A bar in Lithuania flew a Nazi flag and greeted customers with an employee dressed as Hitler.
The public demonstration of Nazi symbols at Kaunas’ Fortas bar, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, provoked outrage in the Jewish community.

“Perhaps somebody was trying to make a joke, but it’s improper humor,” said Simonas Alperavicius, chairman of the Jewish community of Lithuania. The head of Kaunas’ Jewish community, Gerzas Zakas, said he would ask the State Security Department to launch a formal investigation into the incident.

Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel office, urged Lithuanian authorities to respond to the matter immediately.

“The time has come for the government to make it unequivocally clear that Nazi symbols and figures have no place in democratic Lithuania,” the statement said. Zuroff blamed Lithuania’s poor record of prosecuting Nazi wartime criminals for the incident.

jta.org