That
most Latvian of all holidays, the Midsummer Līgo celebration is over
(technically, today, June 24, as I write, is still Jānis Day, from which the
holiday derives its name of Jāņi).
Normally this signals the start of a respite from active politics, since the
Saeima (lovingly called the “Monkey House” by some journalists) is in recess.
This year, on the eve of Jāņi, a
moderate political earthquake hit as Minister of Justice Gaidis Bērziņš of the
National Alliance resigned in protest over what he said was a dispute over
government plans to deal with the issue of restitution of property seized after
1940 to some Jewish organizations.
By
some accounts, the value of this property – buildings and land in Riga and
other places around Latvia – is around LVL 30 million. That is not some cash payment the
organizations want (as sometimes misinterpreted), but the estimated value of
the properties, some of which may be unusable and unmarketable and would have
to be compensated in cash should the plan go through.
The
National Alliance objects to the government’s plans to reopen the restitution
process (begun more than 20 years ago) for the sake of one
interest/religious/ethnic group. This is not in and of itself an unreasonable
position. Even Jewish community spokesmen have said that they would welcome the
government allowing other ethnic, religious or social organizations to recover
property that they are entitled to, but have not managed to claim to date.
However,
the debate has stimulated a very ugly torrent of hateful, anti-Semitic comments
in Latvian news portals. To what extent this reflects the views of society or
just of a small core of crazies using different pseudonyms is unclear. But the
stuff they are writing is pretty deranged:
Damned Jews! Those (obscenity censored by the
portal’s bot) sent money from the USA to Hitler to run his war machine. That’s
how they got their state. Asking compensation from Latvia which belonged to the
Urals or Germany. Wrecked banks! And now they ask for their property? Adolf, where
are you?
If you are a Jew, it is
best if you immediately shoot yourself.
Jews are the bloodsuckers of other nations.
HITLER SHOT TOO FEW OF
THEM
Not without reason this
nation was hated during Czarist times and they were deprived of all rights. The
Soviet system allowed them to awaken and rename themselves with Russian last
names and make up the name Hebrews, because the name Jews(žīdi, neutral in
Latvian, but reminiscent of the abusive “zhid” in Russian)sounded derogatory to
them. The Jews throughout history have done more harm to the world than all
wars taken together. If someone were to add up all the owners of capital in the
world, a not very pleasant scene would be revealed – we are all dependent on
their greed.
While
these rantings rarely get translated and presented outside of Latvia, anyone
reading the portals uncritically could get the impression that Latvia is a
profoundly anti-Semitic country, distorting the debate over restitution to
Jewish organizations as a purely “anti-Semites against the Jews” issue, which it is not.
The
issue is one of making an exception for organizations that have some break in
their historical continuity to recover property after established deadlines. In
the case of Latvia’s Jews, with much of the community destroyed in the
Holocaust, it is no surprise that some Jewish organizations had no direct
“heirs”, even if they were
reconstituted in the years since Latvia regained its independence in 1991. It
is also claimed that the Jewish organizations seeking to regain properties
mainly have Russian Jewish immigrants as their members, and have little or no
continuity with the Latvian Jewish organizations that were expropriated in
1940.
One
analogy that could be drawn (hypothetically) is that of an Irish Catholic
congregation in the US that has some of its property taken illegally in, say,
1970, and drags the case through the courts and other institutions for more
than four decades. In the mean time, the Irish Catholics are replaced by Latin
Americans, who are no less Catholic, but of a different ethnic background.
This
will not really work in Latvia, because when it comes to “ethnicity”, the
current Jewish community is seen as “Russian” and representing the “occupation”
(even if many moved to Latvia during the Soviet era because it was seen as one
of the least anti-Semitic areas of the USSR). A few persons associated with
“anti-Latvian” causes, such as Vladimirs Lindermans, one of the instigators of
the referendum to make Russian a second state language, is understood to be
Jewish. So is Aleksandrs Giļmans, an ex- politician who has cast doubt on the
historical condemnation of the June 14, 1941 deportation of thousands of
Latvian citizens (including a disproportionate number of Jews). That, for many
Latvians, is the equivalent of Holocaust denial for Jews.
By
creating a medium intensity political crisis (not quite toppling the
government), the resignation of Bērziņš comes as a confluence of the worst
possible factors – perceived and real anti-Semitism in Latvia, issues of
restitution for the Soviet and Nazi eras (it was actually the Soviet occupation
that confiscated Jewish property, the Germans didn’t get their chance) and
suspicions that the whole thing actually is a symptom of bigger (?) political
sharks fighting under the murky waters.
The
National Alliance seems to be shrugging off the anti-Jewish tempests in several
internet teacups that its move has set off. The party alliance itself cannot be
labeled as anti-Semitic, even though one of its former(?) spokesmen, Jānis Iesalnieks,
triggered a discussion of the possibility of “intelligent anti-Semitism” –
whatever than means? Is it criticizing Israel’s policies (a legitimate issue,
but Israel is a state, not some hazy entity called “the Jews”). Or what?
What
the National Alliance may be hoping to gain is threefold – to have the
government retreat on the Jewish restitution issue or open the matter to “all”
ethnic and religious organizations, to replace Bērziņš with its new candidate
for Justice Minister (keeping that post) and to perhaps unseat Daniels Pavļuts
of the Reform Party as Minister of Economics. The Harvard-trained minister’s
party, according to the latest voter polls, would get 1.8% in an election held
today, putting it well below the
5% threshold for being seated in the Saeima and making the party
political “ dead meat” waiting topple over when the next Saeima elections come.
Who
else may be behind the scenes? There have been guesses that the beleaguered
Ventspils mayor and oligarch Aivars Lembergs could be pulling the strings. His
main benefit would be political instability and bringing international
attention to “anti-Semitic Latvia” rather that to his case. A Latvian court
said it would enforce a British court ruling freezing some USD 135 million in
Lembergs assets. It could be the beginning of the end, and he is using his
waning political influence to pull down as much of the house around him as
possible.
As
for the Jewish properties, the picture is not clear. Conflicting lists exist of
what is in question – some properties have already been returned (Bikur Holim
hospital), while others look abandoned, in bad shape or in the hands of “owners” who seem to have obtained title to them
from the Latvian state by murky means. What this may actually expose – whether that
was the purpose of the Jewish community’s requests or not—is the mess or “bardaks” that still exists concerning unclaimed
and “difficult” properties 21 years after Latvia regained its independence.
