anti-Semitism – Page 17 – Lithuanian Jewish Community

Arkadijus Vinokuras: Beat the Jews to Save Russia?

The morally ruined, degenerate Putin regime, having driven itself into a corner, is seizing upon an anti-Semitic call used numerous times in Russia’s history: “Beat the Jews, save Russia!” Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov puts it this way: “So what if Vladimir Zelensky is a Jew? Even Hitler had Jewish blood, and the biggest anti-Semites are Jews.” Of course, hatred of Jews has overflown during historical cataclysms not just in Russia.

Today, because of the well-founded criticism of the Putin regime’s war against the Ukraine, one can take offense at this anti-Semitic statement exaltedly. But if someone thinks this ejaculation by Lavrov is just for domestic consumption, they are profoundly incorrect. In Lithuania more than one and more than two news websites have published similar anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. For instance, in articles by Česlovas Iškauskas, never mind Vitas Tomkus’s anti-Semitic rants in his garbage paper.

Full editorial in Lithuanian here.

2022-05-09

Lithuanian Parliament Bans Symbol Commemorating Soviet Liberation from Nazis

In late April the Lithuanian parliament adopted and the Lithuanian president signed into law legislation banning the public display of the ribbon of St. George, usually worn on Victory Day in Lithuania to mark the liberation of the country by the Red Army from Nazi Germany in 1944.

According to Lithuanian parliamentarians it symbolizes Russian aggression in the Ukraine and is now banned along with hammers, sickles and swastikas.

The draft legislation had included bans on the public display of the letter Z, but this was apparently removed from the final draft with the parliament’s Cultural Committee pointing out Z is a common company logo and that Russian troops in the Ukraine are also using the letters V, O, X and A. The Cultural Committee also said use of letters by Russian troops appeared to be arbitrary and subject to change as the campaign continues.

2022-05-062022-05-10

David Harris’s Speech at Ponar on Yom haShoah

American Jewish Committee chief executive officer David Harris spoke at the Ponar Memorial Complex and at a reception afterwards held in Vilnius on Yom haShoah, Holocaust Day, on April 28.

Harris announced his intentions last summer to leave the post in which he has served for 32 years now, with the current month of May as the target date for his retirement.

“For the past 31 years as CEO, David has built AJC into the leading global Jewish advocacy organization it is today,” wrote AJC president Harriet P. Schleifer in a letter to AJC’s leadership. “A tireless visionary and a passionate advocate for world Jewry, the State of Israel and democratic values, David’s leadership has been a gift to AJC and to the Jewish people.”

2022-05-062022-05-06

Fifth World Litvak Congress

Konferencijos programa EN_2022 05 05

2022-05-05

EJC Condemns Russian FM Lavrov’s Statements

Tuesday, May 3, 2022–The European Jewish Congress has condemned statements made by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in which he claimed that the “most ardent anti-Semites are usually Jews” and that Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood.”

EJC president Ariel Muzicant said: “These comments are not just inaccurate and offensive, but harm the memory of victims of the Holocaust. Blaming Jews for anti-Semitism is never acceptable. Jewish communities recall that it was the Red Army that liberated Auschwitz and that millions of Soviet soldiers died fighting Nazism. With this in mind, we call on foreign minister Lavrov to retract these statements and to refrain from making inflammatory comments that can have very serious consequences for Jews in Russia and elsewhere.”

Text here.

2022-05-04

Yom haShoah Commemoration at the Ponar Memorial Complex

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky spoke at the gathering at the Ponar Memorial Complex near Vilnius April 28 marking Yom haShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“The scars left by the tragedy of the Holocaust go deep not just in the memory of the Jewish people. These are also unhealing scars for Lithuania which the passing years serve in no way to diminish. This nightmare took place on the streets and squares of Lithuania’s cities, in the suburbs and at the margins of forests,” she said.

“Today we must look at the tragedy of the Holocaust with open eyes and combat arising expressions of anti-Semitism through specific actions,” she continued.

She said attacks on the Ponar Memorial Complex would not be tolerated and that they dishonor the memory of the Lithuanian Jews who were murdered. In April vandals painted the letters V and Z on several signs and monuments at the memorial complex, letters associated with the Russian invasion of the Ukraine.

