Reuters - 04.24.2001

 

 

Reuters

Jewish Leader Blasts Russian MP for Holocaust Comments 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A prominent Russian Jewish leader denounced nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky on Thursday for comments in parliament when he tried to stop members honoring Holocaust victims.

Zhirinovsky, notorious for his eccentric behavior, said six million Jews exterminated by the Nazis deserved no more respect than 30 million Russians killed in World War Two, for whom there was no special remembrance day.

Berl Lazar, chief rabbi within one of two competing Jewish communities, said he was outraged by Zhirinovsky's remarks. He called on Russian politicians to speak out and condemn them.

"The memory of the Holocaust is a guarantee of democratic changes in our country and that it will never again turn back toward totalitarianism and any forms of hatred," he said in a statement.

Despite Zhirinovsky's calls to remain seated, most members of the State Duma -- parliament's lower house -- stood to pay their respects to Holocaust victims on an international day of remembrance Thursday.

Russia's Jewish community was subject to violent anti-Semitic pogroms in the tsarist era and widespread discrimination under Soviet rule.

Depleted by mass emigration to Israel, it remains about one million strong and is generally secular in outlook. Anti-Semitic incidents are rarer these days but receive mass publicity.