Moisejus Preisas and Fania Brancovskaja lay a wreath at the Menorah statue in Švenčionys

Every year at the beginning of October a small group of people gather at the Menorah statue in the Švenčionys City Park who remember what happened there from 1941 to 1943.

This year Švenčionys Jewish Community chairman Moisiejus Šapiro began the meeting and presented Nalšia Regional History Museum historian Nadežda Spiridonovienė, who spoke about historical events in Švenčionys and how Jewish settlement in Lithuania was a result of tragedies in Western and Central Europe in the 19th century.

“Lithuania was an agrarian country and belonged to the large non-industrial part of Russia. Most of the country people were Catholic Lithuanians, Belarusians and Poles. This was the main factor in the locals’ relationship with Jews. To Lithuanians, Belarusians and Poles, it seemed the Jew was clever and wise because of his many talents. Jews were small businessmen and craftsmen who traveled around and were much valued for spreading information as bearers of news. There were about 4,500 Jews living in Švenčionys then, they established an herbal medicine factory and had leather-working workshops in the city center. The hard work, initiative and expertise of Jewish business people expressed themselves in all areas of production.

“During the First World War, the low standard of living and the anti-Semitism of the Tsarist administration led to the migration of Jews abroad. After World War II began, Jews were imprisoned in this park, the ghetto. I am glad the Jewish ethnic minority community in Lithuania honors the memory of their people. Every year they gather around the Menorah statue and visit this part of the Švenčionys City Park where Jews were imprisoned for 18 months. For us, for Lithuanians, the civic education of the younger generation is important, not forgetting the tragedy and guarding the memory of our ancestors in their native land. Twenty-five years ago Lithuanians, too, migrated elsewhere seeking a better life. I hope they, too, do not forget whence they come, and return every once in a while to the place of their birth, their parents’ homes,” the historian said.

Moisiejus Preisas and Fania Brancovskaja laid a wreath at the base of the Menorah statue. Preises is a long-time resident of Švenčionys, an inmate of the Kaunas ghetto who was sent to the Stutthoff and then Dachau concentration camps. Brancovskaja is a Vilnius ghetto prisoner and Jewish partisan. Švenčionys Jewish Community chairman Moisiejus Šapiro invited the group to view a new plaque to the first Švenčionys Jewish Community chairwoman, the late Bluma Katz. He then provided a brief biography of Katz.

Katz was born in Švenčionys in 1913 and attended the Švenčionys Jewish gymnasium. She and her fiancé joined the Yung-vilne of writers and artists two years later after she ented the Vilnius Jewish seminary. She was deported to a Soviet gulag near Kamchatka in 1937 and placed her one-year-old daughter into a home for invalid children. She was rehabilitated in 1956 and lived in Švenčionys from then on. Her memoirs were published in the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s newspaper, the Oxford Yiddish journal, Yiddish Kultur from New York, and elsewhere beginning in 1990. She worked with British embassy staff and ambassador Christopher Robinson to refurbish a monument near Švenčionys. She visited Oxford University in 1996 as part of the opening of a teachers’ seminary there. She spent the last decade of her life fighting to keep memory alive for coming generations. Local residents remember well this humble lady who always had time to stop and talk whenever someone spoke to her.
Katz’s relatives unveiled the memorial plaque. The artist Juozapas Jakštas, who carved the plaque, spoke highly of Katz, who lived at the building where the plaque now hangs. He placed a number of symbols in his tribute: a pitcher, grape leaves, and the entire plaque has a harp-like shape.

Deputy Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Y. Gidron thanked the artist and the Švenčionys regional administration for their work in preserving the memory of the remarkable woman. Flowers were placed at the base of the plaque.

The group moved on to a memorial to murdered Jews in nearby Švenčionėliai ereceted in 1961 and renovated by funding from the British embassy to Lithuania in 2001. Švenčionys Jewish Community chairman Šapiro invited Švenčionėliai regional administration deputy director Kęstutis Trapikas to speak, who talked about working with Jewish Community representatives and joint efforts in preserving memory for future generations. Flowers were laid at the monument.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky spoke about the worst crime of the 20th century and the need to remember those murdered. She reminded those gathered that upwards of 8,000 Jews were murdered at that site alone, while six million were murdered over a few short years in total across Europe. Deputy ambassador Gidron said it was hard to grasp such numbers. He said he was encouraged by the plans of the Švenčionys administration to place a memorial plaque next to the Menorah statue in the former ghetto territory. Švenčionėliai school children and their teacher presented a poetic montage dedicated to the memory of the dead, and Vilnius Choral Synagogue cantor Shmuel Yatom performed kaddish. At the end of the event thanks were given to the main supporter of the ceremony, Jozef Fiedorovič, chief executive of the Velga Vilnius company.

Algis JAKŠTAS