Lithuanian Jewish Community
No, 179, February 11, 2016
To:
The Honorable Evaldas Pašilis
Office of Lithuanian Prosecutor General
The Honorable Birutė Burauskaitė
Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of the Residents of Lithuania
Re: Possible actions connected with the list comprised of 2,055 people who are alleged to have committed or contributed to the murder of Jews during World War II
February 11, 2016, Vilnius
The Lithuanian Jewish Community, seeking the restoration of historical justice and commemoration, and honoring the principles of the rule of law, equality before the law and the presumption of innocence, proposes:
I. To the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of the Residents of Lithuania (henceforth Center):
1. To provide information of a general nature regarding the 2,055 people alleged to have committed or contributed to the murder of Jews during World War II (henceforth List), for example, information about the general structure of the list, what sort of categories of people it contains and in what proportion:
1.1 how many people in total participated directly in the murders and how many contributed indirectly;
1.2 how many people were convicted and not rehabilitated;
1.3 how many people were convicted but have been rehabilitated;
1.4 are there people, and if so, how many, who have been honored in some way by the Republic of Lithuania;
1.4.1. awarded the status of volunteer soldier;
1.4.2. awarded the status of Freedom Fighter;
1.4.3. awarded the Order of the Cross of Vytis;
1.4.4. honored by statues whose construction was financed by funds from the state or municipal institutions;
1.5. how many people are there who were not tried and remain alive (i.e., for whom criminal prosecution is still possible)?
2. To disseminate publicly information about the List, for example, on the official Center website;
2.1. to disclose the identities on the List according to category, describing each category and their actual contribution to the implementation of the Holocaust. The following categories may be distinguished:
2.1.1. Members of the Ypatingasis būrys (aka Special Unit);
2.1.2. members of police battalions (by battalion);
2.1.3. members of the Tautinio darbo apsauga (aka TDA, aka National Labor Security) Battalion (those who didn’t participate in any battalion afterwards);
2.1.4. municipal officials responsible for concentrating people of Jewish ethnicity in the small towns of Lithuania;
2.1.5. People responsible for seizing the property of people of Jewish ethnicity;
2.1.6. Insurgents/rural district police officers who participated in the destruction of Jews (or only those who were convicted and have not been rehabilitated);
2.1.7. Other categories.
3. To hand over to the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Lithuania (henceforth Prosecutor) information on people for whom criminal prosecution is still possible, if such exist.
4. To approach the Administrative Court with a request to annul the status of volunteer soldier or Freedom Fighter is there are people on the List holding such status;
5. To propose the President of the Republic of Lithuania to remove from the list of those awarded by the state the people on the List, if there are such people;
6. To propose the Municipalities remove statues dedicated to people on the List;
7. To propose the Prosecutor approach the Supreme Court regarding people on the List who were rehabilitated but whose rehabilitation was unfounded, for a finding annulling certificates of rehabilitation issued, or to state clearly that no such cases exist.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community believes refusal to release the List could have negative repercussions at the international as well as national level and could give rise to various theories which would damage the reputation of the Lithuanian state (for example, that Lithuania is avoiding the criminal prosecution in cases of still-living Holocaust perpetrators) and which might be exploited and manipulated for political aims unfavorable to the Lithuanian state.
II. To the Prosecutor:
1. To determine how many of the people on the List were not convicted and are still alive;
1.1. if such people exist, to open criminal cases against them.
2. To approach the Supreme Court for the annulment of rehabilitations granted to people who carried out or facilitated the murder of people of Jewish ethnicity during the Holocaust, if such people exist on the List compiled by the Center.
Sincerely,
Faina Kukliansky, attorney at law, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community