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Can Pope Francis Heal the Blind at Lukiškių Square?

Pope Francis's two-day visit to Lithuania will include a symbolic stop at the Vilnius Ghetto on his second day, September 23, at roughly 16:00, at Rūdininkai square. On that day, 75 years ago, Nazi Germans liquidated the Vilnius Ghetto, murdering some of its Jews in Paneriai Forest, and moving the rest to concentration camps in Latvia, Estonia and Germany. Since 1994, it has been the National Day of Commemoration of the Genocide of Lithuania's Jews. Now it will surely be linked in the Lithuanian psyche with this visit by Pope Francis, and perhaps some day, Saint Francis.

[Image: Sports Palace]

However, his visit is also a chance for him to make plain to the children of God our lack of empathy for Lithuania's Jews. A very short detour to the "Vilnius Sports Palace" - and a heavenly nod by the Pope - would let us tear down that "Soviet temple", resurrect the holy Jewish cemetery beneath it, and enjoy a symbol of Litvak and Lithuanian friendship forever. This brings to mind the detour Jesus made in Jericho, when two blind men called out, "Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!", and Jesus halted the crowd.

"What do you want me to do for you?"

"Lord, that our eyes may be opened."

Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes; and immediately their eyes received their sight, and they followed him. (Matthew 20).

Truth be told, a single sentence by Archbishop Gintaras Grušas would heal the blind. In Lithuania, a letter of support by any single one of the priests or nuns would, too. Protestant Pastor Michael Maass's letter of June 10, 2015, and my own article of January 4, 2016, are loving examples of how many Catholics will stand up for Jews some day, as has Silvia Foti, a dedicated Catholic. My fellow Catholics, have mercy! Open our eyes to see your empathy! All will surely follow you!

[Image: Tiny Cross]

There is a most injurious symbol, which will require no detour, but the Pope himself will come to, at the very center of Lukiskiu square, at the feet of where Lenin once stood. It is a tiny cross! Step back, and you will see the words, "Memory and Respect. For Those Who Fought and Died For Lithuania's Freedom Throughout the Ages."

[Image: Plaque]

Step further back, and you will read the plaque which describes 100 relics placed underneath that "Centennial Circle". You will find earth brought from the historic battlefields, starting with the Battle of Žalgiris (Grunwald). You will read about dozens of sites where anti-Soviet partisans died for Lithuania's freedom. And towards the climax of this holy litany you will find:

Nr.92 Earth from the site of the mass murder at Kaniūkai village, Vilnius region, where in 1944, Soviet terrorists murdered 38 people.

[Image: ... Partisans]

What is notable about this mass murder? It is the singular war crime that the Republic of Lithuania's prosecutors conspired to question Jewish partisans about, not for justice, but for the political purpose of consoling so-called Lithuanian patriots. These Jews were not "partisans for a week" like the Lithuanian rebels of 1941. They were not "anti-Nazis in pro-Nazi uniforms". These Jewish heroes were detained in the ghetto, escaped from the ghetto, and fought the Nazis in the forest in 1942-1944. They fought like the best of our anti-Soviet "Brothers of the Forest" of 1944-1953, and they deserve the same respect, the same compassion, and in my judgement, the same amnesty. They should never be equated to the evildoers of the Holocaust who arrested, demeaned, abused, slaughtered and robbered their neighbors in 1941, leaving more than 200 mass graves.

[Image: Moral Authority - Jonas Burokas - LNP/LLKS]

[those listed on plaque - mes]

This tiny little cross is a symbol that the Republic of Lithuania, the City of Vilnius, and the Catholic Church have ceded their moral authority. Who took it? The plaque makes it clear: Jonas Burokas, Honorary Chairman of LLKS - Lietuvos Laisvės Kovotojų Sąjunga (The Union of Fighters for Lithuania Freedom). This injury is especially hurtful when we know the history of the LLKS and the history of Lithuanian Catholic insensitivity.

Do we want to know history?

[Image: the Priests who blessed the plaque]

Why do we live in the darkness of ignorance? The darkness makes clear whether we want to see the light or not. Those who wish for light will see it when it comes, and those who wish for darkness will be blinded by it.

"I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind."

"Are we also blind?"

"If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains."

