WWII Baltic Region

[Amanda]

Okay, I decided to start this thread b/c I recently saw some youtube videos w/Latvians honoring those who served in the Waffen SS and it got me interested in learning more about what happened in the Baltic region before and during WWII. I'm also kind of interested in this topic b/c it looks like Lithuania recently got hooked into paying reparations and I'm kind of curious to figure out what really went on there (I'm kind of starting to wonder whether some of the Jews who were killed by Germans were actually killed b/c they were working w/the Soviets, especially since I've recently come across articles that seem to suggest that wherever the Red Army went, the local Jews were there to cheer them on).  


Latvian Court Allows Waffen-SS Forces March

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120315/172192953.html

A Latvian city court on Thursday overturned the national parliament's ban on a controversial March 16 commemoration of Latvian troops who fought on the German side in World War II.

March 16 is Legionnaires' Day in Latvia. Though not an official public holiday, parades in honor of the 140,000 men who fought in the Latvian Legion, combat units of the Waffen-SS, are held annually in Latvia's capital.

Last year, about 1,000 people, veterans from the Latvian Legion and their supporters, paraded a short distance through Riga.

Traditionally, the parade triggers an outcry from anti-Fascist activists and organizations.
In Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, the removal of a Soviet war memorial, the Bronze Soldier, just before the May 9, 2007 Victory Day celebrations in Russia led to street protests in which over 1,000 people were arrested and one Russian national was killed.

Relations between Russia and Latvia and Estonia have also been strained over what Moscow calls the unequal treatment of ethnic Russians in the two former Soviet states, the alleged persecution of Soviet WWII veterans, and the apparent revival of nationalism and fascism.



Latvians Honour Waffen-SS Veterans: March on Latvian Legion Day Honours Soldiers for Nazi Germany

[youtube:1sr87eme]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d19FpXgkt1g[/youtube]1sr87eme]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d19FpXgkt1g

Roughly 1,500 Latvians marched through the capital city of Riga to honour soldiers who fought for Nazi Germany's Waffen-SS Latvian Legion, and because of this connection to the Nazis, the so-called Latvian Legion Day has become an occassion to support neo-Nazi and nationalist ideas under the cover of honouring veterans and celebrating independence.

Many activists and rights groups have opposed the holiday and marches, and 1,200 police officers maintained order during the march. Some Latvian veterans do support Latvian Legion Day as a memorial for the Latvian conscripts who died in the war, and said they would have been shot if they refused to serve in the Legion. However, the holiday has now become associated with nationalism and anti-Russian sentiments.

Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director Efraim Zuroff said, "So obviously this is a very sad day for Latvia, when you try and turn people among whom were Nazi war criminals -- mass-murderers -- into heroes. These people should not be the heroes of [a] democratic Latvia, [which is a] member of the EU, member of NATO."

European Jewish Parliament Co-President Joel Rubinfeld told us, "You know, it's one thing to watch on YouTube or to Google the Latvian Legion parade, and its another thing to experience it live. You really have to see it to believe it. I was very shocked by what happened today in Riga. You know Riga is the capital of Latvia 364 days a year, and one day a year Riga is the capital of the Third Reich [nostalgia]. And it was today, March 16th.

"My message to the Latvian people is very simple. There were young people in the march -- in the parade, and I am worrying for them because let's say that they are doing very bad things, but without knowing what's going on. It seems that in Latvia they are living in a bubble. There is a fairy tale that those people were heroes, they were freedom fighters. That's not true at all, but young people really believe it because it's the official version. So I hope they will get out from this wrong path and to go out from the darkness to see some light. And the light is tolerance, the light is humanism, and certainly not anti-Semitism, Nazism, negationism, and fascism. And that's what happened today."


