Nadene Goldfoot
My original theory stands; that it has been Eastern Europe's form of Christianity that has turned the people of Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and others into strong anti-Semites. Of course, this goes along with the events happening. The problem has been that of competition for followers; both in religion and in business. On the social ladder, Jews were almost at the bottom rung because of their treatment by the emperors of Rome.
On August 13, 339, C.E., Emperor Constantius II enacted a series of new laws restricting the freedom of Jews in the Roman Empire even more than under the anti-Jewish legislation imposed by his father, Constantine the Great. Judaism faced some severe restrictions under Constantius, who seems to have followed an anti-Jewish policy in line with that of his father. This included edicts to limit the ownership of slaves by Jewish people and banning marriages between Jews and Christian women. Later edicts sought to discourage conversions from Christianity to Judaism by confiscating the apostate's property. However, Constantius' actions in this regard may not have been so much to do with Jewish religion as with Jewish business—apparently, privately owned Jewish businesses were often in competition with state-owned businesses. As a result, Constantius may have sought to provide an advantage to state-owned businesses by limiting the skilled workers and slaves available to Jewish businesses.
An early sign of anti-Semitic attitude was in 1936 with outbreaks of anti-Jewish activity in several states beyond the borders of Germany. In Lithuania, in an attempt to establish restrictions on the % of Jewish students, not a single Jewish medical student was given a place in the medical faculty of Kovno University. Though Germany had led the way towards attacking Jews with the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, was that reason enough for all others to copy Germany? Didn't they think for themselves? Usually, what is normal is to copy something you think is good, valuable, worthy of copying. Well?
Surprisingly, The Christianization of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos krikštas) occurred in 1387, initiated by King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Władysław II Jagiełło and his cousin Vytautas the Great. It signified the official adoption of Christianity by Lithuania, the last pagan country in Europe. This event ended one of the most complicated and lengthiest processes of Christianization in European history.
In 1388, one year after the Christian-Catholic religion was introduced all over Lithuania, the latter also granted the Jews a preferred civil status and incomparable bills of rights in many different spheres, such as protecting their bodies and property; freedom to maintain their religious rituals; significant alleviation in the field of commerce, and money-lending-this being permitted in relation to Christians. Would you say that the Lithuanian heads wanted Jews to enter to make such an enticing offer? Of course; they couldn't pass this offer up.
What happened to Lithuania? What else is the reason for hating Jews so much that was or maybe still is that Jews killed their god? Of course this makes NO sense to me that any human being can kill G0d, but there you are; we've been blamed for a Roman decision for the past 2,000 years. We're somebody to blame, for others to never take responsibility for a thing because somebody is blaming us, the Jews for the bad things in life. Lithuanians are not the only people who have done this.
The 1st settlement of Jews took place in the Great Lithuanian Princedom began in the 14th century by invitation of the Grand Dukes Gediminas and Vytautas (Witold). In other words, the Jews were enticed, invited to settle in Lithuania by the highest powers there.
"In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Christian anti-Judaism in the medieval West had intensified, which is reflected in the harsh anti-Jewish measures agreed at the Fourth Council of the Lateran called in 1215 by Pope Innocent III. The peninsular Christian kingdoms were not at all oblivious to the growth of increasingly belligerent anti-Judaism—the Castilian statutory code of Siete Partidas stated that the Jews lived among Christians "so that their presence reminds them that they descend from those who crucified Our Lord Jesus Christ"—but the kings continued to "protect" the Jews for the important role they played in their kingdoms."
It was around this time that Spain was affected by the Pope over Jews. By 1492 with the Alhambra Decree (also known as the Edict of Expulsion; they kicked Jews out who wouldn't convert, causing some to go underground and go through a pretense. This had been growing stronger ever since the 1200s, so the Jews knew that this was a good offer. They were needed here for their trading skills, and the fact that they were able to read and write and speak several languages, skills needed by those in trading in those days.
It is not surprising then to read that by 1495, Grand Duke Alexander expelled all Jews--then numbering more than 6,000 people from Lithuania and confiscated their property. Then 8 years later he was elected King of Poland and allowed Lithuanian Jews to return to their homes and gave them back PART of their property. It was a good move to hope for re-election, wasn't it?
