Oct 09, BNS – A monument to the Jews who formerly lived in Šeduva, Lithuania, was unveiled in the town on October 9, 2015. “Šeduva can take pride in the extremely long history of the Jewish nation, which started back in 1400s. Jews lived here, worked here and engaged in commerce. The Jewish community in Šeduva has always paid a lot of attention to culture and active community life,” prime minister Algirdas Butkevicius said at the ceremony. He said the monument will not only help remember the Jews of Šeduva but will also give impetus to other cities and towns to keep up and commemorate historic sites, paying tribute to the ethnic minorities who have lived in Lithuania and benefited the country. According to a government press release, the prime minister also visited the renovated Jewish cemetery in Šeduva and monuments in a local forest to victims of mass murder.

Located on Zvejų Street, the old cemetery was derelict, with many tombstones overturned and overgrown with grass and bushes. The cemetery has now been cleared of brush and the original stone fence restored. Fragments of tombstones discovered in the territory were placed in a composition shaped as a Star of David.

Before World War II, Jews accounted for nearly 60 percent of the town’s population of 3,000, with nearly all of the community annihilated during the war.

BNS