VILNIUS, January 4, BNS–The Lithuanian state last year started paying more attention to the preservation of Jewish heritage and cemeteries, says Faina Kukliansky, head of the Jewish community in Lithuania.

“The state of Lithuania has started paying more attention to preservation of Jewish heritage and cemeteries. With no more Jews left in smaller towns across the country, old synagogues are being handed over to local towns and cities for cultural needs under loans for use,” Kukliansky said in a comment published Monday.

She also noted work started in Vilnius and New York to digitalize the unique archives of the YIVO Jewish research institute which operated in Vilnius before World War II on the life of Jews in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust.

In her summary of 2015, the leader of the Jewish community also noted “significant changes in Lithuanian-Israeli relations” over the past years. Israel has opened an embassy in Vilnius, and Lithuania’s president and prime minister paid official visits to Tel Aviv.

In comments about the reconstruction of the Sports Palace built in the place of an old Jewish cemetery, Kukliansky emphasized that “cemetery-related matters have always been and will be decided with supervision from rabbis under an agreement signed in 2009.”

She also said she expected changes in school educational programs in 2016 to give greater focus to Jewish culture, Jewish contributions to Lithuanian history and the Holocaust.

According to the latest 2011 census, about 3,000 Jews live in Lithuania.

BNS