Dr. Irena Veisaite : Re Holocaust in Lithuania

We have to build bridges

Dr. Irena Veisaite.

Dear Aage,

I fully share with you the view that people are thinking in a different way and have the right to express their position and feelings. But I am also convinced that different arguments should be expressed at the same time, if possible, on the same page.

Dr. Yves Plasseraud is well known as a fighter for minority rights and against any xenophobic trends including also anti-Semitism.

I decided to write this little note only because I noticed some concrete mistakes in the articles of Mr. Bertini and Donatas Januta.

The comments of Dr. Yves Plasseraud did not intend to analyze the history or perception of the Holocaust in Lithuania. His intention was only to react to many non-objective comments in some Jewish press which are misleading. Among Jews are some people who never want to acknowledge positive changes in the perception of the Holocaust in Lithuania, especially by the government, academic circles, educational institutions, including schools and keep repeating the same criticism over and over. Such comments do a lot of harm to the development of Jewish-Lithuanian relations and create a false image of the country. To overcome stereotypes and hatred you indeed need a lot of time and positive thinking from both sides.

Misunderstandings occur sometimes just because of lack of knowledge. This was, in my opinion the case with the article written, maybe, with the best intention by Donatas Jonata. Just a few examples taken from his article:

-The “double genocide” theory is used a lot in Lithuania as shown by J. Mikelinskas popular writings or the existence of the Genocide Museum without even seriously mentioning the Jewish genocide. I know it was recently corrected, but I did not see it yet.
-The 16 soviet division was fighting against Nazi-Germany. Of course “à la guerre comme à la guerre”, some crimes are committed by any army, but to call them just « bandits » is not fair. It was a regular Soviet army unit.
- Soviet partisans of Jewish origin were first of all saving their own lives. They had no way out. Their fight against Nazis is completely justified.
- It was not fully understood during the IIWW, but to treat today Nazi Germany as a liberator or friend of Lithuania would be a big mistake. The Nazis started already during the war a colonization process in Lithuania. We also know now very well their plans for the future, their strategic plan’s “OST”…
- It is true that, in pre WWII Lithuania, Jews lived in many ways separately and tried to preserve their own traditions and faith. But I could not agree that Jews did not do anything in or for the country and its culture... And this is more and more acknowledged today by Lithuanian historians.
I fully agree with Mr. Jonata‘s evaluation of Zuroff, also that ethnic Lithuanians and Jews found themselves in different existential situations at the beginning of the IIWW. This was very well understood by Ona Simaite already in the beginning of the 50-ies, but you should not forget, that the Soviets deported also over 7000 Jews in 1941, that they destroyed Jewish culture during the II soviet occupation, etc.
I think that Mr. Jonata is right not to agree with Mr. Bertini, but his statement that Lithuanians and Jews should grieve their own tragedies separately is not productive. The Holocaust is also part of Lithuanian history as soviet deportations were part of Jewish history, but still not to compare with the total annihilation of the Litvaks during the Holocaust. I would like to emphasize the main statement of Professor Suziedelis, which was published in VilNews».

« If Lithuanians are to “own their own history,” he believes, they must do three things:

view Jewish history as part of Lithuanian history as a whole. “In the past,” Dr. Suzedelis says, “Jews wrote about Jews and Lithuanians wrote about Lithuanians.” Today, this is changing. An increasing number of ethnic Lithuanians are studying Jewish history.

understand the Holocaust as the central event of the Nazi occupation. “The genocide of the Jews constitutes the greatest single atrocity in modern Lithuanian history.”