Day: January 27, 2025

LETTER TO MY GRANDFATHER

A lifelong personal journey of a grandson to expose Lithuanian complicity in the mass murder of its Jewish citizens in the Holocaust.

By Grant Gochin

Growing up in South Africa, you implored me to “remember” -“Zachor”. I was to remember who we Jews are, and where we came from. You showed me the photos and told me stories. You taught me only love. You asked me to visit our family cemetery in the “old country” and to recite Kaddish for our family.

Zayde, I have.

So then, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, I traveled to the “old country”, specifically, Lithuania. Once there, my first destination was your shtetl. There was nothing Jewish remaining. They destroyed everything. Deliberately. I erected a new gravestone where I could say Kaddish.

The cemeteries were in utter disarray and in shambles. It was glaringly apparent to me that the overgrowth was intentional. No one wanted to remember that Jews had lived in Lithuania.

Together with others, I began to document and restore dozens of Jewish cemeteries in Lithuania.

Zachor Zayde, we preserved memory.

I searched for survivors. I found Sarah, our only cousin who survived the Shoah. Sarah’s descendants and I have formed strong family bonds. We remember. We are a family again. Everybody else was murdered. Lithuanians did it. Not Nazis.

Research led me to other survivors who could have easily been our Jewish relatives. I helped them Zayde, to the best of my ability. We worked tirelessly to support and love them. That is what you would have expected from me; I delivered.

I began to research your life. You did not tell me of the brutality and cruelty Lithuanians perpetrated against you, your mother, your father and your siblings. You sheltered me because you worried that I was too young to comprehend. Indeed, even as an adult, it is almost impossible to comprehend the cruelty and viciousness Lithuanians perpetrated against our family. They did so viciously, opportunistically and joyously.

Zayde, you embodied the dignity of Litvaks. I wanted the Lithuanians to know your name. Simply for them to know you had existed, and to record your name in a modern document. I applied for Lithuanian citizenship. I did not need their citizenship, because I am American now. I just wanted to preserve your memory. Lithuania denied you existed. They lied. They slandered you. When I applied , they used every tool they could create to deny citizenship to any Jew.

Zayde, you were pure love and dignity, I would not allow such monstrous people to obliterate and sully your name. I declared moral war on the Lithuanian Government and fought them in their own courts. I exposed their modern virulent antisemitism. I won. I am now a citizen of Lithuania; many of your grandchildren are also. We have used Lithuania’s slanders against you to crack open their stealth wall of hate. Now, through and because of you, many thousands of Jews have reclaimed their Lithuanian citizenship. Because of the principles you instilled in me to fight for truth; stand for respect and defend the vulnerable. Zachor.

Reciting Kaddish as you asked me to, I discovered the identity of the murderer of our own family. His name was Jonas Noreika. Lithuania considers him their national hero! Initially, I could not believe that such an evil ideology was still possible. I did what you asked of me Zayde, I stood up for truth. I approached the Lithuanian Government to explain to them that they had made a “mistake”. In my own mind, it was not possible that a monster who murdered thousands of his own co-citizens simply because they were Jews, could be elevated to their modern-day national hero. But I made a horrific discovery. The Lithuanian Government has fraudulently rewritten their national history and has zero interest in the truth. I tried everything; I was able to show them the facts. They treated me just as they had treated you, and all of our relatives; with contempt and brutality.

Zayde, you had no ability to stand up to Lithuanians during your lifetime, so, I did it for you. I did it for all their victims, for all Jews. I demanded the Lithuanian Government tell the truth. I fought them with every fiber of my being. Lithuania almost won. They declared their murderers as their heroes and contemptuously told us few surviving Jews that Lithuania was a rescuer nation. Zayde, they spat in your face. They had only contempt for the 220,000 Jews their national heroes had murdered.

No Holocaust organization would help me. They were bystanders. No Jewish institution helped me. Almost nobody would help me fight for truth. I realized that if I did not stand up for you, and for all 220,000 murder victims, Lithuania would successfully declare themselves the victim of their own murders, and the memory of every Lithuanian Jewish murder victim would be murdered again. It was the murder of truth and the murder of memory. How could I accept this and still face you? I could not.

