April 6, 2016–Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaitė met Wednesday with Righteous Gentiles, or people who rescued Jews during World War II in Lithuania. The ambassadors of the Order of Malta, Germany and Israel and the leaders of the Order of Malta Relief Organization and the Lithuanian Jewish Community attended the meeting.

During friendly conversation over tea, the outstanding achievements of these brave Lithuanians were remembered and thoughts were shared on their problems, concerns and the help they need. The Order of Malta project to aid Righteous Gentiles in Lithuania was presented. All Righteous Gentiles still living in Lithuania are quite elderly and many of them live in isolation and need help.

A benefit concert was held in Munich to raise money for the Righteous Gentiles in Lithuania. More than 123,000 euros were raised for this purpose from that concert.

Baron Christian von Bechtolsheim, the ambassador of the Order of Malta to Lithuania, said: “The Maltese in Lithuania take care of many ill, elderly and isolated people. But Righteous Gentiles are special. These noble and courageous people were not afraid and risked their own lives to rescue their neighbors and countrymen from death. Now it’s our turn to help them.”

The Maltese presented a 3-year project at the President’s Office whose goal is to remind the public of the Righteous Gentiles who saved Lithuania’s honor and to provide material and psychological aid to them. This is a joint project with the Lithuanian Jewish Community. Debit cards for medicine and food will be provided to the Righteous Gentiles with monthly allowances added to the cards. Each individual Righteous Gentile in Lithuania will be assessed for their needs and funding will be allocated for those needs. The project includes a plan to stage an exhibit about these people, their stories and what happened to them.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky spoke during the meeting and said: “We know many Lithuanians helped the Nazis to murder their Jewish fellow citizens, but not everyone was apathetic towards to the tragedy befalling the Jews, [there were some who] rescued them, risking their lives and those of their families. Jews consider these people the lights, the beacons and the heroes of the Lithuanian nation. We will never forget them, and for many years we have fought for payments by the state for these rescuers. Today we say that they are extraordinary people, real humanitarians who not only saved their friends and neighbors, or Jews who were complete strangers, but also the honor of Lithuania and the dignity of the Lithuanian people. For that reason the rescuers deserve higher honor from the state. We can say boldly that these extraordinary personalities have become a perfect example outside of time of values for every Lithuanian citizen to follow, an example which is worthy of more than just episodic mention, which is worthy of assimilation and integration in the general educational system. In the name of the Lithuanian Jewish Community I thank the rescuers of Jews. Now at last we finally have at least one street in Vilnius named after the rescuer Ona Šimaitė, who has become a sort of symbol of all the rescuers. And we will continue to strive to contribute to the commemoration of the heroism of the rescuers. We are still asking the Lithuanian state to honor the countries heroic rescuers appropriately by erecting statues to them, before which we could bow our heads in honor and under which we could place flowers. I sincerely thank the Order of Malta for their care and material aid to the Righteous among the Nations, and for the grand benefit concert in Munich where donations were collected.”