Waffen SS veterans march in Latvian capital Riga

0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65QmwYrAREYv [/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65QmwYrA ... re=related


For more info on the Waffen SS, check out the "Video-Waffen SS: The Epic Story - Leon Degrelle" posted in the historical events section


 

[Amanda]

I just started reading Donald Day's book, Onward Christian Soldiers and if I find a pdf I'll definitely post it. Anyway, here's some info about the book and an excerpt on what was going on in Latvia:

Onward Christian Soldiers: An American Journalist's Dissident Look at World War II
By Donald Day

http://www.amazon.com/Onward-Christian- ... 0939482622

Here's the summary and a couple of reviews, so you can get a sense of what it's about:
Author: Donald Day was for 20 years the only American journalist stationed in Europe north of Berlin. From Poland, Latvia, Sweden and elsewhere in northern and central Europe, he covered developments for the Chicago Tribune. His dispatches were read by millions of readers of the New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, and dozens of other American newspapers that subscribed to the Tribune's foreign news service.
Summary: A seasoned American observer of the European scene provides an informed, outspoken view of World War II and its origins that contrasts sharply with the familiar, official accounts.

For 22 years Donald Day (1895-1966) was the only American journalist stationed in Europe north of Berlin. From Poland, Finland, Latvia, Sweden and elsewhere in northern and central Europe, he covered events as correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. His dispatches were read by millions of readers of dozens of American newspapers. He was also an authority on the Soviet Union. But unlike many of those who reported on Soviet affairs, he was undeceived about the true character of the Stalin regime.

Convinced that Third Reich Germany was Europe's only bulwark against Soviet tyranny, Day resolved actively to enlist in what he regarded as the West's crucial struggle for survival. In the summer of 1944, at a time when the tide of war had already shifted decisively to the Allies, he moved to Berlin to work for German radio. From September 1944 until April 1945, he broadcast from the beleagured capital city, speaking out against President Roosevelt and America's military-political alliance with Stalinist Russia, and the ruthless Allied war against Germany and Christian Europe.

In this valuable memoir, Day reveals the character and thinking of an American who decided to enlist with Axis Europe. With a preface by Walter Trohan, and a foreword by Mark Weber.

Review:  The Chicago Tribune's northern Europe correspondent from 1920-40, Day used his base in Riga, Latvia to report unflinchingly on the realities of Soviet tyranny and Red subversion in the Baltic. Banned from entering the USSR, fired from the Tribune at the instance of the U.S. State Department, Day threw in his lot with the brave Finns and their German allies during their anti-Bolshevist crusade. Onward Christian Soldiers bristles with Day's insights and reminiscences of northern Europe -- Scandinavia, Germany, Poland, Danzig, Lithuania, and his beloved Latvia, Estonia, and Finland in the years between the wars. With an introduction by legendary Tribune correspondent Walter Trohan, Onward Christian Soldiers pulls no punches on the Jewish role in Communism and on Britain and America's hypocrisy in posing as defenders of Christian civilization.

Review:  I strongly recommend this book as an antidote to the conventional popular histories of WWII. Many will find it shocking at first, but should finish it before passing judgement. One of the three clichés about war is that history is written by the victors, and this is probably more true of the Second World War than any other. The book paints a picture of civilisation, as Day sees it, under threat from Bolshevism, which is, in its founders and intellectual proponents, mainly a Jewish affair. We who grew up in the post-war period have been taught to believe that the Germans were antisemitic with little explanation of their motives other than some inherent fault. Onward Christian Soldiers suggests that there was a lengthy and involved conflict between German nationalism, the desire to unite German speakers and celebrate what they had in common, and Communism or Bolshevism which saw similarities between people because of their shared ancestry as a hindrance to uniting all peoples of the world under one ideology.



Donald Day: a reporter in Riga for 20 years

http://allaboutlatvia.com/article/16/do ... -20-years/

Donald Day was a Chicago Tribune correspondent stationed in Riga, Latvia for a period of 20 years from early 1920s to 1940, a critical period in Latvia's history. A Russian ambassador in the U.S. invited Day to cover the Soviet Union for his newspaper, but upon Day's arrival to Riga he was denied the visa to enter the USSR unless he promised to present USSR in the positive light in the Western media.

