Foxy.

All of that is true or at least arguable. Hitler and Stalin were mass murderers on a scale rarely seen in history until they were surpassed by the Asian maniacs later in the century (Mao, Kim, Pol Pot).

But that wasn't really my point. Among these overriding murderous regimes were little racial tensions that spilled over into monumental atrocities. Each of the countries conquered by Hitler and Stalin had their own factions that sought to eliminate their enemies.

And the main enemy were the Jews. So The eastern European peoples, or at least a portion of them, took the opportunity to reek havoc on their Jewish demographic. The Poles, Ukrainians, Estonians among others gleefully helped the Nazis with their own version of the Holocaust. But chief among these were the Lithuanians who wiped out a greater portion of their Jewish population than any other nation, including the Germans. Lithuanian militia were formed, even before the Germn take-over, to start the massacre of the hated Jew. Mass graves. Entire villages destroyed. Women and children treated worse than almost anywhere else.

Sure, many of these Lithuanian men might have harboured misgivings and only did it out of fear of not going along. And we know of some who actively worked to save Jews here and there. But antisemitism was rife in the nation and was unleashed upon a helpless Jewish population with a ferocity not seen elsewhere. It is estimated that up to 50% of the native Lithuanian men were involved in their little version of the Holocaust.

That sort of national trait doesn't disappear in one or two generations

We do have one person here so far seeing this as partially a free speech issue (mhaze) and that's a good start.

We still have a lot of people ignoring the bigger issues alongside the need to get to the root cause of this entire Israel/Gaza/Hamas conflict.

It's also a question of comments and actual realities. So far to my knowledge these nurses have committed no negative activity towards any patient. If they truly felt the way they did in terms of these comments they've had a long time to take action.

As a vegetarian, I hold strong views on animal rights. I consider the killing of animals by humans for consumption to be an evil, disgusting activity and individuals that consume animal flesh are not people I hold in high regard - but my reality of life approach and view is totally different.

I respect individuals and their free choice re food consumption and I treat individuals that eat flesh with basic common decency like I would others in a physical space.

They are my own personal feelings and go nowhere beyond my personal space, but I still hold them. Someone could record them if I was talking about them which actually do, but they would taken completely out of context.

Finally, we have huge numbers of people, innocent civilians and others who have died or suffered due to the actions of Hamas and the Israeli Government, alongside political leaders who have failed to get a positive outcome, but I see very few people here calling for them to resign, lose jobs or be thrown out of office. So it's a matter of priorities.

I wish the ones truly responsible for the current situation in Gaza/Israel would cease in full their current actions and release all hostages, with Australia taking stronger action in this area, not spending excessive amounts of time going after two people making some comments now online disliked by a few.

"I have no wish to argue with you about Lithuania. History is
clear about Stalin's score in victims tortured, starved, and
murdered. Of creating panic and chaos and of producing
millions of bodies, of refugees, and homeless.

Of buiklding and expanding concentration camps. in which
millions of innocent victims would perish.

Terror was used to deal with their domestic opposition.

It's no wonder that those who were able fought back. Just
as Ukraine is doing today against Putin.

People will always continue to fight for their freedom. No
matter how long it may take."

THERE WAS FREEDOM, THERE WAS PEACE.
How does the past justify the present?
It's the west that wanted a war which would justify sanctions to create a political crisis in Russia to oust Putin, and then isolate China. It's the west which wanted to bring NATO to Russia's borders, it's the west which started a coup in Ukraine to overthrow the country and then use them as cannon fodder to fight Russia, now after a million dead and the war lost, the west wants to negotiate when it's Russia that gets to set terms. Now the West wants a refund on money lost, like a million dead and a war lost wasn't a big enough catastrophe on it's own, and even more disgusting is that with peace on the horizon, Europe still want to find a way to win or keep the Ukrainians dying, for their own selfish interests.

As for the USSR, it was Jews that bankrolled and created that monster.

mhaze,

As we can see from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
: history lies at the heart of every conflict and a true
and unbiased understanding of the past offers a better
understanding.

It's important to remember that the double occupation of
Lithuania by the Soviets and then by the Germans was an
exceedingly violent break with the previous history of
Jews in Lithuania.

Though the Germans had not trouble finding Lithuanians
to kill Jews what happened during the previous Soviet
occupation prior to the German must be understood. It
had no precedent in previous Lithuanian policy or
in the history of Lithuanian- Jewish relations.

Lithuania was a significant center of Jewish cultural,
economic, and intellectual life before WWII according
to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. The pre-war Jewish
population was approx. 160,000, or 7% of the total
population.

The city of Vilnius had a sizeable Jewish population and
was a major center for Jewish learning and numerous
synagogues earning the nickname of "Jerusalem of the North".

There are numerous Lithuanian Jews living in Israel today.
Lithuanian Jews had a distinct dialect of Yiddish and
they played a significant role in Jewish intellectual
movements like Zionism and socialist thought.

In today's Lithuania monuments and memorials have been built that
acknowledge the past. Synagogues restored.

For its part the Lithuanian government also focuses on the
Lithuanian victims of the Soviet occupation.Explaining both sides
of any conflict often leads to a better understanding.

Especially true of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and the
feelings of the people on both sides.

It may also take time for generations to recover.

Especially, when in the past - many Nazi criminals have been
pursued, tried, and punished ,while many Soviet criminals who escaped
to Israel and were not handed over on extradition requests by Lithuania.

I'm so glad that the Lithuanian government is at least
trying to restore Jewish culture - back into Lithuania.

mhaze,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Lithuanians_Righteous_Among_the_Nations#: