Other events in Baltic States

Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Efraim Zuroff presented in Estonia the book “Anti-semitism: Conceptual Hatred” that was published under the initiative of UNESCO, writes the National Broadcasting/LETA.

The compilation of essays includes one article by Zuroff as well.

More attention than on this essay by Zuroff has been paid by the Estonian media on Zuroff’s article that was published a couple of weeks ago in Jerusalem Post where he condemned the decision of the European Parliament to declare August 23 – the anniversary of the conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop – as the memorial day of victims of totalitarian communism and Nazism.

Zuroff himself estimated that the media has misunderstood him, noting that he does not claim that the victims of communism should not be commemorated. “We sympathise with the victims of communism; we merely say that victims of communism and of nazism should not be lumped together and communism and nazism should not be equalled as they are not one and the same,” he explained. Zuroff asserted that communists did not commit genocide while Nazis did.

Zuroff also refutes claims that his links to the Russian media club Impressum that invited Zuroff to Estonia and that is considered to be the frontliner of the Russian information war in Estonia by the Security Policy could be considered as evidence of his partiality.

“For eighteen years, since 1991 until last year, I had no contacts with anyone in Russia. This was not coincidence, there was a reason for it – to prove to the Baltic States that I am not operating on behalf of anyone else,” noted Zuroff.