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Jewish community: antisemitic attitudes of Lithuanians show general cultural decline

BC, Vilnius, 27.06.2014.Print version
The roundtable discussion held by the Lithuanian Jewish Community has arrived at a conclusion that antisemitic attitudes of Lithuanians show the general cultural decline and sickness of the Lithuanian society, informs LETA/ELTA.

The participants of the discussion underlined that the issue would be better solved by paying more attention to culture, quality education, yet there was a lack of clear guidelines and coordination from ministries.

 

According to Birute Sabatauskaite, Director of the Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights, negative attitude towards Jewish people has declined compared to 2005; still the trend in Lithuania remains to do not regard the Jewish history as part of the Lithuanian history. Sabatauskaite underlined that due to the participation of Lithuanians in the Holocaust, the latter in Lithuania is still regarded as somebody else's history. To change the situation, a systematic approach of the government and coordination between the Ministries of Justice, the Interior, in particular Culture and Science and Education is necessary.

 

Meanwhile, Chair of the Lithuanian Jewish Community Faina Kukliansky reminded of the inappropriate portrayal of Jewish people in Lithuanian historical textbooks.

 

The roundtable discussion was initiated following the latest research conducted by Anti-Defamation League. The Global Anti-Semitism Index has revealed that 36% of adults in Lithuania hold anti-Semitic views. Lithuania is ranked 40th among 102 countries in the world in terms of the prevalence of anti-Semitism, behind Latvia (28%) and Estonia (22%).

 

The Anti-Defamation League survey showed that 74% of respondents in Lithuania agreed that Jews were more loyal to Israel than their current country. 65% stated that Jews invoked the Holocaust much too often. 48% endorsed the stereotype that Jews only cared about their own wellbeing. 45% of the respondents agreed that Jews enjoyed too much influence on financial markets.






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