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Neonazi flags in Lithuania

Last modified: 2015-11-23 by zoltán horváth
Keywords: lithuanian national socialist party | cross crosslet | hammer and sickle: no star (black) | lithuanian bolshevik party |
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Overview

I described a number of Lithuanian neo-Nazi flags, all of which I have attributed to the Unified Lithuanian National Workers Movement, the then neo-Nazi party in Lithuania. That party was recently  replaced with a new one, Lithuanian National Union, whose new site, along with its current flag, also shows the flags of all of its predecessors, including those which I have described. Now it is clear that most of those flags were used by the Unified Lithuanian National Workers Movement for historical reasons only, to mark the ideological continuity. For that reason, this contribution will include all flags described in the previousl contribution, in order to attribute them correctly.
I need to apologize in advance to everyone who might find the content of included sources offensive. However, those Web pages are actually the picture galleries and it is impossible to view the images directly; the image URL's may be extracted from the page source and will be given below the page URL's, but the rest of each page contains the info which proves the attribution of the presented flag so, contrary to my usual practice, I decided to include the page URL's as well.

A note on chronology given below
All of the organizations whose flags are described below were founded and led by the same man, Lithuanian neo-Nazi activist named Mindaugas Murza, alias Mindaugas Gervaldas, whose biography, given at the site of Lithuanian National Union, was used to reconstruct the chronology as the most detailed source currently available on the Web (no page URL included here, because it is too indirectly used for the vexillological research). Additional sources are given below where used.
Tomislav Todorović, 15 April 2012

Maybe this is a convention already understood by experienced vexillologists (I'm inexperienced), but I think we can talk about and look at flags and what they represent without any implication that we're for or against anything. For me such a convention is especially important, because many of my favorite flags are those of fascist-type movements and nations. That so many of those flags are good (IMO) is no surprise, given the emphasis on symbolism these movements and nations have. Pete Loeser has an excellent compilation of flags of far-right and other extremist outfits. I know he's already posted it in his forum, but here it is again: http://www.loeser.us/flags/hate.html#top  http://www.loeser.us/flags/hate2.html#top  http://www.loeser.us/flags/hate3.html#top 
Howard J. Wilk, 16 April 2012

As a matter of fact, I stopped adding such disclaimers to my contributions some time ago, however this last one was rather large and made me feel need to do it again, especially because I have sent quite a number of such contributions rather recently. I was just worried that I am inadvertently becoming a sort of expert for such flags and I would not like them to be the first thing that people would connect with my name - my flag interests are actually far from being so narrow.
All these flags were sent to Pete Loeser, too (I know his site very well - many extremist flags images are actually my work) and he has a similar disclaimer (much longer than mine) at the top of his extremist flags pages, so it is obvious that he had the same problem with the subject. The problem is, in my opinion, that discovery of one such flag on the Web quickly leads to the discovery of another... and another... and another... But such is the nature of the Web.
Tomislav Todorović, 16 April 2012

Here are several images not featured in the Lithuanian Neo-Nazi flags section:
- http://defendinghistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Swastika-at-Seimas-11-March-2015.jpg (picture taken on March 11, 2012)
- http://defendinghistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Swastika-flag-March-11-2015-by-G-Vasil.png (picture taken on March 11, 2012).
- http://defendinghistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/IMG_4658.jpg (picture taken on March 11, 2012)
Source: http://defendinghistory.com/category/events-that-celebrate-fascism
Esteban Rivera, 01 April 2015


Lithuanian National Democratic Party (1999-2009)


image by Tomislav Todorović, 15 April 2012

Name in Lithuanian: Lietuvos Nacionaldemokratų Partija (LNDP)
The party was founded in 1999 as an ultra-nationalist party (not neo-Nazi, but not much distant). After the Lithuanbian National Socialist Party (LNSP) had merged into it in 2001, a new flag was adopted, based on earlier Lithuanian neo-Nazi flags: white disc charged with black cross potent, on red field. Flag identification is given here (also shown the flag of the LNSP, although it seems not to have been used) (Image). The use of the flag is shown here (Image) and here (Image) and, together with the flag of the Lithuanian Union of National Socialist Unity, here (Image)
After the Unified Lithuanian National Workers Movement (VLNDS) broke away in 2007 (see below), the party seems to have been trying to distance itself from the Nazi appearance and quietly abandoned this flag, for only its original logo in national colors could be seen at the party website.
Still, the ideological gap between two organizations never widened much and in 2009, most party members supported the merging into the VLNDS.
Short party history and its logo are given at Wikipedia.
Tomislav Todorović, 15 April 2012


Lithuanian National Labour Union (1999-2000)


image by Tomislav Todorović, 15 April 2012

Name in Lithuanian: Lietuvių Tautinio Darbo Sąjunga (LTDS)
Founded by re-organization of the Lithuanian Union of National Socialist Unity and replaced by the Lithuanian National Socialist Party next year (see below). The flag, whose identification is given here (Image) has had a red cross crosslet on white field, the design which differed the most among the neo-Nazi flags in Lithuania. Its use was not confirmed by any photos available on the Web so far, so the Lithuanian National Union website remains the only source describing it. Still it is quite possible that it did exist, considering the similarity of its design and that of its predecessor, which parallels the similarity of the designs of flags of Lithuanian National Democratic Party and Unified Lithuanian National Workers Movement.
Tomislav Todorović
, 15 April 2012


Lithuanian National Socialist Party

LNSP flag
image by (anon.), 11 Sep 2003

Name in Lithuanian: Lietuvių Nacionalsocialinę Partija (LNSP)
Founded in by members of Lithuanian National Labour Union and merged into the Lithuanian National Democratic Party next year. Used a red flag with a white cross crosslet on a red disc fimbriated white. The flag identification, given here (Image) shows FOTW color R. However, the photo of flag in use (Image) confirms the fotw color R+, visibly darker than the armbands worn by the flag's users, which show the same pattern in color R.
Tomislav Todorović
, 15 April 2012