Your life lessons left me no choice but to fight. I sued them in every court in their country, I sued them in the European Court of Human Rights and at the United Nations. I faced down their death threats; their threats of criminal and constitutional charges, their slanders and their attacks. It was them or you. I had no choice. You were love, they are hate. I could not have lived with myself had I allowed them to repeat their vile conduct.

I fought them for fifteen years. I spent hundreds of thousands of hours fighting them. You gave me no option. Allowing them to win would have been a betrayal of you and every Jewish victim.

I led a decade long international media campaign against the Lithuanian Government to expose the truth. I spent years researching, bringing truths to light, and preserving memory. I sat on Boards where we preserved documents and authentic history. I dedicated my life to remembering, documenting and preserving. Respect for you dominated my world and motivated all of my actions.

Good Lithuanians helped. Noreika’s own Granddaughter, Silvia Foti, stepped forward to tell the truth about her grandfather. Michael Kretzmer made an extraordinary documentary to expose the truth. And under the withering glare of international media, Lithuania finally crumbled.

Lithuania has admitted only some of Noreika’s crimes. They remain the most intense Holocaust revisionists in the world. They continue to lie about their many murderer heroes whose crimes I have exposed. Lithuania’s national history is a fraud, but we have finally penetrated the wall of their deceptions. And the world now knows. I have restored the truth.

Zayde, I have honored your legacy. You may now rest in peace. I love you.



*Feature picture: The writer’s grandfather, Samuel Gochin, in Lithuanian uniform of 5th Grand Duke Kestutis Doughboys Infantry. (Source: Gochin Family Archive).



About the writer:

Grant Arthur Gochin currently serves as the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Togo. He is the Emeritus Special Envoy for Diaspora Affairs for the African Union, which represents the fifty-five African nations, and Emeritus Vice Dean of the Los Angeles Consular Corps, the second largest Consular Corps in the world. Gochin is actively involved in Jewish affairs, focusing on historical justice. He has spent the past twenty five years documenting and restoring signs of Jewish life in Lithuania. He has served as the Chair of the Maceva Project in Lithuania, which mapped / inventoried / documented / restored over fifty abandoned and neglected Jewish cemeteries. Gochin is the author of “Malice, Murder and Manipulation”, published in 2013. His book documents his family history of oppression in Lithuania. He is presently working on a project to expose the current Holocaust revisionism within the Lithuanian government. Professionally, Gochin is a Certified Financial Planner and practices as a Wealth Advisor in California, where he lives with his family. Personal site: https://www.grantgochin.com/





While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

ZICHRON YA’AKOV – A CULTURAL COLONY ON THE CARMEL

Views, vineyards and wineries, this Moshava (colony) has it all – besides the multitude of visitors it deserves.

By Motti Verses

Fourth grade pupils from the Ariel Sharon School in Nahariya have taken over the picturesque pedestrian street of Zichron Yaakov – a “Moshava” (colony or town) nestled high atop Carmel Mountain, south of Haifa. They enthusiastically circled the Benjamin Pool National Site, the water reservoir built in 1891 and named after Baron Edmond James de Rothschild – a French member of the Rothschild banking family and strong supporter of Jewish settlement in Palestine. Founded in 1882 by Romanian Jews, who the following year received support from the Barron, they renamed the town in honor of his father, whose Hebrew name was Ya’akov.

First of its Kind. Benjamin’s Pool, the water reservoir built in 1891 and named after Baron Benjamin Edmond James de Rothschild was the first of its kind in Israel, and used a newly developed pump to bring water up to the village on the hilltop.‏ (Photo: Motti Verses)

To a casual observer it may easily appear that Zichron Ya’akov is bustling. The truth is that on a sunny January weekday, if it weren’t for the playful pupils , the street with its restaurants, cafés and shops would be quite deserted. In the Gan Tiyul green oasis, the first ornamental garden in the Land of Israel on Hanadiv Street, planted by Baron Rothschild’s officials in 1886, you could hear the sounds and squeals of joy. They were emanating from dozens of animated girls from a local religious elementary school filling the air and playing happily. “If this was Europe,” I thought to myself, this magnificent little colony of visual delight would be bustling with visitors. Sadly, the reality here is that visitors return slowly on weekends, and are hardly noticeable on weekdays!

