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The consistent refusal of Lithuania's political leaders to condemn such behavior will only encourage thegrowth of the extreme right in a country where professed patriotism led to massive collaboration in Holocaustcrimes. - Dr. Efraim Zuroff
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The Simon Wiesenthal Center's Israel Director and chief Nazi hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff
led a protest in Kaunas against an ultra-nationalist neo-Nazi march in honor of Lithuanian Independence Day.
Lithuania's large Jewish community was virtually totally annihilated during the Holocaust by the Nazis, with highly significant participation of Lithuanian volunteer collaborators.
The right-wing demonstrators marched with images of Juozas Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis, who served as prime minister of the Lithuanian provisional government, established in Kaunas shortly after theNazi invasion, and who enthusiastically supported the Third Reich and the systematic annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry.
"Those who seek to inspire patriotism by invoking the memory of Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis are in effect expressing support for the tragic annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry. In that context, theshouts of the demonstrators "Lithuania for Lithuanians", rings starkly ominous," said Dr. Zuroff.
The Center's delegation (pictured) including world-renowned Yiddish professor Dovid Katz, noted Lithuanian film-maker Saulius Berzinis, and leading Jewish community activist MilanChersonsky, was joined by local anti-fascist demonstrators led by Lithuanian journalist Evaldas Balciunas, who has written extensively about Lithuanian efforts to glorify Holocaustperpetrators.
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