Lithuanian National Union (2011-present)


image by Tomislav Todorović, 15 April 2012

Name in Lithuanian: Lietuvių  Tautos Sąjunga (LITAS)
Created by former members of the Unified Lithuanian National Workers Movement. The flag is red, charged with black double cross bordered white. Flag identification is given here (Image) and one of many photos which show it, here (Image).
Tomislav Todorović, 15 April 2012


Lithuanian Union of National Socialist Unity (1996-1999)


image by Tomislav Todorović, 15 April 2012

Name in Lithuanian: Lietuvių Nacionalsocialinęs Vienybęs Sąjunga (LNSVS)
The flag of this organization has had a white disc, charged with a black cross crosslet, on red field. The flag identification is given here (Image) and a photo of its use here (Image).


image by Tomislav Todorović, 15 April 2012

Another flag which is also identified as that of the same organization (Image) has had a white swastika on a red disc fimbriated white, all on red field, but there are no photos to verify its use. However, the similarity of its design with that of the flag of Lithuanian National Socialist Party, suggests that it might be the flag of some earlier neo-Nazi group, because this does not seem to have been the first such organization in Lithuania.
Tomislav Todorović
, 15 April 2012


Unified Lithuanian National Workers Movement (2007-2011)


image by Tomislav Todorović, 15 October 2010

Here follows my contribution about the flags of Unified Lithuanian National Workers Movement, the current neo-Nazi party in Lithuania.
Unified Lithuanian National Workers Movement (Lithuanian: Vieningasis Lietuvių Nacionaldarbininkų Sąjūdis) is the successor of the Lithuanian National Socialist Party. It uses a range of flags, some of which are derived from that of its predecessor.
The flag which is the most frequently used is not described as the party flag, but as the "national flag": red flag with a black cross potent fimbriated white [1, 2, 3].
The party itself describes the cross as the combination of two swastikas, one right-facing and one left-facing [3].
The party flag [1], as was once shown at the party website (which may be reached from here [4]), also has red field and is charged with a small white disc charged with a black cross potent and superimposed on large "Black Sun" symbol in gold.


image by Tomislav Todorović, 15 October 2010

The use of this flag seems not to have been recorded yet. A simpler flag, with larger disc and cross on red field, was recorded on several occasions [5, 6, 7]. the party website contains, among its current pages about the party symbols, those about the "VLNDS Honor flag" and the "VLNDS flag" (none of them showing the images of the said flags, though), so it is possible that the "Honor flag" is the one with the "Black Sun" symbol and that very few copies of it, if any, are made.


image by Tomislav Todorović, 15 October 2010

Another party flag has a white disc charged with a black cross crosslet, instead of the cross potent, on the red field. This one seems to be the least frequently used, considering the number of recordings of its use [2] and might have been directly derived from the flag of the Lithuanian National Socialist Party.


image by Tomislav Todorović, 15 October 2010

The party website may be reached via the Wikipedia page about the party: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Lithuanian_National_Workers_Movement
All the described flags may be seen in the video clips created of the photos from different events and available at the YouTube:
www.youtube.com/user/NacionalinisSajudis#p/u/7/lE0xtJlWDso
www.youtube.com/user/NacionalinisSajudis#p/u/7/sObdmZfEQn4
(I do not speak Lithuanian, so I apologize in advance if the inscriptions added over the photos or the lyrics of the song - possibly the party anthem - might offend anyone.)
The clips also show the flag which was used by the Lithuanian National Socialist Party, sometimes with the current party flags.
Sources:
[1] Krantai.lt website
[2] Lrytas.lt newsportal
[3] Holocaust in the Baltics website
[4] Wikipedia page about the Unified Lithuanian National Workers Movement
[5] Lrytas.lt newsportal
[6] Anarchija.lt website
[7] Lithchat.com website

I hope that all this will be useful. I did my best to include all the necessary informations, but the party website is cited indirectly, via the Wikipedia, because I consider it the way which is more politically neutral than including a direct link to it: although I do not speak Lithuanian, it was easy to understand (from the page about the party history) that the party is the successor of the Lithuanian National Socialist Party, and I am trying to avoid sending links to such sites whenever possible.
Tomislav Todorović, 15 October 2010

Name in Lithuanian: Vieningasis Lietuvių Nacionaldarbininkų Sąjūdis (VLNDS)
Founded as the breakaway group of the National Democratic Party and dissolved in 2011, its members founding the Lithuanian National Union. The flag was red, charged with a black cross potent fimbriated white. Flag identification is given here (Image).
Although the party had used this flag almost exclusively, its website (no longer online) was not describing it as the party flag, but as the "national flag". The site content regarding the party symbols, which is partly reproduced here while denoting the flag as such, also shows the party flag ("organizational flag"), which also has red field and is charged with a small white disc charged with a black cross potent and  superimposed on large "Black Sun" symbol in gold. However, the use of this flag was not verified by any photo available on the Web so far. The party website contained, among its current pages about the party symbols, those about the "VLNDS Honor flag" and the "VLNDS flag"; none of them was showing the images of the said flags, though, so their actual design is still unknown.
According to the Holocaust in the Baltics website the party was describing the cross potent as the combination of two swastikas, one right-facing and one left-facing.
After its founding, the party used the previous flag of the Lithuanian National Democratic Party, sometimes together with that of the Lithuanian National Socialist Party, as shown here (Image) but quickly replaced it with its later flag, which was sometimes accompanied with that of the Lithuanian Union of National Socialist Unity, like here (Image).
Tomislav Todorović, 15 April 2012