Wiesenthal Center blasts Friday’s Neo-Nazi march in center of Vilnius
Jerusalem - The Simon Wiesenthal Center has labeled a neo-Nazi march of approximately 1,000 participants held this past Friday in the heart of the...
Vilnius, Lithuania-The Simon Wiesenthal Center's Israel Director, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, led a protest vigil against a march of approximately2,000 neo-Nazis and 
ultranationalists in the Lithuanian capital to mark the country'srestoration of independence in 1990.
The Center noted that once again the image of Juozas Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis (pictured on banner), prime minister of the provisionalLithuanian government, established in July 1941, which fully supported Nazi Germany and actively participated in the persecution and murder of Jews, was carried by a group of demonstrators ashomage to this high-ranking war criminal and Nazi collaborator.
According to Zuroff:
"These demonstrators are the spiritual heirs of the numerous Lithuanians who volunteered to actively participate in the mass murder ofLithuanian Jewry. Their chants of "Lithuania for Lithuanians" ring particularly ominous in the city once known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania, whose Jewish community was virtually wiped outcompletely by the Nazis and their numerous local collaborators."
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| Dr. Efraim Zuroff (left) speaks to Respublika editor Vitas Tomkus. | Swastikas and White Power insignia sewn onto clothing, seen at demonstration. |
Photos: DefendingHistory.com
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The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rightsorganizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and theLatin American Parliament (Parlatino).