The Vilnius District Administrative Court began deliberation of a case Grant Gochin filed against the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania Tuesday, March 5. Gochin, a Lithuanian citizen and member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, is seeking remedy for the Genocide Center’s “historical finding” exonerating Lithuanian Holocaust perpetrator Jonas Noreika. Gochin wants the Center to reconsider its exoneration in light of newly discovered documents which he says the Center has ignored.

Active LJC member Geršonas Taicas attended the trial and shared his impressions, translated below.

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“The plaintiff’s attorney read quickly a 25-page document presented which lists new historical facts about Noreika’s crimes. …

“The defendant’s attorney tried at least six times to convince the court why it shouldn’t consider the case, claiming the court would be violating procedural code. … The defendant’s attorney posed [what seemed to be] irrelevant issues, for example, whether there was censorship of newspapers and when, what currency murderers of Jews were paid in… One attorney seemed to slip up, saying: ‘If the Genocide Center changed its finding and did admit Noreika had contributed to the Holocaust, then all the history textbooks would have to be changed, and the dispute would have to be resolved at conferences, forums, symposia and so on, but just here in this court.’ …

“[Center] historian A[rūnas] Bubnys spoke little…

“Dr. A[ndrius] Kuliakuskas spoke about how he collected evidence of Noreika’s Holocaust culpability carefully for two years, and how he spoke with residents of Plungė who remember quite well there were only two Germans in Plungė in July of 1941, … one of them simple-minded, who talked to himself. …

“[Genocide Center] historian A[lfredas] Rukšėnas explained he had defended his dissertation on the Holocaust and that his research was scholastic and methodological, having acquired an understanding of all its aspects after studying the subject for 20 years, whereas, he said, Kulikauskas was self-taught, was not doing academic research and violated methodologies. …

“Dalius-Egidijus Stancikas [listed just under general director and deputy general director as “information safety officer” on the Genocide Center internet directory of personnel] said the trial had been inspired by Russia which is harming Lithuania’s reputation, that Noreika had a friend [who saved Jews] and that Noreika’s wife had given buns to Jewish children. …

“The [Genocide Center] is a state institution paid from the state budget with over 120 employees with the monopoly right to decide who is a criminal and who is a hero, which document is significant and which isn’t. The Center which no one controls and in which there is no rotation of directors. …”

The opinions of the author do not necessarily correspond to those of the Lithuanian Jewish Community.