Double genocide theory: Difference between revisions

In Lithuania, the [[Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights|Museum of Genocide Victims]] (now the Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights) was opened in 1992, memorializing the [[Occupation of the Baltic states#Second Soviet occupation (1944–1991)|victims of crimes against humanity during Soviet occupation]], but rarely mentions [[the Holocaust in Lithuania]]. Until 2011, the Holocaust was mentioned only once in the entire museum, compared to the two rooms devoted to the [[Soviet occupation of Lithuania|Soviet occupation]]. According to [[Ljiljana Radonić]], a political scientist specializing in national memory, said that "the way in which Jewish victims are portrayed there shows that this reference to the Holocaust is merely perfunctory."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Radonić |first=Ljiljana |date=2018-10-02 |title=From "Double Genocide" to "the New Jews": Holocaust, Genocide and Mass Violence in Post-Communist Memorial Museums |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14623528.2018.1522831 |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |language=en |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=510–529 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2018.1522831 |s2cid=80720034 |issn=1462-3528}}</ref> In Lithuania's state Jewish museum's main building, a plaque asserts that "The first killings of Jews have been performed [[June Uprising in Lithuania|in the context of the war chaos]]." In this context, some basic postulates of the double genocide theory were developed. Lithuanian nationalists, backed by the state, falsely asserted that various nationalist collaborators were anti-Soviet heroes, that Jewish victims were merely collateral damage in the fog of war, and any documentation that counters this is Soviet propaganda.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Katz |first=Dovid |date=2016 |title=Is Eastern European 'Double Genocide' Revisionism Reaching Museums? |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23256249.2016.1242043 |journal=Dapim: Studies on the Holocaust |language=en |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=191–220 |doi=10.1080/23256249.2016.1242043 |s2cid=157910635 |issn=2325-6249}}</ref> However, the historical record shows that Lithuanian Jews were targeted for extermination - based on their ethnicity - by both the Nazis and local nationalist forces, with [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|local nationalists taking a leading role in the genocide.]]<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wyman |first1=David S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U6KVOsjpP0MC&pg=PA325 |title=The World Reacts to the Holocaust |last2=Rosenzveig |first2=Charles H. |date=1996-09-24 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-4969-5 |pages=325–353 |language=en}}</ref>▼

Lithuanian Historian Vytautas Berenis commented that the double genocide theory has considerable influence in Lithuanian historiography and journalism. Berenis states that Lithuanian nationalists excuse their country's collaboration by asserting that collaborators were merely retaliating against "[[Jewish Bolshevism|Jewish communists]]" that were allegedly over-represented in the ranks of the NKVD and communist party cadres. Berenis says that this theory is incorrect on the merits. Many Jews did not support the Soviets - a disproportionate number of Jews were victims of Soviet deportations. Further, in October 1940, 68.49 percent of members of the [[Lithuanian Communist Party]] were ethnic Lithuanians, while 16.24 percent were Jews - but nearly all the victims of nationalist atrocities were Jews.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Berenis |first=Vytautas |year=2000 |title=Holokaustas ir lietuviu istorine samone |url=https://etalpykla.lituanistikadb.lt/object/LT-LDB-0001:J.04~2000~1367158931191/J.04~2000~1367158931191.pdf |journal=Politologija |language=lt |volume=3 |issue=19 |pages=3–24 |quote=Lietuvių istoriografijoje didelę įtaką turi 'dviejų genocidų' teorija, kuri, galima sakyti, yra vyraujanti. Šia prasme 'dviejų genocidų' arba 'dvigubos simetrijos' teorijos istoriniai argumentai yra tokie: 1) žydai aktyviai dalyvavo komunistiniame judėjime; 2) žydai laukė Raudonosios Armijos atėjimo, vadinasi ir, Lietuvos okupacijos; 3) žydai dalyvavo komunistų represijose ir dirbo represinėse struktūrose. Tokie argumentai, kaip mano autoriai, turėtų paaiškinti 'spontanišką' lietuviųlceršto proveržį pirmosiomis karo dienomis. Reikia pripažinti, kad ši, nors dar ir reanimuojama koncepcija, neturi didelės įtakos lietuvių istoriografijoje. Bet ji gaji istorinėje publicistikoje, teigiant, kad 1940 m. žydai suvaidino pragaištingą vaidmenį ir susikompromitavo kaip Lietuvos piliečiai bei neteko vietos gyventojų pasitikėjimo. Argumentuota faktų kalba buvo įrodyta, kad didžioji žydų dalis nepritarė bolševikinei santvarkai Lietuvoje arba netrukus ja nusivylė. Faktais buvo įrodyta, kad 1941 m. birželio 14 d. trėmimai palietė nemažai Lietuvos žydų.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Berenis |first=Vytautas |year=2006 |title=Istorinė tradicija ir moderniosios istorijos iššūkiai |journal=Kultūrologija |language=lt |issue=13 |pages=10–28 |issn=1822-2242 |id={{CEEOL|254316}} |quote=Toks vertinimas susilaukë arðios reakcijos lietuviø emigracijo-je JAV. Tarnavæ lietuviø savisaugos batalionuose, policijoje ar savi-valdoje, jie turëjo savo 1941–1944 m. aiðkinimo schemà. Lietuvai at-gavus nepriklausomybæ ir pradëjus diskutuoti ðiais klausimais,iðeiviø vertinimas persikëlë á vietiná istoriografiná diskursà. Ben-drais bruoþais þydø þudymo politika 1941–1944 m. bei lietuviø daly-vavimas joje buvo aiðkinamas ir vertinamas pagal teorinæ 'dviejøgenocidø' schemà: 1. Þydai aktyviai dalyvavo komunistiniame ju-dëjime; 2. Jie laukë Raudonosios armijos atëjimo, vadinasi – ir Lie-tuvos okupacijos; 3. Þydai aktyviai dalyvavo lietuviø represijose irdirbo NKVD struktûrose.Tokie 'argumentai', kaip mano tokio poþiûrio ðalininkai, turë-jo paaiðkinti spontaniðkà lietuviø kerðto proverþá prieð þydus pir-mosiomis karo dienomis, bandyti pateisinti kolaboravimà su na-ciais okupacijos metais. Savo 'istoriografinæ gynybà' jie bandëpagrásti dviem argumentais: lietuviai prisidëjo likviduojant tik þy-dus komunistus, o masines þydø þudynes organizavo vokieèiø na-cistai ir jose dalyvavo tik lietuviø visuomenës 'padugnës'.Dabartiniai lietuviø istorikai argumentuotai, faktø kalba pa-neigë mità, kad þydai sudarë daugumà Lietuvos komunistø vietinë-se valdþios ir represinëse struktûrose. Pavyzdþiui, Lietuvos istorikaifaktais árodë, kad 'dviejø genocidø' teorija yra klaidinga, o 1940 m.spalio mën. Lietuvos komunistø partijoje 68,49 proc. buvo lietuviø,16,24 – þydø, 11,97 – rusø. NKVD struktûrose 1941 m. birþelio mën.pradþioje 52,2 proc. sudarë rusai, 31,2 proc. – lietuviai, 16,6 proc. –þydai, Lietuvos komjaunimo organizacijoje þydai sudarë 23,8 proc.}}</ref> Poet and dissident [[Tomas Venclova]] criticized the concept of double genocide in his 1975 essay {{lang|lt|italic=no|"Žydai ir lietuviai"}} ("Jews and Lithuanians") and subsequent publications. According to Venclova, the theory obscures the role of Lithuanians in crimes against humanity committed in Lithuania by assigning all guilt to non-Lithuanian actors.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Eidukevičienė |first=Rūta |year=2011 |title=Lietuvos istorijos ir istorinės atminties tematizavimas naujausioje austrų literatūroje |url=https://www.vdu.lt/cris/bitstream/20.500.12259/33340/1/ISSN2335-8769_2011_N_56.PG_9-33.pdf |journal=Darbai ir dienos |language=lt |issue=56 |pages=9–33 |issn=1392-0588 |id={{CEEOL|207959}} |quote=Lietuviai taip pat linkę save suvokti vien kaip dviejų totalitarinių režimų, t. y. nacių Vokietijos ir Sovietų Sąjungos, auką ir vis dar vengia atidžiau įvertinti savo vaidmenį karo metų įvykiuose bei pripažinti lietuvių padarytus nusikaltimus. Panašiai kaip J. Haslingeris Austrijoje, Tomas Venclova Lietuvoje kritikuoja tautiečiams būdingą bet kokios kaltės neigimą ir vis dar gają 'dviejų genocidų' teoriją. Kritiškas požiūris išdėstomas viename garsiausių jo esė 'Žydai ir lietuviai' (1975) ir plėtojamas vėlesnėse publikacijose.}}</ref>▼

This reckoning of national memory was not limited to Lithuania, but occurred throughout the [[Post-Soviet states|Post-Soviet States]]. In 2010, political scientist [[Evgeny Finkel]] commented: "There is hardly any country in the vast region from Estonia in the north to Kazakhstan in the south in which either the authorities or the opposition have not seriously considered the idea of officially recognising past sufferings as genocides, often finding creative ways to reconcile the [[Genocide Convention|legal definition of the concept]] ... and the historical record."<ref name="Finkel 2010">{{cite journal|last=Finkel|first=Evgeny|date=January 2010|title=In Search of Lost Genocide: Historical Policy and International Politics in Post-1989 Eastern Europe|journal=Global Society|volume=24|issue=1|pages=51–70|doi=10.1080/13600820903432027|s2cid=144068609 |quote=In the Baltic States—Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia—many people view the communist era, and especially the 1940s, as the period of Soviet genocide against the local population. Furthermore, some Baltic intellectuals and political figures, such as the prominent Lithuanian writer {{ill|Jonas Mikelinskas|lt}}, argued that the region was subject to 'double genocide'—the one perpetrated by the Soviets, and the Holocaust committed by Nazi Germany. Supporters of this theory, which became very popular in the mid-1990s, claimed that Lithuanian Jews actively participated in the repression of the local population, and therefore the collaboration with the Nazis and participation in the Holocaust were merely acts of revenge.}}</ref>▼