Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz delivered a historic address today at an AJC Transatlantic Institute (TAI) event, which focused on strengthening EU-Israel relations and Jewish life in Europe.
“Lithuania had made considerable progress in confronting its Holocaust-era past,” said Rabbi Andrew Baker, AJC Director of International Jewish Affairs. “That is why this latest reversal is so troubling. No one today can claim ignorance about the role of Lithuanian collaborators.”
AJC praised Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Šimašius for removing a plaque on the Lithuanian Academy of Science building honoring Jonas Noreika, an anti-Soviet fighter who was responsible for the deportation of Šiauliai Jews and seizure of their property during the Holocaust.
The latest European Union report on antisemitism begins with a stark warning. “These findings make for grim reading,” writes Michael O’Flaherty, director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), in the foreword.
After an 18-year increase in antisemitic hate crimes, it appears that some political leaders have come to the realization it is the symptom of a troubled country, of a deep-rooted democratic crisis. However, the fundamental question now facing us is what should be done?