Lithuanian Jewry announces drastic steps to protest Conservative Party’s celebration of Nazi collaborators

The Lithuanian Jewish community announces two drastic steps to protest the “publicly-expressed desire” by the country’s Conservative Party to continue celebrating Nazi collaborators as national heroes.

In a statement, Jewish leader Faina Kukliansky says the community building and the city’s one functioning synagogue will remain closed for an undetermined period.

“Anti-Semitic comments and inscriptions which are posted to social media pages of political parties and their leaders are being tolerated and go unpunished … which makes us wonder even more whether we are safe or not,” she writes.

In recent days, Vilnius municipality has removed honors to two different Lithuanian anti-Soviet partisans revered by many locals as freedom fighters who also collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.

— Raphael Ahren