MARIASCHIN: Lithuania's new Jewish concerns

the history of the jews in lithuania is indeed tragic. more tragic is the history of the sixty million eastern european christians murdered by the communists under the influence of worldwide jewish socialists. this is not to negate the horror of the nazi holocaus; only to understand why such anti-semitism persists. when eastern europeans compare the barbarous slaughter they suffered under the soviet and recognize that without marx, engels, and lenin, all jewish and all communist--added to the unyielding support of the evil liberal american jews who extended the life of the soviet union by at least fifty years--do you really wonder why eastern europeans are indifferent to the plight of poor, elderly, INNOCENT, survivors? yet liberal jews, at pains to deny the truth of the resurrection these two millenia, have no qualms in insisting that such anti-semitism is proof positive of spontaneous combustion despite the established laws of physics. thus, to the survivors of the communist holocaaust inflicted by zionist socialists, all jews are guilty of the horrors of the communist holocaust. and yet, to these undeniable crimes against humanity, most, if not all, american jews remain obdurately, callously, and eternally INDIFFERENT.

I believe the title of this article should be "Jewish new Lithuanian Concerns". Lithuania's xenophobia is quite equal in it's fear and hatred of ALL peoples, not just jewish people. Lithuania has this deep problem surrounding jews from history. During the battle of Grunwald, Lithuanian Tatars (sunni muslims) fought alongside the Lithuanians against the Teutons, while jews waited, hoping to gain by the victory of the germans. The muslims were granted titles and land. Laws in the middle ages allowed jews to purchase and possess stolen property without punishment, or restoring the property to it's owners. Jews in Lithuania never used Lithuanian language, choosing Russian to use from times of the Russian empire and earlier. Their ignorance of the language led to the problems during WW2, where the jews of Lithuania chose to fall in line with the communists and NKVD, and took up governmental positions and helped to punish the Lithuanian people. There is no surprise, perhaps even no blame, as to why the jews were persecuted in the way they were. The Snipiskes Cemetary... dug up by the Soviets, only now are people worried about "possible desecration". A few simple years ago, this land could have been BOUGHT OUTRIGHT and preserved. Now that people have invested money in building, it becomes important. This is perhaps more of a sticking point. There are constitutional constraints in returning any property or monies to anyone in Lithuania. Of course, people who can prove they were in Lithuania, or are the family of Lithuanian citizens can very easily get property back. But to give it to a body which acts as a "for profit" corp. will NEVER be accepted by Lithuania. Restitution to PEOPLE, not profitable bodies. I think the issue of restitution should be addressed to Germany, and Russia, each of whom have accepted the responsibilities of their regimes at that time. When Lithuania gets its reparations from Russia for the occupation, come knocking then, but until that day, Lithuania doesn't owe nobody nothing.

Do globalnative and wulfstan expect the Times to print opposing sides? No, of course not. It's a Neocon publication.

When someone mentions property restitution to the Jewish community in Lithuania, it seems that it is hindered not just by unwillingness of the authorities or disapproval of the society, but not least because of the permanent squabbles of a number of local and foreign Jewish organisations which of them should be the recipient, to a degree that the only synagogue in Vilnius had to be closed to the community several years ago as fight broke out between the two factions during the service over who of the two Rabbis is the legitimate one, so who to give the property to? Whereas it may be true that measures to ensure that antisemitism is suppressed by the authorities and the non-Jewish society are halfhearted, I do not understand how this perception may justify killing civilian population half a century ago, and why it is wrong to investigate war crimes on whichever side. The story of the cemetery must be told without forgetting that the cemetery in question was closed by the Tsarist Russia's authorities in 1830, compensation for closure was paid to the Jewish community, and various fortifications built on its site, destroying parts of the said cemetery. Certainly it may not be a good idea to build on that land without reasonable effort of making sure that no human remains are still on that site, but what does it all have to do with the European Capital of Culture? The programme for Vilnius - European Capital of Culture includes a Kaddish for victims of Holocaust, http://www.culturelive.lt/en/2009/events2009-live/2009live-museums-9/, Hommage to Jascha Heifetz, http://www.culturelive.lt/en/2009/events2009-live/2009live-museums-9/, a 3rd Litvak (Lithuanian Jews) Congress, http://www.culturelive.lt/en/2009/events2009-re/2009re-4a-10/, to mention but a few. Will B'nai B'rith attend?

GlobalInitiative: "There is no surprise, perhaps even no blame, as to why the jews were persecuted in the way they were." Considering that 90% of the Jews of Lithuania were exterminated, your statement illuminates exactly the dangerous sentiments felt by Lithuanians today expressed in this article. Your historical rationales for the country's genocide are in a word, preposterous. Hey – so perhaps if the Americans exterminated the Amish minority(they don't assimilate with us or fight our wars), no-one could blame us either!