New York, NY, October 29, 1999…A prominent national Jewish leader announced his resignation from the Latvian Commission of Historians. In a letter to the President of Latvia, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Abraham H. Foxman, Anti-Defamation League (ADL) National Director, explained that his decision was due to the "intermingling and confusion" of the Holocaust and the Soviet occupation of Latvia.

"While I acknowledge the suffering of many Latvians at the hands of the Soviets and Latvia’s desire to investigate this history, as a Jew and a Holocaust survivor, I am deeply offended by the intermingling and confusion of these two very different experiences," said Mr. Foxman. "Therefore, I am resigning from the Latvian Commission of Historians. I am deeply concerned that Latvia is not yet ready to truly examine and confront the experience of Latvian Jews during the Holocaust…As you surely know, over 90 percent of Latvia’s Jewish population were murdered as part of Hitler’s deliberate and systematic campaign to annihilate the Jewish people. In far too many cases, ordinary Latvians facilitated the Nazi effort."

Last year Mr. Foxman was invited by President Ulmanis to join the Latvian Commission of Historians. The ADL leader declined to attend the July meeting of the Commission because of concerns raised by reports that the Commission would be investigating both the Holocaust and the impact of the Soviet occupation on Latvia and its citizens.

"In accepting the appointment, I believed that I would be participating in a ground-breaking effort to examine the horrendous crimes committed against the Jewish citizens of Latvia during World War II," said Mr. Foxman. "I was greatly alarmed that the important exploration of crimes committed against Jews would be inappropriately intermingled with issues related to the Soviet occupation.

"Unfortunately, my concerns in July have been realized," continued Mr. Foxman citing the recent conviction of Mikhail Farbtuhs, a former Soviet official, for "genocide" as a demonstration of Latvia’s propensity to equate the Holocaust with Soviet crimes.

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