rodin
07-10-2009, 08:29 PM
David Cameron's alliance with controversial parties in Europe came under renewed pressure tonight as the representative body of British Jews wrote to the Tory leader raising questions about their partnership and the head of Stonewall pulled out of a Pride event at the conference.
A letter was sent from Vivian Wineman, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, in a sign of the Jewish community's concerns over Cameron's pact with rightwing parties in Poland and Latvia.
In response, the Tories appeared dismissive of the discontent, saying in a statement the board had been swayed by "politically motivated allegations made by the Labour party".
Ben Summerskill, head of the equality group Stonewall, pulled out of the Pride event in protest at appearances by Michal Kaminski and Roberts Zile.
"There is no doubt the progress that has been made in the last couple of years has genuinely been historic," Summerskill told Channel 4 News. "But the event tonight has been overshadowed by the presence, not just at conference but on the same platform as some senior members of the party, of people of such extreme and offensive views."
Kaminski, the Polish leader of the Tories' caucus in the European parliament, the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, and Zile, leader of the Latvian Fatherland and Freedom party, both appeared and defended their political careers at a fringe meeting at the Tory conference in Manchester today.
The pair received only gentle questioning, and Kaminski had been expected to speak at a late afternoon event held by the Conservative Friends of Israel, but did not appear. He did, however, earlier attend lunch with the group, where the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Ron Prosser, was present. Last week the board said it had looked into Kaminski and found nothing objectionable in his background, but its decision to write to Cameron suggests misgivings have become substantial.
Last week the foreign secretary, David Miliband, said at the Labour party conference that Kaminski had an "antisemitic past" and highlighted that members of Zile's party take part in annual celebrations of a Latvian unit of the Waffen SS.
Zile said of the attack today: "What has surprised me on this issue was I never thought this would come from a western democratic party. I would expect it to come from Moscow or the Kremlin, as it does from time to time.
"What happened was during the second world war [Latvian] people were often conscripted against their will to fight for both sides, Germans and Russians. Once a year these people commemorate their war dead, the people they fought alongside. They don't in any way commemorate Hitler or the Nazi regime. We would never do business with anyone who we thought glorified the SS."
The shadow minster for Europe, Mark Francois, said: "This is a slur which comes from the Soviet era, that was thrown by the Soviet authorities at the Latvian people. They in no way whatsoever commemorate anything to do with Hitler or the Nazi regime. The Latvian ambassador in London has chided the foreign secretary for using this tack, which basically dates from the days of Soviet propaganda."
Francois added: "All the parties in the group are signatories to the Prague protocol and we are perfectly happy with all of our partners that they believe in a liberal society and full respect for human rights."
Although the fringe event was carefully stage-managed – terse political lines trotted out and limited time for questions – there was one unfortunate mistake. The basement room in which delegates gathered to hear the controversial Tory allies was in Manchester's Midland Hotel, a building Hitler is said to have liked so much that he would have made it his northern residence if he had invaded.Earlier in the day comedians Eddie Izzard and Stephen Fry, both Labour supporters, published a letter condemning the alliance. The views of the Poles and Latvians were, they said, at odds with the Tories' new social liberalism.
A Tory spokesman said: "We're concerned that the politically motivated allegations made by the Labour Party and their allies have been noted by the Board of Deputies." "All these allegations have repeatedly been shown to be false. We will talk to the Board of Deputies about the lack of evidence behind them and their partisan nature. People should take account of the fact that the Polish chief rabbi has said that his remarks have been misrepresented, that the Latvian foreign minister has called David Miliband about his remarks, that the Latvian ambassador in London has spoken to the Foreign Office about the matter."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/06/david-cameron-eu-alliance-questioned
related
The Russians dragooned some 75,000 Latvians into their ranks, the Germans conscripted about 150,000. Families were torn asunder, and fathers and sons ended up on opposing sides. Barely a family in the country was not directly affected. Under German occupation, in 1942-43, about 80,000 Latvian Jews were massacred. Latvian extermination squads and police battalions took part in the local holocaust. Several thousand of these killers and war criminals then volunteered for the SS divisions in 1944.
