Last Monday Vytautas Toleikis presented his book “Žydai lietuvių literatūroje. Nuo priešo iki sąjungininko” [Jews in Lithuanian Literature: From Enemy to Ally”] at the Kudirka Public Library in Kaunas. The event was organized by the Kaunas Jewish Community and the art and music section of the library.

Examining portrayals of Jews in texts by different authors in the period from the early 19th century to ca. 1918, Toleikis said he found more positive than negative images. He reported there was a noticeable transformation among some others and public figures from anti-Semitism to a more tolerant view during the period investigated.

The presentation concluded with Purim pastries and Jewish songs performed by Joris Rubinovas.

by Arkadijus Vinokuras

Conservative Party candidate for Vilnius mayor Valdas Benkunskas yells in his political advertisements: “A mayor without circuses!” Kaunas mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis, frightened by public debate, echoes the sentiment: “Kaunas doesn’t need a circus!” The press frequently carries headlines such as “Politics Is Not a Circus,” “Circus in the Political Arena,” and so on. It’s horrifying, wherever you look, there’s that damned circus again. Really?

Let me first take care of the myth the circus is worthy of derision. First, for example, the flying trapezist: if he were to act like the MP Petras Gražulis, Ramūnas Karbauskis, Visvaldis Matijošaitis or Valdas Benkunskas, he’d kill himself after attempting his first salto mortale. The flame appearing in the hands of the circus magician would burn him up immediately, and the trick of sawing the young female assistant in half would result in her real dissection. In other words, the professional circus has nothing in common with the political balagan.

This is also proven by the fact the largest American circus, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Baily Circus, has revenues reaching $98 million annually. Another US circus, Circus Circus, has annual revenue of $160 million and employs 1,500 people. There are around 300 circuses operating in the United States. Cirque du Soleil, Inc. pays a circus actor from $6,000 to $10,000 per month. (The largest circus in Scandinavia is the Cirkus Scott, to the premieres of which the entire ruling elite of Sweden turn out. King Carl XVI Gustaf often attends with the royal family. In the 1989-1990 period this circus paid me €6,000 per month. How long did my performance take? Ten minutes. This was a gigantic sum back in those days, even in Sweden.)

According to a blog post by Grant Gochin in the blog section of the Times of Israel internet site, Jonas Noreika’s granddaughter Silvia Foti has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023.

Although the Nobel Prize committee has historically refused to release the names of nominees for 50 years, according to Gochin’s blog post:

“[Former Beverly Hills] mayor [and current Council Member John] Mirish proudly announced that Silvia Foti has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Foti is the granddaughter of an apex mass genocidal murderer of Jews in Lithuania, Jonas Noreika. She bravely exposed her grandfather’s crimes and Holocaust fraud by the government of Lithuania. Foti is the first non-Jewish Lithuanian in history ever to be nominated for the most prestigious peace prize in the world.”

If selected for the prestigious recognition, Foti would joint earlier female writers who received the prize including indigenous Guatemalan Rigoberta Menchu who won the Nobel peace prize in 1998, Belarus’s Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich who won the prize in literature in 2015 and 2018 peace prize recipient Nadia Murad Basee Taha, the Yezidi human rights activist from Iraq.

Silvia Foti has written an extensive biography detailing her grandfather’s Nazi activities during the Holocaust in Lithuania published in English and Lithuanian.

Grant Gochin’s blog post with an interesting story about the Lithuanian consul in Los Angeles here.