A number of citizens of Lithuania from diverse backgrounds have spoken out against antisemitism, racism, and Holocaust Obfuscation. The following is just a selection.  There are many more.

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2012

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.

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.

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]

25 January 2012.  DefendingHistory.com: ‘UK MP Denis MacShane rushes to defense of Lithuanian parliamentarians who signed Seventy Years Declaration; slams foreign minister’s Hitler-Stalin “joke”‘.

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].

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2011

Some six hundred Lithuanian citizens sign a letter protesting the neo-Nazi march held in the center of Vilnius on the country’s March 11 independence day; letter released on 14 March 2011.

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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.

Leonidas Donskis, ‘Who got stupid, the European Parliament or Us?’ on DefendingHistory.com, 7 February 2011.

Milan Chersonski, ‘Jewish Museum renewed Holocaust exhibition’ by Milan Chersonski in Jerusalem of Lithuania [English edition appeared on 18 February 2011; edition of the publication dated July-Sept 2010].

Milan Chersonski, ‘Love and sorrow, reinforced by tears’ by Milan Chersonski  in Jerusalem of Lithuania [English edition appeared on 18 February 2011; edition of the publication dated July-Sept 2010].

Mečys Laurinkus, ‘Fascist demonstrators: a real problem for Lithuania’s future’ in Lietuvos rytas, 26 March 2011.  English translation.

Valentinas Mitė, ‘The murder of Jews in Lithuania. A pigsty and the Holocaust’ in Jerusalem of Lithuania [English translation appeared on 18 February 2011, edition of the publication dated July-Sept 2010].

Liudas Truska [interview], ‘Lithuanian professor: “Stop equating Soviet occupation with Nazi Holocaust”‘ in FightHatred.com, 13 July 2011.

Geoff Vasil (Vasiliauskas), ‘Lithuania is playing a worrying Holocaust game’ in the Jewish Chronicle, 28 July 2011.

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.

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2010

Shimon Alperovich (Simonas Alperavičius), public letter to the president of Lithuania in response to antisemitic remarks by the Foreign Minister. English translation by Geoff Vasil.

Shimon Alperovich (Simonas Alperavičius), public letter to Irena Degutiene, chair of the Lithuanian parliament, 4 October 2010.  English translation by Geoff Vasil.

[Shimon Alperovich (Simonas Alperavičius)], public statement on projects to glorify the 1941 collaborationist Provisional Government of Lithuania.  English translation by Geoff Vasil. 7 September 2010.

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.

Algirdas Davidavičius, ‘Uncanny darkness: Impressions of a public debate in Vilnius’ on DefendingHistory.com, 9 December 2010.

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.

Sergejus Kanovičius, ‘Interview from the pits of Paneriai, or, We are weighing death’, on DefendingHistory.com, 16 December 2010

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.

Algirdas Paleckis, ‘Lithuania without Nazism’, speech delivered at the World Without Nazism Conference, Moscow, 17 December 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.

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2009

Leonidas Donskis, ‘The inflation of genocide’ in EuropeanVoice.com, 24 July 2009.

Lithuanian National Youth Association presents a ‘doll of fascism’ to Henrikas Mickevicius, director of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute,  to ‘help’ him frighten others about the dangers of fascism, 1 April 2009.

Andrius Navickas, ‘Mass media or the propagation of filth?’ [‘Ziniasklaida ar purvasklaida?’] in Bernardinai.lt, 6 February 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.

Daiva Repečkaitė, ‘Portal manipulates information about Holocaust survivor’ on author’s blog, Wonderland, 28 October 2009.

Rasa Rimickaitė, ‘Dantesque emptiness’ in Jerusalem of Lithuania, April-June 2009.

Rasa Rimickaitė, ‘The impact of memory’, lecture presented at the Litvak Conference organized by the Jewish Community of Lithuania, 24 August 2009.

Darius J. Ross, ‘Sticks and stones’ in The Baltic Times, 23-29 April 2009.

Mindaugas Tamošaitis, ‘The revolt of June 1941 and the tragedy of the Jews of Lithuania’ in Jerusalem of Lithuania, December 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).

Video of the ‘Funeral of Democracy’ counter-demonstration against the fascist march of 11 March 2009 [Youtube].

♦

2008

Simonas Alperavičius & Tobijas Jafetas, ‘An open letter’ to the president, speaker of parliament, prime minister and prosecutor general of Lithuania, 19 June 2008 [English translation].

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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2006

Leonidas Donskis, ‘Another word for uncertainty: antisemitism in modern Lithuania’ in Nordeuropa Forum 1/2006.

Report on a project of the House of Memory led by Linas Vildziunas, September 2006.

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2005

The prime minister of Lithuania, Algirdas Brazauskas, awards Dr Rachel Margolis a certificate of appreciation for her contribution to the liberation of Lithuania as an anti-Nazi resistance fighter (8 May 2005).

Andrius Navickas, ‘Is the world ruled by hatred for Others?’ [‘Pasauli valdo neaplykanta kitokiems?’] in Bernardinai.lt, 3 March 2005.

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2004

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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2001

Liudas Truska, ‘Contemporary attitudes toward the Holocaust in Lithuania’ in Jews in Eastern Europe 2(45), pp 5-26.

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1998

Alfredas Bumblauskas,  ‘Issues in the history of Lithuanian-Jewish relations in the context of historiographical paradigms’ [‘Lietuviu-Zydu santykiu istorijos problema istoriografiniu paradigmu kontekste’] in Kulturos barai 12, pp 49-55.

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1997

Rūta Puišytė, ‘The Holocaust in Jurbarkas’, BA thesis supervised by Professor Meir Shub at Vilnius University; prefaces by Professor Meir Shub and Professor Dov Levin; translated into English by Joseph Rosin.

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1995

Speech by the President of the Republic of Lithuania Mr Algirdas Brazauskas, delivered at the Knesset in Jerusalem at 4 PM, 1 March 1995.

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1993

The president of Lithuania, Algirdas Brazauskas, awards Professor Dov Levin a certificate of appreciation (22 Sept 1993).

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1975

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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1924

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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