RIGA — Efraim Zuroff is known around the world as “the last Nazi hunter.” Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center office in Jerusalem, he arrived in Latvia on March 14 to attend the conference “World War II And the Holocaust: Victims, Rescuers, Liberators and Executioners.”

The conference took place in light of the March 16 Latvian Waffen-SS Legion remembrance day. An outspoken critic of attempts to equate Nazi and Soviet crimes against humanity, Zuroff told Baltic Reports that the Baltic states are among the [private_supervisor]worst offenders when it comes to revising and sanitizing the history of the Holocaust.

Baltic Reports: Why is this conference necessary?

Efraim Zuroff: Because of the growing tendency in post-communist Europe and especially in the Baltics to distort the Holocaust and minimize the role of local collaborators. This conference is a wake-up call to try and halt that process and offer a corrective.

BR: What do you hope to achieve here?

Zuroff: We need monitors to follow much more closely what’s being written in the textbooks, what’s being said in the public arena and at monuments. In the current educational system history is being rewritten over the last two decades with the fall of communism.

The question is, are these people telling the truth? There is pressure on these countries to participate in the growing movement of holocaust education but the question is what is the Holocaust to them? Are they telling the whole story?

How Germans and Austrians came to our countries and murdered our Jews is only part of the Holocaust story. But to talk about the holocaust as if it took place here with no local participation is a total distortion of history. So this is my concern.

BR: Don’t you think any progress has been made?

Zuroff: We are seeing a tremendous growth of Holocaust education and growing sensitivity to Holocaust issues ad that’s a wonderful thing. Absolutely wonderful — it’s the product of 50 years of work by many great organizations but if the ultimate result is that countries like Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Romania, Ukraine, Croatia, etc. tell a sanitized version of the events then there is a serious problem. Certainly in the Baltics it’s true.

BR: Is this officially-sanctioned misinformation or a more haphazard phenomenon?

Zuroff: There is no question — the governments are behind it. The most blatant manifestation of the danger is the Prague Declaration of June 2008 in which they write in the first clause that Europe will never truly be reunited until it recognizes its common legacy of Nazis and Communists. That’s total hogwash.

This talk of having a joint day of commemoration for victims of totalitarianism — of course the next step is to cancel Holocaust Memorial Day because why do you need a particularist day if you have a more pluralistic day of remembrance? But it ain’t the same, the two phenomenons are not the same.

With all my empathy for victims of communism, the crimes of communism simply are not the same as the Holocaust. Part of this is fueled by a desire to deflect attention for the extensive collaboration with the Nazis during WWII and their post-independence failure to bring these people to justice.

BR: So do you think anti-Semitism is on the rise or does it have a more constant base level?

I have to say there is a certain traditional anti-Semitism that has not disappeared in this part of the world. On the way to European Union and NATO membership there was an attempt to bat these things but now they’re in, they feel they can get away with it. The time has come to put a stop to this attempt to falsify history.

Who should be the heroes of the new Latvia? Should it be Jānis Lipke and his wife who saved over 40 Jews in an incredible show of bravery and personal courage? Or do you want the people who fought for the victory of Nazi Germany?

People in Latvia don’t understand this. If Nazi Germany would have won the war, Latvia would not be independent. With all the empathy for the victims of communism, and I’m not in any way minimizing their suffering, the Nazis had to be defeated and those who fought alongside the Nazis were wrong. OK, two-thirds of them were drafted, but don’t go around turning them into heroes! [/private_supervisor] [private_subscription 1 month]worst offenders when it comes to revising and sanitizing the history of the Holocaust.

Baltic Reports: Why is this conference necessary?

Efraim Zuroff: Because of the growing tendency in post-communist Europe and especially in the Baltics to distort the Holocaust and minimize the role of local collaborators. This conference is a wake-up call to try and halt that process and offer a corrective.

BR: What do you hope to achieve here?

Zuroff: We need monitors to follow much more closely what’s being written in the textbooks, what’s being said in the public arena and at monuments. In the current educational system history is being rewritten over the last two decades with the fall of communism.

The question is, are these people telling the truth? There is pressure on these countries to participate in the growing movement of holocaust education but the question is what is the Holocaust to them? Are they telling the whole story?

