VILNIUS - Recently the Turto Bankas a
Lithuanian government bank and the Vilnius City Council announced that they would be building a conference center on the location
of the old Jewish cemetery in Snipiskes, Vilnius, in 2022. Leaders, the White
House, U.S. senators, congressman and multiple denominational spiritual leaders
have rallied to condemn the plan.
On May 19, 2020 the Beverly Hills
City Council in California passed a resolution
European Union states, world leaders and corporations were
aghast. The possibility that Lithuania had worked with Nazi Germany to
systematically murder 95% of their own Jewish citizens and neighbors, was
difficult to comprehend.
However, those doubts were obliterated when the Lithuanian
government confirmed they were proceeding with the construction of a conference
centre on the property of the old cemetery in Vilnius. It was Lithuania’s
defining moment of truth, when finally it was clear that Lithuania’s systemic
anti-Semitic behavior is alive and well. The rooster had come home to roost.
Lithuania is a sovereign nation that is a member of the European
Union and party to NATO. However, this is a country where billions of
U.S. taxpayers money are propping up a system that is morally flawed, a country
which cannot reconcile or come to terms with its war crimes of the past.
Regrettably, Lithuania’s attempt to conduct wholesale
desecration on a 500-year old
cemetery, is merely an extension of a
behavioral trend. This disgraceful destruction of a Jewish burial
ground, is the government’s racist endeavor to erase the memory of prewar
Jewish life. After sending Jews to the Nazi death camps,
stripping them of their property and material possessions, this latest act of
defilement by the government represents the last robbery of Jewish victims.
To add insult to injury, the government candy-coated its
announcement by stating that it will work
with a Jewish interest group to ensure that there is no desecration of the
graves and that Jewish heritage will be preserved. This is a lie. No interest
group has the authority to negotiate the act of desecration on a cemetery.
Defiling a cemetery is not an option which is on the negotiating table. Construction
of a conference center on the cemetery (irrespective of whether skeletal
remains are disturbed) by definition, makes that very act
"desecration". See
"A Proposal:
The Alternative to Cemetery Desecration."
Even when Jews were being herded like cattle to local Lithuanian
killing grounds such as the Panerai mass murder
The plan for a conference center on a Jewish cemetery is
Lithuania’s train to the death camps. The only difference is, this train
carries passengers that are already dead.
About Jonus Norkus:
Jonus Norkus is an activist who battles against human rights violations and
cemetery desecration.
Website: https://www.quora.com/profile/Jonus-Norkus
Email: jonusnorkus@gmail.com
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