Road of Revelations. Seen here on main street, cobbled and exclusively for pedestrians with many historical structures and quaint shops selling art, clothing, antiques, is Council Member with the portfolio for tourism, Dganit Azoulay. (Photo: Efrat Peleg)

Zichron Yaakov is a jewel of the Land of Israel, the pearl on the mountain. “It was born from a vision by people of faith who realized the Zionist cause.  Over the years settlers have gathered and come through its gates from the four corners of the world,” is the message you will hear from passionate ‘Zichronites’. The Moshava is home to diverse tourist areas, including many artists who open their homes for workshops, cozy hotels, magical B&Bs and original spa complexes, restaurants, wineries and boutique hotels. There are many tour guides routinely leading tourists along the historical trails and magical corners that characterize the colony. It is no secret that tourism in Zichron Ya’akov is an important growth engine for the town’s economic prosperity. At the same time, I felt something was missing. To understand, I turned to the person who symbolizes the Moshava to me, more than anyone else.

Dganit Azoulay ran the high-quality and groundbreaking “Adama” restaurant in the town for many years. But it too closed and the hard-working restaurateur turned her energies to local politics. She was elected in the last municipal elections as a high-profile member on the list of incumbent mayor Eli Aboutbul and became a council member responsible for the tourism portfolio. A year after the municipal elections, Azoulay is optimistic.

“Zichron is going to upgrade its tourism with new projects. A massive renovation of the main pedestrian street, which includes multimedia presentations and the construction of a modern parking lot nearby, with an investment of NIS 5 million, will soon be underway,” she reveals. “At a later stage, the pedestrian street will be expanded by another 400 meters to the Carmel Wineries, where wine production has ceased. A commercial center with an emphasis on wine will be built in the historic winery building that will be preserved, in collaboration with the Carmel Wineries. Even a boutique hotel with 100 rooms will be integrated into it,” says Azoulay. “This spring, a 150-room hotel of  the Gordonia Israeli brand will open on the western cliff. In the ‘Wine Park’ residential complex in eastern Zichron, commercial centers including hotels and wineries will be built in the future, and the project is currently in the tender stage of the Israel Land Administration,” she says.

“Zichron is not just a pedestrian street. It is an open museum of the history of the State of Israel. No other place throughout Israel that bears the honoured name of Baron Rothschild is preserved like this. In addition, the Moshava is a base for enjoyable nature trips. Cyclists will find trails on Mount Horshan. Jeep tours here are exciting. Ramat Hanadiv is an attraction in itself,” concludes Azoulay. A Memorial Park and Nature Reserve, Ramat Hanadiv honors Baron Edmond de Rothschild whose vision and philanthropy so influenced the early establishment of communities throughout the Land of Israel. Seventeen acres of beautiful landscape on the southern end of Mount Carmel,  it is most famous for its beautifully maintained formal gardens which offer spectacular views and many peaceful and tranquil corners. There is a Visitors’ Center that tells the story of Ramat Hanadiv. Proud of its eco credentials, the building housing the Visitors’ Center, was the first ever certified green building in Israel.

A Walk in the Park. Within the Ramat Hanadiv nature park at the southern end of Mount Carmel between Zichron Ya’akov to the north and Binyamina to the south is the magnificent and serene gardens commemorating the Baron and Baroness de Rothschild.
(Photos: Motti Verses)

Like other tourist hospitality places in the country, Zichron Yaakov has also undergone a shake-up during the war. Overnight, the pastoral Eden Inn Hotel became “a residence for evacuees from southern Israel and the student-immigrant population from the Ivim absorption center in the western Negev near Sderot also moved to live in the hotel,” reveals Tal Daniel, the charming hotel’s General Manager.

The writer (left) with Tal Daniel, General Manager of Zichron Yaakov Eden Inn. (Photo: Itzhak Rabihiya)

The hotel has 96 rooms that host mainly small conferences of business companies during the week and families on the weekends. The hotel covers a generous area of ​​33 dunams and its surroundings projects a visual landscape of green nature. It exudes a kind of kibbutz atmosphere – rural and tranquil  – and is within easy walking distance of all the Moshava’s attractions and hiking trails. “A quarter of those staying at Eden Inn on a regular basis are tourists from abroad, but we lost them all due to the war,” says Daniel.

