McKenzie 125 was far from packed Friday night, as Valdas Anelauskas delivered the eighth installment of his highly controversial lecture series titled “Zionism and Russia,” which has been openly condemned as anti-Semitic and hateful.
“Jews never apologize for anything. They are professional victims,” Anelauskas said as the lecture began for the Pacifica Forum, an organization that provides different points of view regarding war and peace from a historical perspective, according to the organization.
A self-proclaimed white separatist and nationalist, Anelauskas lived and breathed the harsh oppression of Lithuania while the country was under the control of the former Soviet Union. Anelauskas said that oppression serves as his motivation to exercise his free speech rights today, even when they infringe on the “taboos” society has against questioning the Holocaust and Jews, he said.
The Eugene Anti-Hate Task Force, a grassroots organization of 28 people, said Anelauskas’ lecture series has concerned them and the community.
“This is how things started in Nazi Germany in the ’20s and ’30s,” said Craig Weinerman, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council and task force member. “Anti-Semitic thought provides fuel for other hate groups.”
Orval Etter, founder of the Pacifica Forum, said the purpose of the group is to endorse free speech that some people don’t agree with.
“He’s expressed some views some people in the forum have regarded as somewhat racist,” Etter said of Anelauskas’ lectures. “It’s been generating a full round of heat recently.”
In fall 2003 the Eugene Fellowship of Reconciliation dropped their sponsorship of the Pacifica Forum after “some members became aware that a number of people were deeply offended by certain Pacifica Forum presentations,” especially anti-Semitic content, task force member Michael Williams said.
While the Pacifica Forum has invited Holocaust deniers in the past, none has spoken as many times as Anelauskas, according to the task force.
“I didn’t deny the Holocaust existed; it’s a historical fact,” Anelauskas said. “But for some reason, if you speak of the Holocaust, you get in big trouble.”
Anelauskas said he disagrees with details of the Holocaust, which he believes should be openly discussed, such as the number of deaths, the “horrible atrocities” of soap made from human fat and lampshades from skin and “those gas chambers.”
“There were many things added after the war,” he said, explaining how sections of Anne Frank’s diary were written with a pen that wasn’t invented until after the war, and how he believes her father might have added to the journals for profit.
While these accusations are rightfully protected under the Constitution, Anti-Hate Task Force members believe the lectures’ anti-Semitic and racist indictments should be exposed and rejected.
“Hate speech just means what the Jews hate to hear,” Anelauskas said. “As far as I know, the Jews dictate what you can say, what you can’t say.”
Anelauskas said moral and ethical boundaries on speech shouldn’t exist because they are impossible to define according to different people’s beliefs.
“The real issue is ‘what kind of speech we should encourage?’” Williams said, who has been attending the Pacifica Forum’s lectures on behalf of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Anti-Hate Task Force, for three and a half years. “I think we should discourage it.”
Anelauskas said that this country and community is prided in its diversity and multiculturalism, and he doesn’t understand why people can’t have tolerance for his opinions.
“I can say some stupid things, but should you put me to jail? In free society there should be no taboos,” Anelauskas said. “I respect very much free speech for my opponents,” and for himself.
Task force members say they don’t want to censor Anelauskas, but monitor him to prevent the incitement of violence and the possible formation of neo-Nazi organizations in the community.
Williams said he would feel more comfortable if the lecture had a disclaimer so students don’t think the lectures are sanctioned by the University or mistake their content for “real history,” which he believes they are not.
“It doesn’t take long for (anti-Semitism) to go raging through a community,” said task force member Irwin Noparstak, who believes the Pacifica Forum is grooming Anelauskas to take over when Etter dies. “It can happen here. It can lead to violence.”
Anelauskas said he is only practicing his freedom of speech rights, which were nonexistent in Lithuania while it was under control of the Soviet Union. His father spent almost 10 years in prison camps, and his friend was arrested for owning a copy of George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-four,” in the year 1984, Anelauskas said.
Anelauskas said he was followed 24 hours a day by the KGB, the Soviet secret police, who waited on his doorstep for him to leave his home, where they would continue to follow him.
“Anti-Hate Force in Eugene is nobody,” Anelauskas said with a laugh, comparing the Anti-Hate Task Force with the KGB. “I’m not afraid, but I hate to see people in free country act like KGB.”
After being “kicked-out” of Lithuania, Anelauskas moved to New York City, where his expectations were of freedom and the rights he was never granted.
“I didn’t need big American dream, I needed American freedom,” he said, though he was disappointed by the reality of America. “If you disagree with something, you are enemy of the people.”
Task members said they agree that Anelauskas has a right to free speech, but plan to continue to monitor the lectures, though “there is only so much you can stomach,” Weinerman said.
Contact the people, culture and faith reporter at [email protected]