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Defending History

Combatting East European Holocaust revisionism, denial, obfuscation distortion; glorification of Nazi perpetrators. Fighting for human rights in Eastern Europe including the right to challenge ultranationalist history revisionism. Working for Yiddish language culture and the Litvak (Lithuanian Jewish) heritage.

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Sariel Rosenberg, Chief Judge (Av Beis-Din) of Bnei Brak Rabbinic Court, Issues New Ruling on Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 EARLIER OPPOSITION COMMENT BY ANDRIUS KULIKAUSKAS, SID LEIMAN, JULIUS NORWILLA, DOVID KATZ 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” THE USCPAHA THE CPJCE THE AJC THE CER THE GWF CEMETERIES MASS GRAVES CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS ◊ VILNIUS—The [ ]

Vilnius’s Newfound Gem in the Old Town: The ‘Greyse Shul’ (Great Synagogue) and ‘Vilner Shúlheyf’ (Great Synagogue Square)

GREAT SYNAGOGUE SAGA OLD CEMETERY SAGA RESTITUTION AWRY LJC AJC GWF USCPAHA ◊ OPINION by Dovid Katz ◊ Sometimes even the misnamed Good Will Foundation (GWF), a failed quango that has squandered millions on its own small circle of friends and family does a [ ]

Converging Signs of a New Antisemitic Cauldron in Eastern Europe?

ANTISEMITISM ◊ OPINION ◊ by Dovid Katz ◊ VILNIUS—It is never easy to determine with precision the point at which a bigot with a fancy degree should cease to be regarded as a fringer best ignored, and when the [ ]

Please Email Lithuania’s PM and Vilnius Mayor to Defend Vilnius’s Oldest Jewish Cemetery

OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 EARLIER OPPOSITION COMMENT BY ANDRIUS KULIKAUSKAS, SID LEIMAN, JULIUS NORWILLA, DOVID KATZ 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” THE USCPAHA THE CPJCE THE AJC THE CER THE GWF CEMETERIES MASS GRAVES CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS [ ]

Issues of the Day (Summer 2026)

[LAST UPDATE] ◊ Welcome! Please come and visit DefendingHistory.com. Recent reports here. Or, review our 18 year history history by scrolling to the end of our dated posts and work your way up. Our 2026-2027 cultural projects are listed below. ◊ 1 [ ]

The Magic Wand for Making Holocaust Perpetrators into Heroes in Lithuania — While Jewish Resistance Heroes become ‘Enemies of The State’ …

LITHUANIA POLITICS OF MEMORY BLAMING VICTIMS GLORIFYING PERPETRATORS LAST REMNANT OF JEWISH PARTISAN RESISTANCE IN THE FORESTS OF LITHUANIA HISTORY ◊ OPINION ◊ by Roland Binet (De Panne, Belgium) ◊ Soviet rule has disappeared. The Jews are left behind as fair game. [ ]

Session on Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Culture for Peace Conference in Washington

OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 EARLIER OPPOSITION COMMENT BY ANDRIUS KULIKAUSKAS, SID LEIMAN, JULIUS NORWILLA, DOVID KATZ 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” THE USCPAHA THE CPJCE THE AJC THE CER THE GWF CEMETERIES MASS GRAVES CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS ◊ A [ ]

Averting an imminent grave error on the ruins of the Great Vilna Synagogue. Finding a happy, ethical solution.

OPINION THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE SAGA TEXTBOOK CASE OF RESTITUTION GONE AWRY STOLEN ELECTION SAGA THE LJC THE AJC THE GWF USCPAHA ◊ OPINION ◊ by Dovid Katz ◊ I have argued that Jewish diaspora history comprises a permanent, central religious [ ]

Books in the Debate (a DefendingHistory.com selection)

[last update] ◊ see also: BOOKS SECTION New: Prof. Karen Sutton s review ◊ Not yet published: Michael Shafir, Competitive Martyrdom [working title]. Draft manuscript of the book circulated to colleagues (for comments and criticism) before the author s sudden death in 2022. [ ]

Lithuania’s Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky Challenges WJRO (‘World Jewish Restitution Organization’) to Stop Enabling Travesties of State Sponsored GWF (‘Good Will Foundation’)

OPINION LITHUANIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY ISSUES LITVAK AFFAIRS TEXTBOOK CASE OF FAILURE OF RESTITUTION FOR PLUNDERED PREWAR JEWISH ASSETS GOOD WILL FOUNDATION STOLEN ELECTION SAGA AJC MISADVENTURES IN LITHUANIA CHABAD IN LITHUANIA ◊ VILNIUS—Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky, Chabad s rabbi in Lithuania, who for thirty-two years [ ]

Barbarossa Plus One: The 85th Anniversary of June 23rd 1941 in Lithuania

OPINION LEGACY OF 23 JUNE 1941 2011 ATTEMPTS TO SANITIZE THE LAF LAF’S INTENTIONS IN WRITING ŠKIRPA’S PLANS COLLABORATORS GLORIFIED LITHUANIAN JEWISH AFFAIRS CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS ◊ OPINION ◊ by Dovid Katz ◊ In the opinion of every Lithuanian Holocaust survivor interviewed, the magnificent six-century record of [ ]

Blaming the Victims: Documents from a 20 Year Campaign to Defame and Decommemorate the Anti-Nazi Jewish Partisans of Lithuania

LAST UPDATE (originally published 21 Aug. 2010). See also (older, not updated) Responses page. 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2024 2025 2026 __ The campaign of defamation by Lithuanian state prosecutors and allied elites (particularly [ ]

The Holocaust: A Schizoid Legacy?

OPINION POLITICS OF MEMORY BELGIUM LITHUANIA ◊ by Roland Binet (De Panne, Belgium) ◊ In chapter five of his major book on the Holocaust in Lithuania published last year, Professor Saulius Sužiedėlis discusses theatrical productions that Jakob Gens had [ ]

Der Spiegel’s Solveig Grothe Elicits Official Culture Ministry Position on Destruction of Lithuania’s Last Relic of Jewish Anti-Nazi Resistance

OPINION MEDIA WATCH LAST JEWISH PARTISAN FORT IN EUROPE HISTORY BLAMING THE VICTIMS GERMANY CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS ◊ OPINION ◊ by Dovid Katz ◊ VILNIUS—Solveig Grothe s article in Germany s weekly Der Spiegel, appeared today in the journal s print edition, and yesterday, in a slightly longer version, in the online [ ]

Berliner Zeitung’s Maritta Tkalec Breaks (Weird) German Media Taboo on the Sinking Jewish Partisan Fort in Lithuania

OPINION MEDIA WATCH LAST JEWISH PARTISAN FORT IN EUROPE HISTORY BLAMING THE VICTIMS GERMANY CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS ◊ OPINION ◊ by Dovid Katz ◊ VILNIUS—Maritta Tkalec is to be congratulated on her fine article in today s Berliner Zeitung (PDF; English; Lithuanian). It breaks the (weird) [ ]

Respect Cemeteries Issues Brochure for Campaign to Inspire Seimas to Respect and Preserve the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” THE USCPAHA THE CPJCE THE AJC THE CER THE GWF CEMETERIES MASS GRAVES CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS ◊ VILNIUS—The Respect Cemeteries group (Gerbkime kapines), based [ ]

Seimas Committee Receives ‘Truly Many Letters’ Defending Jewish Cemetery, Postpones Deliberation to Autumn Session

OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” THE USCPAHA THE CPJCE THE AJC THE CER THE GWF CEMETERIES MASS GRAVES CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS ◊ ◊ by Andrius Kulikauskas ◊ VILNIUS—On June 10, [ ]

New Brussels Monument (‘An Echo in Time’): A Ruse to Bring Double Genocide Holocaust Revisionism to the Gates of the European Parliament?

