Juozas Ambrazevičius or Juozas Brazaitis

The controversial case of Juozas Ambrazevius Brazaitis' (1903-1974)
remains being returned to Lithuania for re-burial this week

Juozas Ambrazevičius or Juozas Brazaitis was a Lithuanian literary historian, better known for his political career and nationalistic views. He was acting Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of Lithuania, the so-called Nazi puppet government, from 23 June 1941 to 5 August 1941.

He later joined an anti-Nazi movement, until he escaped from Lithuania by the end of WWII.

A document by the US Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, from January 1975, states that Brazaitis was removed from the list of Alleged Nazi War Criminals and that further investigations had been stopped. But Efraim Zuroff, leader of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Israel, says: "At the time the Americans didn't have the data that clearly point to his connection to the Nazis and to anti-Jewish violence." Here is a copy of the 1975 document...

Aage Myhre President Adamkus honoured Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis with "Lietuvos didžiojo kunigaikščio Gedimino ordino Didžiojo kryžiaus" (the highest order of the Lithuanian State) on 6 July 2009. This obliges the government to honour him with a State funeral.... Which will take place Sunday 20 May. No ceremony in Vilnius as it has been stated by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz...

Read the Haaretz article here:

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/glorifying-a-nazi-collaborator-in-lithuania-1.430508

Linas Johansonas 

There's a documentary film being released this weekend about Juozas Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis <> Here's what the producer of the film says about Brazaitis:

"Gaila, kad tokie žmonės nėra įvertinti visuomenės. Juozas Ambrazevičius-Brazaitis yra apdovanotas valstybiniais apdovanojimais ir įvertintas kaip vienas iš svarbiausių kovų už Lietuvos laisvę dalyvių. Bet šio jausmo nėra mūsų visuomenėje. Jaunimas tiesiog jo nežino, tad pasirinkimas buvo natūralus. Kitas svarbus dalykas, kad Juozas Ambrazevičius-Brazaitis pagaliau bus perlaidotas tėvynėje – tai labai svarbus įvykis mūsų istorijoje ir būtų gėda niekaip neįamžinti šios datos."

rough translation:

"It's a shame the people like him aren't appreciated. Brazaitis was awarded the nations highest honors, & is appreciated as one of the most important fighters for Lithuania's freedom. But this feeling is missing in our society. Todays youth knows nothing about him. Another important thing, his body will finally be laid to rest in Lithuania, which is a very important event in our nations history, & would it would be shameful not to immortalize this date"

(I'm posting this not as a supporter of Brazaitis, which i'm not, but for everyone to understand why some Lithuanians honor him)

Dokumentinio filmo premjerą pristatantis Saulius Bartkus: tai – šioks toks patriotizmas | 15min.lt

www.15min.lt

Televizijos laidų prodiuseris Saulius Bartkus, be laidų prodiusavimo, labai domisi istorija ir prieš keletą metų pradėjo kurti dokumentinius filmus.

Lars Persen 
This is a huge dilemma for Lithuania. Since the Soviet opression was both so hard and long quite a few Lithuanians rank the time under Germany the better, in stead of expressing an equally strong historical condemnation of both Nazi Germany and communist Soviet. Considering both sides destruction of Jewish communities in Lithuania and their atrocities, nor German or Soviet collaborators should be acknowledged! Giving Brazaitas a post-mortem re-funeral in Lithuania is surprising and sad. 

One can in 1941 understand his action, when one takes to account that the German at the time challenged the Soviet occupation. But in retrospect no Nazi collaborator should be honored, no matter what his intentions were!

Linas Johansonas ‎Lars Persen wrote: "One can in 1941 understand his action, when one takes to account that the German at the time challenged the Soviet occupation. But in retrospect no Nazi collaborator should be honored, no matter what his intentions were!"

Shouldn't the same apply to those who collaborated with the Russians?

Aurelijus Baltušis 

Extracts from a Report by Einsatzgruppe a in the Baltic Countries:
“It was no less important to establish as unshakable and provable facts for the future that it was the liberated population itself which took the most severe measures, on its own initiative, against the Bolshevik and Jewish enemy, without any German instructions being evident. 

In Lithuania this was achieved for the first time by activating the partisans** in Kovno. To our surprise it was not easy at first to set any large-scale anti-Jewish pogrom in motion there. 
Klimatis, the leader of the partisan group referred to above, who was the first to be recruited for this purpose, succeeded in starting a pogrom with the aid of instructions given him by a small advance detachment operating in Kovno, in such a way that no German orders or instructions could be observed by outsiders.[...]
Both in Kovno and in Riga evidence was taken on film and by photographs to establish, as far as possible, that the first spontaneous executions of Jews and Communists were carried out by Lithuanians and Latvians.”
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Einsatz_Baltic.htm

Darius Udrys Since when do civilized countries make heroes out of Nazi collaborators? Brazaitis failed the most important test of a good leader: to protect the innocent and stand up for what is right. This adulation is an instance of staggering moral imbecility.