Op-Ed: Lithuania covers up its pro-Nazi past

By Grant Arthur Gochin

Grant Arthur Gochin

LOS ANGELES — My Grandfather, a simple man from a small village in Lithuania, regularly spoke of his murdered Lithuanian family, murdered, each and every one of them, for their crime of being born a Jew. The murderers were never individually identified, they were termed as amorphous “Lithuanians”.

The Holocaust in Lithuania was hardly a Nazi event, the German Security Police assigned to Lithuania, Einsatzkommando 2 of the German security police, reported the murder of 114,856 Lithuanian Jews as early as December 1, 1942. One hundred and thirty nine Nazi personnel, of whom 44 were secretaries and drivers, and 95 were murderers, directed the slaughter. Local Lithuanians enthusiastically, and voluntarily conducted the majority of the killings. Perhaps 1% or fewer of the Lithuanian population actively participated in the murders, but, the rest, some out of fear, stood by and watched. It was impossible for the general population not to see Jews being rounded up and murdered in public. Interim Prime Minister of Lithuania, Juozas Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis stated that Jews should not be murdered “so publicly”. He did not have any issue with the actual murders, just the openness of the murders. It would have been impossible for Lithuanians not to see the empty Jewish homes, not to question the sharing of Jewish plunder; not to be aware of the missing population, all Lithuanians knew what was happening to their Jewish co-citizens. Everybody knew.

For memory and respect of my Grandfather, I began to research who had murdered his relatives. Discovering this information was not difficult, eyewitness reports reflect Jonas Noreika as the culprit. Noreika was in a position of authority in Lithuania, his signature appears on orders to ghetto Jews and plunder Jewish property. Clearly, if Jews no longer needed their possessions, Noreika was not intending for them to return home. In the 1980’s, German newspapers were already reporting on the guilt of Noreika, his original documents reflecting his orders to persecute Jews are in the Lithuanian archives.

Upon Lithuanian independence, the new Government rehabilitated a number of Holocaust perpetrators and identified them as heroes for their anti-Soviet activities. After all, their victims were dead, and it was not conceivable to them that evidence of their crimes towards Jews would come to light. Since Lithuania regained independence in 1990, no murderer of a Jew has been held to account in Lithuania. It would seem to Lithuanian Judicial Authorities that nobody saw anything, nobody heard anything, and certainly, nobody actually did anything.

Having discovered the identity of the perpetrator towards my own relatives, I appealed to Lithuanian authorities to revoke the honors they accorded Noreika and to remove the monuments in his honor. Years of appeals went unanswered, and so I began to investigate further.

The Director of Lithuania’s “Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania”, Teresė Birutė Burauskaitė, is Lithuania’s official historian. She is nominated for her position by the Prime Minister, confirmed by their Parliament, and may only be removed from her position by impeachment by Parliament. She speaks with the authority of the Government in a politically appointed office, and has publicly admitted that her “findings” are politically expedient, not objective.

The Mayor of Vilnius approached Burauskaite for insight into Noreika. Burauskaite issued an exculpatory report, apparently, Burauskaite claimed, Noreika was only following orders (the Eichmann defense) and so he could not be held accountable for his actions. Burauskaite was sure that he was only trying to protect the Jews by placing them in a ghetto, and without providing any reasoning, dismissed all eyewitness testimony as “unreliable”. That eyewitness testimony included reports that Noreika ordered the Jews of Plunge to be congregated into their synagogue, and burnt to death.

A cursory review of other pronouncements by Burauskaite showed that she exculpated the head of a guard unit at Majdanek Concentration Camp. According to Burauskaite, this Lithuanian served outside the camp, so could not have known what was occurring inside the camp. As Head of the guard unit, Burauskaite ascribed him no knowledge of the general situation of the Jews, no comprehension of Jews entering the concentration camp and only ashes exiting. No thoughts that no food or medications entered the concentration camp, and that there was a constant flow into the camp of humanity, and it never became crowded. According to Burauskaite, as Chief of the death camp guards, he was a good and decent man who warrants his standing as a Lithuanian national hero.

Many such examples abound. I have complained to the Lithuanian President, who asserts that the she is unable to order any investigation, but, she states, she has checked with the Genocide Center, the Lithuanian Supreme Court and the Lithuanian State Security Department, and according to them, all is in order with Burauskaite’s pronouncements. While the President states she is unable to assist in any fashion, she assures Jews that she cares very deeply about Jewish victims. Just not enough to do anything.

I have complained to the Ombudsman of the Lithuanian Parliament, who states that I am not personally damaged by Burauskaite’s pronouncements (all those that are damaged are contained within Lithuanian death pits) and he declines to investigate, but assures us that he cares about the murder of the Lithuanian Jews and will ask Burauskaite to look into her own pronouncements. All roads lead to Burauskaite, she is the arbiter of her own truth, which is consumed by the Lithuanian population.

If I had the opportunity to meet my grandfather, I would tell him that I have done my utmost to bring about truth and justice for our family; Holocaust perpetrators are protected to the very heights of Lithuania’s Government, they are national heroes, and truth is not an available commodity in that country. I do not imagine he would be surprised.

When facts are deliberately falsified by a Government and promoted as truth, there is no possibility to learn from past mistakes, and the cycle will surely continue.

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Grant Gochin lives with his family in Los Angeles. He is a Certified Financial Planner and Wealth Manager with Raymond James Financial Services. His blog on Lithuania is at www.ggochin.wordpress.com

 

6 thoughts on “Op-Ed: Lithuania covers up its pro-Nazi past”

  1. Not shocking to expect such actions from some of the worst Jew haters and racists in Europe. Disgusting and deplorable way of “preserving the past and culture”.

  2. Pingback: Latest in Battle Over Public Honors in Vilnius for Holocaust Collaborators | Defending History

  3. Pingback: Op-Ed: Lithuania covers up its pro-Nazi past | News in Europa

  4. My grandfather, grandmother’ 3 aunts and 2 cousins were murdred in Kuršėnai and Zagere. Also in : Siauliai.

  5. I am Jewish and Lithuanian, The Lithuanians where not pro nazi. They were anti Russian and Polish. When Germany came in, they freed them from the repressive Russians, and the Poles that occupied the capital Were there some that shared Nazi beliefs beliefs? Yes, of course. There were a lot of anti -semitic people around, like all of Europe. There still are plenty around today. However they did not make up even close to a majority. Lets keep facts straight please.

    1. As I said, a small percentage participated in the murders, the rest watched, very few resisted.
      Today’s Lithuania celebrates many of the murderers as national heroes.

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