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Blaming the Victims
The campaign to defame Holocaust Survivors who joined the anti-Nazi resistance is part of the wider campaign of Holocaust Obfuscation
or:
Is this really how a proud and successful EU and NATO member democracy wants to say farewell to the tiny and dwindling numbers of Jewish survivors of the seven hundred years of shared history?
10 September 2007. Prosecutors in Lithuania confirm that their investigation of Holocaust survivor and anti-Nazi resistance hero Dr Yitzhak Arad on suspicion of 'crimes against humanity' had been initiated in May 2006. The 'investigation' was based on an article in the antisemitic daily Respublika (22 April 2006), in which the special prosecutor and head of the Genocide Center are extensively quoted. In June 2006 the daily triumphantly proclaimed that prosecutors were acting on its earlier article. English summary.
29 January 2008. Article in the antisemitic daily Lietuvos aidas that called on prosecutors to 'investigate' Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky and Dr Rachel Margolis. English translation.
5 May 2008. Police come looking for Dr Rachel Margolis [born 1921] and Ms Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky [born 1922] on a 'war crimes' investigation. Reports in the Jerusalem Post and Jewish Chronicle. [Note: Three years earlier, on 8 May 2005, then Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas had awarded Dr Margolis a certificate of appreciation for her role as an anti-Nazi partisan.]
28 May 2008. Prosecutors tell news agencies that Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky and Rachel Margolis cannot be found; English translation.
11 July 2008. Prosecutors reply to the Jewish Community of Lithuania.
22 August 2008. Director of the Business Division of Baltic News Service (BNS) attacks Yitzhak Arad, Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky, Rachel Margolis; English translation.
2 September 2008. Prosecutors comment on investigations 'related to persons of Jewish nationality'.
20 May 2009. Director of Baltic News Service (BNS) calls for Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky and Yitzhak Arad to be put on trial for war crimes; English translation.
Responses
3 April 2008. Resolution of the Board of Directors of the Vilnius Yiddish Institute.
6 April 2008. Professor Dov Levin of Jerusalem protests, returning his own earlier award to the president of Lithuania.
30 April 2008. The Embassy of the United States in Lithuania issues a certificate of appreciation, signed by Ambassador John A. Cloud, to Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky; presented by political officer Joseph Boski at a luncheon organized by the Vilnius Yiddish Institute.
2 June 2008. The Embassy of Ireland in Lithuania issues a certificate of lifetime achievement to Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky, signed by Ambassador Donal Denham, who presented the award at a reception at the ambassador's residence.
19 June 2008. Response of the Jewish Community of Lithuania and the Union of Former Ghetto and Concentration Camp Prisoners.
25 August 2008. Letter to Dr Rachel Margolis from nine NATO embassies in Vilnius.
27 August 2008. Lecture and walking tour of the Vilna Ghetto, led by Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky, attended by ambassadors / chargés d'affaires of fifteen NATO nations: Austria, Britain, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, USA.
10 September 2008. 'Lithuanian-Jewish relations: paper justice' by Valdas Vasiliauskas on delfi.lt. English translation.
15 March 2009. Holocaust Council of Metro West issues a Woman of Valor award to Dr Rachel Margolis.
7 April 2009. Letter to Dr Rachel Margolis from the chairman, president and executive director of NCSJ.
9 April 2009. Keene State College in New Hampshire honors Dr Rachel Margolis.
16 April 2009. Letter to Dr Rachel Margolis from the National Director of ADL.
19 June 2009. Lord Janner of Braunstone issues a certificate of appreciation to Dr Rachel Margolis, delivered at the Dr Rachel Margolis event chaired at Leivick House in Tel Aviv by its director, composer Daniel Galay. The keynote speaker was Israeli ambassador to Latvia and Lithuania, Chen Ivri Apter, who awarded Dr Margolis a certificate of merit from his embassy. Tel Aviv school children who study Yiddish with Hannah Pollin-Galay presented a cultural program of song, and a gift of flowers to Dr Margolis. Other speakers included professors Israel Bartal, Dov Levin (Jerusalem) and Dovid Katz (Vilnius). Dr Margolis addresses the audience. After the event. Dr Margolis with Ambassador Apter. Photos by Leyzer Burko.