"It's easy to say they were shooting Jews," insists Dobelis. "But I have no such information. They were not connected with the Latvian legion. There is no connection. Give me the names."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/06/freedom-party-refute-miliband-claims
Juri Lina goes into great detail about this in 'Under the Sign of the Scorpion'. A different picture emerges from the history book version
A letter was sent from Vivian Wineman, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, in a sign of the Jewish community's concerns over Cameron's pact with rightwing parties in Poland and Latvia.
In response, the Tories appeared dismissive of the discontent, saying in a statement the board had been swayed by "politically motivated allegations made by the Labour party".
Ben Summerskill, head of the equality group Stonewall, pulled out of the Pride event in protest at appearances by Michal Kaminski and Roberts Zile.
"There is no doubt the progress that has been made in the last couple of years has genuinely been historic," Summerskill told Channel 4 News. "But the event tonight has been overshadowed by the presence, not just at conference but on the same platform as some senior members of the party, of people of such extreme and offensive views."
Kaminski, the Polish leader of the Tories' caucus in the European parliament, the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, and Zile, leader of the Latvian Fatherland and Freedom party, both appeared and defended their political careers at a fringe meeting at the Tory conference in Manchester today.
The pair received only gentle questioning, and Kaminski had been expected to speak at a late afternoon event held by the Conservative Friends of Israel, but did not appear. He did, however, earlier attend lunch with the group, where the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Ron Prosser, was present. Last week the board said it had looked into Kaminski and found nothing objectionable in his background, but its decision to write to Cameron suggests misgivings have become substantial.
Last week the foreign secretary, David Miliband, said at the Labour party conference that Kaminski had an "antisemitic past" and highlighted that members of Zile's party take part in annual celebrations of a Latvian unit of the Waffen SS.
Zile said of the attack today: "What has surprised me on this issue was I never thought this would come from a western democratic party. I would expect it to come from Moscow or the Kremlin, as it does from time to time.
"What happened was during the second world war [Latvian] people were often conscripted against their will to fight for both sides, Germans and Russians. Once a year these people commemorate their war dead, the people they fought alongside. They don't in any way commemorate Hitler or the Nazi regime. We would never do business with anyone who we thought glorified the SS."
The shadow minster for Europe, Mark Francois, said: "This is a slur which comes from the Soviet era, that was thrown by the Soviet authorities at the Latvian people. They in no way whatsoever commemorate anything to do with Hitler or the Nazi regime. The Latvian ambassador in London has chided the foreign secretary for using this tack, which basically dates from the days of Soviet propaganda."
Francois added: "All the parties in the group are signatories to the Prague protocol and we are perfectly happy with all of our partners that they believe in a liberal society and full respect for human rights."
Although the fringe event was carefully stage-managed – terse political lines trotted out and limited time for questions – there was one unfortunate mistake. The basement room in which delegates gathered to hear the controversial Tory allies was in Manchester's Midland Hotel, a building Hitler is said to have liked so much that he would have made it his northern residence if he had invaded.Earlier in the day comedians Eddie Izzard and Stephen Fry, both Labour supporters, published a letter condemning the alliance. The views of the Poles and Latvians were, they said, at odds with the Tories' new social liberalism.
A Tory spokesman said: "We're concerned that the politically motivated allegations made by the Labour Party and their allies have been noted by the Board of Deputies." "All these allegations have repeatedly been shown to be false. We will talk to the Board of Deputies about the lack of evidence behind them and their partisan nature. People should take account of the fact that the Polish chief rabbi has said that his remarks have been misrepresented, that the Latvian foreign minister has called David Miliband about his remarks, that the Latvian ambassador in London has spoken to the Foreign Office about the matter."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/06/david-cameron-eu-alliance-questioned
related
The Russians dragooned some 75,000 Latvians into their ranks, the Germans conscripted about 150,000. Families were torn asunder, and fathers and sons ended up on opposing sides. Barely a family in the country was not directly affected. Under German occupation, in 1942-43, about 80,000 Latvian Jews were massacred. Latvian extermination squads and police battalions took part in the local holocaust. Several thousand of these killers and war criminals then volunteered for the SS divisions in 1944.
"It's easy to say they were shooting Jews," insists Dobelis. "But I have no such information. They were not connected with the Latvian legion. There is no connection. Give me the names."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/06/freedom-party-refute-miliband-claims
Juri Lina goes into great detail about this in 'Under the Sign of the Scorpion'. A different picture emerges from the history book version