Bernard Dichek in Jerusalem Report

Monica Lowenberg in London Jewish News

Efraim Zuroff on Baltic antisemitism

A MAJOR NEW PAPER BY YITZHAK ARAD

BEFORE NATO/EU ACCESSION  &  AFTERWARDS

By Author. By Section: •Books •Exotic Tourism •History •Fascists Glorified? •Litvak Affairs •Seventy Years Declaration (TEXT) •Film & Theatre  •Politics of Memory

By Country: •Canada •Estonia •Hungary •Israel •Latvia •South Africa •Ukraine •UK •USA

For Lithuanian-Jewish (Litvak) study & tourism.

WARSAW:  Statue of “Praying Hitler” is unveiled in the Warsaw Ghetto. Reports in the Guardian, Daily Mail, Huffington Post.

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KIEV: Eleonora Groisman, president of the Ukrainian Independent Council of Jewish Women, speaks out on renewed antisemitism coming from nationalist party. Meantime, nationalists celebrate memory of the fascist Bandera.

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VILNIUS: Plans underway for annual neo-Nazi march on nation’s independence day. Olga Zabludoff relaunches international petition.

2012 — Quite a Year for Defending History

Brussels, January 20th:

The Seventy Years Declaration, the first serious EU level challenge to the 2008 Prague Declaration, was signed by 71 EU parliamentarians. Never again would the Double Genocide “Prague Process” be sold as undisputed “truth” in the European conversation. Spirited debate ensued.

Aftermath:

Lithuanian foreign minister berates his eight countrymen (all Social Democrats) who signed the SYD, and makes infamous “moustache remark” about Hitler and Stalin. 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.

MP (& health minister) Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis

Vilnius, January 27th:

President of Lithuania honors Brandeis professor Antony Polonsky for “the promotion of Lithuania’s name in the world.” Issues  include the definition of “genocide,” the Prague Declaration, the Rachel Margolis case, and instrumentalization in an international campaign of government PR.

Tallinn, February 14th:

Estonia’s parliament passes the infamous “Valentine Day’s Law” that paves the way for official state glorification of the country’s Waffen SS.

On 28 August 1942, the anniversary of Tallinn’s capture a year earlier by Nazi forces, Estonian General Commissar SA-Obergruppenführer Karl Siegmund Litzmann announced that the German higher authorities had authorized formation of the Estonian Legion that would operate under the Waffen-SS.

Kaunas, February 16th:

Neo-Nazi march, complete with legalized “Lithuanian swastikas” covers all of central Kaunas on the nation’s February independence day, is addressed by supportive members of parliament.

Tel Aviv, March 5th:

Holocaust survivors, most in their late 80s, lead a picket line at the Dan Panorama in Tel Aviv as a group of wealthy South African Jews of Litvak descent honor the foreign minister who had insulted the Jewish community and Holocaust survivors on various occasions.

Vilnius, March 11th:

Neo-Nazi march, complete with legalized “Lithuanian swastikas” covers all of the central boulevard of the capital city, Vilnius, on the nation’s March 11th independence day. Right-wing members of parliament were on hand to support the neo-Nazis.

Strasbourg, March 14th:

Seventy Years Declaration is presented to Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament.

Riga, March 16th:

The annual parade and ceremony to h0nor Latvia’s Waffen SS again goes forward in central Riga with massive support from the central government.

Dr. Efraim Zuroff (center), director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel office, is one of the leaders of a dignified protest that included placing a wreath for the victims of the Holocaust on a day dedicated to honoring local pro-Nazi forces.

Vilnius & Kaunas in May:

Lithuanian government invests tens of thousands of litas to repatriate, rebury with full honors amidst glittering events the 1941 Nazi puppet prime minister who personally signed confirmation of the orders for all the Jewish citizens of his city (Kovno/Kaunas) to be herded into a ghetto within four weeks. American embassy issues shamefully “balanced” statement at the glorification of the Nazi PM, as if Nazism merits a “balanced diplomatic nuancing” in the 21st century (but in September three congressmen issued a morally solid letter of protest). Powerful responses came from Liberal MEP Leonidas Donskis, from Social Democratic MP Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, and the Jewish Community of Lithuania.

