International Public Forum "Glorification of Nazism and Growth of Neo-Nazism in the Baltic Countries" | March 11, 2022

Photo: RIA-NOVOSTI, CC BY-SA 3.0 / Bundesarchiv

On March 11, 2022 at 13:00 (Moscow time), the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly will hold the 15th Session of the International Public Forum "Preserving the memory of the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War". The topic of the forum is "The Glorification of Nazism and the Growth of Neo-Nazism in the Baltic Countries."

The forum is supported by the Eurasian Academy of Television and Radio (Russia), the Historical Memory Foundation, the Digital History Foundation.

Partners: Socialist People's Front (Lithuania), Union of Human Rights Observers of Lithuania (Lithuania).

The purpose of the forum: to draw attention to the situation in the Baltic countries, where such phenomena as the cult of Nazi criminals, falsification of the results of World War II and the Great Patriotic War, inciting xenophobia, pressure on freedom of speech and support for neo-Nazism really exist; creation of constructive and vivid images of the memory of the Victory over Nazism.

In December 2021-January and February 2022, the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly held a number of International Public Forums (IPF) dedicated to the Lithuanian, Estonian and Latvian military formations that bravely fought as part of the Red Army against the Nazi troops.

On February 21, at the session of the IPF, the Lithuanian historian Giedrius Grabauskas presented aspects of the historical memory of the 16th Lithuanian Division in modern Lithuania:

In Soviet Lithuania, much attention was paid to the history of the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division. But after March 11, 1990 (the announcement of the Act of Independence), everything has changed. The soldiers of this division began to be called "occupiers". Museum expositions that were devoted to their heroic struggle against fascism were closed. Museum expositions and monuments appeared in Lithuania to those who, in the period 1941-1944, together with the German occupiers, participated in the massacres of civilians in Lithuania and Belarus. Monuments to the soldiers of the 16th Lithuanian division began to be demolished. The media also launched a slander campaign against the soldiers of the 16th Lithuanian division.

Moderators:

• Valery RUZIN, Deputy Secretary General of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly, President of the Eurasian Academy of Television and Radio (Russia);
• Giedrius GRABAUSKAS, journalist, historian, chairman of the Socialist Popular Front (Lithuania).

Andrey BELYANINOV, Secretary General of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly, will address the forum participants with a welcoming speech.

Historians, lawyers, journalists, human rights activists, public figures will take part in the forum.

The 15th Session of the International Public Forum will address the following issues:

• Since the announcement of Lithuanian independence on March 11, 1990, pressure on freedom of speech and de facto censorship has began in the country.
• Why has Nazism been glorified and xenophobia fomented in Lithuania since 1990?
• How was the cult of Nazi criminals created in Latvia? Who needs parades of SS legionnaires?
• Roots of neo-Nazism in Lithuania? Who benefits?
• Modern Estonian neo-Nazism.
• The tragedy of the burned Russian villages in Latvia and Lithuania.
• How do the Baltic countries struggle with historical memory?

The International Public Forum is be held in a hybrid format (offline and online).

The forum will be attended by:

• Giedrius GRABAUSKAS, historian, journalist, human rights activist (Lithuania),
  Lithuanian Syndrome. Lessons of March 11: between the glorification of Nazism and the historical truth”;
• Stanislav TOMAS, professor, lawyer (Lithuania),
  “Legal Aspects of the Glorification of Holocaust Participants in Lithuania”;
• Donatas SHULTSAS, Chairman of the Union of Human Rights Observers of Lithuania (Lithuania),
  “Humiliation of the liberators: why was the blessed memory of the soldiers of the 16th Lithuanian division humiliated in Lithuania?”;
• Juozas YERMALAVICHUS, historian, professor (Russia),
  "Secrets of the “Forest Brothers". The way the process of establishing real historical facts about their crimes has been conducted”;
• Yulia KALININA, journalist (Russia);
• Vyacheslav TITOV, Chairman of the public committee "Titov and Justice", researcher of Nazi crimes (Russia);
• Vladimir SIMINDEY, historian, political scientist, expert in Russian-Latvian relations, Head of research programs of the Historical Memory Foundation, editor-in-chief of the journal of Russian and Eastern European historical studies, member of the Scientific Council of the Russian State Archive for Socio-Political Research (RGASPI) (Russia);
• EGOR YAKOVLEV, Director of the Digital History Research Foundation (Russia)

and others.