“”We will not stand silent and we will not tolerate these sorts of actions. History has taught us that silence and bowed heads only encourages the criminals to go further. That will not happen,” Kukliansky said.

2022-05-02

Historian Ruth Leiserowitz to Present New Publication on Jews from Klaipėda

Ruth Leiserowitz, an historian from Germany, has researched the dramatic forced migration out of Klaipėda, also known as Memel, before World War II. She will present her newest book on the subject called “Žydai Klaipėdoje (Mėmelyje)” [Jews in Klaipėda (Memel)] at the Ieva Simonaitytė Public Library in Klaipėda at 5:00 P.M. on April 29.

The publication is intended to coincide with the 770th birthday of the port city.

Leiserowitz’s father came from Memel and she worked at Klaipėda University after Lithuanian independence, and helped organize the Thomas Mann festival in Nida, Lithuania. She got interested in her research topic because of her Jewish father-in-law who was born in Šilutė, then known as Heydekrug. In 1923 his family left Memelland when it was annexed by Lithuania. She decided to look into the fate of Jewish families forced to leave the region. She says her research is often something like a detective novel.

2022-04-282022-04-28

LJC Calls on Government, Institutions to Stop Repeated Vandalism at Ponar Memorial

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is upset by continuing attacks at the Ponar Memorial Complex mass murder site. We do not understand the apathy demonstrated by the institutions responsible and have written Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė and interior minister Agnė Bilotaitė demanding rapid action to stop these repeated attacks and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said:

“The continuing attacks at the Ponar mass murder site transgress all bounds. This is a holy site for the entire Lithuanian Jewish community and the Lithuanian state. We all understand what is signified by the letter Z which was written on the memorial commemorating Holocaust victims.

“State institutions can no longer pretend this is not Lithuania’s responsibility because, despite the nice words, nothing is happening. The representatives of the state likely think it’s sufficient to attend a commemoration once per year at Ponar and the rest of the year the memorial complex can swim in garbage, and host drinking parties. Although the Lithuanian state took the memorial complex under its protection back in 1991, it apparently sees no need up to the present time to actually maintain it. The infrastructure there is lacking and security there is best illustrated by the events of recent days. Is it so difficult to set up even a minimal security system there, even just video cameras? Is the state saving money this way? What sort of signal does this send about the state’s attitude towards the Holocaust in Lithuania and the tragedy of the Jews of Lithuania? We will not stay silent and look on passively as swastikas and the letter Z are drawn at sites which are sacred to us. We will not stay silent because we know what kind of signal this is sending to us as a community. The entire Lithuanian Jewish Community is disgusted, insulted and hurt, and we will not allow this to go on.”

2022-04-04

LJC Condemns Vandalism at Ponar, Demands Quick Response by Authorities

The Lithuanian Jewish Community condemns the recent cynical vandalism at the Ponar Memorial Complex mass murder site. Institutional and public apathy regarding such attacks is unacceptable.

We demand the responsible institutions this disgusting vandalism as quickly as possible. We are convinced that this practice of never finding anyone responsible for anti-Semitic crimes in Lithuania cannot go on. This is on the same scale as the recently reported bombing of the Babi Yar Holocaust memorial in the Ukraine.

2022-04-01

Grant Gochin Takes Case against Jonas Noreika to Parliament

Grant Gochin has taken his case against two findings of history concerning WWII-era Lithuanian Holocaust perpetrator Jonas Noreika to the Human Rights Committee of the Lithuanian parliament. The two findings of history released by the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania in 2015 and 2019 claim among other things Noreika was in charge of a resistance movement which actually rescued rather than exterminated Lithuanian Jews in Šiauliai and Telšiai. Gochin has been disputing the two findings since they were published in the Lithuanian courts and elsewhere without result.