[Image]

http://www.llks.lt/apie%20veikla.htm

Let us read from the LLKS website about their heroes.

"In commemorating the 70th anniversary of the LLKS, we bow our heads before LLKS founders Vytautas and Zenonas Blynas, tortured to death in Soviet lagers, Klemensas Brunius, who was killed in a car accident which the KGB organized, Ignas Vylius, who was shot to death at Tuskulėnai manor, and Antanas Valiukėnas, whom the KGB arrested, never to be heard from."

[Image]

Brunius was the acting leader of the LNP, whose June 14-15, 1941 program's second point was "delete Jews from life". He was subsequently replaced by Leonas Virbickas, who gave a speech at the celebration of the conclusion of the Holocaust in Lithuania. Vylius was the leader of the party's forces, the Iron Wolf, which ensured that genocidal killers like Šimkus were in charge of the battalions. Valiukėnas was Škirpa's personal secretary and one of the editors of the LAF program which "revoked hospitality from the ethnic Jewish minority". A careful moral analysis reveals distinctions. When Valiukėnas rode a bicycle through Žemaitija in July, 1941, and saw no Jews, he thought that Škirpa's plan had succeeded, and they had all fled with the Soviet army. By 1942, he knew otherwise, and sent a bulletin to Sweden about the tragedy of their genocide.

[Image]

We can appreciate Jonas Burokas's hero, LNP General Secretary and LLKS Founder Zenonas Blynas, by reading his 700 page diary. It is the "dirt book" for understanding Lithuanian crimes against humanity. Let us contemplate the entry from December 7, 1941, where he documents his conversation with Jonas Pyragius, a leader in the genocide of Lithuania's Jews.

"We were talking: the [LNP] leader [Virbickas], Pyragius, Jasiunskas and I. Pyragius came back from Russia; earlier he was somewhere near Danzig. According to him, we're going in the wrong direction. He defended the shooting of the Jews. [The Germans] are forming an aviation squad - from Lithuanians. I say - as Lithuania's contribution, with our colors? - No, but they will always feel as Lithuanians. Nobody will ever knock this out of their heart. Then why - I say - can we shoot Jews with our national colors, but in an honorable battle - no colors? That's another issue. But the [Bolshevist] threat we face is all the same - [we must] unconditionally go now [with the Germans] - the Germans are shedding their blood for us."

[Bishop Kauneckas - Pyragius]

What happens when we simply forget a villain like Pyragius? On January 17, 2015, the portal panskliautas.lt reported that Panevėžys Bishop Emeritus Jonas Kauneckas consecrated a memorial plaque to Jonas Pyragius and nine other volunteer soldiers who fought in Lithuania's War of Independence, 1919-1920. Daujėnai alderman Vladas Vitkauskas explained, "We didn't want to leave the memorializing of this history to some ordinary house or stone, so we chose the church and churchyard." Entrepreneur Pranas Kiznis, the General Director of Lietpak, donated 6,000 euros for the memorial.

[Image]

In their dispute, Blynas and Pyragius both agreed on all of Lithuania's Jews being killed. They differed however, on matters of principle, as Blynas had to explain to a confused person who thought Blynas might actually help save a Jew. One principle was that Lithuanians should demand and receive from the Germans a promise that after the war they would be granted independence in appreciation for their genocidal service.

On April 14, 1942, Blynas wrote a historic LLKS declaration, "Lithuanians!" If Hitler had won all the wars, and if he had believed that Lithuanians were Aryans, then we would be living by Blynas's principles. It starts with a confession of genocide:

"In the beginning, the Nazis thought to liquidate the Jews and Poles (by our hands); and only afterwards to seize upon resettling Lithuanians. They thought that we quietly suffer their force and we will be obedient, the executioners of other nations. The Nazis are changing their plan. All of their attention is beginning to fall not on the Jews or Poles, but on the Lithuanians."

It then rallies us, Lithuanians:

"Remember: A.Hitler does not like those who "lack character". He despises the nations which have a slave's spirit. Let us show the Germans that we are true Aryans - Lithuanians, not any worse than Teutons; let us show that we know how to defend our honor and our rights. We are Lithuanians, not farmhands nor slaves."

