Embassy of the United States Vilnius, Lithuania

March 23, 2011

I want to thank you for the opportunity to be here today and to address you at this event marking the inauguration of a year of Holocaust commemoration in Lithuania.

In May of 1998, I had the occasion to be with a newly-elected President Valdas Adamkus and with Presidents Guntis Ulmanis and Lenart Meri at the summit meeting in Riga of the three Baltic States. At that meeting each of them announced that they would create a national historical commission. Such commissions would provide a means to examine openly and critically the history of the Holocaust in their respective countries. Since these countries were already forcibly annexed to the Soviet Union even before the end of the Second World War, it was understood that no objective analysis had ever taken place. Each president also recognized that an historical examination must also address the Communist period as well.

The process unfolded differently in each of the three states. But the commissions in Estonia and Latvia have by now finished their work. Only the commission here in Lithuania remains stalled. Let us speak candidly. It has faltered and fallen victim to critics inside the country who sought to derail it and to critics outside who from the beginning have sought to repudiate it.

When President Adamkus established the Lithuanian Historical Commission he was sensitive to charges that by grouping both the Holocaust and Soviet crimes under one umbrella it would somehow seek to draw equivalencies between the two. As we know, as a result of this the work was conducted in separate sub-commissions, and what has been produced so far-the combined work of historians from Lithuania and elsewhere in Europe and from the United States and Israel--can stand the scrutiny of historians anywhere. If it can be faulted, it is that there has been only a limited publication run of these first essays and documents, and they deserve wider attention and distribution.

We know from these works about the widespread anti-Semitism that was present in Lithuania prior to the Nazi occupation. We have documentation of the role of Lithuanians in the crimes of the Holocaust-perhaps less than what some critics abroad have asserted but surely more than what many here in present-day Lithuania want to believe.

Work would have continued had not the General Prosecutor opened an investigation into the wartime activities of Yitzak Arad, the historian and founding director of Yad Vashem and a member of the historical commission-an investigation that was initiated with political motives in mind.

It is not an easy process to confront the dark chapters in one's history. Germany may have led the way, but it had little choice; its chapters were the darkest and confrontation with its past was the necessary step to return to the community of nations. Other countries came much later. It was only in 1995 that France acknowledged its responsibility for the deportation of its Jewish citizens, and in that same year that Austria conceded that it was not simply Hitler's "first victim" but owed an apology and compensation to Austrian Nazi victims.

The Baltic States have also been singled out for not disciplining their own citizens who cling to the memories of a Nazi past.  By way of example, Waffen SS veterans paraded in Riga and were received by senior government officials. Nazi war criminals were sent back to Lithuania, but prosecutors at the time were reluctant to bring charges. These were fair criticisms in the 1990s, but there has been definite if incomplete progress since then.

If we all are prepared to work together this Year of Remembrance for Victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania should provide an opportunity to address some of the unfinished issues which have become a source of irritation in Lithuanian-Jewish relations as well as a time to implement some new initiatives that can have lasting value.

1. The Prosecutor's investigation into the wartime activities of the Soviet Partisans with its particular interest in the actions of its Jewish members is still not closed even if there is little active work taking place. After six years, it is time to bring it to a formal close. In any case, the subject is more appropriately addressed by historians.

2. By doing so, it would facilitate the reconvening of the national historical commission, which should take place this year. Once completed, the work of this commission-particularly its analysis and documentation of the Holocaust in Lithuania-should be published and widely disseminated.

3. After many years of negotiations and discussion about Jewish communal property claims, legislation that would mandate the payment of partial compensation for these properties now sits here in the Seimas. Lithuania stands alone among all its neighbors in not addressing this issue, and the legislation should be passed as soon as possible. The Lithuanian Jewish Heritage Foundation, which links international Jewish organizations with the Lithuanian Jewish Community, was established to facilitate the process of compensation, to guarantee transparency and to insure that there is ongoing support for Jewish communal activities and the restoration of Jewish heritage here.

4. All of you are aware that the long and rich history of Litvak culture came to an end with those murdered and buried in the mass graves at Ponary. This year can be the occasion to develop an appropriate plan for this site that befits its significance. It is a pilgrimage place for mourners and a heritage site of tragic history. The story of the Jews who perished there should be told, making use of the tools and techniques of modern museum design. I know that international institutions including the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem are ready to offer assistance. I would also commend you to take note of the Belzec Memorial and Museum, a project carried out jointly by AJC and the Polish Government, for an example of what can be done at such a place of Holocaust memory.

5. These efforts will also reinforce the several initiatives already underway to bring forward an understanding of the lost Litvak culture, which include the virtual on-line project and the Centropa exhibition that will be inaugurated at the OSCE conference in Prague this evening.

In closing let me thank my dear friend, Emanuelis, for organizing this event for including me. I hope we will have a useful discussion.