How Germans and Austrians came to our countries and murdered our Jews is only part of the Holocaust story. But to talk about the holocaust as if it took place here with no local participation is a total distortion of history. So this is my concern.

BR: Don’t you think any progress has been made?

Zuroff: We are seeing a tremendous growth of Holocaust education and growing sensitivity to Holocaust issues ad that’s a wonderful thing. Absolutely wonderful — it’s the product of 50 years of work by many great organizations but if the ultimate result is that countries like Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Romania, Ukraine, Croatia, etc. tell a sanitized version of the events then there is a serious problem. Certainly in the Baltics it’s true.

BR: Is this officially-sanctioned misinformation or a more haphazard phenomenon?

Zuroff: There is no question — the governments are behind it. The most blatant manifestation of the danger is the Prague Declaration of June 2008 in which they write in the first clause that Europe will never truly be reunited until it recognizes its common legacy of Nazis and Communists. That’s total hogwash.

This talk of having a joint day of commemoration for victims of totalitarianism — of course the next step is to cancel Holocaust Memorial Day because why do you need a particularist day if you have a more pluralistic day of remembrance? But it ain’t the same, the two phenomenons are not the same.

With all my empathy for victims of communism, the crimes of communism simply are not the same as the Holocaust. Part of this is fueled by a desire to deflect attention for the extensive collaboration with the Nazis during WWII and their post-independence failure to bring these people to justice.

BR: So do you think anti-Semitism is on the rise or does it have a more constant base level?

I have to say there is a certain traditional anti-Semitism that has not disappeared in this part of the world. On the way to European Union and NATO membership there was an attempt to bat these things but now they’re in, they feel they can get away with it. The time has come to put a stop to this attempt to falsify history.

Who should be the heroes of the new Latvia? Should it be Jānis Lipke and his wife who saved over 40 Jews in an incredible show of bravery and personal courage? Or do you want the people who fought for the victory of Nazi Germany?

People in Latvia don’t understand this. If Nazi Germany would have won the war, Latvia would not be independent. With all the empathy for the victims of communism, and I’m not in any way minimizing their suffering, the Nazis had to be defeated and those who fought alongside the Nazis were wrong. OK, two-thirds of them were drafted, but don’t go around turning them into heroes! [/private_subscription 1 month] [private_subscription 4 months]worst offenders when it comes to revising and sanitizing the history of the Holocaust.

Baltic Reports: Why is this conference necessary?

Efraim Zuroff: Because of the growing tendency in post-communist Europe and especially in the Baltics to distort the Holocaust and minimize the role of local collaborators. This conference is a wake-up call to try and halt that process and offer a corrective.

BR: What do you hope to achieve here?

Zuroff: We need monitors to follow much more closely what’s being written in the textbooks, what’s being said in the public arena and at monuments. In the current educational system history is being rewritten over the last two decades with the fall of communism.

The question is, are these people telling the truth? There is pressure on these countries to participate in the growing movement of holocaust education but the question is what is the Holocaust to them? Are they telling the whole story?

How Germans and Austrians came to our countries and murdered our Jews is only part of the Holocaust story. But to talk about the holocaust as if it took place here with no local participation is a total distortion of history. So this is my concern.

BR: Don’t you think any progress has been made?

Zuroff: We are seeing a tremendous growth of Holocaust education and growing sensitivity to Holocaust issues ad that’s a wonderful thing. Absolutely wonderful — it’s the product of 50 years of work by many great organizations but if the ultimate result is that countries like Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Romania, Ukraine, Croatia, etc. tell a sanitized version of the events then there is a serious problem. Certainly in the Baltics it’s true.

BR: Is this officially-sanctioned misinformation or a more haphazard phenomenon?

Zuroff: There is no question — the governments are behind it. The most blatant manifestation of the danger is the Prague Declaration of June 2008 in which they write in the first clause that Europe will never truly be reunited until it recognizes its common legacy of Nazis and Communists. That’s total hogwash.

This talk of having a joint day of commemoration for victims of totalitarianism — of course the next step is to cancel Holocaust Memorial Day because why do you need a particularist day if you have a more pluralistic day of remembrance? But it ain’t the same, the two phenomenons are not the same.