The most unbelievable image of 2012: An EU/NATO partner government invests in glorification of its 1941 Nazi puppet prime minister.

Zhager (Žagarė), July 13th:

A partnership between a local Lithuanian businessmen, members of the municipality, and foreigners of Litvak origin team up to produce Lithuania’s first and only (?) town center plaque that tells the simple truth about the fate of the town’s Jewish population.

Vilnius, August:

Lithuanian president signs order for renewal and enlargement of the Zingeris-Racinskas “Red-Brown Commission”; in return for various diplomatic favors, Israeli and American support provides cover. A public statement and protest letter were issued by the last association in Israel of Lithuanian Holocaust survivors.

Tel Aviv, September:

The untimely death of former Israeli ambassador to Latvia and Lithuania, HE Chen Ivri Apter, is followed by Leivick House’s release of 2009 video from the Tel Aviv event to honor defamed Holocaust survivor, resistance hero and historian Dr. Rachel Margolis, during which the ambassador powerfully addressed the Double Genocide movement head on.

Sydney & Melbourne, September:

Documentary film Rewriting History (Marc Radomsky and Danny Ben-Moshe) is released in Australia. The story of Defending History is one of its central themes…

Vilnius, September 24th:

Jailhouse Rock: Israeli dignitaries play to the hilt the Zingerian roles assigned to them for the latest Jewish farce in town: The Menachem Begin plaque on the jailhouse wall.

Vilnius, September 27th:

Nine young protesters picket the opening of an exhibit at Vilnius University of the artwork of a racist, antisemitic, homophobic envelope designer.

Lund, Lviv & Canada, October:

Dr. Per Anders Rudling of Lund University, Sweden, leads the international effort to expose the lecture tour arranged by Ukrainian-Canadian nationalists for the head of a museum that obfuscates the Holocaust in Lviv. Dr. Rudling attacked by the nationalists, supported by fellow academics. In the meantime, blanket silence over the appearance of the Holocaust distorter at Harvard, and the (uninformed) praise by the Canadian prime minister.

Dr. Per Anders Rudling

Vilnius, November:

Major red-brown conference in Vilnius with the outgoing prime minister as headline speaker. Pre-event; event; Evaldas Balčiūnas; Pinchos Fridberg; Geoff Vasil.

London, December:

Knighted professor (see January 27th above) organizes a second UCL conference in London. Ninety year old Holocaust survivor leads simultaneous protest at the Lithuainan embassy in London.

The Seventy Years Declaration (SYD)

Europe’s first parliamentary response to the Prague Declaration of 2008

An end to the “Prague Process” era of unchallenged Double Genocide and Holocaust Obfuscation spin

Text of the Declaration: in English ◊ in Finnish ◊ in French ◊ in German ◊ in Lithuanian ◊ in Russian ◊ in Polish ◊ in Yiddish

Presented to the President of the European Parliament; video clip

Early debates & coverage

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Just Released:

Website ◊ Reviews ◊ YouTube

Lithuanian Citizens Spoke Out

Eight Signatories of SYD: MEPs Justas Paleckis, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė; MPs Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, Justinas Karosas, Marija Aušrinė Pavilionienė, Julius Sabatauskas, Algirdas Sysas, Birutė Vėsaitė

Dr. Shimon Alperovich (Simonas Alperavičius)

MP Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, 2, 3, 4

MPs V.P. Andriukaitis and A. Sysas

Algis Davidavičius

MEP Leonidas Donskis: 1 & 2

Dr. Darius Udrys

Documentary films by: Saulius Beržinis; Alicija Žukauskaitė

Nine demonstrators at the opening of Vilnius University’s exhibit for an antisemitic and homophobic artist

plus many Lithuanian-citizen signatories of Olga Zabludoff’s petition against the capital’s neo-Nazi march, Krystyna Anna Steiger’s against memorials to Nazi collaborators, and Monica Lowenberg’s calling on the Lithuanian government to take simple and honorable steps

plus DefendingHistory regulars Evaldas Balčiūnas, Milan Chersonski, Geoff Vasil

Ambassador Chen Ivri Apter

Prof. S. S. Prawer

Prof. Harry Shukman

JAILHOUSE ROCK AT VILNIUS PRISON

in 2012!

CONGRESSMEN SPEAK OUT

Tourism. Map of Jewish Lithuania. Litvak Heritage. Exotic Tourism. Dark Tourism. Litvak Forum. Holocaust map. Efraim Zuroff on 3 new books.

Estonia: Valentine’s Day Law

Latvia: Waffen SS

Lithuania: Nazi ‘PM’ Honored. UN on swastikas.

When the news came out, he issued a bold statement within minutes

Then he wrote an essay that could outlive all the rest

State honors collaborator:  Elie Wiesel & Knesset Speaker Rivlin react

Romania

Obfuscator is appointed minister

Hollande on French collaboration; but Lithuanian FM wants Double Genocide to feature in EU presidency

“Bloodlands” debate

• • Litvak Lands (map)
• • Place Names
• • Litvak Studies
• • Seven Kingdoms
• • Lithuanian Jewish Culture (excerpt)
• • Vilna Book Stamps (excerpt)
• • Intro to Sounds of Silence
• • Yeshivas (map)
• • Atlas
• • YouTube
• • Reading Gravestones
• • Holocaust (readings)
• • Holocaust (map)
• • More

• •Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius (Vílne); tourism advice
• • Kaunas (Kóvne)
• • Klaipeda (Meml)
• • Panevėžys (Pónevezh)
• • THE GREEN HOUSE
• • SUGIHARA HOUSE
• • EXOTIC TOURISM
• • DARK TOURISM
• • IN YOUR POCKET
• • Communities in Belarus
• • Communites in Latvia
• • Riga’s Jewish museum
• • Riga’s Holocaust museum

Boldly defying the right wing government’s Holocaust politics, a number of leading Lithuanian Social Democrats have stood up with courage. Six MPs and two MEPs signed the SYD. They were attacked by the current foreign minister in his “moustache reply” and an article (and in a “cooked” radio panel).

MP Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, the SD foreign affairs spokesman, replied robustly. UK MP Denis MacShane sent personal letters to each of the signatories. Then, two Social Democratic MPs issued a statement in the Seimas protesting the state’s honoring of the 1941 Nazi puppet prime minister.

MP Andriukaitis challenged the foreign minister on the floor of the Seimas.

OTHER BOLD CITIZENS SPEAK OUT

Rewriting History (Marc Radomsky & Danny Ben-Moshe) challenges East European governments’ “Double Genocide” politics and the 2008 “Prague Declaration”

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The film highlights the 2012 arrival of the Seventy Years Declaration at the European Parliament, where it was received by EP president Martin Schulz

Promo on YouTube; Website; at Classic Cinemas; Facebook

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Reviews by the Critics 

The Seventy Years Declaration

Solemnly commemorates the Holocaust and reaffirms human rights of all people. Opposes the Prague Declaration and ‘Double Genocide’ politics. Rejects glorification of the Waffen SS of Estonia and Latvia and the Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF).

Lithuania’s foreign minister’s “moustache response” came within minutes of SYD’s release.

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TEXT AND LIST OF FOUNDING SIGNATORIES

PRESENTED TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

UPDATE: DOCUMENTARY FILM RELEASED

SYD TEXT IN BELARUSIAN; ENGLISH; FRENCH;  GERMAN;  LITHUANIAN;  POLISH; RUSSIAN; SPANISH; YIDDISH; LIST OF UK SIGNATORIES;  LITHUANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ATTACKS SIGNATORIES WITHIN MINUTES

MEDIA COVERAGE

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Danny Ben-Moshe launches SYD in the Jerusalem Post. SYD published. Lithuanian Foreign Minister responds in minutes with infamous “moustache comparison” of Hitler and Stalin, later attacks Lithuanian parliamentarians who signed. UK MP Denis MacShane congratulates the Lithuanian Eight who signed. Vytenis Andriukaitis, signatory of nation’s Declaration of Independence, replies to FM. Roger Cohen in the New York Times. Gang-up on Lithuanian radio panel. AJ, Forward, Haaretz, JC.

British parliamentarian tells Lithuanian signatories of the 70 Years Declaration:

“I know it must be lonely to take a stand on such a controversial subject but wanted to write to you to say you are not alone and every decent British and European citizen stands with you.”

— UK MP Denis MacShane

DefendingHistory.com congratulates the Lithuanian parliamentarians among the founding 70 signatories of the Seventy Years Declaration for their courage, integrity, love of all their country’s peoples, and genuine commitment to European values:

Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, MP

Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, MEP

Justinas Karosas, MP

Justas Paleckis, MEP

Marija Aušrinė Pavilionienė, MP

Julius Sabatauskas, MP

Algirdas Sysas, MP

Birutė Vėsaitė, MP

Marcher sports a designer swastika on her handbag at the March 11th 2012 neo-Nazi march on Gedimino Prospect in the heart of Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.

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EYEWITNESS REPORT & IMAGES

The president of Latvia endorsed this year’s Waffen SS march, “bowing his head” to his nation’s Waffen SS.  Latvia’s ambassador to the UK defended the march.  Council of Europe condemns the event.  UK MP John Mann.  UK Parliament Early Day Motion 2866. 1500 Turn Out.

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A wreath for Holocaust survivors was covered by the Waffen SS logo by the event’s organizers. Two anti-Nazi activists exposed the wreath again for a short time, before they were removed by police.

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Foreign protesters included Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (Jerusalem), Joel Rubinfeld of the European Jewish Parliament (Brussels), Monica Lowenberg, creator of the anti-march international petition (London).

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EYEWITNESS REPORT & IMAGES.  2ND REPORT.  MEDIA COVERAGE.

New ‘Holocaust Room’ in the Cellar of Vilnius’s State Sponsored Genocide Museum Sanitizes the Local Fascists who Unleashed the Genocide of Lithuanian Jewry

 Culmination of a year of government events glorifying the Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF) and other Hitlerist groups that initiated (and whose members became the backbone of) the annihilation of the country’s Jewish minority

LAF leaflets set out plans for genocide prior to the German invasion. Historians on the 1941 campaign of mass murder. Survivors testify. Map. Recent nationalist glorification. Now, the new Holocaust Room in the cellar of a major state museum in an EU capital has this to say:

Year to commemorate the perpetrators ran parallel with a year to commemorate the Holocaust, too; One in a series of ‘dual tracks’ to satisfy at once the antisemitic, Holocaust-revisionist Far Right and foreign Jewish groups

PR: ‘Fake Litvak’ initiatives (Identity Theft) & Double Games

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ANTISEMITIC EXHIBITS IN MAIN HALL OF GENOCIDE MUSEUM DISPLAYED AS BEFORE, WITH NO CURATORIAL COMMENT

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MEANWHILE, IN WASHINGTON DC, NEW JEWISH ‘SUNFLOWER’ GROUP MANIPULATED BY LITHUANIAN EMBASSY TO DISTORT AND TRIVIALIZE THE 1941 GENOCIDE OF THE JEWISH POPULATION AS ‘FREEDOM FROM THE SOVIETS’  AND — ‘AT THE PERIL OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY’; RESPONSE HERE.

90th Birthday of Dr. Rachel Margolis

Tel Aviv attorney Joe Melamed, head of the Association of Lithuanian Jews, celebrating Dr. Rachel Margolis’s 90th birthday in Rechovot

Left her safe haven with righteous Christians to join her family in the Vilna Ghetto. Joined the Jewish underground anti-Nazi resistance. Witness to creation of the Yiddish Partisan Hymn.

Escaped to join the partisans and fought valiantly against the Nazis in the forests of Lithuania. The only one in her family to survive the Holocaust.

Volunteered for the short-lived Jewish museum after the war.

Dedicated half a century to Biology at Vilnius University.

Helped establish the Green House Holocaust exhibit. Rediscovered, deciphered and published Kazimierz Sakowicz’s diary of Ponár. Author of a remarkable memoir. Beloved guide, lecturer and teacher on Jewish Vilna and the Holocaust.

Target of a campaign of defamation by Vilnius prosecutors, the “Lithuanian Human Rights Association” and other far-right Holocaust-revisionist elites.

Afraid to return to her beloved Vilna for one last visit. Lithuanian government refuses to reach out to her, while prosecutors repeat threats on kangaroo ‘war crimes investigation’ (most recently for the record in the 2012 documentary ‘Rewriting History’)

VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH RACHEL MARGOLIS: 1 and 2

MORE INFORMATION AND TRIBUTES:

RACHEL MARGOLIS FACT SHEET ♦ FORMER UK PRIME MINISTER GORDON BROWN ♦ 5 MEMBERS OF THE US CONGRESS ♦ ACADEMIC STUDIES PRESS ♦ KEENE STATE COLLEGE ♦ SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE ♦ LORD JANNER OF BRAUNSTONE ♦  LATE LITHUANIAN PRIME MINISTER ALGIRDAS BRAZAUSKAS ♦ ISRAELI AMBASSADOR CHEN IVRI APTER ♦ ADL DIRECTOR ABRAHAM FOXMAN ♦ NCSJ ♦ METRO WEST HOLOCAUST COUNCIL ♦ LEIVICK HOUSE TEL AVIV ♦ JEWISH CHRONICLE ♦ ALGEMEINER JOURNAL (& 2) ♦ RACHEL MARGOLIS.COM

OCTOBER 2012 UPDATE: VIDEO RELEASED OF THE LATE AMBASSADOR CHEN IVRI APTER’S 2009 SPEECH AT LEIVICK HOUSE, TEL AVIV

Coverage in DefendingHistory.com:

OVERVIEWS HERE & HERE;  7 MAY 2008;  19 JUNE 2009; 28 OCTOBER 2009;  27 JANUARY 2010;  28 OCTOBER 2010;  3 JANUARY 2011;  5 MAY 2011;  28 AUGUST 2011;  23 SEPTEMBER 2011.

Vilnius Prosecutors Launch Campaign against Another Holocaust Survivor, 86, this time via — Interpol!

Joe Melamed in his Tel Aviv office

At Lithuanian prosecutors’ demand, Israeli Interpol liaison officers speak with Mr. Melamed about the ‘accusations’

Report in Haaretz by Yossi Melman

Yad Vashem withdraws invitations to visiting minster and resident ambassador for Vilna Ghetto commemoration; Coverage in Haaretz by Yossi Melman; Associated Press (→ CBS News, Fox, MSNBC, Washington Post, YahooNews etc); JTA (→ WJC, JJ, Juedische.at, etc); Mishpacha

Three British MPs file Early Day Motion 2161 to protest the Lithuanian government’s action

DefendingHistory.com reports here and here

  Geoff Vasil in the Jewish Chronicle

Local Nazi Collaborators & Holocaust Perpetrators Honored in Parts of Eastern Europe

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IS THIS REALLY HOW THEY SHOULD NOW BE RECYCLED BY ‘NEW EUROPE’?

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Croatia

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Estonia

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Hungary

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Latvia

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Lithuania

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Romania

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Ukraine

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EFRAIM ZUROFF IN HAARETZ 

DefendingHistory.com section on the glorification of Holocaust collaborators and perpetrators in Eastern Europe

♦Vilnius book event for the Lithuanian edition is held at the Foreign Ministry with a disturbing speech by the director of the History Institute

♦East European nationalists are abusing the book

♦Select critiques of Bloodlands

REPORT ON THE THREE YEAR MARK STILL HOLDS

Holocaust Survivors:

Not Charged — Not Cleared

With non-stop defamation: Lithuanian ‘Human Rights’ [!] Association calls for  ‘sentencing’ of named ‘citizens of Jewish nationality’ for ‘organizing a massive slaughter’; Document is here; Comment here & here.

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UNITED STATES CONGRESSMEN STILL WAITING FOR A MEANINGFUL REPLY

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FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER GORDON BROWN HONORS DR RACHEL MARGOLIS