**UPDATE**

SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE - EUROPE
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Tel. +33-147237637 - Fax: +33-147208401
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Wiesenthal Centre Follow-Up to Lithuanian President: "We Anticipate Prompt Implementation of Your 7 August Commitment to Close Investigation Against Jewish Partisans"

In a letter to Lithuanian President, Valdas Adamkus, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, followed up their 7 August discussion, at the Presidential Palace in Vilnius, on Jewish-Lithuanian issues of concern.

In his letter to the President, Samuels reiterated that "of paramount concern was the poisonous climate conflating the fate of Jewish Holocaust victims mass murdered in Ponar, with that of Lithuanians exiled to the Soviet Gulag, and the subsequent antisemitic media attacks and judicial harassment of elderly Jewish partisans: Fania Brantsovskaya, Dr Rachel Margolis, Prof Sarah Ginaite - as also Yad VaShem Chairman emeritus, Dr.Yitzhak Arad."

Samuels reminded Adamkus of his comment that "the case was closed regarding Arad and the women were no longer suspects", and his commitment "to make a statement 'at an early opportunity', taking note of my suggestion that this might be timed to mark the 65th anniversary of the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto liquidation on 23 September."

The letter noted that "events then created a new momentum as, on 10 August (Tisha beAv, the Jewish commemorative date for the fall of the Temple and all antisemitic assaults culminating in the Holocaust), the community centres of Vilnius and Ponevezh were desecrated."

Samuels pointed to Adamkus' response to his email of that evening - which had urged the President to make his statement immediately, adding, "Your 11 August response was limited to a condemnation of these daubings as 'acts of vandalism', without reference to their root cause - i.e., the partisan issue..."

"Nevertheless, your protest against 'this destructive and sordid act against Lithuania as a whole, not only Lithuania's Jewish community' was, indeed, welcome, but cannot come in place of your promised statement for closure of the partisan affair."

The letter continued, "We are now one month away from the proposed date for the invocation of your moral authority. To set the scene for your 23 September initiative, we urge you to send formal letters to Dr Arad, Ms Brantsovskaya, Dr Margolis, Prof Ginaite and any other Lithuanian Jewish partisans listed in the investigation. They must be assured that they are no longer wanted nor needed, in any way, by any legal enquiry; that they are absolutely welcome to visit or stay in Lithuania, as always, without fear of harassment or interference."

The Centre emphasized that "this humanitarian step would clarify the obfuscation created by conflicting pronouncements that have been made through the media. It would also open a new chapter in Jewish-Lithuanian relations, by celebrating the anti-Nazi resistance of both Jewish and non-Jewish partisans. Such an initiative is so necessary, at this time, as the international community needs the partnership of a Lithuania representing the Western values of tolerance and civic rights."

"Mr President, we anticipate this prompt implementation of your 7 August oral commitment to the Simon Wiesenthal Centre," concluded Samuels.  

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at +33.609.77.01.58.

Vilnius,7 August, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus today received the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr.Shimon Samuels, at the Presidential Palace in Vilnius.

Samuels raised the following issues of concern in the Jewish-Lithuanian context:

-the poisonous political climate conflating the fate of Jewish Holocaust victims mass murdered in Ponar with that of Lithuanians exiled to the Soviet Gulag
-the subsequent antisemitic media attacks and judicial harassment of elderly Jewish partisans, Fania Brantsovskaya and Rachel Margolis - as also Yad VaShem Chairman emeritus, Dr.Yitzhak Arad
-the restitution of Jewish community property and the dispute over the Jewish cemetery
-the lack of Holocaust education

Now a member of European and Western international organizations, Samuels urged Lithuania to comply with their provisions on tolerance and antiracism,with a special historic responsibility to join the campaign against resurgent antisemitism at the UN Durban Review Conference in Geneva next April.

The Centre, likewise, called on Lithuania to "celebrate the anti-Nazi resistance by both Jewish and non-Jewish partisans."

Samuels acknowledged the President's statement denouncing Skinhead violence,the banning of Nazi insignia and his wreath laying at the AMIA Jewish Centre bombsite on his State visit to Argentina.

"Mr.President, all these measures are eclipsed by the offence to the Jewish partisans," continued Samuels, "as a respected international statesman and Ambassador of Goodwill of UNESCO, our Centre calls on you to invoke your moral authority for prompt closure on this issue...the United States Congress has just registered its own discontentment."

"Next month's 65th anniversary of the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto is perhaps a fitting occasion for a Presidential major statement honouring the anti-Nazi resistence by inviting Fania, Rachel and Dr. Arad as guests of the State," concluded Samuels.

President Adamkus responded by condemning the Holocaust as, "the most horrible crime of the twentieth century," adding, "Lithuania, a small country, lost its leading Jewish intellectuals and doctors to the Nazi genocide and its leading citizens to the Soviets."

He added, "I recognize the crimes committed by my fellow Lithuanians. This group destroyed our image...our Righteous Gentiles, though few, showed what should have been our true principles. These were moments of which I am ashamed."

"Regarding the cemetery, it was first desecrated by the Soviet Sports Palace in the 1950's. The open space in front of it - even if privately owned - is to be sequestered and dedicated to Jewish memory for generations. Our Prime Minister agrees that it must be untouched."

"On the partisans, I have spoken with the Attorney General, the Arad case is closed. Neither are the two women suspects. If they would give their expertise in a historical investigation, that would be welcome."

Samuels advised that this formula would be construed as continued implication in a judicial process and requested a public statement confirming the definitive closure of this painful crisis.

The Centre thanked the President looking forward to the implementation of these oral commitments.

Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus (L) with Dr. Samuels.	With Fania Brantsovskaya

 For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at +33.609.77.01.58.