Letter to the parliament’s Human Rights Committee:

2022-03-272022-09-12

LJC and Partners Begin S4Change Project

The Lithuanian Jewish Community in concert with the Lithuanian Human Rights Institute and the Padėk Pritapti organization are carrying out a project called S4Change which will assess anti-discrimination policies in Lithuania, present comprehensive recommendations and increase resistance among teachers and young people to anti-Semitic, anti-Roma and xenophobic narratives. Besides assessing the state of anti-Semitism and Romophobia and providing recommendations to legislators and national institutions to encourage a strategic response the discrimination and xenophobia, the project will work to increase Roma resilience to hate narratives in society and will hold workshops for Roma children, young people and women. The project will work with teachers and students in the majority population to encourage critical thinking regarding anti-Semitism, Romophobia and xenophobia with teaching workshops and an additional “inconvenient cinema” class for educators to acquire teaching methods and aides. The project will hold an international conference intended to strengthening the state’s strategic response to anti-Semitism, Romophobia and xenophobia and will include a public education campaign.

The full name of the project is “S4Change: Strategy for a Change in Anti-Discrimination Policies in Lithuania” and is financed jointly by the EU’s Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Program. The project will run from February of 2022 to January of 2024.

2022-02-25

Grant Gochin Brings New Suit against Genocide Center

South African born Los Angeles-based Litvak Grant Gochin is bringing another lawsuit against Lithuania’s Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania, or Genocide Center, over the latter’s mendacious claims Lithuania Nazi collaborator Jonas Noreika actually let an underground anti-Nazi network to rescue Jews. Gochin says Noreika was directly responsible for the murder of his relatives in Šiauliai and calls Genocide Center apologies and equivocations Holocaust denial.

2022-02-232022-02-23

Lithuanian Parliamentary Speaker Visits Israel

Lithuanian speaker of parliament Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen toured Yad Vashem and opened an honorary Lithuanian consulate in Netanya Monday. During her visit she met with Israeli president Isaac Herzog and Knesset speaker Mickey Levy.

She plans to visit Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh in the occupied territories as well, and to attend a round-table discussion with Palestinian women’s organizations. The trip to Israel and the occupied territories is scheduled from February 6 to 10.

She pledged Lithuanian support to Israel in the international arena.

2022-02-10

Project “Young Leaders of the Jewish and Roma Communities for the Preservation of Historical Memory and Justice”

The year 2021 reminded us all of the suffering and misfortune the people of Lithuania had to live through in the 20th century, finding themselves at the intersection of the interests of the world’s great powers. There were commemorations, conferences and exhibitions throughout Lithuania. Even so, we haven’t done all our homework to insure the preservation of historical memory and teaching the younger generation a deeper sense of history don’t merely become annual events, but an inalienable part of national politics where all institutions work towards a common goal in a coordinated way, so that the combined resources of the state and society work together according to a clear strategy.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Roma Social Center are beginning the implementation of a project called Young Leaders of the Jewish and Roma Communities for the Preservation of Historical Memory and Justice organized by Germany’s EVZ Foundation aimed at teaching the public the importance of the history of the Roma and Jewish communities with the goal of including and engaging the younger generation of both communities.

Do members of these communities feel safe living in their own country?

2022-02-022022-02-02

Moshe Kantor Calls for a Change of Direction towards Youth in Fight against Anti-Semitism

Wednesday, January 26, 2022–European Jewish Congress president Moshe Kantor called on leaders, decision-makers and opinion-shapers around the world to rethink the way antisemitism is fought, and to reorientate policy towards younger generations.

Kantor delivered a keynote speech at an official International Holocaust Remembrance Day event alongside French president Emmanuel Macron, president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Council Charles Michel, newly elected president of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, vice president of the European Commission and European commissioner for promoting the European way of life Margaritis Schinas, former French prime minister Manuel Valls and president of the Representative Council of French Jewish institutions (CRIF) Francis Kalifat.

The event, organized by the European Jewish Congress, was held in cooperation with the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union and CRIF.

“Today’s youth are not aware or concerned about the lessons of World War II or the Shoah,” Kantor said, noting 2022 has been designated as the European Year of Youth. “We have to understand better their concerns and aspirations and speak to them in their language.”

Full speech here.

