Holocaust in Lithuania ; Response to Mr. Didier Bertin.

The Lithuanian authorities are
better than most in the region

Dr. Yves Plasseraud

By Yves Plasseraud, Paris

I would like to answer briefly to the paper of my compatriot Didier Bertin, posted in VilNews on October 15. Discussion is always positive and I welcome his contribution.

I would first like to point out that my incriminated paper only concerned the attitude of some intellectuals vis-a-vis the Holocaust question in Lithuania and by no means « the martyrdom of the jewish people » in itself.

Now, concerning Bertin’s reaction, I note that although many points he raises are unfortunately true and worth mentioning,  I cannot agree with him on several issues :

The Lithuanian authorities are certainly not 100% right in their treatment of the jewish question, but, they are better than most of their counterparts in the region. Presidents Landsbergis and Brazauskas were among the first head of states of Middle Europe to admit WWII crimes again Jews from the part of compatriots and to apologise for them.

I certainly never obliterated the participation of Lithuanians in the Shoah, current neo-nazi parades or the danger of the Double génocide notion. On the contrary, I often denounced them. To mention only one french publication, see the Histoire de la Lituanie,  Un millénaire (Armeline, 2009), which I  directed : chapters X (A. Anusauskas) & XI (A. Bubnys) on WWI and the Shoah.

The Green house is not the only museum carrying exhibits about the Holocaust : The Panerai museum, the Naugarduko Tolerance Center, and now the Genocide Museum should also be mentioned.

I would be interested to know more about « the many other negative facts »  which I forgot in this respect.  I have been active in this field for more than 25 years and I do not have the impression to have ever treated the question lightly. I would only remind M. Bertin that, in 1993, I was among the organizers of the first post indépendance conférence in Vilnius on the topic of Lithuanian-Jewish relations1 !