Grant Gochin has been so convinced of their present anti-Semitism that he's written a book "Malice, Murder, and Manipulation-one man's Quest for Truth" about it as well as several articles. "Citizenship and legal status affected every aspect of Jewish life in the “old country.” Follow a 100-year circular story of how the Lithuanian government abused national laws, causing multiple Jewish deaths in 1922, and how the same government still continued that behavior four generations later. Follow the documented saga of one Jewish family’s deportations, starvation, death, abductions, and movement. Understand the implications of heritage citizenships for past, current, and future generations. Testimonials: “A fascinating read!” —The Hon. Dr. Juris Bunkis, Honorary Consul for the Republic of Latvia," Grant and I have found out we're 3rd cousins twice removed through genealogy searches and 4th cousins by DNA testing with my brother with ancestors from 1800s marrying in Lithuania. We accuse them of this because Lithuania is in the act of such denial right now, and our ancestors were there; witnesses to and victims of such feelings.
My grandfather, Nathan Goldfus-Goldfoot came from Telsiai/Telz. I've traced the Goldfus line back to 1730 to Iones "Jonah" Goldfus of Telsiai, Lithuania who died in 1813 at age 83. He was first on the 1910 census in Portland, Oregon at age 38. Grant was also a genealogist of his family and the Gochins were in Papile, Lithuania. Grant's ancestor, Sam Gochin was born in 1902 and was deported from Papile by 1915, then abducted and taken into the Russian army in Belorussia in 1917. An ancestor of his, Faive Shrago Gochin b; c1837 married my ancestor, Tsipa Goldfus b: c1842, married in c1857. We agree on our genealogy and assessment of Lithuania treatment of Jews.
My grandmother, Zlata Jermulowske, came from Lazdey, Lithuania which was on the border with Poland.I'll use Telz information as the Lithuanian example of how Lithuanians reacted during the war.
A shtetl at one time; Mažeikiai was first mentioned in written sources in 1335. A chronicler of the Livonian Order wrote about a campaign of the Order, during which the land of Duke Mažeika was devastated. The town started growing rapidly in 1869 when the Libau–Romny Railway connecting Vilnius and Liepāja was constructed. In 1893, the town had 13 shops and 5 alehouses. In 1894 an Eastern Orthodox church was built, and a synagogue had been founded several years earlier. In 1902 a Catholic church was established, followed by an Evangelical-Lutheran church in 1906. From 1899 to 1918 the town was called Muravyov.
After (July 28, 1914-November 11, 1917 or World War I) , Lithuania became an independent state again. However, the capital and the city with the largest Jewish population, Vilna, had been incorporated into Poland. The remaining Jews living in Lithuania were emancipated—their rights were mostly recognized—but by the early 1930s, the economic crisis known as the Great Depression and rampant antisemitism among ultranationalist groups were having an effect on the Jewish community. On the eve of World War II, despite the earlier loss of Vilna, 160,000 Jews lived in Lithuania—about 7% of the overall population.
The German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 affected all Lithuanians, too. Telz's Jews had been feeling the affects several months before. Hitler sent an ultimatum to Lithuania on March 20, 1939 to Jews to leave Memel within 24 hours. About 7,000 Jews lived in this city and escaped, leaving everything behind, looking for asylum in other regions like Zemaitija and in Kovno. Many settled in Telz, and the Jewish community there took care of them.
Report from Kovno: "trained Lithuanians were available in sufficient number. Only 15% of Lithuanian Jewry remained alive by November 1941. As a result, the city was, as he expressed it, comparatively speaking, a shooting paradise. The male work-Jews should be sterilized immediately to prevent any procreation. a Jewess who, nevertheless, was pregnant is to be liquidated". So reported SS Colonel Karl Jaeger, the chief of Einsatzkimmando 3.
The affect was that goods were hard to get or find and some Jews were exiled to Siberia in June 1941. Buildings were conviscated like the Yeshiva (Jewish school) and turned into city schools. Telz had had the famous Telz-Stone Yeshiva, known throughout eastern Europe.
On Friday, June 27, Telz's Jews were expelled from their houses and directed to the shore of Lake Mastis and had to leave their homes unlocked. They were surrounded by armed Lithuanians under German command. the Jews then realized they were to be murdered or drowned. To make it even more horrific, men and women were separated and the women and children were to return to a home they found to have been previously robbed, left bare, while the men were executed.
The next day, Shabbat, 28 armed Lithuanians appeared, beating those in the homes and led to the Rainiai farm 4 km away where the men were, a surprise. The men were set to work, digging up corpses of 73 political prisoners previously in Telz prison and murdered by the Soviet security men. Telz men were forced to wash the corpses,, kiss them, and lick the decaying wounds that must have been putrid. All the guards in the camp and in the working places were Lithuanians. Much more happened and by June 15, 1941 all men were taken out of the camp and led in groups to the grove and murdered. First they had to undress and stand on a plank across the burying pit and were shot.