DOUBLE GENOCIDE EU PRAGUE PLATFORM PRAGUE DECLARATION THE SEVENTY YEARS DECLARATION ◊ OPINION ◊ VILNIUS—The Double Genocide movement s long-held wish of major legitimization at or near the European Parliament in Brussels via a huge monument effectively [ ]

Document Discovered: Soviet Act of 22 Oct. 1940 Seizing (Stealing) the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery from Vilnius Jewish Community

DOCUMENTS OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA OF 2015-2025 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” THE USCPAHA THE CPJCE THE AJC THE CER THE GWF CEMETERIES MASS GRAVES CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS ◊ VILNIUS—A deeply ethical and conscientious Vilnius [ ]

Transcript of the 12 May 2026 Seimas Debate on the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramont (Shnípishok, Šnipiškės)

DOCUMENTS OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA OF 2015-2025 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” THE USCPAHA THE CPJCE THE AJC THE CER THE GWF CEMETERIES MASS GRAVES CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS ◊ VILNIUS—The following is a draft English [ ]

A June 2026 Plea to Germany: Please Honor the Memory of the Vilna Jewish Partisans & Preserve their Rapidly Disappearing Fort in the Forest

LAST JEWISH PARTISAN FORT IN EUROPE HISTORY BLAMING THE VICTIMS GERMANY CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS ◊ OPINION ◊ Please ask your elected officials to contact the German embassy in your country: Please rapidly mark, fence and protect the ground sacred to Holocaust survivors and their [ ]

Text of Rabbi Elchonon Baron’s Letter to the Chancellor of the Office of Lithuania’s President

DOCUMENTS OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA OF 2015-2025 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” THE USCPAHA THE CPJCE THE AJC THE CER THE GWF CEMETERIES MASS GRAVES CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS ◊ VILNIUS—The office [ ]

Poster for the Macabre June 3rd Demo Planned by Ultranationalists at Vilnius’s Old Jewish Cemetery (Slated to become a National Conference Center)

OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA OF 2015-2025 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” USCPAHA (UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICA’S HERITAGE ABROAD) THE CPJCE (COMMITTEE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF JEWISH CEMETERIES [ ]

Please Email Lithuania’s Seimas Committee on Culture to Defend Vilnius’s Oldest Jewish Cemetery

OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” THE USCPAHA THE CPJCE THE AJC THE CER THE GWF CEMETERIES MASS GRAVES CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS ◊ ◊ by Andrius Kulikauskas ◊ ◊ On [ ]

Updates on Effort to Save Vilnius’s Old Jewish Cemetery from Plans for a National Convention Center

[LATEST UPDATE] OPINION YIDDISH INSTRUMENTALIZED FOR EAST EUROPEAN STATE PR OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA OF 2015-2025 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” USCPAHA (UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICA’S HERITAGE ABROAD) THE [ ]

Sadness and Shock, as Famed Opera Singer ‘Sings in Yiddish’ at Free Concert to Promote Vilnius ‘Convention Center in the Jewish Cemetery’ Project

OPINION YIDDISH INSTRUMENTALIZED FOR EAST EUROPEAN STATE PR OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA OF 2015-2025 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” USCPAHA (UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICA’S HERITAGE ABROAD) THE [ ]

Translation of Speech by MP & Former Vilnius Mayor Artūras Zuokas at Concert Supporting ‘Convention Center in Old Jewish Cemetery’

OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA OF 2015-2025 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” USCPAHA (UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICA’S HERITAGE ABROAD) THE CPJCE (COMMITTEE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF JEWISH CEMETERIES [ ]

Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky and DH Editor Dovid Katz at BNS Press Conference: Calling on Lithuania to Preserve Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery and Cancel ‘Convention Center in the Cemetery’ Project

OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA OF 2015-2025 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” USCPAHA (UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICA’S HERITAGE ABROAD) THE CPJCE (COMMITTEE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF JEWISH CEMETERIES [ ]

