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World Jewish News
Lithuania Reminded of Holocaust
22.05.2009
Member of Lithuanian Parliament Arvydas Anusauskas said that a publication in the German magazine Der Spiegel , which states that part of the responsibility for the Holocaust must be taken by other Europeans, and in which the killing of Jews in the garage of Lietukis enterprise in Kaunas called "Lithuanian national ceremony", is unprofessional.
"Once again, they are waving the same old story, which I already examined over two years ago. Of course, it is a Lithuanian book, but it was presented to historians of other countries. Who wants to find out, will find out", - said Anusauskas, a historian, Head of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defense, in an interview to BNS. According to him, an article in "Der Spiegel" is based on the old and inaccurate information. The publication states that the Germans are responsible for the
destruction of 6 million Jews, which was "of industrial nature", but the role of other countries in Europe in the Holocaust gets strikingly little attention.
According to the expert from the Dieter Pohl Institute of Contemporary History in Germany, more than two hundred thousand of people other than Germans and Austrians participated in the extinguishing Jews. Often they were even more cold-blooded than the Nazis, stressed "Der Spiegel".
The article provides an example of such cruelty, shown in the war years, in front of the German military, in Kaunas. As the magazine writes, Colonel of the northern group of German troops on Jun 27, 1941 was passing by a gas
station, surrounded by a crowd of people. The people were shouting "Bravo",applauding, the mothers raised their children higher, so that they could see better. The officer came closer and later recorded what he had seen.
"In the concrete yard, a white-headed man, around 25 years old, of average height, was having a rest, leaning on a wooden stake, as thick as an arm, that reached up to his chest. On the ground there were 15 or 20 people, dead or
dying. The water from the hose was washing the blood to the sewage".
Further on, the German officer wrote down the following: "In a few steps behind this man stood about 20 men, guarded by several civilians - they were quietly and obediently waiting for a terrible execution. After a short wave of the hand, one of them quietly took a step forward and was killed by a wooden stake, and every blow was greeted with joyful cries of the spectators".
This orgy of murder was turned into a national Lithuanian ceremony, reads the publication, prepared by a group of "Der Spiegel" employees.
According to the German officer, when all had been killed and were lying on the ground, the blonde killer climbed up the mountain of corpses, and played the accordion. The audience sang the national Lithuanian anthem, as if this bloody orgy were a national ceremony.
Anusauskas says that by using the incorrect old stories, the German journalists demonstrate irresponsible attitude toward the Holocaust.
According to him, he had already learned that the witness, German military, was intelligence service agent, the day of the killing was his first day in Lithuania, he did not understand the language, so he could not accurately distinguish the national anthem. Anusauskas said that there are other evidence, claiming that the execution was followed by Russian "chastushki".
The killer was from Kybartai, indeed a Lithuanian, but,
according to Anusauskas, he was a recruited Gestapo agent. The killer allegedly witnessed that he had been arrested during the first Soviet occupation, and when committing the crime, when Lithuania was occupied by the Germans, he was not an organizer of the assassination, but merely a performer.
According to the parliamentarian, when discussing the topic of the Holocaust and the responsibility for it, one should operate the precise data.
Some time ago Anusauskas commented in the media on his own historical investigation of the murder of Jews in the Lietukis garage. According to him,after the pogrom, the killer became Deputy Chief of the German security in
Lithuania on Lithuanian cases. This supposedly was a man with a perfect command of the Lithuanian language, and nobody would distinguish him from a Lithuanian.
He was born and raised in Lithuania, but had German roots. He allegedly connected himself with the "great" Germany and served it loyally.
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