Warm and Welcoming. An idyllic ambiance greets visitors to the lobby of the Eden Inn Hotel. (Photo: Eden Inn Ben Rodstein)

“However, because Zichron was considered a relatively safe destination in the middle of the war, the hotel experienced a boom in the spring and summer. During last fall, with the intensity of the war in Lebanon, Zichron lost this advantage. Sirens were heard constantly. Now that there is a feeling that the country has become safer, it is the north that is experiencing a boom which they desperately deserve and need, however, Zichron now is unfortunately losing its pull factor.”

Some Like It Hot. The intimate hot tub in the courtyard of the Eden Inn Hotel is particularly inviting in the winter. (Photo: Eden Inn Ben Rodstein)

A visit to the pastoral Kibbutz Ein Shemer offers an insight of the early days of the pioneers, living off the land by farming. At the entrance to the kibbutz which was founded in 1927, there is a reconstructed historic courtyard housing a museum of the “Rishonim” – the first. It tells the story of kibbutz settlement covering these pioneers – their system of education, evolving culture and style of socialist labor. What I found most fascinating was the antique tractors and the shack where the first pioneers lived and the restored agricultural tools. How these early pioneers lived, mapped out the future shape the country would take. The resilience of today is found in the legacy of their example. On a more ‘refreshing’ note was the gastronomic refreshments at the kibbutz’s cozy Cawe Coffee Cart. Other nearby attractions are visits to the Gallery of Contemporary Israeli Art in Givat Haviva and the gallery and studio of the international artist and blacksmith Zeevik Gottlieb near Ma’anit (a must and recommended!). To appreciate all on offer and soak in the history and culture, the Menashe Regional Council is suggesting visitors stay overnight at Yichron Ya’acov.

Ploughing into the Past. Over a century of farming equipment used on kibbutzim is on exhibit at the Rishonim museum.

Everything in life is relative. From the perspective of Michal Abramov, the tourism director of the Menashe Regional Council, which borders Zichron, the Moshava is a focus of envy. “In recent years, with the help of a government grant of 6 million NIS, we have promoted a comprehensive plan for the development of agricultural tourism with future infrastructure for rural accommodation, B&Bs and even glamping with at least 500 beds to strengthen the local economy in the council,” she says.

Window into the Past. To learn the history of Israel’s early pioneers, a visit to ‘The Museum of the Firsts’ (“Rishonim”) at Kibbutz Ein-Shemer is a must. (Photo: Motti Verses)

Proud of Zichron’s multitude of hospitality options is Tal Daniel of Eden Inn. I ask her in conclusion:

“What does Zichron Ya’akov mean to you?”

She smiles appreciating the question and had a ready answer by referring me to the poignant words of Israeli actor and composer, Naftali Alter incorporated in Oshik Levy’s famous song. “Understand these words, and you will understand everything,” she says.

She recites the lyrics:

 “In Zichron, people are happy, night and day.

In Zichron no one goes to sleep in the heat. There are empty bottles in Zichron and everyone drinks everything in my Zichron Yaakov.”

Absolutely.

This gem of the Carmel, Zichron Yaakov, of course wants and deserves so much more.


War – then and now. Remembering the hostages at the gates of the Aharonson House on the Moshava pedestrian street, where the Nili Museum is located. The museum tells the story of the courageous and heroic deeds of members of the Jewish Nili spy network that aided the British during World War I, contributing to the ending of Ottoman rule and the entry of the British to the Land of Israel.(Photo: Motti Verses)
 




About the writer:

The writer, Motti Verses, is a Travel Flash Tips publisher. His travel stories are published on THE TIMES OF ISRAEL  https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/motti-verses/. And his hospitality analysis reviews on THE JERUSALEM POST, are available on his Linkedin page LinkedIn Israelhttps://il.linkedin.com › motti-verse…Motti Verses – Publisher and Chief Editor – TRAVEL FLASH TIPSAnd his hospitality analysis reviews on THE JERUSALEM POST, are available on his Linkedin page LinkedIn Israelhttps://il.linkedin.com › motti-verse…Motti Verses – Publisher and Chief Editor – TRAVEL FLASH TIPS.





While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).