With all my empathy for victims of communism, the crimes of communism simply are not the same as the Holocaust. Part of this is fueled by a desire to deflect attention for the extensive collaboration with the Nazis during WWII and their post-independence failure to bring these people to justice.

BR: So do you think anti-Semitism is on the rise or does it have a more constant base level?

I have to say there is a certain traditional anti-Semitism that has not disappeared in this part of the world. On the way to European Union and NATO membership there was an attempt to bat these things but now they’re in, they feel they can get away with it. The time has come to put a stop to this attempt to falsify history.

Who should be the heroes of the new Latvia? Should it be Jānis Lipke and his wife who saved over 40 Jews in an incredible show of bravery and personal courage? Or do you want the people who fought for the victory of Nazi Germany?

People in Latvia don’t understand this. If Nazi Germany would have won the war, Latvia would not be independent. With all the empathy for the victims of communism, and I’m not in any way minimizing their suffering, the Nazis had to be defeated and those who fought alongside the Nazis were wrong. OK, two-thirds of them were drafted, but don’t go around turning them into heroes! [/private_subscription 4 months] [private_subscription 1 year]worst offenders when it comes to revising and sanitizing the history of the Holocaust.

Baltic Reports: Why is this conference necessary?

Efraim Zuroff: Because of the growing tendency in post-communist Europe and especially in the Baltics to distort the Holocaust and minimize the role of local collaborators. This conference is a wake-up call to try and halt that process and offer a corrective.

BR: What do you hope to achieve here?

Zuroff: We need monitors to follow much more closely what’s being written in the textbooks, what’s being said in the public arena and at monuments. In the current educational system history is being rewritten over the last two decades with the fall of communism.

The question is, are these people telling the truth? There is pressure on these countries to participate in the growing movement of holocaust education but the question is what is the Holocaust to them? Are they telling the whole story?

How Germans and Austrians came to our countries and murdered our Jews is only part of the Holocaust story. But to talk about the holocaust as if it took place here with no local participation is a total distortion of history. So this is my concern.

BR: Don’t you think any progress has been made?

Zuroff: We are seeing a tremendous growth of Holocaust education and growing sensitivity to Holocaust issues ad that’s a wonderful thing. Absolutely wonderful — it’s the product of 50 years of work by many great organizations but if the ultimate result is that countries like Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Romania, Ukraine, Croatia, etc. tell a sanitized version of the events then there is a serious problem. Certainly in the Baltics it’s true.

BR: Is this officially-sanctioned misinformation or a more haphazard phenomenon?

Zuroff: There is no question — the governments are behind it. The most blatant manifestation of the danger is the Prague Declaration of June 2008 in which they write in the first clause that Europe will never truly be reunited until it recognizes its common legacy of Nazis and Communists. That’s total hogwash.

This talk of having a joint day of commemoration for victims of totalitarianism — of course the next step is to cancel Holocaust Memorial Day because why do you need a particularist day if you have a more pluralistic day of remembrance? But it ain’t the same, the two phenomenons are not the same.

With all my empathy for victims of communism, the crimes of communism simply are not the same as the Holocaust. Part of this is fueled by a desire to deflect attention for the extensive collaboration with the Nazis during WWII and their post-independence failure to bring these people to justice.

BR: So do you think anti-Semitism is on the rise or does it have a more constant base level?

I have to say there is a certain traditional anti-Semitism that has not disappeared in this part of the world. On the way to European Union and NATO membership there was an attempt to bat these things but now they’re in, they feel they can get away with it. The time has come to put a stop to this attempt to falsify history.

Who should be the heroes of the new Latvia? Should it be Jānis Lipke and his wife who saved over 40 Jews in an incredible show of bravery and personal courage? Or do you want the people who fought for the victory of Nazi Germany?

People in Latvia don’t understand this. If Nazi Germany would have won the war, Latvia would not be independent. With all the empathy for the victims of communism, and I’m not in any way minimizing their suffering, the Nazis had to be defeated and those who fought alongside the Nazis were wrong. OK, two-thirds of them were drafted, but don’t go around turning them into heroes! [/private_subscription 1 year]

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