Consternation accompanied he final weeks before seven countries were proffered invitations in Prague last month, becoming candidates for acceptance into the military alliance that has defined Europe since WW II. The befuddlement had much to do with a final public push delivered by various groups expressing concerns that the seven, but in particular the Baltics, were ignoring value issues.

“Value issues” are an euphemism these days for handling Jewish affairs. Not issues of today, but rather those from the past - what is known as Holocaust history. It was startling, to say the least, to find in the week before the Prague NATO summit ads in Latvian and Lithuanian newspapers, placed by Efraim Zuroff and the Wiesenthal Centre, offering a reward of $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Nazi war criminals. The same ploy had been used in Estonia earlier this year, and most unpleasantly in 1999 in an advert prominently displaying the Canadian flag, paid for, as far as one is told here, by Canadian taxpayer’s money.

There is cause to be concerned about such a focus. And the timing. While NATO membership is not a foregone conclusion for the seven aspirant nations, any suggestion that rampant anti-Semitism exists today is far fetched, to say the least.

People will and can refer to what happened during German occupation in the Baltics. Far fewer take the time to address the Soviet tyranny, the Holocaust perpetrated under the guise of socialism.

It was no small irony that in the week before the Prague summit a trial began in Kuressaare, Estonia- the largest of its kind ever held. Eight Soviet agents are being tried for deporting Estonians during Stalin’s time to Siberia, their only crime was being of farming stock. The Kremlin today is accusing Estonians of seeking revenge, and has sent lawyers and funds to support the accused deporters.

A couple of those Wiesenthal dollars would come in handy, to provide a sense of balance. Or at least, provide for similar media coverage given those who claim that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are denying their history.

The U.S. State Department has long “encouraged” potential NATO members to confront their past. Ambassadors such as Joseph De Thomas in Estonia have publicly taken a stand on this painful topic, yet often one which has no concept of what took place. Collaboration with the Nazis took place throughout Europe (consider France), yet because of the size of many of these countries most war criminals who avoided capture and Nuremberg are not looking over their shoulders.

Consider as well ageism. The eight Soviet war criminals in the dock at Kuressaare are being pampered because of their “advanced years.”

As the crimes of which they stand accused took place in 1949 the men are in their late seventies, early eighties. Claiming ill health, some of those accused have not seen their day in court. Yet, that must have been the legacy of the Soviet system - consider how many Estonian-Canadians are hale and hearty at that age, even after the deprivations caused by fighting the Red Terror, having to flee their homeland, starting life anew elsewhere.

It was with some pleasure then, that the reader of the National Post noted on November 26th, that the paper had chosen to run an article picked up from the Daily Telegraph, chronicling this significant trial - the largest ever held in (as unfortunately stated) the former USSR.

Author Julius Strauss chose not to mention in his article, that Estonia has not held a similar trial for Nazi war criminals. Much scuttlebutt exists, but as Zuroff’s offers have brought no results, one surmises that there is more noise than fact.

Yet Estonia was forced to declare a National Holocaust Day in public schools, thanks to pressures from the likes of De Thomas. (Adam B. Ellick, writing in a mainstream newspaper, suggested that Estonia stalled for two years before taking this step, inferring that NATO candidacy made the difference. Ellick also suggested in his Nov 6th JTA opinion piece that there should be concerns about Estonia’s “ability” to address the issue of local collaboration in the Holocaust.)

War crimes are all horrible, no matter what uniform one was forced to wear. But from the perspective of an occupied nation, where far more harm, for far longer was done by those in Soviet uniforms than by any other nationality, it seems that justice is not being served.

Efraim Zuroff went on record at a Holocaust Conference in the Balkans in October as warning against the acceptance of the Baltic countries into NATO. Zuroff was bold enough to suggest that once in NATO, the motivation to prosecute war criminals would disappear. He claimed that acceptance into NATO would mean a decline in “willingness to cooperate on Jewish issues.”
Of course, Zuroff meant only those who were not commies.

While my heart goes out to all victims of war crimes, from Cambodia to Kenya, Bosnia to Nicaragua, my mind keeps wondering why the playing field is not level, why propaganda generated by the chosen few swamps what really happened in that maelstrom between two equally virulent ideologies.

The temptation is great to say give it a rest - let Yahveh sort it all out on judgment day.

Märkmed: