Donatas Januta: Reply to Olga Zabludoff re Holocaust in Lithuania

Honest differences of opinion do not mean bad intentions or motives

Donatas Januta

Dear Olga,

I have sincerely and honestly tried to respond to you. But you keep changing the rules on me, and you attribute to me intentions and motives which I have not stated and do not have.

We seem to agree on the important basic points. Yes, the Jewish Holocaust was and is the most terrible tragedy that has occurred in Europe. And if I could do anything to undo it, I would. Yes, I do not dispute Israeli historian Dina Porat’s conclusion that half of one percent (0.5%) of Lithuanians were involved directly or indirectly in the German organized killing of Jews. But beyond that, we, including yourself, get into the specifics of individual events – the where, why, and how – and there we do not seem to be able to find common ground.

You said that the reason Jews had a monopoly in the trades and commerce in Lithuania is because ethnic Lithuanians “chose” not to enter those fields. I responded by showing that ethnic Lithuanians’ long history of repression by the Russian czars did not allow them to make any such choice. Now you tell me that history is irrelevant.

You said that Litvaks had been dancing in Lithuania for 700 years, and that failing to invite some non-existent Yiddish dancers to a Lithuanian ethnic dance festival in Los Angeles was an anti-semitic act. You brought that up, not I. So I responded by noting that during those 700 years, Litvaks themselves neither invited nor joined ethnic Lithuanians. And that I understand and appreciate the rich and unique culture that Litvaks were able to develop as a separate culture from that of ethnic LIthuanians. So, I asked, why could not ethnic Lithuanians also celebrate their own separate culture.

But then, you turn this on its head and say that I am “chastizing the Lithuanian Jews for not being ethnic Lithuanians.” Yet, on October 26th here, I wrote:
“Litvaks’ vast contribution to world knowledge, science and the arts over the last 100 years probably has no no parallel in any other group. And we have all benefitted from their talents and intellect.”

Does that really sound to you that I would prefer that Litvaks were ethnic LIthuanians? Gosh darn, Olga, if anything, I would wish the other way around - that my small tribe of ethnic Lithuanians were half as talented and accomplished as yours have been. Yet, you say that I am “leading up in cunning fashion to the Nazi-inspired rhetoric.” Olga, that’s really not fair of you. I can’t seem to win.

Yes, true, as you say, in Lithuania during the brief period of independence, 20 years total between the two World Wars, Jewish signs were taken down from storefronts and other public places - the same as Russian, Polish, and German signs which were also taken down.

After having been denied for hundreds of years the use of their own language in their own country, Lithuanians sought to gain back lost ground. Isn’t that similar to what Israel did by introducing Hebrew as the official state language – or are all Israelis speaking the Palestinian language that they found in Palestine? Aren’t you applying – oops, there’s that phrase again that you don’t like – a double standard here?

But Jews in Lithuania continued to maintain and attend their own yeshivas and synagogues, have their own Yiddish and Hebrew newspapers, and their own Jewish cultural and political organizations like the Bund, the Zionists, and so forth, all the way until the Soviet occupation of 1941.

I have read the articles that you directed me to as well as others. Suziedelis’ articlde offers what appears to be a fairly good general overview of past Lithuanian attitudes, as well as of his own learning path, towards the Holocaust. He does, however, lean towards generalities and avoids specifics, and some of his comments are too obscure or vague for me to understand.

For example, he states (in his original Lithuanian) that “I never felt that my parents had any particular sympathy for Jews” and that his parents “were tortured by the same stereotypes as others of his generation.” I have no idea what to make of such statements. As far as his statement about his parents not having any sympathy for Jews, in contrast elsewhere in the same article he states he is aware of two occasions when his father protested the treatment of Jews. And he really does not tell us which particular stereotypes he is referring to, nor in what manner they tortured his parents.

Incidentally, you seem to refer to Suziedelis as one of the “young educated” Lithuanians, “not clouded by present-day Nationalist politics”, as opposed, I guess, to someone like me. But he and I are of the same generation. We both came to the US as children, as war refugees, we both grew up and were educated in the US and have lived our adutl lives here. And by “present-day Nationalist politics” – do you mean like that of Israel, which I understand and appreciate, despite the fact that I may disagree with some of Israel’s policies from time to time.

As for the article by Wyman Brent that you referred me to – he seems like a well intentioned fellow who appears to have swallowed the Zuroff party line.

I guess, Olga, from your last post here, that we have come to the end of our current conversation. I wish you well.