The U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad has thanked the mayor of Šiauliai, Lithuania, for the city’s decision to shelve plans to exhume human remains discovered during highway construction.
Lesley Weiss, chairperson of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, noted in her letter to mayor Artūras Visockas that Jewish religious law bans exhumations of human remains. “Exhumation would have been a violation of human dignity. Thank you that you took timely and resolute action to ensure that did not happen. … We hold in high esteem your leadership and understanding of this important issue of human rights and values,” she continued.
The chairperson of this government commission, appointed by U.S. president Barack Obama in 2011, said the U.S. is concerned and involved with Jewish heritage protection abroad.
“We are a nation of immigrants, including Lithuanian Jewish émigrés and their offspring, so the US cares about the protection of sites located in foreign countries which are connected with the heritage of our citizens,” Weiss wrote.