Many generations of Lithuanians have been raised hearing and often singing this folk song:
„A Jew is climbing a ladder
Suddenly he is falling
Children! Take a wooden stick
And kill the Jew!“
And we know the results it achieved – 96% or over 200,000 of Lithuanian Jewry have been brutally murdered in over 237 known mass murder sites all over Lithuania, with many other unknown places yet to be found. In one of those mass murder sites next to the town of Moletai, among the thousands of murdered Jews is my mother’s whole family – over 100 of them. One particularly brutal and horrible event happened in the first few days of German occupation in the town of Kaunas, the capital of prewar Lithuania. This event is called the Lietukis Garage Massacre. Here, the "wooden sticks," metal bars, and water hoses went into action. Lithuanian Nazi collaborators executed in front of a cheering crowd of Lithuanian men, women, and even children over 68 Jews by first torturing and then clubbing them to death with these "wooden sticks."
And now, almost 80 years after the Holocaust, the most horrible, brutal, and inhumane event in all of Lithuanian and European history, we hear the same song again.
One of those singers is Remigijus Zemaitaitis, a newly elected member of the Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas) and the Godfather of his party, NEMUNO AUSRA, which was invited to the governing coalition.
For almost 2 years, he ran his election campaign using antisemitism, attacking the Lithuanian Jewish Community, its chairwoman, Israel, and even Israeli archeology by using the most horrible wording. Zemaitaitis wrote that it was not Lithuanians who were guilty of murdering Jews but the opposite – Jews murdering Lithuanians. Interestingly, the uniform of his party is brown... Is this a coincidence?
So, after all the antisemitic tirades of Mr. Zemaitaitis, I wrote him a letter asking for an apology. And yes, I received a reply in my email – an insult and the same song in its original Lithuanian language:
"Lipo zydas kopeciom, ir nukrito netyciom, imkit vaikai pagaliuka ir uzmuskit ta zyduka."
And, for sure, Remigijus Zemaitaitis is not Caruso or Pavarotti. But his aria he sang so well that a chorus of almost 200,000 antisemites voted for him. And now he is promoted from a singer to a conductor of the Lithuanian Parliament chorus of those who sang and knew this song well from childhood. BRAVO REMIGIJUS! BRAVO!
About the Author
Liova Kaplan is a citizen of the USA, Israel, and Lithuania. He was on the faculty of American University, the Levin School of Music, and Mannes College Preparatory, and he is the founder of the Washington Conservatory in DC. Mr. Kaplan resides in Israel and Lithuania.