And finally, it turns to our best friends forever:

"GERMANS, Recognize the Independence of the Republic of Lithuania; let us truly autonomously manage our land. Afterwards we will speak with you about the forms of collaborating, considering first of all that our fundamental interests not suffer, and we will try to harmonize our mutual interests."

This is an example of the Lithuanian anti-Nazi underground press that Genocide Center's chief historian Arūnas Bubnys writes about. He extols LLKS and its wordsmith, Zenonas Blynas. https://slaptai.lt/lietuviu-antinacine-spauda-ir-jos-leidejai-1941-1944-metais/ But in what sense is it anti-Nazi? Bubnys quotes the Nazis to explain:

"All of the newspapers call for complete independence for the state of Lithuania..."

As for Blynas, he notes:

"Apart from all that, in April, 1942, Z.Blynas wrote an appeal to the General Councillors and an open letter to the German General Commisar for Lithuania, Adrian Theodor von Renteln, which urged granting independence to Lithuania."

I wrote to Arūnas Bubnys and he explained that this was an entirely different document. It would be interesting to see it.

I spoke with Jonas Burokas by phone for 40 minutes. (That's what moral authorities do.) I told him that I was personally moved by the biography of his brother, Edvardas Burokas, who I had read about in the April, 2018 issue of LLKS "Varpas". https://slaptai.lt/lietuviu-antinacine-spauda-ir-jos-leidejai-1941-1944-metais/ The Soviets held him in lagers from 1953 to 1962 where he worked in the mine shafts. In the mines, he was eternally organizing rebellions and strikes and battling snitches and lackeys. He was active with Lithuanians, Ukrainians and others in a Freedom Fighters Organization. Later, in Lithuanian, he was active in the underground press, Varpas.

I was curious if this LLKS actually had anything to do with the other LLKS, which Burokas idolized and even spoke on behalf of. I knew from Vilutis's memoirs that when Lithuania's greatest organizer, engineer Klemensas Brunius, was in the Soviet lager, the Soviets put him in charge of building new mine shafts. They let him have a personal guard of 50 strong men! Burokas was surprised to learn this because his brother Edvardas was not building but destroying Soviet mine shafts.

There was also another LLKS in 1940 which the Soviets rounded up and which merged into LAF until LAF was shut down. Burokas also speaks on behalf of them. But he didn't know any of the names of these heroes. In summary, Lietuvos Laisvės Kovotojų Sąjunga had three periods of activity, 1940, 1942-1944 and 1953 onward. You may notice that none of these have anything to do with the anti-Soviet "Brothers of the Forest" in 1944-1953 or even the 1941 rebellion. This points to the void in Lithuanian moral authority where nobody actually delves into history. Anybody can speak on behalf of Lithuania's partisans.

Lithuanians have not been able to decide what to do with Lukiskiu square ever since they tore Lenin down. Finally, Burokas and LLKS personally organized some 300 people to gather 100 relics for the occasion of the centennial. These are the "Lithuanian Freedom Fighters of all times". Unable to get official state permission, on January 12, 2018, they simply took the initiative to place time capsules with 60 relics at the center of the square. On February 16, 2018, the centennial of Lithuanian independence, now with the permission of the state, they placed the remaining 40 relics.

Burokas explained that the victims of the massacre at Kaniūkai were included because they had been defending their homeland.

One complaint that Burokas and I both share is that Lithuania lacks a vibrant, free press. LLKS publishes Varpas. I can write at Defending History. That certainly was not possible in Soviet-occupied Lithuania. But we both feel that we lack access to Lithuania's mainstream press. For example, the press has been writing about Jonas Noreika's crimes as District Chief in Šiauliai, but nobody has yet dared to mention his leadership in killing about 3,000 Jews and 300 Lithuanians in Telšiai District, as documented by the Captain Jonas Noreika Museum and Archive.

Pope Francis's visit brings attention to Lithuania from another plane. Perhaps that may allow for other views as well, including Lithuania's Jews who have endured not only the Holocaust, but hurtful insensitivity ever since. Perhaps the mainstream press and the Lithuanian Catholic press might seek a vibrant dialogue with a wide range of voices. Perhaps the LLKS might inspire us to take the initiative to tear down the Sports Center wall by wall, and revive the Jewish cemetery, tomb by tomb. I have a dream - perhaps we could all do that together.