2022-01-28

Holocaust Distortion Is the Real Challenge Today

Eastern Europe’s post-Soviet “new democracies” have taken to falsely equating Communist and Nazi regimes and denying the role they played in the genocide

Last week a minor miracle occurred, at of all places the United Nations. For only the second time since the establishment of Israel, the General Assembly adopted a resolution sponsored by the Jewish state. In fact, the support for the resolution was so overwhelming that it was approved by consensus, meaning that it passed without a country by country vote, with the only objection registered in the 193 country body by (surprise, surprise) the Iranians.

The resolution itself deserves scrutiny. It expresses concern over “the growing prevalence of Holocaust denial or distortion through the use of information and communications technologies,” and urges all UN members to “reject, without any reservation, any denial or distortion of the Holocaust as a historical event, either in full or in part, or any activities to this end.” It also called upon all UN members “to develop educational programs that will inculcate future generations with the lessons of the Holocaust in order to help to prevent future acts of genocide.”

Symbolically, the resolution was passed on the 80th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference of January 20, 1942, at which 15 leading Nazi officials and SS operatives were informed of the decision to launch the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question,” and the details of its implementation.

Full article here.

2022-01-28

Vytautas Mikalauskas Art Gymnasium Students Commemorate Holocaust Day in Panevėžys

Panevėžys students marked International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman was invited to speak at the event.

“Today like never before young people must know, understand and remember. This is the only hope that this indescribable horror not repeat itself, it is the only way to bring us out of darkness,” Jewish writer and Holocaust survivor Elisa Springer said.

At the event, Elena Adelina Kofman served as moderator, and said the systematic mass murder and genocide of the Jews, also known as the Shoah, saw the greatest percentage of victims over a very short period in Lithuania. Around 96 percent of Jews were exterminated in Lithuania, around 200,000 people. She said that made this commemoration especially important.

2022-01-282022-03-11

Speaker of Parliament Calls for Remembering Lessons of Holocaust

Speaker of the Lithuanian parliament Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen issued a statement on the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.

“The Jewish Italian writer Primo Levi who was a Holocaust survivor wrote about a female friend of his who survived the Birkenau concentration camp. Giuliana Tedeschi saw the crematorium chimney from the window in her cell and asked an older female prisoner what was burning there. ‘We are burning there,’ she answered. This isn’t just the tragedy of six million Jews of the world, but our own–every country’s–painful history which deeply cut into Lithuania as well.

“But lately it seems the lessons of this history have been forgotten, with the inability to do without anger and ultimata, when the firing of weapons is heard along national borders and human dignity is crowded out. The world cannot allow for death to become more dear than life again. I believe we have the will to remain people,” she said.

2022-01-27

Filmmaker Emilis Vėlyvis Calls Izaokas Best Lithuanian Art Film in 30 Years

LRT.lt, August 30, 2021

Jurgis Matulevičius film debut “Izaokas” has been playing for three weeks now at Lithuanian movie theaters and has received much praise from average moviegoers and film-industry colleagues as well, according to a press release by the makers of the film.

“Although the category of art film is not my favorite, the film Izaokas is in my opinion the best work in this category over the last 30 years of Lithuanian cinema. Bearing in mind that this is the first full-length feature by the director, he should be given another medal as well for talent,” film director Emilis Vėlyvis said.

Full article in Lithuanian here.

The film tells the story of an LAF volunteer who murders a Jew named Izaokas, or Isaac, during the Lietūkis garage massacre in Kaunas in 1941 and who is haunted by the memory for years. The IMDB entry for the film says:

2022-01-24

UN General Assembly Adopts German-Israeli Proposal against Holocaust Denial

Deutsche Welle

Ambassadors of Israel and Germany say denying the Holocaust threatens peaceful coexistence worldwide. Their appeal comes 80 years after the Wannsee Conference where Nazis discussed the extermination of Europe’s Jews.

The UN General Assembly on Thursday adopted a resolution proposed by Israeli and German ambassadors rejecting and condemning any denial of the Holocaust.

The 193-member assembly agreed on the proposal without a vote with only Iran distancing itself from the text. The assembly also urged social media companies to “take active measures” to fight anti-Semitism online.

“The General Assembly is sending a strong and unambiguous message against the denial or the distortion of these historical facts,” German UN ambassador Antje Leendertse said. “Ignoring historical facts increases the risk that they will be repeated.”

Full story here.

2022-01-24