Day refused. And stayed in the border state of Latvia for the next 20 years.

I'm glad he did.

Often the figure of Day is contrasted to that of the New York Times correspondent an Englishman, Walter Duranty, who gave up most of his journalistic credibility for access to the Soviet government sources. And yet, to my great surprise Duranty won the Pulitzer prize for his work. Duranty wrote extensively for the Times about USSR under Stalin, often denying the obvious. For example, the 1933 famine in the Ukraine went barely noticed in his reportage.
For a few days, I've been trying to find Day's book "Onward Christian Soldier" in which he recalled the events of 1940 in Riga, when Soviet troops occupied the country. I have found only one quote on the Internet, but I would like to read the whole book. My university's library has a copy.

excerpt:

"Upon his return to the legation he said Munters' maid had telephoned saying immediately after the minister had left for Riga, two automobiles with GPU — Soviet secret police — men had driven up and abducted (Latvia's Foreign Minister) Munters, his wife and their two children. A few weeks later Mrs. Munters returned to Riga and packed their belongings which were transported to Moscow. Munters is now an official of the Soviet Commissariat of Foreign Affairs in Moscow.

I had little to do with Munters. I instinctively mistrusted him. All indications point to Munters as an arch traitor who sold his country to Moscow.
Another man who seemed to have an unusual influence over Ulmanis was Rabbi Mordecai Dubin who was chiefly responsible for the growth of the Jewish minority in Latvia. It was Dubin who succeeded in persuading Ulmanis to give permission for many thousands of Russian Jews to enter Latvia. He also aided the influx of additional thousands of other Jews when the uprising against the Jews began in Germany and spread to other countries. It was these proletarian revolutionary Jews who conducted a hilarious wake over the coffin of the Latvian Republic. It was the Jews who were delirious with joy when the Red Army tanks rolled into Riga. It was the Jews who participated in the introduction of the Red Terror against the very Latvians who had given them refuge and shelter from countries which had vomited them forth. I saw all this happen.

Even though some of them seemed too envious, the Latvians were real and sincere patriots who loved their country deeply. I know of only one who fled from Riga. I did not hear of others trying to escape. The fugitive was Alfred Berzins, minister of labor and propaganda, who most certainly would have been one of the first to be executed had he remained. Ulmanis and the remaining leaders of the Latvian people remained even after they had been deposed and were hourly expecting arrest.

I met Police Inspector Kissels on the street in civilian clothes shortly before I was given 24 hours to leave the country. One of the first actions of the Bolsheviks when they occupied eastern Poland was to exterminate all police officials. In Latvia and other Baltic countries the first action of the Soviet GPU was to recruit the hooligan element of the population who were armed and furnished with red armbands and detailed to "help" the local police. Kissels and the other higher police officials had already been forced to resign. I urged him to flee to Sweden. I happened to have enough dollars with me to finance his journey, and offered them to him. He refused, saying he could not run away. A few weeks later when the GPU called to arrest him, he shot himself. He was a brave man and a patriot.

There were plenty of motor driven fishing boats and Sweden was not far away. Some Latvians owned large and sturdy motorboats which could have made the journey. But aside from President Smetona, his family and clique, who fled from Lithuania, and Minister Berzins who fled from Latvia I do not know of any other escapes, or attempts to escape of government people from the Baltic countries. There were a few unimportant people who managed to cross the Finnish gulf to Finland and most of these immediately volunteered to serve with the Finnish forces.

The subconscious sometimes has the faculty of making things difficult for us. In writing about the Baltic States my heart . . . .

Can you picture groups of men and women and children being forced to crawl on their hands and knees through the streets to the railroad station where they were herded like animals, the men into one row of freight, cars, the women and children into another? They these trains with their human freight leaving during the night on journeys lasting for many days eastwards? From one distant station to another till the secret destination was reached? Families separated forever on this earth? Farewells which turned into moans of utter despair? This happened in Kaunas (Kovno) the capital of Lithuania.

Can you picture autotrucks night after night rumbling through the streets carrying their loads of arrested men and women to secret prisons? Of tiny torture cells in which the prisoner was unable to lie down or even sit down? Of actual physical torture to obtain confessions of acts never committed, or of information concerning the whereabouts of fugitives from the communist class war? Of men flayed alive, castrated, with their faces beaten until their noses and jaw-bones were smashed and broken? All this before the communist executioner with a single shot in the back of their head put them out of their misery? Of Christian women and girls being violated by Jewish chekists? All this happened in Riga, the capital of Latvia.

Can you picture men, women and children being placed in freight cars and being kept there two and three days without food, without water, without facilities to perform natural functions? The men in one line of cars, the women and children in another? Of agonized screams for help from both lines of cars? Of indignant crowds of people gathering wishing to rescue them? Of platoons of GPU troops rounding up these people and marching them off to forced labor on fortification works? Of trains finally disappearing into the night, also eastwards to exile and death? All this happened in Tallin (Reval) the capital of Estonia.
These unfortunates were families of army officers, government officials of all kinds, businessmen, factory owners, lawyers, doctors, dentists, writers and journalists. Only one section of the educated class seemed exempt from this extermination policy. It was the engineers and building contractors. They remained to operate the confiscated factories and to supervise the construction of fortifications.

There is plenty of gruesome evidence concerning the short bloody reign of Bolshevism in the Baltic States. All three countries have published books containing photographs and sworn testimony. For one who has lived in the Baltic States twenty years and who was personally acquainted with many of the victims this material is agonizing. There are many groups of photos of the same person. First you see a businessman or public official you know in peacetime. Next to it is his picture found in the archives of the GPU. He has become haggard, unshaven and his unkempt clothing reveal weeks of imprisonment. His hopeless face is lined with suffering. Beneath this is the picture of his horribly mutilated body. His distorted swollen features are almost unrecognizable. Yet it is undoubtedly the same man.

Destroyed towns and shattered buildings can be replaced. The best strains of a nation's blood are irreplaceable. The destruction of literally tens of thousands of the best families, not men alone, but entire families, of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, not to speak of similar slaughter in Eastern Poland, Polish Ukraine, Bessarabia and Bukovina have left scars on these nations and communities which will take generations to efface.

The Red Terror, as it is called by the Communists themselves, was introduced as a matter of course in those countries annexed by the Soviet Government. Red Terror is the liquidation by execution and exile of all classes except the proletariat. The GPU in the Baltic States employed the same methods used during the early years of the revolution in Russia. The sadistic barbarity which the GPU used against the outlawed classes is a practical and effective method of terrorizing into inaction any element of the population which might resist.

Compared with the mental and physical torture methods of the Jewish GPU of Russia, the guillotine of the French revolution was a very pleasant form of death. Chroniclers tell us how hoi polloi of Paris screamed with sadistic delight when a dripping head with blond hair was held up on the scaffold for their inspection. . . . Racial hatred also played a role in the actions of the Jewish GPU in the Baltic States.

You notice I say Jewish GPU. This is correct. From the very beginning of the Russian revolution the terrorist branch of the government was in the hands of the Jews. Felix Djerjinski, a Pole who first headed the Cheka, had Menshinski and Jagoda as assistants. He was succeeded by Menshinski, who was followed in succession by Jagoda, Yeshov, Akulov and then Berija who now heads this terror organization. All of these men are Jews. All the testimony gathered from survivors of the Red Terror in the Baltic States confirms that the GPU leaders were, almost without exception, Jews. And so long as the GPU holds supreme control in Russia, the Soviet Government must be regarded as a Jewish controlled regime. I might mention here that I have reported this phase of the communist revolution many times during the past 22 years to The Chicago Tribune which, together with other American newspapers subscribing to our press service, has published these articles.

But not always. There have been some exceptions.

On Sunday night, 16 June 1940, the Latvian government capitulated to an ultimatim from Moscow demanding a change of government and the right for the Red Army to occupy Latvia's chief centers. In a tragic address President Ulmanis informed his countrymen over the radio of his government's decision. It was the last time they heard him speak.