[Image: Tautos Kelias - Hitler]

Blynas was basically in favor of the genocide. Right after the putsch, he wrote the editorial for the first issue of the LNP newspaper "Tautos Kelias", which the Germans, fortunately, refused to let them publish. The sickest part is where he argues for the killing of Jewish babies, saying that "there is never too LITTLE blood for the earth." He was considered the LNP's intellectual:

"Only by blood does the earth, sprinkled by the blood of its sons and daughters, start to give a bountiful harvest, and for the earth, the earth of the parentland, there is never too little blood. It soaks up the blood of friend and enemy, lover and betrayer, the one who sacrifices themselves and the ones who scream in horror. The earth is always thirsty for moisture. The earth is always hungry for bodies that will rot."

[Image...]

But Blynas was a man of principle in the details of how genocide was performed. He writes on August 24, 1941, what Brunius had seen as a spectator of the mass murder in Rokiškis.

"The [Jewish] women yelled and screamed. People gathered from all around. At first they laughed, they smiled, they were pleased - but later they grew horrified, and the Aryan women began to scream as well. A slaughter. Dastardly. The District Chief is on this now. I said, if the Germans are doing this by our hands, already, then everything should be done calmly, without publicity, without scandal. That degenerate did it all otherwise. I'll remember him... Dastard..."

Blynas was unhappy that the Germas were despising Lithuanians as the killers of Jews. And he didn't like the "kadems" - the Christian Democrats, the Provisional Government, the Lithuanian Activist Front, as he perceived them, acting so innocent. On August 30, he wrote about the meeting of the LNP leadership:

"We talked about the slaughter of the Jews. In today's issue of "Į Laisvę" there is an interesting stanza in Brazdžionis's poem:

1941.08.30 Vadovybės posėdy kalbėjom apie GV. Leis - neleis? Kaip dirbti? Išsikalbėjom apie žydų skerdynes. Šios dienos "Į Laisvę" yra įdomus Brazdžionio eilėraščio posmas: "Šaukiu aš tautą": Šaukiu vardu aš jūsų vargo žemės, Balsu piliakalnių, ir pievų, ir miškų - Nekeršykit, kad karšto kraujo dėmės Nekristų prakeiksmu ant jūs vaikų vaikų. Turbūt dėl žydijos... Ir vis dėlto kai eis mūsų laikraštis, vėl sudėsim kunigijos "antisemitizmo" - prieškarinio - pasireiškimus. Tenekrenta jų metama kaltė vien ant mūsų. Kademai... (Blynas)

Blynas thought that blame, if any, should be placed fairly. On January 6, 1942 he jotted down:

"One way or another, it was Lithuanians who started the shooting of the Jews - namely, in the days of the Provisional Government. Bobelis proclaimed the order for the stars [of David], it seems."

Another entry he recorded on September 9th shows that he was having thoughts about the Germans' ultimate intentions.

"Taunys is now more careful regarding the Jews. My thesis: now the Jews, then the Poles, then the Lithuanians. It makes you think. (One German soldier had laid it out that way.) The remaining Lithuanians will wipe the boots for the Germans... The Gestapo had asked, what do the Lithuanians want? Taunys had replied - they wanted Lithuania to be a state in the manner of Slovakia. [Bishop] Brizgys didn't even know what to say..."

What did Blynas think of the Bishop's ties to the Gestapo? Blynas wrote on December 27, 1941:

1/3 of the priests worked for the NKVD. Now isn't it likewise 1/3 will work for the Gestapo? It turns out that those recruited received 500, 800 or 1,000 rubles for each "favor". It's interesting whether the priests worked and now work according to [Bishop] Brizgys's directives or not? That is, do they supply "concentrated" [centralized] information, or not?

What did Blynas know about the Gestapo? Blynas thought, aside from him and Brunius, basically all of the leadership of the LNP were Gestapo agents. And so he was miffed when journalist Pranas Ancevičius proclaimed that Blynas and Brunius were Gestapo agents. Here I make an aside about the Catholic Lithuanian press before returning to the LNP and the LLKS.

