Museum Defends Stance on Nazi War Criminal Exhibit
The director of the Estonian History Museum has refused demands by a leader of the nation's Jewish community to remove an exhibit containing material on Nazi war criminal Alfred Rosenberg, saying that it would be wrong to bury the past, no matter how ugly it may be.
The comments came in response to a letter that Alla Jakobsen, chairwoman of the Jewish Community of Estonia, sent to the Minister of Culture in recent days. In it she complained that the museum's exhibition, and another at a Tallinn high school, present Rosenberg without mentioning his war crimes.
Born in Tallinn in 1893 and educated in Riga and Moscow, Rosenberg became an influential member of Germany's Nazi Party and a key architect of its ideology, including the antisemitic beliefs that led to the Holocaust. He was convicted of war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials and executed in 1946.
"In these exhibits, considerable attention is paid to the chief ideologist of National Socialism, Alfred Rosenberg, a well-known resident of Tallinn, with no mention of his universally-recognized criminal activities," Jakobson wrote in her letter. She said that the Jewish community was amazed by what she termed the ignorance of history shown by the exhibitions' organizers and their shortsightedness in shaping the opinions of young people.
However, the museum's director, Sirje Karis, refuted the accusation that Rosenberg was being glorified, and said that papering over his actions by removing the exhibition was the wrong way to go.
"Whether or not we want to admit it, in history there were events that brought people suffering and pain. We can't be silent about it, we can't change what was to what wasn't," Karis told ERR.
"On the contrary, we should repeat and remind everyone about the Nazis, and especially about the role of Rosenberg in their disgusting activities. We should also recognize that this Nazi statesman was born in Estonia. The History Museum's new exhibition tells the story of Rosenberg, but also makes clear that his actions were war crimes," said Karis.
She said that the museum's exhibition wasn't designed to present positive events and personalities, but to show important dates and figures in the country's history. The museum also presents material on other notorious personalities such as Stalin and Hitler.
"Of course, there is a group of people for whom exhibiting materials on these individuals may also seem unethical. But the museum is still a place where you can safely indulge in thinking about the different figures and their role in history," said Karis.
Katrin Arvisto, press secretary for the Ministry of Culture, said that her institution hoped that the two sides in the dispute would soon meet and discuss the matter directly.
Steve Roman
