Wiesenthal Center Welcomes Removal by Vilnius Municipality of Plaque Honoring Lithuanian Nazi Collaborator Jonas Noreika

July 29, 2019

Jerusalem – The Simon Wiesenthal Center today welcomed the removal early Saturday morning by the Vilnius municipality of a plaque honoring Lithuanian Nazi collaborator Jonas Noreika, who played an important role in the annihilation of Jews in northwestern Lithuania during the Holocaust.

In a statement issued here today by its Director of Eastern European Affairs, Holocaust historian Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Center emphasized the importance of the removal of the plaque honoring Noreika from the façade of the library of the Lithuanian Academy of Science.

According to Zuroff:

"The removal of the plaque honoring Noreika is an important step in the efforts to stop the glorification of Lithuanian anti-Soviet heroes who participated in Holocaust crimes. While turning anti-Soviet fighters into national heroes is understandable, those who participated in the murder of Jews should not be granted that status. We hope that other honors granted to members of the 12^th Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalion, for example, which murdered thousands of Jews in Belarus in 1941-1942, will similarly be removed."

 

For additional information please contact the Israel Office of the Wiesenthal Center: 972-2-563-1274 or 972-50-721-4156, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @EZuroff @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).

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