Scandal in the USA: a monument was opened in Chicago to a Lithuanian figure suspected of collaborating with the Nazis

In Chicago on Saturday, May 4, a monument to Adolfas Ramanauskas, an active participant in the anti-Soviet resistance in Lithuania after World War II, was unveiled.

Photo: LITHUANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY

The opening ceremony was attended by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkiavicius along with his daughter and granddaughter Ramanauskas, writes Air force.

The monument was criticized as Russian Embassy in the USAAnd Simon Wiesenthal Jewish Human Rights Center - According to the Center, Ramanauskas collaborated with the Nazis.

On the topic: “Dear diary, I do not want to die”: an account of a 13-year-old Holocaust victim appeared on Instagram

Lithuania, in response, accused them of false statements. In protest, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry summoned a representative of the Russian diplomatic mission in Vilnius and called on Moscow to stop spreading misinformation about Ramanauskas.

Ramanauskas, also known as Vanagas, commanded the Lithuanian resistance during the Soviet occupation after World War II. According to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which is engaged in Holocaust research, he led a battalion that persecuted Jews after the Nazi invasion of Lithuania in 1941.

Photo: @ BNSLithuania @ BNSLITHUANIA

“At the meeting, the Russian side was recommended to more carefully study the personality and activities of A. Ramanauskas-Vanagas, since this is the most unsuitable candidate for accusations by Russia of collaboration with the Nazis or participation in the Holocaust,” the department said in a statement, in which Ramanauskas’ reputation was named "flawless".

The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry blamed the Simon Wiesenthal Center for misinformation.

The head of this organization in Jerusalem, Efraim Zuroff, said that Lithuania needs to face its history. "They tell people lies and don't want to admit the truth," he told the BBC.

On the subject: From Holodomor to the Holocaust: the story of an American family with Ukrainian roots

Who is Ramanauskas?

Known by the nickname “the hawk,” Adolfas Ramanauskas was the leader of the Forest Brothers, an anti-Soviet resistance that fought against the USSR in the Baltic states.

In Lithuania, about 220 thousands of Jews lived at the time of the country's occupation by Nazi Germany in 1941. According to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, during the occupation, Ramanauskas led a battalion that persecuted the Jewish community in the city of Druskininkai, and even mentioned it in his memoirs.

There is no evidence that he personally took part in the killings. The Lithuanian government insists that he led a "property protection unit" operating from June 23 to July 7, 1941, which simply guarded houses and shops and did not persecute Jews.

The Jewish ghetto opened in Druskininkai in July 1941, and in just a few months, only 40 thousands of Jews remained in Lithuania.

Ramanauskas was the head of the resistance until capture by the Soviet authorities and execution in 1957 year. His remains were found in the Vilnius cemetery last year, and he was buried as a hero.

How did the scandal develop

The Russian embassy in the United States protested shortly after the opening of the monument, condemning its “special cynicism” since it practically coincided with Holocaust Remembrance Day and Victory Day in Europe.

В statement The embassy accused Lithuania of falsifying the history of World War II and “glorifying Nazi collaborators and participants in the Holocaust.”

The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry reacted furiously to this: “You will not bring us down to your level.” The department said that Lithuanian freedom fighters resisted Soviet occupation for almost ten years - from 1944 to 1953. They added that their goal was “the restoration of an independent, democratic republic of Lithuania.”

What was said at the Simon Wiesenthal Center?

According to Efraim Zuroff, there is no evidence that Ramanauskas killed anyone, however, as he told the BBC, “in his memoirs he wrote that he led a group of vigilantes” who persecuted the Jewish population.

Zuroff added that resolving this issue by Lithuania causes outrage.

“It was a critical period when gangs of vigilantes roamed the streets and Jews were attacked in more than 40 places,” he said.

Only 4% of the Jewish population of Lithuania survived the Nazi occupation.

On the subject: To remember: seven films about the Holocaust

Ephraim Zuroff cited the example of the Lithuanian Nazi leader Jonas Noreika, who was shot in 1947 year by the verdict of a Soviet military tribunal.

Noreika, also known as General Wind, collaborated with the Nazis and did “monstrous things,” as his granddaughter Silvia Foti later discovered.

As Foti told this year in a conversation with the BBC, she came across an 32-page anti-Semitic brochure written by him, and then found documents signed by Noreyka asking her to send Jews to the ghetto. She also discovered that he stole some of the things of the Jews.

Zuroff said that in 2017 he met with members of the Lithuanian parliament, the Sejm, to talk about his concerns about Ramanauskas. “They were determined to honor him—it didn’t matter that he contributed to the persecution of the Jews. They didn’t seem to care,” he said.

The Center for the Study of Genocide and Resistance of Lithuanian residents told the BBC that Ramanauskas had never collaborated with the Nazis, and the lie about it began to spread the KGB to discredit him.

The center referred to an entry in his personal diary in 1952: “The Soviet occupiers called us “German nationalists.” They used this term to discredit us at home and abroad - hoping that perhaps some people would believe that we fought for Nazi causes by betraying our homeland."

Read also on ForumDaily:

80 years of 'Crystal Night': how the Holocaust began

Konstantin Khabensky - about the nomination of the film "Sobibor" for "Oscar" and freedom in Russia

The third wave of anti-Semitism has begun in the world. How to recognize it

Instead of a colony: how in America forced reading rehabilitates vandals

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.