In 1941, Pranas Ancevičius filed reports from Lithuania as a special correspondent for the Catholic Lithuanian American daily "Draugas". He was a founder of the Lithuanian Activist Front and seems to have provided Draugas readers with the perspective of Kazys Škirpa, the leader of LAF and the nominal prime minister of Lithuania's Provisional Government, at the time when the Gestapo held Škirpa under house arrest in Berlin.

In 2018, "Draugas" editors are a comparatively young, sensible, stalwart band of Lithuanian Americans, including editor-in-chief Ramunė Lapas and online editor Jonas Kuprys, as well as Lithuanian intellectual Renata Šerelytė. They have American sensibilities, have regularly featured stories about Litvak heritage, and have made the Draugas historical archives available to the public. However, they are serving a dying readership, which as loyal Draugas readers has come to demand a General Fantasy over a Captain Reality, if we might allude here to the villainous Captain Jonas Noreika, who called himself "General Storm".

In 2018, regarding matters of Lithuanian accountability for the Holocaust, Draugas readers are at the mercy of Vidmantas Valiušaitis, who is a regular speaker at seminars by the determinedly self-congratulatory Lithuanian Catholic youth movement "Ateitininkai" (Futurists). Valiušaitis cites the June 25, 1941 issue that "Jews Will Not Be Persecuted" and with absolutely no evidence insists on attributing the statement to Kazys Škirpa. Well, if Draugas was the gold standard of journalism, then we can believe the June 23, 1941 issue, which reports:

German military level strata are convinced that the war against Russia will be determined by the collapse of Russia from inside, which will be all the more accelerated by uprising in the occupied countries - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

On July 27, 1941, the "Draugas" headline screamed that "The Bolsheviks Had Deported 200,000 Lithuanians to Russia". The actual number was 8% of that, and it is not evident whether Draugas ever published a retraction. "Draugas" special correspondent Pranas Ancevičius provided this news from Berlin after his automobile tour of Lithuania from July 11 to 18. Ancevičius's reports apparently portray Škirpa's view of this patriotic uprising:

"At the same time, that is, two days before the war, when the GPU agents tore from Lithuania the best part of its intelligentsia, the Bolshevik government of Lithuania was tirelessly arming all of Lithuania's Jews. On June 20, in Kaunas alone the Red government armed about 10,000 Jews. The purpose of these armaments was clear. Our rebels especially took proper note. They were totally prepared for a battle to the death and just waited for the signal." (Published July 30, 1941.)

"Thousands of arrested Bolsheviks, Red Army soldiers, and disarmed Kaunas Jews are by the Kaunas prison. They are people of terrible appearance, who just yesterday were murdering the most innocent residents of Kaunas and the surrounding areas, even the littlest children and babies. Order is being made in the prison and these traitors and bandits of Lithuania will take the places of the innocent Lithuanian patriots who have just come from there." (Published July 31, 1941.)

Obviously, the Lithuanian-American public was being fed pro-Škirpa, anti-Jewish, pro-Nazi falsehoods to make it dismiss any untoward accounts about crimes against Jews and to win support for the Nazi occupation. Understandably, the Lithuanian Catholic media was ignorant, but unfortunately, it stays blind to the Spirit of Truth - "the truth will set you free" - and rather, in the darkness of ignorance, seeks consistency in falsehood, as Valiušaitis so wonderfully delivers.

[Image]

On August 7, Draugas reported the replacement of military rule in Lithuania with the introduction of Nazi-occupation. Ancevičius concludes:

However that may be, the Lithuanian nation, which had liberated itself from Bolshevik slavery thanks to the German-Soviet war, has found itself drawn into the community of European nations, and its fate has been united with the fate of all the other European nations, which, upon the conclusion of the war, will start a new life in a new Europe organized on new principles.

In its August 14 editorial, "Painful Accusations", admitted that the Provisional Government, August 14 "had to make and did make certain concessions to the Nazis, but we completely believe that it cared for and cares for only the matters of its own nation." Meanwhile, Draugas had started to make its own concessions, publishing mean anti-Jewish humor and even anti-semitic "statistics". Yet it was relieved to report that "Catholic" Juozas Ambrazevičius and his Provisional Government had stepped down.