Large Red Army garrisons had already been established in the vicinity of Riga. . . . .

The first Soviet tanks rumbled over the bridge from the Mitau (Jelgava, a city a few miles south of Riga) road late Monday afternoon. As they clattered along over the cobblestone streets to take positions before the railroad station, a crowd of some 3,000 poured out of the Moscow suburb and Marien street to welcome them. They cheered the tanks wildly. I followed the tanks and watched the crowd. It consisted of more than ninety percent Jews, representing all strata of Riga's Jewish population.

A small detail of police attempted to maintain order but as more tanks arrived, the enthusiasm of the Jews got out of control. Some tried to mount the tanks and embrace the Russians. A Latvian policeman was attacked and tossed over an embankment. Shots rang out and I saw another policeman fall dead. At this point one of the Soviet tank officers shouted a command. A machine gun was trained on another group of Jews who were attacking a policeman. There was a short burst of fire and several Jews were wounded. Rioting continued sporadically, despite a curfew clearing the streets at ten at night. The Latvian police, who had been disarmed upon the demand of the Soviet minister in Riga . . . . . Many Jews were arrested and later released.

. . . my report . . . . appeared in The Tribune the same morning. It was not until many weeks later, when I was in Finland covering the inter War, that I received the clippings of my stories which my office forwards to me each month. My report of the riot was published under the headline: RIGA REDS BATTLE POLICE TEN SLAIN AS SOVIETS OCCUPY LATVIA. I had emphasized in my report that it was the Jews and not the Latvians who had welcomed the Red Army tanks in Riga, that it was the Jews who attacked the Latvian police, that it was the Jews who had been arrested for rioting. But the word "Jew" did not once appear in the story. This is regrettable for it was very misleading. The reader obtained the impression that it was a Latvian crowd who welcomed the Bolsheviks. I had also reported how I questioned the Jewish demonstrators and asked them why they were so happy and how they replied: "Now the Germans will never come here." The fact that the first act of the Jewish rioters was to attack and murder unarmed Latvian policemen speaks for itself. The Jews greeted the Soviet usurpers as liberators. The other inhabitants greeted them with horror and fear.
I was not expelled from Riga until a month later.

[Amanda]

The Ghastly Year

http://www.latvietislatvija.com/Baigais ... pas_pr.htm

The republishing of «The Ghastly Year» is not only praiseworthy and to be congratulated but also necessary. «The Ghastly year» in the life of the Latvian people refers to events which can not be kept hidden. «The Ghastly year» is the first and, at the given moment, the only documentation of events of 1940, precise evidence from that time without any connections to be made with present events within Latvia. This book can not be accepted as an invitation to a specific action or as blame upon some nationality. It is evidence left by history on events in 1940 within Latvia so few of which are documented or depicted. It was a period of time filled with tragedy, and the misrepresentation of actual historical events in order to serve present needs is unacceptable.

This historical, unedited republication of the «The Ghastly Year» , unexpurgated for the current political state of affairs, has the blessing of God, and there are no grounds to consider this to be anti-Semitic literature.

Clergyman Kārlis Zuika

[Amanda]

Latvian Legion: a brief explanation

[youtube:532ahe3y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z88nNnbgJrQ [/youtube]532ahe3y]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z88nNnbgJrQ


What really was The Latvian Legion?
Why so many Latvians fought against Soviet Union in World War 2 on German side?
What happened on March 16, 1944 and why this day was chosen to be commemoration day of Latvian Legion?

[Amanda]

The comments about Putin made below are kind of interesting. Didn't realize Russia's foreign policy was perceived as "aggressive" or that he was against historical revisionism...

