My Nazi Grandfather Was No Hero
Lithuania patriots claim my grandfather could not really have wanted to kill Jews; he must have been forced to do so. I believe they are in denial.
My grandfather’s signature sending thousands of Jews and half Jews to a ghetto in Žagarė is on a primary source document dated August 22, 1941. The document states: “The Jews residing in all the districts and secondary towns must be removed to the town of Žagarė, from the 25
th to the 29
th of this month.” On Yom Kippur, all the Jews were murdered.
This document has been available for 80 years in the Šiauliai archives. Yet, according to the Lithuanian government’s official arbiter of history, the Genocide Resistance and Research Center, it doesn’t serve as proof that Jonas Noreika participated in the Holocaust. It doesn’t matter that he was District Chief of Šiauliai between the years 1941 and 1943 during the Nazi occupation, that his name is on 70 documents concerning the Holocaust i
Lithuania has been gaslighting its role in the Holocaust for 80 years timesofisrael.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from timesofisrael.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.