[Frameworks] Jonas Mekas redeemed

[Pip Chodorov]

In 2018, an article appeared in the New York Review of Books that claimed Jonas Mekas had been a Nazi sympathizer in his youth, guilty by association of war crimes. The author used rhetoric and flawed logic to make his point, and his intent seemed to be to raise his own career as a researcher by trampling an icon and cultural figure. The article was disturbing enough to turn some of Jonas’ friends and supporters against him. Soon after the publication, the editor of NYRB was forced to resign over another publishing controversy. Jonas did not publish a rebuttal but he did record a six hour interview with the Holocaust Museum detailing the memories of his early life and wartime in Lithuania, just a few months before he died.

I am happy to see this recent article finally exonerating Jonas during his centennial year. This piece is much better researched than the original accusation. Jonas’ legacy as a poet and artist and as a supporter of independent filmmaking in every phase (production, exhibition, distribution, promotion and preservation) rises well above this defamation of his teenage years.

https://www.e-flux.com/journal/129/485701/portrait-of-a-poet-as-a-young-man-jonas-mekas-in-war-and-exile/