Draugas selectively published articles from 'Į laisvę" first two issues, and so was evidently aware of the reveries to Hitler and of the position that Jews and Bolshevism are one and the same inseparable thing. After the war, it was supportive of the legends spun by Ambrazevičius-Brazaitis and his LAF colleagues in the journal of the "Į laisvę". For example, they made heroes of the recruiter Juozas Dženkaitis, whose motto was "Asiatics belong in Asia", and the messenger Myklolas Naujokaitis, who memorized Škirpa's plans for ethnic cleansing.

In newly independent Lithuania, the Genocide Center's historian Arūnas Bubnys, who has conducted a lifetime of research on the Holocaust in Lithuania, and

Lydimasis raštas

1942.01.07 This evening I spoke with major Šimkus. He can't understand: if Lithuania is to get independence... then it will have to be given to Latvia, Estonia, Belgium, Holland.. then the Germans won't rule Europe; then what are they fighting for? I explained to him, but I don't think he understood.

The Genocide Center claims that the LNP was a noble organization because it was shut down by the Nazis. I attach the farewell letter which Blynas authored:

"Nations which fight for their noble national ideas have within themselves vital energies and the future's wealth. They hold their fate in their hand", Adolf Hitler has said. "The National Socialist movement recognizes and demands that a uniform blood and a uniform language and a uniform cultural heritage must make up the state", said Alfred Rosenberg. These ideas of these men of Great Germany accord with the existential foundations of every nation. The Lithuanian Nationalist Party has especially deeply comprehended them and appreciated them in resolving to lead the Lithuanian nation.

Blynas's radical point is that Germans don't hold a monopoly on Nazism. The very same Nazi ideas hold true for Lithuanians as well.

Matulionis - Goldbergas - puts Catholics in perspective - the virtue of Thou shalt not Kill

Problems - "did our duty" Skvireckas

Bishop not sacrificing himself

Catholic priest diary about Goldbergas - empathy for others - Christmas

Rabbi Abraomas Beras Šapiro, the senior rabbi of Lithuania, the chairman of Lithuania's Rabbinical Union, called for help to the highest Church authority in Lithuania. We know of it from the diary of Rev.Povilas Dogelis, a member of Lithuania's Constituent Assembly (1920-1922), which drafted Lithuania's constitution, and the pastor of the Cathedral of Kaunas Archdiocese, where Pope Francis will speak on Sunday.

June 26, 1941. Vilijampolė's rabbi Šapiro appealed by telephone to the Curia, asking for their influence that Jews not be murdered. What reply could the Curia give? Solely that this was not in its competence. But as regards that, speaking unofficially, the Curia ought to reply that [the rabbis] should rein in their nationals so that they wouldn't shoot at civilians and that they be loyal to the current regime. It's already the fifth day that Germans are in Kaunas, and there still are pockets of Russian army, Communist Jews and perhaps our own people, who are shooting from under roofs, from behind bushes and other hideouts at our partisans and peaceful civilians.

Povilas Dogelis records a story told by Povilas Leimonas, the Director of the Catholic Action Center, whom the Soviets imprisoned in 1940-1941, and who became one of the founders of the World Lithuanian Community.

Here is one episode from life in prison in Kaunas. December 24th, 1940. Christmas Eve. In the prison cell there are about 20 residents of all manner of views and convictions. You can find there devoted Catholics, and liberals, and Bolheviks, and as regard ethnicity - Jews. As Christmas Eve drew closer, the Catholics would like to mark them here as well. They wait, perhaps some other party will bring this matter up. Indeed, the matter of a Lithuanian Christmas Eve was brought up by the Jewish prisoner [Jokūbas] Goldbergas. He says that today for Lithuanians it is Christmas Eve. Perhaps we, too, will mark them here. All approve. How to celebrate: we covered the table in white. Goldberas offered his white sheet. Good. A Communist likewise offered his sheet to cover the table. We all decided to polish our metal spoons and plates. All do this without exception. We polished the plates and spoons until you could see them shine. The table looks nice: white with little plates and spoons all shining. The guard noticed: What's up with you? Christmas Eve, said the prisoners. Nice, nice. For the guard was a decent man. He brought for dinner some sort of soup. Usually everybody would pour their own portion. But this evening they decided that several should pour. And we had volunteers: a liberal, a Bolshevik and a Catholic. They poured and gave to the others. When the plates were full, then one of them - also of liberal views, spoke well about the meaning of Christmas Eve. Then he suggested that they take a moment to collect their thoughts. Catholics prayed and others just had a moment of silence. Then, in lieu of wafers, they broke a slice of bread and kissed amongst themselves. Upon finishing the Christmas Eve meal the Chief of the Facility storms into the cell noisily, asking: What are you doing here? They said, we're eating dinner. You're making speeches. No, we're not. And that's how it ended.

empathy for Jewish cemetery

lack of critical thinking

obstacle - Draugas

what can Jews learn from Catholics?

