Attack On Vilnius Jewish Centre

by Justin Cohen - Tuesday 12th August 2008


Amid increasing concern about the “atmosphere of anti-semitism and Holocaust revisionism” in Lithuania, Jewish leaders this week called for decisive action over the desecration of a community centre on Tisha B’Av.

Swastikas and graffiti including the image of a Star of David hanging from gallows were daubed on the centre in Vilnius, just days after the Simon Wiesenthal Centre expressed fears over a probe into Holocaust survivors for their wartime activities as partisans during a meeting with the country’s president.

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And in a follow-up letter to Valdus Adamkus following the attack, the Centre’s Dr Shimon Samuels said: “Last Thursday in your Palace, we discussed the damaging consequences of recent legal procedures against Jewish partisans. You noted that a major statement might bring closure to this issue. Last night's desecration was born of the poisonous climate provoked by media demonisation of the Jewish partisans.

“Mr. President, if ever there was a time for your statement, it is now - not only to condemn this attack and severely punish its organisers and agents. It is time to validate the heroes of the anti-Nazi resistance and integrate their chapter into the historical narrative of all Lithuanians.”

During the meeting, the Lithuanian leader – who described the Shoah as “the most horrible crime of the twentieth century” - claimed the case concerning former Yad Vashem Directorate Chairman Dr. Yitzhak Arad had been closed.

“Neither are the two women suspects,” the president said, according to the Centre. “If they would give their expertise in a historical investigation, that would be welcome.” But Samuels advised that this formula would be seen as continued implication in a judicial process and asked for a public statement “confirming the definitive closure of this painful process”.

Yad Vashem has also been among those voicing their concern over the situation in recent months. In a letter dated Sunday but not prompted specifically by the same day’s attack, Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev told Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas: “Sadly, to date, the public outcry has yet to yield a fair and reasonable Lithuanian response. If anything, it seems that the harmful phenomenon of historical revisionism and distortion, of which the investigation of the Jewish partisans is a prime example, may actually be increasing in your country.

“In light of this severe and continuing problem, Yad Vashem calls upon you to intervene directly and restore Lithuania’s integrity as an enlightened and democratic nation by ending the misguided investigations. Only by dealing openly and forthrightly with the full and complex truth about the past will your nation succeed in building for itself a secure and stable future.”

Saying that it believes the key way to combat revisionism is through education, Shalev vowed that the organisation would “continue to welcome and teach Lithuanian educators about the events, ramifications and legacy of the Holocaust, thus reflecting and communicating our core commitment to the truth”.

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