Finally the women met their fate. On the 30th and 31st of December 1941 the women were taken out from the ghetto and led in groups to the pits where they were murdered.
Lazdijai's Jews entered on the grant by the Magdeburg Rights in 1579 as well as permission to maintain a weekly market and 2 yearly fairs. Until 1795 it was part of the Polish Lithuanian Kingdom, when the 3rd division of Poland by the 3 superpowers took over; Russia, Prussia and Austria. The German army entered Lazdey on Sunday, June 22, 1941 and the residents were terrorized. Thousands fled. Most Lithuanians wouldn't hide or help anyone Jewish, even denied them water to drink. The Lithuanians yelled, "Go back to Stalin, your father!" Jewish families had been there for the past 362 years. The Jews were accused of being Communists. All the arrested were moved to Mariampol and murdered there. The Rabbi of Lazdey who was rabbi Ya'akov Aryeh haCohen Gershtein from his shelter in Lazdijai and a German and Lithuanian Zarembo started beating him with riding whips. Those people who came to see what was happening were also beaten. Jewish males were taken by Germans and Lithuanians were tortured and robbed. They suffered from merciless beatings first. After Church on Sunday, the Lithuanians took male Jews and tortured them, forced them to roll in the dirt, hit each other, perform other acts to the amusement and pleasure of the spectators. It became like the Roman days and the victims in the amphitheater. It didn't look like a sermon in their church changed them at all.
Out of approximately 208,000–210,000 Lithuanian and Polish Jews, an estimated 190,000–195,000 were murdered before the end of World War II, most of them between June and December 1941.
More than 95% of Lithuania's Jewish population was massacred over the three-year German occupation – a more complete destruction than befell any other country affected by the Holocaust. Historians attribute this to the massive collaboration in the genocide by the non-Jewish local paramilitaries, though the reasons for this collaboration are still debated. The Holocaust resulted in the largest-ever loss of life in so short a period of time in the history of Lithuania.
Ethnic Lithuanian nobles were the main converts to Catholicism, but paganism remained strong among the peasantry. Pagan customs prevailed for a long time among the common people of Lithuania and were covertly practiced. There had been no prosecution of priests and adherents of the old faith. However, by the 17th century, following the Counter-Reformation (1545-1648), the Roman Catholic faith had essentially taken precedence over earlier pagan beliefs.
The conversion and its political implications had lasting repercussions for the history of Lithuania. As the majority of the population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania outside Lithuania proper was Orthodox and the elite gradually converted to Roman Catholicism, religious tensions increased. Some of the Orthodox Gediminids left Lithuania for Muscovy, where they gave rise to such families as the Galitzine and the Troubetzkoy. The Orthodox population of present-day Ukraine and eastern Belarus often sympathized with the rulers of Muscovy, who portrayed themselves as the champions of Orthodoxy. These feelings contributed to such reverses as the Battle of Vedrosha, which crippled the Grand Duchy and undermined its position as a dominant power in Eastern Europe.
On the other hand, the conversion to Roman Catholicism facilitated Lithuania's integration into the cultural sphere of Western Europe and paved the way to the political alliance of Lithuania and Poland, finalized as the Union of Lublin in 1569.
Catholicism was one of the officially tolerated religions in the Russian Empire but Orthodoxy was considered to be above all the religion of the Tsar and the empire. But, having said that, Catholicism continued to shape the lives of people in Lithuania. This was a question of religious politics, identity politics, in general.
Today, if you are Jewish, you cannot obtain citizenship in Lithuania. Just ask Grant Gochin about it. He's tried and wrote his book in 2013. I hear they're on the way to improvement. It's been 10 years.
Israel and Lithuania signed a new cooperation agreement in the fields of education and culture for the years 2023-2026 in March. The two countries first started working together in these sectors in 1994 and the program has been renewed every few years. The agreement serves as a framework for joint activities in education, higher education, youth and youth exchanges, dance, theatre, music, literature, cinema, cultural heritage, sports and more. As part of the agreement, student exchanges can take place through scholarships awarded by the Foreign Ministry’s Department for Cultural and Educational Cooperation.
Resource:
Malice, Murder, and Manipulation by Grant Arthur Gochin
The Holocaust by Martin Gilbert
Preserving Our Litvak Heritage by Josef Rosin by JewishGen,Inc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust_in_Lithuania
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra_Decree
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianization_of_Lithuania
https://yivo.org/Jewish-Encounters-with-the-Catholic-Church-in-Lithuania
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantius_II
https://yivo.org/cimages/historical_sources_of_antisemitism.pdf
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