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.
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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."
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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?
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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."
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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.
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"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.
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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.
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"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.
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"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."
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?..."
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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..."
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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.
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"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.
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"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."
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Zuroff says he is satisfied so far with the results of the
campaign, and is encouraged it will bring results.
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"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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