At a press conference held today in Vilnius, Efraim Zuroff, director and coordinator of Nazi war crimes research worldwide at the Simon Wiesenthal Center office in Jerusalem, condemned neo-Nazi marches planned this winter in the Baltic States, one of which will take place in Kaunas tomorrow on Lithuania’s Independence Day.

To arguments that banning such marches would be a violation of freedom of speech, Dr. Zuroff replied that freedom of expression does not extend to enticing hatred against certain groups. In his opinion, the marches should be, if not banned, at least moved from the main streets to other locations and not held on Independence Day. Authorities giving nationalists permission to march in city centres on such days, and allowing the “Lithuanian swastika” despite a ban on Nazi symbol, sends a signal about public policy.

Dr. Zuroff is concerned about a lack of public condemnation of neo-Nazi marches, and that the only motivation for condemnation seems to concern the image of Lithuania internationally. He has seen only a handful of protest voices, namely from Dovid Katz, some human rights organizations, and gay and lesbian activists.

He went on to say that if the ideas of the nationalist groups were to be implemented, they would not solve the economic and other problems of Lithuania, but instead are very harmful to the nation. Lithuania has a strong historical tradition of being a diverse and tolerant society, and should continue this today by being inclusive of all its people, regardless of ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation.

Also present at the press conference was Professor Dovid Katz, a long-time resident of Vilnius, who gave credit to Lithuanian gay and lesbian activists for e.g. having the courage to protest against the recent anti-Semitic and homophobic exhibition held at Vilnius University. However, he expressed disappointment in the Lithuanian human rights community, which has been relatively passive in standing up to condemn neo-Nazi marches and the ideology of nationalists, and has instead organized alternative “tolerance events” in an attempt to move attention away from addressing the problem.

The Lithuanian media was quick to report on the press conference, for example delfi.lt twisting the key message with the provoking headline “E. Zuroff resents that only gays and lesbians oppose neo-Nazis”.

Professor Katz stressed that is his everyday experience Lithuanians are delightful, friendly and tolerant people, and that the issue lies rather with political decision-makers and the authorities.

Dr. Zuroff and Professor Katz will be present to protest at tomorrow’s neo-Nazi march in Kaunas.