘Juozas Ambrazevičius-Brazaitis is no hero’ by Darius Udrys. Republished in 15min.lt. Republished in the Lithuania Tribune.
29 April 2012. Lietuvos rytas: ‘Musicians speaking out against racism: “You need to love your country with songs, not fists’ by Eglė Šilinskaitė. English translation here.
29 April 2012. Lietuvos rytas: ‘Musicians speaking out against racism: “You need to love your country with songs, not fists’ by Eglė Šilinskaitė. English translation here.
28 April 2012. DefendingHistory.com: ‘The history of three “Lithuanian Freedom Army” (LFA) colonels who served the Nazis” by Evaldas Balčiūnas.
12 April 2012. DefendingHistory.com: ‘MP Vytenis Andriukaitis: Open letter to Genocide Center’s “chief specialist” Ričardas Čekutis’ by Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis. [= authorized English translation of 5 April 2012 Balsas.lt article]
11 February 2012. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Lithuanian parliamentarian Vytenis Andriukaitis, signatory of 70 Years Declaration, replies to foreign minister, cites “moustache” remark and the implications of ‘double genocide”‘. [An authorized translation of the Lithuanian article by Vytenis Andriukaitis that appeared on Delfi.lt on 9 February 2012]
22 January 2012. DefendingHistory.com: ‘Lithuanian foreign minister berates his country’s parliamentarians who signed “70 Years Declaration”; Says Hitler = Stalin except for length of their moustaches’. Republished on Operation Last Chance.
20 January 2012. DefendingHistory.com: ‘The Seventy Years Declaration on the anniversary of the final solution conference at Wannsee’ [including eight Lithuanian signatories].
♦
Five courageous members of the Tolerant Youth Association of Lithuania (http://www.tja.lt) staged a small but powerful counter-demonstration against the neo-Nazi march held on 11 March 2011.
Shimon Alperovich interviewed by Frank Bendle on Taz.de, 4 February 2011.
Evaldas Balčiūnas, ‘Lithuanian State Commemorates Murderers’ on Anarchija.lt, 22 March 2011. Authorized English translation by Geoff Vasil available here.
Monika Bonckute, ‘The bureaucrat who thought he was a victim’ in Lietuvos rytas, 8 March 2011. Authorized English translation by Geoff Vasil available here.
Mečys Laurinkus, ‘Fascist demonstrators: a real problem for Lithuania’s future’ in Lietuvos rytas, 26 March 2011. English translation.
Geoff Vasil (Vasiliauskas), ‘Lithuania and Tolerance’ on DefendingHistory.com, 10 January 2011.
Nida Vasiliauskaitė, ‘Fascism in National Cellophane’ on DefendingHistory.com, 16 February 2011.
Andrejus Žukovskis, ‘Jerusalem of Lithuania is saddened’ in Diena.lt, 23 April 2011.
♦
Shimon Alperovich (Simonas Alperavičius), public letter to Irena Degutiene, chair of the Lithuanian parliament, 4 October 2010. English translation by Geoff Vasil.
Andrius Bielskis, ‘If we don’t recognize the Holocaust we won’t take responsibility for the tragedy’ on Delfi.lt, 10 December 2010. English translation by Geoff Vasil.
Monika Bončkutė, ‘Rejecting tolerance, Lithuanians enjoy the role of victim’ in Lietuvos rytas, 9 April 2010. English translation by Geoff Vasil.
Monika Bončkutė, ‘Pure-blooded Lithuanians need Jewish Litvaks’ in Lietuvos rytas, 21 January 2010. English translation by Geoff Vasil.
Leonidas Donskis, ‘What happened to us?’ in the Baltic Times, 15 April 2010.
Leonidas Donskis, ‘Where is that line?’ on DefendingHistory.com, 11 December 2010.
Leonidas Donskis, ‘Kada tiesa pagaliau mus išlaisvins?’ [When will the truth finally set us free?] on his blog, 1 September 2010. Authorized English translation by Geoff Vasil.
Andrius Navickas, ‘Holokaustas ir atminties gydymas’ on Bernardinai.lt, 23 September 2010. English translation by Geoff Vasil.
Algirdas Paleckis, ‘The legacy of fascists and fascism in Lithuania’, paper delivered at the World Without Nazism Conference, Kiev, 21 June 2010.
Nida Vasiliauskaitė, ‘On 1941, the Jews, and Us’ on DefendingHistory.com, 13 December 2010.
Tomas Venclova, ‘Aš dūstu’ [I am suffocating] on Bernardinai.lt, 14 July 2010. Excerpt in English here. Full authorized translation by Geoff Vasil here.
♦
Leonidas Donskis, ‘The inflation of genocide’ in EuropeanVoice.com, 24 July 2009.
Daiva Repečkaitė, ‘How the word spreads’ on author’s blog Wonderland, 4 December 2009.
Daiva Repečkaitė, ‘Delfi’s “McCarthyism” continues’ on author’s blog Wonderland, 14 November 2009.
Rasa Rimickaitė, ‘Dantesque emptiness’ in Jerusalem of Lithuania, April-June 2009.
Darius J. Ross, ‘Sticks and stones’ in The Baltic Times, 23-29 April 2009.
Darius Udrys, The Road to Freedom: Lithuania / Kelias i Laisve: Lietuva. Documentary film on blip.tv.
‘Tomas Venclova on Lithuania’s intellectuals’, 15 July 2009.
Dr Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel Office, pays tribute to citizens who assisted Operation Last Chance, in his Operation Last Chance, pp 156-160(see Recent Books → 2009 → Zuroff).
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Leonidas Donskis, ‘Hostages to an ill-begotten theory’ in Transitions Online, 10 October 2008.
‘Lithuanian academic blasts war crimes probe of ex- Yad Vashem chief’ in Haaretz, 5 October 2008.
Geoff Vasil (Vasiliauskas), ‘Analyzing Lithuanian antisemitism. The “double genocide” theory refuses to quit’ in Jewish Currents, November 2008; alternate link.
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Report on a project of the House of Memory led by Linas Vildziunas, September 2006.
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V. Brandišauskas’s review of A. Liekis’s book (2000) on the first weeks of the Holocaust in Lithuania. English translation.
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The eminent Lithuanian scholar and poet Tomas Venclova (Yale University) published the first Lithuanian version of his valiant essay, ‘Jews and Lithuanians’ in the samizdat journal Tarbut in 1975. The standard English version appears in his Forms of Hope.
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Dr. Jonas Basanavičius (1851-1927), a principal founder of the Lithuanian revival of modern times, and editor of the first newspaper in the language, wrote this letter in 1924 to a Jewish newspaper, upon hearing of plans to ban Yiddish signs in public places. The English translation is followed by a facsimile of the original Lithuanian letter, taken from M. Sudarski’s Líte (New York 1951), p. 143. A facsimile of the page is available here.
“Having learned from Mr. Katsenelenbogen that certain district leaders are banning the public use of the Yiddish language on signs, and thereby violating the sense of justice of the Yiddish speaking citizens of Lithuania, I would like — though it be a cry in the wilderness — to defend their language on the basis of equality, and to advise the organs of government to stop persecuting, pettily, the language of loyal residents, and to stop making them feel aggrieved by the Lithuanian government.”
- Dr. J. Basanavičius
- Palanga, 12 August 1924
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