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By Elli Wohlgelernter
Two months after a $10,000 reward
was offered in the Baltic countries for information leading
to the conviction of Nazi war criminals, 17 people have come
forward and submitted 51 names of perpetrators, giving hope
to Nazi-hunter Efraim Zuroff that prosecution is still possible
despite the apparent lack of political will to bring Nazis
to trial in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
At the same time, the monetary reward has unleashed a renewed
outpouring of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel feeling among
Baltic natives, and specifically aimed at Zuroff, head of
the Israel office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. In one
on-line interview he conducted, Zuroff was asked questions
such as "Have
you ever thought about the taste of revenge, do you really
thirst for that?" "Why do you have such an evil look in your eyes?" and how he felt being "the most hated foreigner in Estonia."
The Wiesenthal Center has so far received the names of 47
suspects from Lithuania, some of whom reside outside Lithuania;
three suspects from Estonia; and one suspect from Latvia,
who resides outside the country. Of the 51 names, 12 are
known to be dead.
Surprisingly, only one of the 17 individuals who responded
to "Operation:
Last Chance" mentioned the prize money.
"
That is pretty amazing," Zuroff
says. "To my mind it is an indication that a lot of people want to unburden themselves
of the knowledge of these terrible crimes that they have
been carrying around for all these years."
Some of the callers were afraid to reveal their names, such
as a resident of the town of Valkininkai, Lithuania, whose
sole identification is that he/she was born in 1937.
He/she does finger one Stasys Cerniauskas, a Lithuanian born
in 1922. His crime took place in 1942-43 in a place called "Eisiskes,
possibly also in Paneriai," where he "executed, robbed clothes, pulled out gold teeth. Assassinated children and women.
Did this willingly with a lot of satisfaction. Jews tried
to bribe him by giving gold, but that did not help."
One 70-year-old man names four policemen three Lithuanians
and one Pole who worked in Vilnius, one in charge and the
others acting as executioners. His evidence of their crimes?
He was forced to play the accordion at a party, where "the
four suspects boasted that they had murdered Jews in Ponar,
pulled out victims' gold teeth, raped a girl and later shot
her."
Another caller was a maid for a family active in the Gestapo,
who gives their former names and current aliases.
Where lies the motivation of these individuals coming forward
now to finger former Nazis? Is it for reward, for clearing
a conscience, for exorcising a memory?
One 72-year-old from Vilnius accused four Lithuanians --
one of whom was in charge of the ghetto in Ukmerge (in Yiddish
known as Vilkomir) -- who, in the summer of 1942, "executed,
looted property, pulled out gold teeth, threw alive children
into the pits, stripped people naked." According to the information form, "at the time of the crime the caller was 12 years old and eyewitnessed the murders."
ZUROFF IS not quite sure why they are coming forward now. "
It is very possible that many never wanted to give information
or testify to the Soviet authorities -- which could have
been interpreted as a form of treason or betrayal -- but
didn't come forward until now, 11 years after Lithuania's
independence, out of inertia. This project definitely focused
public attention on the issue of collaboration with the Nazis,
hence the response.
"
One other important point: quite a few of the names submitted
are of people who are already dead, so maybe it is a matter
of the information being on people's consciences. They perhaps
view this as a means of unburdening themselves," he
says.
The reward offer was made in July at news conferences held
in all three countries. A print-ad campaign is scheduled
to begin later this month and run until the end of the year,
and Zuroff is hoping that more Baltic natives will see the
ads and respond.
"
Our best chance is in Lithuania, and to a certain extent
in Latvia. You have to keep in mind that in those two countries
there are numerous people who either participated in, or
witnessed, or at least know about the murder of Jews during
the Shoah. If we add the fact that many Lithuanian and Latvian
perpetrators were convicted by the Soviets and therefore
can testify with no fear of being punished for their crimes
again, there is excellent potential to get reliable evidence.
"
The numbers of victims and criminals are greater in Lithuania
than in Latvia, so our chances of success are better in the
former. In Estonia the chances are considerably smaller because
there were fewer victims and perpetrators. We have to see
what the ads will bring. After that, we will decide whether
to expand Operation: Last Chance to other countries, continue
only in the Baltics, or drop it."
Part of that decision will be predicated on what course of
action the governments of those countries elect to pursue.
The reaction so far has been varied in the three countries.
In Lithuania, a radical politician from the Lithuanian Taurage
district requested the prosecutor general's office start
legal proceedings against Zuroff, saying his reward offers "were
felonious, instigated national discord and hurt Lithuanian
people."
The politician, Saulius Ozelis, leader of the radical Freedom
Union's Taurage branch, publicly tore up an Israeli flag
in April, and burned an Israeli flag in July with the sounds
of Nazi marches blaring in the background.
One issue prevalent in the Baltic countries, as well as elsewhere
is the constant comparison between the crimes committed against
Jews during the Nazi occupation and those committed by the
Communists against the local population.
This led to a small county government representative in Estonia
offering $20,000 for information on Jewish communists responsible
for Stalin-era crimes.
Further complicating the issue is the impending offers of
membership to former Soviet republics and eastern European
countries to join the EU and/or NATO. Many countries, anxious
to convince the West that they have internalized democratic
values, have adopted a day to remember the Holocaust, something
done last month by Estonia.
THE REACTION in some quarters was loud and angry. The editor-in-chief
of the cultural weekly Sirp wrote: "Do
we really have to inculcate in our children for a whole day
every year what a lousy nation we were and what a huge load
of guilt we have to bear before the world, just for the reason
that a bunch of people once acted like pigs?..."
Martin Helme, a member of the new National Conservative Party
and son of the party's leader said in an opinion piece in
htuleht: "No
serious person can accuse us of anti-Semitism; there is no
historical background for that. Still, for the benefit of
Estonia's reputation the Holocaust Memorial Day is settled.
We can call this day a National Shame Day. The Estonian nation
must not feel the shame, but rather those people who force
such day on us... We can fearlessly say that Efraim Zuroff,
who makes justice sound ridiculous all over the world, and
persons who gave up to his blackmail (starting from foreign
diplomats in Estonia to Estonian ministers), are causing
more anti-Semitism than Nazi propaganda in 1940's..."
Zuroff says he is not surprised by the hostile reaction to
Operation: Last Chance, or even the personal attacks, which
he has gotten used to over the years, "although
the depth of the hostility was a bit shocking, even to me.
Each country had its nuances, but it is also a function of
the efforts previously invested in the issue.
"
Thus, for example, in Lithuania where I have been on the
front-lines of penetrating public consciousness regarding
Lithuanian complicity in the crimes of the Holocaust for
more than a decade, there was less mainstream reaction than
there was in Estonia, where we have only been very active
during the past year.
"
On the other hand, the reaction of the extremists -- MP Klubys
demanding that I be declared a persona non grata, and Ozelis
burning an Israeli flag and asking the prosecutor-general
to prosecute me -- were more extreme in Lithuania than in
the other countries."
Zuroff says he is satisfied so far with the results of the
campaign, and is encouraged it will bring results.
"
Realistically speaking, I think that if the local prosecution
agencies will take this matter seriously -- which remains
to be seen -- there is a realistic possibility of achieving
prosecutions and trials in each one of the three countries," he
says.
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