by Grant Gochin

Fearing stigmatization and persecution, Lithuanian rescuers of Jews awarded the “Righteous among the Nations” designation, often hid it from their neighbors and family members for decades. Today, the Lithuanian Government honors these Rescuers on a national level (as they should have from the very beginning). Unfortunately, the Lithuanian honors are not sincere and are just another performance. Jewish people who were saved are reduced to vehicles for Lithuanian virtue signaling.

“Righteous Among Nations” Lithuanians comprised only 0.04% of the Lithuanian population. These genuine heroes are now used by the State as an alibi for anyone who is Lithuanian, i.e. the 0.04% are presented to the public as the stereotypical norm, while the 99.96% of Lithuanians who were not “Righteous Among Nations”, are negated or their deeds rewritten. This is clear Holocaust distortion.

Krikštaponis

The case of Juozas Krikštaponis is far more illustrative of Lithuania then, and now. Krikštaponis was a vicious, genocidal murderer. But, he “only” murdered Jews. So, for Lithuania this is not any impediment to national honors. Lithuania honors so many murderers of Jews, that it appears this could be a standard for national hero status.

Krikštaponis was the nephew of the President of Lithuania, Antanas Smetona. He was an elite member of society. Even Nazis were appalled at his savagery towards Jews. Krikštaponis volunteered to “eliminate” Jews wherever he could find any, and since the start of the Lithuanian Holocaust, up to today, 99% of Lithuanian Jews have been eliminated.

Krikštaponis was a commander of the 2nd company of Major Antanas Impulevičius’s 2nd National Labor Protection (TDA) battalion. In 1941 in Lithuania and Belarus, the 2nd battalion together with Nazis, murdered about 46,000 people. Defenseless elderly Jews and Jewish infants were murdered by Krikštaponis and his gangs for their crime of existing. Is murdering innocent Jewish civilians heroic? For Lithuania, it appears so.

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