by Dr. Efraim Zuroff

Until now, the glorification of the Lithuanian heroes who had played a role in Holocaust crimes was only one of several themes featured at the marches.

Baltic neo-Nazi/ultranationalist/fascist march-month is upon us once again. This Tuesday, February 16, the first of the marches will take place along the central avenues of Lithuania’s prewar capital of Kaunas, (Kovno) on one of the country’s two Independence Days, this one to mark the liberation from Czarist Russia in 1918. The second on March 11 marks independence from the Soviets, and will be the date of a similar march in the current capital of Vilnius (Vilna). Both marches are sponsored by the Union of Lithuanian Nationalist Youth. The two additional marches will be taking place in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, on February 24, Estonian Independence Day, and the last march will be held in the Latvian capital of Riga on March 16, the date of an important battle fought by the Latvian SS Legion. It is the only one of the marches which is not held to mark the achievement of independence.

In Estonia, the march is being organized by Blue Awakening, the youth wing of the Estonian People’s Party, whereas the march in Riga is sponsored by SS veterans and their political supporters.

February 12, BNS–Friday the Lithuanian Jewish Community proposed publishing “information of a general nature” on more than 2,000 people who, according to a study by historians, might have been complicit in the Holocaust during World War II. This proposal was presented Friday in a letter by LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky to the Office of Prosecutor General and the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of the Residents of Lithuania. The head of the community proposed announcing which group of people on their list participated directly in mass murder, how many participated indirectly, how many in total were convicted and whether there are people on the list who were honored in some way by the state, and under what agencies they worked. Kukliansky told BNS Friday she thinks it’s important to the public to receive explanations about the list. In her opinion, it is possible to publish the names of those whose cases have been tried.

“The Lithuanian Jewish Community believes refusal to release the List could have negative repercussions at the international as well as national level and could give rise to various theories which would damage the reputation of the Lithuanian state,” her letter said. She also called upon the prosecutor’s office to look into how many people on the list hadn’t been convicted but who are still alive, and if such exist, to begin criminal cases against the,

The Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of the Residents of Lithuania has prepared a list of about 2,000 people who were complicit in Holocaust crimes. It has been turned over to the Government.

by Geoff Vasil

It was interesting to watch the publicity machine surround Ruta Vanagaite’s new popular account of the Lithuanian Holocaust swing into gear to sell her new book. The publisher Alma Littera seemed to adopt an “artificial scarcity” marketing plan with an initial print run of only 2,000 copies, a plan which appears at this point to have been very successful. The next print-run is slated for 6,000, a humble figure given all the press and discussion of the book.

Initial confusion about the book–Jerusalem Post reported it as Efraim Zuroff’s new work–and some surprising comments by Vanagaite herself regarding Zuroff on national television softening his demonized image among the Lithuanian public gave way to a more general call for the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania to stop dragging their feet and finally publish a “list of names” of Lithuanian Holocaust perpetrators.

Lithuanian Jewish Community
No, 179, February 11, 2016

To:
The Honorable Evaldas Pašilis
Office of Lithuanian Prosecutor General

The Honorable Birutė Burauskaitė
Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of the Residents of Lithuania

Re: Possible actions connected with the list comprised of 2,055 people who are alleged to have committed or contributed to the murder of Jews during World War II

February 11, 2016, Vilnius

The Lithuanian Jewish Community, seeking the restoration of historical justice and commemoration, and honoring the principles of the rule of law, equality before the law and the presumption of innocence, proposes:

by Sergejus Kanovičius

Rūta Vanagaitė’s book has raised several more unpleasant matters. Although it seems to talk about victims and perpetrators, neither side making comments about the book seem to care. What does interest the Genocide Center and the manipulators of history who stand behind it is the status quo of the center’s immunity, which has been seriously threatened recently, and the Jewish Community doesn’t seem to care either, because its chairwoman has voluntarily fallen into the same orchestra pit where, faking the notes, the Genocide Center symphony orchestra is performing, the shining white knights cavorting with television entertainment figures out for ratings, and someone in the background whining about Holocaust education. But the people who were pushed below the turf 75 years ago still lie there as they lay before. Usually nameless, very often surrounded by used hypodermic needles, condoms and plastic beer bottles. As nameless as their murderers. Trying to name the latter causes great controversy, and again all sorts of “I do this for you, you do that for me” deals begin to find voice, after which prosecutors are supposed to suddenly confirm a list already confirmed long ago by historical fact of those who did the shooting or helped shoot almost all Lithuanian Jews to the very last individual.