On November 1, 2005, the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization adopted a resolution to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27. Remembering the Holocaust is inseparable from studying the causes of this tragedy which rocked civilization to its core and inseparable from teaching and inculcating tolerance and human respect. Lithuania is a member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and an active participant in international programs to fight anti-Semitism.

The mass murder of Jews began even before the Nazis occupied Lithuania in 1941. Over a few months the majority of the Lithuanian Jewish community were murdered. Survivors were sent as slave labor to the ghettos set up in the cities and towns. The Nazis “liquidated” most of the ghettos after a few short months while the remaining ghettos in Vilnius, Kaunas and Šiauliai operated for another two to three years. The Vilnius ghetto was liquidated on September 23, 1943. Most of the inhabitants were shot to death at Ponar while others were transferred to concentration camps. The Panevėžys ghetto was liquidated on August 15, 1941. Thirteen and a half thousand Jews were shot. More than 200,000 Jews were murdered in Lithuania during World War II, accounting for approximately 95 percent of the Lithuanian Jewish community. There are more than 200 mass murder sites in Lithuania and about the same number of old Jewish cemeteries.

The Jewish community in Lithuania formed near the end of the 14th century. They were a thriving ethnic community in Lithuanian towns and cities by the beginning of the 20th century. In the period between the last half of the 19th and early 20th century, Jews accounted for between a quarter and a half of the population in many cities and towns. They were citizens of Lithuania with their own individual daily cares, worries and joys. Compared to other ethnic communities, the Jewish community was one of the largest in Lithuania.

Program:

12:00 noon: Commemoration at the Sad Jewish Mother statue on Atminties Square, Vasario 16-osios street.

12:30 P.M.: Events at the Panevėžys Jewish Community, Ramygalos street no. 18:

opening of the Vilnius Ghetto Posters exhibit from the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum.

presentation of the book “Nežudys” [“They Won’t Kill Us”] about the Holocaust in Panevėžys.

Screening and discussion of film about the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

Panevėžys Jewish Community. For further information, please call +370 861 120882.