The Problem of Latvian Legion

http://latvianhistory.wordpress.com/201 ... an-legion/  (photo at the link)

Tomorrow at 16. March the Latvian Waffen SS Legion remembrance day is celebrated by some and regretted by others. It's a deeply dividing date in modern Latvian society because the such groups like Russian nationals, Socialists and others see this is a "march of the fascists". While Latvian nationalists and patriots see this as an important day for Latvia. Occasionally at this day Legion war veterans and their nationalist supporters with flags takes a route from Dome square to the Monument of Freedom. They put flowers at the monument to remember fallen comrades and remember hard days of war. But in last years they are met by loud and angry so called "anti-fascists" and other protesters. Some of them are sent from Russia. In last years this date is no longer a remembrance of war victims but rather a fight between radical right-wing groups and their radical left-wing counterparts.One reason why this is happening is aggressive foreign policy of Russia since Vladimir Putin took president post. Putin administration has taken hard-line policy against so-called "rebirth of Nazism" and "rewriting of history". This is a part strategy of affecting Russian minority in Baltic states  to separate them from their state. In so they more loyal to Russia rather than their home government. Russia is also panicky afraid of discovery of new history facts about Soviet involvement in Second World War. This has caused frustration in Latvians against Russians and that's why the Soviet Victory day is at 9. May is met in same anger as Russians met 16. March.

16. March is chosen as Legion Remembrance day because in 16. March 1944. both Latvian divisions 15th and 19th division fought together first battle at Volkhov front at Russia near Leningrad. As many ethnic military formations in German army it was formed to put more living force to German army desperately fighting Soviet Army. It was called "volunteer Legion" but most soldiers were drafted by force. In Western World Latvian Legion is not considered responsible for Nazi war crimes or being ideologically Nazi and are separate  entity in German army. Captured Latvian soldiers  by allies were not prosecuted and given to Soviet Union, they spent years in Western World in freedom. To gather and help veterans an organization "Daugavas Vanagi" (The Hawks of Daugava"".) were established and are still active today.

While most part of Legion was drafted, those who volunteered were motivated by anger of killings and deportations done by Soviets in 1940.-1941. Many who joined by their own will wanted to avenge their killed or deported relatives. Others did not want the second Soviet occupation to come. As some historians write it was horrible mass deportation in 14. June 1941. that completely made Latvian minds against Soviets. When it was clear that Germany will lose war many soldiers hoped that Western allies eventually turn against Soviets and then the Latvian soldiers would fight for Latvian freedom. But allies never considered such step and neither they were ready to attack Soviets  because of illegal occupation of Baltic States.

We cannot completely deny that there were some Nazi sentiments in Latvians. Before the war there was a radical organization "Thunder cross" , but it was marginal and banned by Ulmanis regime. Antisemitism was present in Latvians, but history shows that Latvian state would never do such steps against Jews as Germany did. The German invasion made possible for some antisemitic killers to fulfill themselves but they would not have such chance if Germans had not helped them. Latvian Jewish killers were not in thousands but in hundreds.  It is known that some of them did joined the Legion but the count was small. Legion was a purely battle formation and should not be mixed with more criminal Latvian formations. There were also Latvian police battalions, some of them were responsible for atrocities in Belarus, but again it was not Latvian Legion.

16. March is not remembrance day of war criminals but simple soldiers fighting in German side. They had tragic fates. Many were captured by Soviets and sent to POW camps in Siberia. After release their life possibilities were downsized because they fought on the "wrong side." Lucky ones made way to Western World and lived without any restrictions.  Tragic fate was for those who escaped to Sweden. Cowardly and hypocritical Swedish government despite the protests of their own people returned Latvian soldiers to Soviets.

The explanation why Latvian Legion is not understood in Russia or in other parts of the world is because the history is always written by victorious side. If Germany would win this war, then Latvians fighting in Soviet side would be in same situation as Latvian Legionnaires today.

[Amanda]

Okay, this is from a couple of years ago (Lithuania recently agreed to pay reparations)

Lithuania is ravaged by Zio-bankers, and now their government to pay billions in WW2 reparations

http://judicial-inc-archive.blogspot.co ... s-and.html



Here's some info on Lithuanian reparations. And of course it's no surprise that it's still not good enough!!