Parable of the Good Soviet Partisan.

Do we need to wait for a visit by a woman Pope, a gay Pope, an African Pope, a Lithuanian Pope, a freedom fighter Pope, a Pope with Alzheimer's, or all of the above? Do we need to wait another 25 years to prepare for Litvak and Lithuanian unity?

Shine our consciences like the prisoners' plates and spoons so they might shine and heal the blind.

Captain Jonas Noreika Museum and Archive

Disinformation

XXI Amžius - Ignas Vylius

Matas Valeika - Pyragius, Barzda, Valiukėnas

Ignas Vylius - led the military sector, FAK-203 school (apie Igną Vylių - Navaitis) XXI amžius, 2004

represented in VLIKAS by Juozas Deksnys (Labanauskas)

http://genocid.lt/centras/lt/891/a/ Arūnas Bubnys

Svarbią reikšmę naikinant įsišaknijusį pragaištingo žydų vaidmens Lietuvai 1940–1941 m. mitą turėjo istorikų L. Truskos ir Nijolės Maslauskienės darbai6. Šie istorikai savo darbais įrodė, kad jokio ypatingo vaidmens Lietuvos inkorporavimo ir sovietizavimo procese žydai nesuvaidino ir kad juos sovietų valdžia traktavo ir persekiojo taip pat kaip ir kitas Lietuvoje gyvenančias tautines grupes. Vadinamąjį Liaudies seimą, kuris 1940 m. liepos 21 d. paskelbė Lietuvą sovietine respublika ir paprašė Kremliaus priimti Lietuvą į SSRS sudėtį, sudarė 67 lietuviai, 4 žydai, 3 lenkai, 2 baltarusiai ir 1 latvis. 1941 m. birželio mėn. Lietuvos komunistų partija turėjo 4,7 tūkst. narių, tarp jų 46,4 proc. lietuvių, 12,6 proc. žydų ir 41 proc. rusakalbių. Represinėse sovietinėse struktūrose žydų procentas maždaug atitiko jų dalį Lietuvos gyventojų demografinėje sudėtyje. 1941 m. pavasarį iš 519 Lietuvos SSR NKGB pareigūnų 55 buvo žydai (10,6 proc.), iš 282 aukščiausiosios ir vidurinės grandies Lietuvos SSR NKVD darbuotojų 24 buvo žydai (8,4 proc.). Per areštus ir trėmimus žydai nukentėjo ne mažiau nei kitos tautinės grupės. 1940–1941 m. buvo represuota 2,6 tūkst. Lietuvos žydų (8,9 proc. visų tuo metu Lietuvoje represuotų asmenų). Prieš karą žydai sudarė apie 7 proc. Lietuvos gyventojų7.

Sausio 19, 1942. Esą atvykęs koks tai vokietis iš Rygos. Apžiūrėjęs "Į laisvę". Kalba, kad ten jau spauda jų rankose, liko tik dar "nesutvarkyta" Lietuva. Taigi perims ir provincijos spaudą. Gerai, kad necentralizavom spaudos; būtų iš mūsų norimos bendrovės ją visą "gatavą" paėmę.

Be that as it may, better to rule the Catholics than be ruled by them. On October 16th, 1941:

Roppas (and other Germans) give too much importance to the kadems [Christian Democrats]. I said, in Germany, you haven't managed to subdue Catholicism, whereas we could subdue them. He says - how? I said - you're not going to grant us the circumstances, anyways.

As for the Voldemarists, it concluded on August 19:

"Be that as it may, the public appearance of "The Iron Wolf" promises no good for Lithuania, as it seems that the Germans are not thinking at all of an distinct state of Lithuania and are only hoping to find suitable people from amongst Lithuanians that it be easier to rule the land."