NCSJ - Lithuania page

Population: 3.5 million

Ethnic Composition:
80.6% Lithuanian, 8.7% Russian, 7% Polish, 1.6% Byelorussian, 2.1% other

Religion: 80% Roman Catholic, 20% other (Lutheran, Russian Orthodox, Protestant, Baptist, Muslim, Jewish)

Jewish population: 8,000
2002 Aliyah
(emigration to Israel): 176
2002 Emigration
to United States: 6

Size: 65,200 sq km
Capital: Vilnius (Vilna)
Major cities: Vilnius, Kaunas (Kovno), Klaipeda, Siauliai, Penevezys (Ponevitch)

Freedom House Rating:
Free

Currency: 2.93 litas = $1
(October 3, 2003)

GDP: $13.8 billion (2002)
GDP per capita: $3,943 (2002)
GDP Growth: 6.7% (2002)

Head of State:
President Valdas Adamkus

Head of Government:
Prime Minister

Foreign Minister:

Ambassador to United States: Vygaudas Usackas

U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania: Stephen Mull

Chronology of all U.S. envoys to Lithuania

SUMMARY

Having enjoyed two decades of independence prior to forcible annexation by the Soviet Union, Lithuania’s post-Soviet sense of nationhood quickly solidified, and the relatively small size of Lithuania’s ethnic Russian minority has ensured that internal tensions remain low. Lithuania is slated to join the European Union (EU) and NATO in 2004.

Lithuania’s economy has performed well since independence, and continues to improve with the prospect of EU membership. Lithuania’s closest ties are to its Baltic neighbors, Russia, and the EU.

Jewish history in Lithuania is strong and vibrant, Vilnius (Vilna) having long been a capital of European Jewish life and scholarship, but the present Jewish community is a fraction of its pre-War size. After a slow start, the Lithuanian government has made progress in addressing the issues of World War II and the destruction of Lithuanian Jewry. The Jewish community reports good relations with the government, which has been active in the promotion of Jewish public activities and the restitution of Jewish cultural property.

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REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

INTRODUCTION
POLITICAL SITUATION
    Foreign Policy
ECONOMIC SITUATION
JEWISH COMMUNAL LIFE & ANTI-SEMITISM
    Anti-Semitism
    Holocaust Legacy
    Restitution
    Commemoration
    War Crimes
U.S. POLICY

Lithuania, slightly larger than West Virginia, borders Latvia, Belarus, Poland, the Kaliningrad oblast of the Russian Federation, and the Baltic Sea. During the Middle Ages, Lithuania was one of the largest and most powerful states in Europe, until it was absorbed by Poland in the 15^th century. During the partition of Poland in the late-18^th century, Lithuania was divided between Russia and Prussia. Taking advantage of the Russian Revolution, Lithuania declared its independence in February 1918. Independence lasted until 1940, when Lithuania was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union; the U.S. Government never recognized the Soviet claim to Lithuania.

The Soviet occupation was so brutal that many Lithuanians welcomed and even collaborated with the invading German troops in 1941. Some areas raised armed resistance to defeat Soviet forces prior to the German invasion, in hopes that Germany would recognize Lithuanian independence; others participated in the extermination of Jews and others once the Nazis established control. The anti-Nazi resistance in Lithuania was the strongest of all such Baltic movements, with many Lithuanians also rescuing Jews from Nazi persecution. Israel has recognized 513 Lithuanians as “Righteous Among the Nations” for risking their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

After World War II, Lithuania’s society and economy were reorganized along Soviet lines. On March 11, 1990, Lithuania declared independence for the second time in a century, and it was recognized internationally in September 1991, following the Soviet collapse.

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POLITICAL SITUATION

Lithuania is a parliamentary democracy, with the government divided into executive, legislative and judicial branches. The 141-member unicameral Parliament (Seimas) holds the most power of the various branches. The Seimas adopts and amends the constitution, passes laws, approves the President’s appointment of the Prime Minister, and elects the Supreme Court. The President appoints the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, and may request that the Constitutional Court review acts of the Seimas.

The Lithuanian constitution grants its citizens freedom of speech, press and religion, and these rights are generally respected in practice. Unlike Estonia or Latvia, which have larger Russian-speaking populations, Lithuania granted automatic citizenship to its ethnic Russian minority.

Former Prime Minister Rolandas Paksas defeated incumbent president Valdas Adamkus in the 2003 presidential elections, and the next presidential vote is scheduled for 2008. Parliamentary elections in October 2000 gave control to the leftist Social Democratic Coalition (31 percent); parliamentary elections will be held again in 2004. The current Prime Minister, Algirdas Brazauskas, was appointed by then-President Adamkus in July 2001.