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-go ... tion-plan/

Lithuania's new Holocaust fund sparks a row

Foreign Ministry calls 36-million Euro allocation an 'important step of historical justice,' but PMO's restitution task force says it's too little, too late

The Foreign Ministry has welcomed Lithuania's recent decision to create a compensation fund for Jewish property confiscated during World War II, but leading Israeli Holocaust restitution officials criticize the effort as being too little, too late. The argument highlights the tensions between the diplomats' pragmatism and restitution officials' feelings of justice and entitlement.

Last week, the government in Vilnius announced the establishment of a fund that, over a period of 10 years, will give 36 million Euros to Jewish education, as well as to religious and cultural institutions and projects.

"The decision implements the law approved by the Lithuanian parliament on this issue, and constitutes an important step towards providing historical justice for the Lithuanian Jewish community," the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem announced.

The Lithuanian government likewise spoke of a "historic decision," with Prime Minister's Chancellor Deividas Matulionis saying that it "might become a model of sorts for other states having historical conscience problems."

But for Bobby Brown, the director of the government-sponsored Project HEART — which stands for Holocaust Era Asset Restitution Taskforce — the deal between Vilnius and Lithuania's Jews is less than satisfying, since only Lithuanian citizens benefit from the fund.

A joint initiative of the Israeli government — under the auspices of the Prime Minister's Office — and the Jewish Agency, Project HEART seeks to identify Jewish property lost or stolen before or during World War II, with the goal of obtaining restitution for survivors or their heirs.

"We want a wholesome process where every Jew of Lithuanian heritage who has ancestors who lost property during the Holocaust can file a request that will be examined if found to be valid, that restitution or compensation be granted," Brown told The Times of Israel. "We are requesting from the Lithuanian government the implementation of a process that allows Holocaust survivors and their heirs everywhere in the world — whether they live in Vilnius, Ramat Gan or Chicago — to be able to make a claim over a reasonable amount of time."

Efraim Zuroff, the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Israel office, was also critical of the deal, which the government in Vilnius struck with the local Jewish community, with the help of the director of International Jewish Affairs for the American Jewish Committee, Rabbi Andrew Baker.

"There are several problems with this arrangement: first of all, the sum is much too low. Secondly, the discussions about it — until a deal was signed — took too long, so that most Holocaust survivors who could have benefited from it have died in the meantime," Zuroff said.

Zuroff is one of the most outspoken critics of Jerusalem's increasingly friendly diplomatic relations with Lithuania, lamenting that the Baltic nation is actively involved in marginalizing the Holocaust and is not tough enough on anti-Semitism.

"The deal is entirely in line with the bilateral relations between Lithuania and Israel and the Foreign Ministry's refusal to hold Lithuania responsible for their systemic campaign of Holocaust marginalization," Zuroff said.

Tensions between the Foreign Ministry and people involved in Holocaust restitution efforts are not new: Out of political pragmatism, Israel's diplomats are interested in good relations with Eastern European nations and are thus wary of demands they feel are unrealistic and may turn sour bilateral cooperation. Those demanding reparations reject such considerations as opportunistic and unfair in the face of the injustice done to Jews during the Holocaust.

[Amanda]

Looks like this guy wasn't going along w/organized jewry. Wonder if he left on his own or was threatened...

Latvian Justice Minister resigns

http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/31431/

RIGA - Justice Minister Gaidis Berzins (All For Latvia-For Fatherland And Freedom/LNNK, VL-TB/LNNK) announced his resignation yesterday evening, as the minister's press secretary Liga Adamsone informed LETA.

Taking into Berzins and Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis' (Unity) contrasting viewpoints about returning Jewish organizations' pre-war property to the Jewish community, Berzins considers his further work impossible as the justice minister, explained Adamsone.

In Berzins' opinion, Dombrovskis has ignored VL-TB/LNNK's political stance not to support revision of the denationalization process in one ethnic community's interest. The minister has come under political pressure, and it is obvious that this will affect the Justice Ministry's work, which the minister does not want to happen, said Adamsone.



