Donatas Januta: Reply to Olga Zabludoff re Holocaust in Lithuania

Why can’t the Lithuanians simply grieve their own tragedy, and the Jews grieve theirs?

Donatas Januta

Dear Olga:

Of the numbers of Lithuanian Jews that were killed in 1941-1944 I have seen several numbers, all of which were around 90% or more.   If you feel more comfortable with 95-96%, I won’t quarrel with you.   The fact is that any such number is an enormous number, and it was and is a great tragedy.   If there was anything that I could do to undo it, I would.   

But you don’t seem to dispute the Israeli historian Dina Porat that 99.5% of the Lithuanian population was neither directly nor indirectly involved.

As for your claim that the Jews contributed “enormously” to Lithuania’s economy and culture, you quote that wealthy Jews lent money to the “Lithuanian authorities” when they got into financial trouble.   But that was in centuries past, and those Lithuanian authorities were either individual warlords, or the Polish kings of the joint commonwealth, who got into personal financial trouble due to their extravagant lifestyles.   And all those Jewish loans then went into their own private pockets.  And, of course, the Jewish lenders did not act solely out of a sense of charity; they received more than a quid pro quo. The Lithuanian nation, i.e., the people of Lithuania, however, did not benefit at all from letting those same “Lithuanian authorities” continue living their extravagant lifestyles, at, ultimately, the people’s expense.    That's why those Jewish "contributions" to the Lithuanian nation's economy were, as I said, either ziltch, or perhaps less than ziltch.

And what about the “enormous” Jewish contributions to Lithuanian culture that you mentioned.   I am waiting to be enlightened on what it is you think they were.

Regarding your criticism of my “interpretation” of Timothy Snyder’s “Bloodlands”, all that I said was that it is a very good book, and everyone should read it.   So, are you saying that it is not a very good book, and people should not read it?  

As for your quote from “Bloodlands” (pp. 191-192) regarding Kazys Skirpa and his so-called radio broadcasts urging bloodshed, I understand that the author has acknowledged that that is incorrect, that he was relying on someone else’s research, who was either mistaken or simply falsified it.   The author has advised that in subsequent printings of the book, that reference has been deleted.   If you like, check with him yourself. 

I still don't  know why the Lithuanians can't simply grieve their own tragedy, and the Jews grieve theirs.  I did not start this dialogue, but was merely replying to Didier  Bertin and yourself.   As I said, before, the Lithuanians and the Jews both suffered greatly during World War II - or do you disagree with this as well?