The Lithuanian Jewish Community, the umbrella organization for 31 Jewish organizations in Lithuania and abroad, calls upon Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda not to approve Ignotas Adomavičius, the candidate submitted by the anti-Semitic Nemuno Aušra party and its leader, Remigijus Žemaitaitis, whom the Constitutional Court found had violated grossly his oath of office and the constitution of Lithuania.

The Lithuanian Culture Ministry is in charge of maintaining the material cultural heritage, restoration of synagogues, Jewish cultural centers and historical commemoration, and to entrust this ministry to the member of an openly anti-Semitic party would be a desecration and public derision of the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, and an insult to Lithuanian citizens of Jewish descent.

Moreover, this person’s participation in the actions of the next Government would discredit Lithuania in front of our foreign partners, whose support to our country and to us, the citizens of that country, is so vitally important at this complicated time in geopolitics.

We would like to remind the president and the public that organizations such as IHRA, FRA (the EU agency on fundamental rights) and the OSCE have all recognized anti-Semitism as a crime. Lithuania has signed cooperation agreements with these international organizations and is obligated to adhere to these agreements.

Therefore we call upon the president to maintain his oath he took during his inauguration and to defend the interests of all citizens of Lithuania, including Jews, as spelled out in the Lithuanian constitution.

Executive board, Lithuanian Jewish Community