Latvian justice minister resigns over Jewish property handover

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_06_21/78829659/

Latvia's Justice Minister Gaidis Berzins has resigned over differences with Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis on the return of property owned by Jewish organizations before World War II to the Jewish community.
The premier rejected Berzins's arguments against the handover.

A month ago, the government received a letter from the Latvian Council of Jewish Communities, which said that Latvia was one of the few European countries that had no law on the restitution of Jewish property.

Berzins refused to form a working group to prepare the necessary documents on the issue.

[Amanda]

Lithuania asks to quiz ex-Yad Vashem head over WWII killings

http://www.haaretz.com/news/lithuania-a ... s-1.229037

Gov't sources: Vilnius request to grill Yitzhak Arad over said wartime murders as partisan fighter an 'outrage.'

Lithuania's chief prosecutor is mulling whether to order a probe against the former director of Yad Vashem Yitzhak Arad into allegations he was involved in the killing of Lithuanians as a partisan fighter during World War Two.

In a letter to the Justice Ministry, Lithuanian authorities asked to question the Lithuanian-born historian and retired Israel Defense Forces brigadier general on murder accusations raised by a local magazine article based on quotes from his autobiography and testimony he gave as a witness in trials of Nazi criminals.

Government sources unofficially confirmed they have received Lithuania's request, adding that Israel views it as "nothing short of outrageous."

Arad has recently participated in a panel that met in Vilnius called the Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania.

As a panel member, Arad raised the issue of Lithuanian citizens' involvement in the murder of local Jews -a claim that has drawn the ire of many Lithuanian rightwing groups who say such accusations are exaggerated and that the panel should focus on Soviet atrocities instead.

In response to the probe, Arad has rejected an invitation to return to Vilnius to continue to take part in the panel's activity and claims he has been singled out by Lithuanian authorities.

"If it were just a personal matter, I wouldn't have made an issue out of it, but it is anything but personal," Arad said. "What they are trying to do with this probe is form an equation as though there were Lithuanians who killed Jews, but also Jews who killed Lithuanians - so now were even and can move on."

The Lithuanian Holocaust is unique in that it was largely carried out by locals, especially members of the Order Police, who began butchering Jews the moment the Soviets left in 1941, even before the German army arrived. Only a few thousand of Lithuania's 220,000 Jews survived the Holocaust.

After the German army conquered Lithuania in 1941, the 15-year-old Arad fled his hometown ghetto and joined a unit of Soviet partisans until the Red Army took over the region. After the war he boarded an illegal immigrant ship to Israel, joined the Palmach [a pre-state elite strike force], and later served as an officer in the IDF, retiring in 1972 as head of the Education Corps. In civilian life Arad became a scholar and lecturer on Jewish history, specializing in the Holocaust. He was director of Yad Vashem from 1972 to 1993.

As a world-class expert on Lithuanian Jewry in the Holocaust, Arad was summoned as an expert witness for the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations, which hunts down Nazi war criminals and collaborators who managed to obtain American citizenship.

The affidavits Arad gave in the trials of Lithuanian Gestapo officials Aleksandras Lileikis and Algimantas Dailide, who were subsequently deported from the U.S., angered political elements in Vilnius.

Lithuanian nationalists object to the Holocaust's commemoration, claiming the people who should be memorialized are the victims of 46 years of Soviet occupation. A large share of the Lithuanians persecuted by the Soviets had been Nazi collaborators.

Despite opposition from nationalists, the international commission was established as part of Lithuania's efforts to gain European Union membership. The commission invited historians from Lithuania, Germany and the U.S. Arad was invited to represent Yad Vashem.

Yad Vashem's director, Avner Shalev, informed the chair of the commission that in view of the proceedings against Arad, Yad Vashem has decided to suspend its participation in the international commission. The partisans' organization in Israel also sent a protest letter to Lithuanian President Vladas Adamkus.

No comment was received from the Lithuanian embassy as of press time.