Frequent changes in Lithuania’s government throughout the 1990s reflected popular dissatisfaction with the economic situation and Lithuania’s slow progress toward Western integration. Since 2000, Lithuania has caught up. It was invited to join NATO in November 2002, and is on track for accession into NATO and the EU along with its Baltic neighbors in May 2004.

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Foreign Policy

Lithuania’s foreign policy is focused on integration with the West and close cooperation with Latvia and Estonia. This includes coordination of the Baltic education systems, integration of the Baltic stock markets in the Alliance of Northern Exchanges (NOREX), agreements on security and trade, and the creation of a Baltic energy market. Lithuania is also a member of the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS). The Nordic and Baltic states have also cooperated under the NB8 formula since 1992, discussing common economic and foreign policy, and regional issues. The Nordic states and the United States have been highly supportive of Baltic accession to NATO and the EU.

Some friction has resulted from Lithuania’s July 2003 imposition of a visa requirement for Russians en route to Kaliningrad. The move was a requirement for EU accession, but Russia warned it would isolate Russia from Europe. Transit restrictions will tighten further by Fall 2004, when Lithuania is a full member of the EU.

Israel’s Ambassador to the Baltic States is based in Riga, Latvia, and is accredited to Lithuania. Lithuania has an ambassador in Tel-Aviv. In 1995, then-President Algirdas Brazauskas paid an official visit to Israel. The two governments have signed bilateral agreements abolishing their visa regime, protecting investments, and promoting cooperation in the fields of communication, health, culture, science, and education.

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ECONOMIC SITUATION

A highly industrialized country with a well-developed agricultural sector, Lithuania has few natural resources but is strategically located. Vilnius is a key junction for railways and highways passing between Western and Eastern Europe, and the city of Klaipeda has an ice-free port. While the Lithuanian economy has generally done well since independence, the 1998 Russian financial crisis led to a jarring economic downturn in 1999-2000 and Lithuania’s highest unemployment rate (10 percent) since independence.

Aided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), including $230 million in international assistance in 1999, the Lithuanian economy eventually rebounded. Lithuania’s GDP rose by over 6 percent in 2002, and this growth rate is expected to continue. Lithuania has reduced its foreign debt and enacted reforms including labor legislation, banking privatization and bankruptcy reform along the road toward EU accession.

The private sector accounts for over 70 percent of the Lithuanian GDP. Foreign investment and ownership are significant. Lithuania’s main trade partners are Russia and Germany. Lithuania joined the World Trade Organization in May 2001.

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JEWISH COMMUNAL LIFE & ANTI-SEMITISM

The Jewish presence in Lithuania dates back 600 years. Vilnius, known as “Vilna” in Polish and Yiddish, was a legendary hub of yeshivas and Jewish learning, generating a rich corpus of rabbinic scholarship. In the early 1600s, 20 percent of the Vilnius population was Jewish, and by the end of the 19^th century, Jews constituted 13 percent of Lithuania’s total population. On the eve of World War II, following a massive emigration to the United States, Lithuanian Jewry numbered 250,000 – 95 percent of whom would be murdered during the German occupation. The majority of the Jewish population today lives in Vilnius, with smaller Jewish communities in Kaunas (Kovno), Klaipeda, and Siauliai, among others. The Jewish community of Lithuania, which now numbers more than 4,000, includes returned Lithuanian Jews and Russian Jews who settled after 1945.

The Jewish Community of Lithuania (JCL), the body representing all Lithuanian Jews, has its headquarters in Vilnius. It is an umbrella for Jewish organizations, including the Union of Youth and Students, the Ilan children’s club, the Gesher Community Center, the Jewish Cultural Club, the Union of Former Ghetto and KZ [concentration camp] Prisoners, the Union of World War II Jewish Veterans, the Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO), the Welfare Center, the Ezra Medical Center, the fraternal lodge of B’nai B’rith, Feierlech Dance and Music group, and Maccabi Sports Club. JCL publishes a newspaper, Jerusalem of Lithuania, in Lithuanian, Russian, English, and Yiddish. JCL is supported by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC/ “Joint”), Claims Conference, Baltic Jewish Forum, B’nai B’rith International, Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, American Fund for Latvian and Lithuanian Jews, and many other organizations as well as individual sponsors.

The Association of Jewish Religious Communities is an umbrella organization for communities in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipeda, and Plunge. Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky, the Chabad Lubavitch representative, operates the Vilnius synagogue. Chabad Lubavitch also administers the Bais Menachem Jewish Day School, other Jewish education programs including a nursery and kindergarten, a social center, and a kosher kitchen in Vilnius. These programs are affiliated with the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS. In addition to Rabbi Krinsky, Rabbi Shmuel Kahn is a visiting part-time rabbi from London.

