An 81-year-old man deported from the United States for his World War II-era activities told prosecutors in his native Lithuania this week that he had not killed any Jews during the war. But in a meeting with Lithuanian prosecutors in the capital Vilnius, Kazys Ciurinskas did not deny collaboration with the Nazis, who occupied the… More ▸
Two Jewish genealogists are compiling a comprehensive list of the roughly 200,000 to 240,000 Jews from Lithuania who perished in the Holocaust. “We’re going to create a database and hopefully publish a memorial book in a few years,” said Saul Issroff. Issroff, a semi-retired dermatologist who lives in London, traveled to Lithuania last year and… More ▸
Lithuania has officially established an international commission to examine war crimes committed during the Nazi and Soviet occupations of the Baltic nation. Julius Smulkstis, an adviser to Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus who was named government liaison to the Jewish community in June, was quoted as saying that the commission’s main function is “to investigate the… More ▸
Israel’s chief Ashkenazi rabbi has asked Lithuania to transfer dozens of Torah scrolls to the Jewish state. The scrolls, currently housed in the Baltic nation’s main library, are at the center of a dispute between Lithuania and Jewish groups, both in Lithuania and abroad, over the ownership of a large repository of Judaica material. More… More ▸
The president of Lithuania has promised a top U.S. official that he would try to advance efforts to restore Jewish communal property. President Valdas Adamkus made the promise to Stuart Eizenstat, the U.S. undersecretary of state for economic affairs, who was in the Baltic nation last week to discuss U.S.-Lithuanian economic relations. Local Jewish leaders… More ▸
The president of Lithuania has named his chief adviser to also serve as the government’s liaison to the Jewish community. Simonas Alperavicius, chairman of the Lithuanian Jewish community, expressed cautious optimism in a telephone interview that the appointment of Julius Smulkstys could have a positive effect on Lithuanian-Jewish relations. During the Nazi occupation of Lithuania… More ▸
The United States is one step closer to deporting an 80-year-old man who served in a Lithuanian mobile killing squad during World War II. A federal appeals court in Chicago unanimously affirmed last Friday a 1995 court decision to strip Kazys Ciurinskas of his U.S. citizenship. The U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations charged… More ▸
A Lithuanian judge has postponed the trial of an alleged Nazi war criminal for the second time. The trial of Aleksandras Lileikis, 91, was slated to begin this week in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. But a judge in the case granted an adjournment of one month to allow investigators to finish examining recently obtained… More ▸
Lithuanian prosecutors have said they would not prosecute a Pennsylvania resident accused of war crimes. They said there are insufficient grounds to prosecute Jonas Stelmokas, a former Lithuanian platoon commander accused of helping the Nazis massacre thousands of Jews. A U.S. federal immigration judge has ordered the deportation of Stelmokas, 82, a retired architect. Stelmokas… More ▸
Lithuania’s president has rejected an appeal by a neo- Nazi group to be officially recognized as a political group. President Valdus Adamkus denied the request because he is “convinced that a democratic society cannot put up with organizations instigating racial and religious discord,” according to a presidential spokesman. The neo-Nazi group, known as the Lithuanian… More ▸