Defending History’s Rapid Response to Statement from the Seimas on Fate of Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGE OF 2015-2025 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” USCPAHA (UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICA’S HERITAGE ABROAD) THE CPJCE (COMMITTEE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF JEWISH CEMETERIES [ ]

Protected: Let Us Together Restore the Last Jewish Anti-Nazi Partisan Fort in Lithuania

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

New Documentary on Holocaust Perpetrator Glorification in Eastern Europe: ‘No Secret Monuments’

OPINION FILM ARTS GLORIFICATION OF COLLABORATORS HISTORY ◊ FILM REVIEW ◊ by Roland Binet (De Panne, Belgium) ◊ No Secret Monuments. Silent Statues and the Distortion of Truth. A documentary by Paula Kirman and Adam Bentley. The film s [ ]

April-May 2026 Updates in the Saga of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

[LAST UPDATE] OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA OF 2015-2025 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” USCPAHA (UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICA’S HERITAGE ABROAD) THE CPJCE (COMMITTEE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF [ ]

Finally, View that ‘a Cemetery is a Cemetery’ Makes it into Lithuanian Media as Debate Sharpens on Fate of Vilnius’s Old Jewish Cemetery

The following is Defending History s translation into Lithuanian of Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky s statement of 11 March 2026, Lithuania s Independence Day. The original English appeared the same day in DH, and on 17 March it was published in The Times [ ]

Welcoming New Director of Lithuania’s State Jewish Museum

OPINION MUSEUMS VILNIUS LITVAK AFFAIRS ◊ OPINION ◊ VILNIUS—For several decades, the Defending History community has been providing commentary on Jewish and history related museums in Lithuania and the wider region, primarily in our Museums section, initiated [ ]

The Stuff of Heroes: Takis Würger’s ‘Noah’

◊ BOOK REVIEW by Roland Binet (De Panne, Belgium) ◊ Takis Würger, Noah. Von einem, der überlebte, Penguin: München 2021, 188 pp., ISBN: 978-3-328-60167-8. ◊ Reading “NOAH”, by Der Spiegel journalist Takis Würger, here in Dutch (originally published in 2021 in German), I felt that Noah [ ]

Vilnius Journalist Arvydas Jockus (Alfa.lt) is First to Provide Lithuanian Readers with Both Sides of the Debate on Fate of Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA OF 2015-2025 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” USCPAHA (UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICA’S HERITAGE ABROAD) THE CPJCE (COMMITTEE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF JEWISH CEMETERIES [ ]

Back in the News: Remnants of Lithuania’s Last anti-Nazi Jewish Partisan Fort, Next Door to New German Army Brigade (Panzerbrigade 45)

[LAST UPDATE] JEWISH FORT IN THE FOREST FANIA YOCHELES BRANTSOVSKY DR. RACHEL MARGOLIS BLAMING THE VICTIMS ◊ It was known as the Jewish fort (or the Yiddish speaking fort ) within the network of anti-Nazi Soviet partisan forest enclaves (the only de facto resistance [ ]

Vilius Kavaliauskas Protests Plan for Museum in the Middle of Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery, Insisting on Congress Center

OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGE OF 2015-2025 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” USCPAHA (UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICA’S HERITAGE ABROAD) THE CPJCE (COMMITTEE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF JEWISH CEMETERIES [ ]

President’s Office, Vilnius Municipality, and Ersatz Jewish Community Leader in Yet Another ‘Agreement’ to Effectively Destroy the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGE OF 2015-2025 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” USCPAHA (UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICA’S HERITAGE ABROAD) THE CPJCE (COMMITTEE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF JEWISH CEMETERIES [ ]

Rabbi Elchonon Baron: Yom HaShoah Letter on Planned Desecration of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery by State Authorities

OPINION OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGE OF 2015-2025 EARLIER OPPOSITION 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY LIST OF MEMBERS MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” USCPAHA (UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICA’S HERITAGE ABROAD) THE CPJCE (COMMITTEE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF JEWISH CEMETERIES [ ]

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