by Grant Gochin

The government of Lithuania’s threats of criminal charges against me remain open. These threats were instigated as an intimidation tactic to silence me. My supposed crime was investigating the truth about who perpetrated the Holocaust in Lithuania.

I began my efforts towards exposing the truth about the Holocaust in Lithuania in the early 2000s. I was perplexed by the apparent acquiescence of some major Jewish organizations to the rampant Holocaust frauds committed by the government of Lithuania. My repeated outreach made me realize that if I did not address the issues myself, they would be ignored. Over the course of the past 15 years, this revelation has repeatedly proven itself to be accurate.

Approximately thirty legal actions I launched against Lithuania displayed how resolutely the Lithuanian government coalesced to invert Holocaust truth, while continuing their intimidation tactics against history researchers and activists. The Lithuanian courts took instruction from members of the government to deny legal review of governmental Holocaust fraud. Historical researchers such as Evaldas Balčiūnas and Andrius Kulikauskas were insulted, intimidated and threatened by the Lithuanian government simply for conducting research on inconvenient subjects and exposing the truth.

There was an attempt to bribe documentarian Michael Kretzmer to create a falsified narrative. Their conduct revealed to Kretzmer the country’s Holocaust inversions. His response was to make the documentary J’Accuse! which revealed to the world the full ghastly truth about Lithuania’s Holocaust frauds.

The co-chairpeople of the Goodwill Foundation–Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and American Jewish Committee International Jewish Affairs Department director Rabbi Andrew Baker–have met with the new speaker of the Lithuanian parliament and former prime minister Saulius Skvernelis.

They discussed the Middle East and the rising tide of anti-Semitic incidents in Europe. Speaker Skvernelis affirmed Lithuania is a safe country for Jews.

“The fight against anti-Semitism must be a constant on the political agenda. Everyone knows my views of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism from the time when I was prime minister, and my views haven’t changed even a little. We will not tolerate expressions of anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial or disrespect towards Holocaust victims. I believe we as a country under the rule of law will judge anti-Semitic expressions as a legal matter, and our newly-formed ruling coalition will be a reliable and trustworthy partner in that,” Skvernelis said during their meeting.

Delegations and representatives of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance met in congress in London from December 2 to 5 to discuss current events in Holocaust and Roma genocide commemoration, education and combating anti-Semitism. Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky was part of Lithuania’s legation.

The plenary session discussed rising anti-Semitism in Europe and conflicts in the Middle East.

Eric Pickles who serves as chairman of IHRA said Jews are more afraid now than ever before, making fighting hatred and preserving memory more important than ever as well.

Lithuanian ambassador for special assignments Arvydas Daunoravičius led the Lithuanian legation. Other members of Lithuania’s team were chosen by the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, Education Ministry, Ethnic Minorities Department, the International Commission for the Assessment of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in Lithuania and the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum. Kukliansky represented the Lithuanian Jewish Community among the Lithuanian delegates.

An estimated 4,000 people gathered on the evening of November 14 during the Lithuanian capital’s first snowfall to protest against Remigijus Žemaitaitis, who was inaugurated as MP inside the parliament earlier that evening.

Conservative Party and Liberal Union MPs left the chamber when Žemaitaitis took an oath to uphold the Lithuanian constitution.

Žemaitaitis catapulted to infamy in the early spring of 2023 by making anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements on his facebook page. His party’s parliamentary faction and then the party as a whole expelled him. Lithuania’s Constitutional Court found he had violated oath of office by calling for the murder of Jews.

He used the notoriety to form his own political party called Nemuno Aušra, or Dawn of the Nieman River, which placed third in recent elections to parliament, placing close to the Conservative Party in second place.

Initially pledging not to include Nemuno Aušra in any future coalition, the Social Democratic Party who took first place in elections reneged on that promise. Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda said he wouldn’t approve any Nemuno Aušra MPs as ministers in a coalition government. Žemaitaitis said he would fill three ministerial posts promised him by the social democrats with non-party members.

A sister protest was held in Kaunas across the street from the municipality’s Christmas tree display currently being set up. An estimated 500 people attended that protest. There was also a small protest in Tauragė.

More information available here.

by Ingrida Steniulienė, November 13, ELTA

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said statements by Nemuno Aušra party leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis are insulting and offensive to her as a person.

“He called for killing Jews, that’s how it seemed to me,” Kukliansky said Wednesday during questioning at a hearing of the Vilnius District Court.

She was testifying in a case against Žemaitaitis for sowing hatred against Jews and for supporting, denying or belittling international crimes.

“He is inciting [hatred] against certain groups of people without knowing history. I can’t understand this in any other way,” she told the court. Kukliansky is an attorney by profession.

Photo: Josvydas Elinskas/ELTA

by Ingrida Steniulienė, November 13, 2024, ELTA

Prosecutor Justas Laucius has asked a Lithuanian court to empower prosecutor general Nida Grunskienė to make a request to the Lithuanian parliament for removing parliamentary legal immunity for Remigijus Žemaitaitis, the leader of the party Nemuno Aušra who faces trial for sowing ethnic discord with anti-Semitic statements he made on social media and to the press.

The prosecutor asked the Vilnius District Court Wednesday to take into account Žemaitaitis is to give his oath of office as a member of parliament Thursday and will gain legal immunity granted to all MPs in Lithuania.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky attended the hearing and gave testimony. She spoke with reporters after the hearing and noted Jews do not now feel safe in Lithuania. She refuted claims Žemaitaitis made earlier about his own statements, including his posting without preamble of an anti-Semitic Lithuanian song calling on children to beat Jews to death with sticks which he later claimed was a citation of Lithuanian folklore.