January 29, 2003  
 
  Media House did not fulfill the SWC request to post an ad  
 


Considering the attitude of the Estonian Jewish Community the advert agency Media House did not fulfill the SWC request to post an ad that offers USD 10.000 for the information about the living Nazi war criminals in Estonia.

Chairwoman of the Estonian Jewish community, Cilja Laud, Chairman of the Former Ghetto and Concentration Camps Prisoners’ Association, Vladimir Perelman and the only one Estonian rabbi asked in their letter to the Media House not to publish the ad “because its text endangers the multicultural peace”.

The SWC is chocked that the ad will not be published in Estonia

The SWC was shocked and was very offended that the Estonian advert agency refused to post the Center’s ad.

The SWC planed the ad campaign to appeal to people offering them USD 10,000 award. The Agency refused to publish the ad, which contained the following statement “Estonians murdered the Jews during the Holocaust not only in Estonia but elsewhere”. Referring to the data of Security Police not a single Estonian was sentenced for a murder of Jews. And the Police dos not have any evidences on this kind of crimes. The ad agency added that this ad of the SWC interrupts with the Estonian primary laws.

Director of SWC, Efraim Zuroff said that the decision is absolutely offending. “The Security Police has shown again that their interest is to preserve the good name of Estonians instead of bringing the Nazi war criminals to a court in this country.” Efraim Zuroff continued, “It is known that the International History Commission that was established by the President acknowledged the fact that Estonian police unit participated in the killing of Jews in Belarus in 1942. The Center has additional evidences that proves this fact. Considering this fact we are standing 100 percent behind the ad content. In this situation we can only wait/hope those Estonian Nazi war criminals regardless to the level of the crimes they committed to be brought to the court one day in future.”

”In principle the position of the Security Police is absolutely controversial to the mentioned Estonian History Commission statement”, added Efraim Zuroff.

In the online newspaper vise director of the Media House agency said, “In no case the Media House is playing the role of those who would change the text. It is not the case into which we would intervene. We are in active cooperation with … and the Jewish Community and we even asked the opinion of the experts of Tartu University Semiotics department. ”Supporting the analyses of Jewish Community chairwoman, the Security Police, the Tartu University Semiotics department, Vladimir Perelman and the Estonian rabbi we raised a request to the SWC to change the ad content. I say repeatedly that this is not one-sided action of the Media House and the agency cannot be in a position of censorship. In democratic state the free press is the censor.”

In the conclusion of Tartu University Semiotics department experts’ opinion it is written that the ad poster of the SWC bears in its content much more than an ordinary poster would do and “without any arguments it accuses Estonians as a whole nation for the murder of Jews and is demagogic towards Estonian history.” The poster does not call for violence but it endangers the peace in country’s life. “It is an extremely unfair/incorrect behavior towards Estonians and as such it creates a favorable atmosphere for anti-Semitism.”, wrote Tartu University Semiotisa department chairman, Peter ... Referring to the experts there is no reason to fully forbid the poster but the first four lines should be taken away. Those four lines that causes a tension in Estonian society, lack of professionalism and capacity, are historically unfair and creates the atmosphere of hostility.