The Jewish community maintains good relations with the Lithuanian government. State-supported Jewish institutions include a kindergarten, a school named after Sholom Aleichem, a library, and the Jewish Gaon State Museum of Lithuania. A branch of the museum also operates at the Paneriai memorial. The Vilnius Yiddish Institute was established in 2001 at the Vilnius State University, and the Martinas Mazhvidas National Library includes a significant Judaica section.

In 1997, Lithuania hosted an international commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the death of the Vilna Gaon, one of the seminal rabbinic commentators in Jewish history. In 2002, Vilnius hosted the fifth annual intensive program of Yiddish language, literature and culture, sponsored by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC/ “Joint”) and the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI/ “Sochnut”).

In 2001, the first World Litvak Congress convened at the Vilnius City Hall with 600 participants from 12 countries. The Congress coincided with the 60th anniversary Holocaust commemorations.

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Vilna, 1937

Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism has not been a serious problem in Lithuania in the past decade, although a number of anti-Semitic events were recently reported. Jewish cemeteries were desecrated in Vilnius, Kaunas, Kelme and Pasvalys in 2000. In March and August 2002, Lithuanian fans yelled anti-Semitic epithets at sporting events between local and Israeli teams. The owner of the stadium in which the second incident occurred sent a letter of apology to the Jewish community and submitted a video of the match to the police. In 2000, 135 Lithuanians attempted to found a neo-Nazi party but were refused registration by the Ministry of Justice.

In response to other anti-Semitic acts, the Lithuanian State Security Department sent a request to the Taurage-area chief prosecutor calling for criminal charges against Saulius Ozelis, the leader of the anti-Semitic Freedom Union party's local branch, accused of inflaming ethnic tension during several incidents in 2002. In one action, he burned a mock Israeli flag to protest the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s announcement of rewards for evidence leading to the arrest and conviction of Nazi war criminals.

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Holocaust Legacy

Lithuania has sought to come to terms with its role in the Holocaust, and has on a number of occasions stated a commitment to commemorating the Holocaust, combating anti-Semitism, and bringing Nazi-era war criminals to justice. Holocaust-era massacres of Jews occurred throughout the country, aided in large part by local collaborators. In 1998, then-President Adamkus established the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania. This historical commission has promoted research, education and commemoration. The American Jewish Committee and B’nai B’rith International, along with other Jewish organizations, are represented on the Commission.

At the National Memorial Day for Holocaust Victims ceremony on September 23, 1999 (the anniversary of the liquidation of the Vilna ghetto), and in an April 2000 speech to the Seimas, then-President Adamkus reaffirmed Lithuania’s commitment to bring war criminals to justice and to combat all anti-Semitism. Prime Minister Brazauskas addressed the 2001 Litvak Congress, emphasizing that the voice of the Jewish community will be heard and addressed. The Seimas dedicated its September 2001 session to commemorating the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania.

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At 2000 Vilnius Forum on Holocaust-Era Looted Cultural Assets: (l.-r.) President Adamkus, Rapporteur Emanuel Zingeris, U.S. Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues J.D. Bindenagel, and Rabbi Andrew Baker, International Jewish Affairs Director for the American Jewish Committee

Restitution

Lithuania was the first of the newly independent states to legislate the protection and marking of Holocaust-related sites. A 1997 law provided for the restitution of private property to Lithuanian citizens. In October 2000, a state-funded commission helped convene the Vilnius International Forum on Holocaust-Era Looted Cultural Assets, which was attended by 37 national delegations as well as the Council of Europe. The Vilnius Forum followed up on the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets, held in 1998 in Washington, DC.

In conjunction with the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, the Lithuanian and U.S. governments have signed a Declaration of Cooperation to establish frameworks for the protection and preservation of cultural sites. Following a survey documenting Lithuanian sites significant to the Jewish, Roma and Old Believer communities, the Commission and the Lithuanian government signed an October 2002 agreement creating a Joint Cultural Heritage Commission to oversee the identification and protection of sites. A proposal to restore segments of the historic Jewish ghetto was pending in the Seimas in 2003.

The Seimas passed a bill in October 2000 providing for the transfer of historic Torah scrolls, housed in the Mazhvydas National Library, to local and foreign Jewish communities and organizations. In January 2002, at a Vilnius ceremony, the Lithuanian government relinquished more than 300 of the Torah scrolls and sacred books saved and hidden during the Nazi occupation. The scrolls included texts of the Vilna Gaon from the 18^th century. An international delegation, headed by Israel’s deputy foreign minister and one of Israel’s two chief rabbis, accepted the Torahs.

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Commemoration

In September 2002, the Lithuanian historical commission organized and convened the international Conference, “The Holocaust in Lithuania: Aspects of Modern History, Education, and Justice.” Scholars and historians from Israel, the United States and Europe presented their research on the destruction of the Lithuanian Jewish community, Lithuanian collaboration and resistance, and Holocaust remembrance and education.

Other events at the 2002 conference included a ceremony at the Paneriai memorial just outside Vilnius, where 70,000 Jews were shot and killed in 1943. Lithuanian officials, Jewish leaders and survivors participated in the commemoration, and the state flag of Lithuania was flown with black ribbons at all official buildings. During the conference, the government approved a plan to restore sections of the historic Jewish quarter in Vilnius, and the historical commission signed an agreement with the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education to provide Holocaust-related teacher training in Lithuania.

At a 2003 Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration, President Paksas met with Rabbi Krinsky and praised the Jewish modern revival in Lithuania, just six decades after the Holocaust. He pledged his support for further government assistance to the Jewish community, and awarded the Life Saving Cross to a number of Lithuanians who had saved Jewish lives during the war. Approximately 250 Lithuanians have been recognized with this honor since independence.

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War Crimes

The Lithuanian Catholic Church condemned anti-Semitism at a March 2000 bishops’ conference. The Church expressed regret that during the German occupation, “a portion of the faithful failed to demonstrate charity to the persecuted Jews, did not grasp any opportunity to defend them, and lacked the determination to influence those who aided the Nazis.”

Lithuania has made slow but significant progress in the prosecution of suspected Lithuanian collaborators in the Nazi genocide. In February 2001, Kazys Gimzauskas was convicted of war crimes, though – citing his poor health – the court did not sentence him. Gimzauskas is to date the only war criminal convicted by Lithuania or any Soviet successor state.

Dissatisfied with the Lithuanian government’s efforts to address the past, the Simon Wiesenthal Center launched “Operation Last Chance” in July 2002, offering monetary rewards for individuals supplying evidence that leads to the successful prosecution of war criminals. This controversial campaign has encountered much resistance in Lithuania and the other Baltic countries.

In January 2003, in response to Lithuania’s 2001 request for information on 22 suspected war criminals thought to be living in Australia, Australian authorities submitted a list of nine suspected Nazi war criminals who have sought asylum in that country.

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U.S. POLICY

The United States and Lithuania maintain close ties, and America’s large Lithuanian exile community mobilized strong political support for Lithuanian independence from the Soviet Union. The United States “graduated” Lithuania and the other Baltic states from the Jackson-Vanik Amendment in December 1991, following the Soviet collapse, and subsequently granted the Baltics permanent normal trade relations.

Lithuania cooperates closely with the United States in matters of trade and security. The U.S.-brokered Northern European Initiative (NEI) links the Baltic states, Nordic states, the United States and Russia on a broad range of matters from economics to defense. In 1998, the United States, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia signed the Charter of Partnership, strengthening multilateral ties and emphasizing ties between the Baltic states and Europe. The United States has expressed its strong support for Lithuanian membership in the EU and NATO.

Events since September 11, 2001, have increased bilateral defense ties. Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, Lithuania opened its airspace and airports to U.S. military flights for operations in Afghanistan, and 40 Lithuanian special forces troops deployed to Afghanistan in November 2002 as part of “Operation: Enduring Freedom.” As of September 2003, Lithuania had sent 90 troops to Iraq to serve, as part of the Polish and Danish contingents, under the U.S.-led peacekeeping force there. The Saeima was considering in October whether to send an additional 50 troops.

The ambassadors and defense ministers of all three Baltic states met with U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz in March 2002 to discuss regional military cooperation. In November 2002, following NATO’s historic Prague summit, President Bush made the first visit of an American President to Lithuania. He reiterated U.S. support for Baltic membership in NATO, and called for support against Iraq and other dictatorial regimes. That month, Lithuania signed a contract to buy $31 million of anti-aircraft missile technology from the United States. In March 2003, Lithuania reaffirmed its support for U.S. policy on Iraq, offering logistical support and aid to a post-war Iraq.

This closeness has been tempered by international controversy over the U.S. position on the International Criminal Court (ICC). The three Baltic states and over 30 other countries refused to sign, by June 2003, an Article 98 agreement with the United States exempting the U.S. military from the International Criminal Court’s (ICC’s) jurisdiction. In retaliation, in July, the United States suspended military aid to the Baltics and 32 other countries.

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