A stele was unveiled to commemorate those who rescued Jews from the Holocaust in the Tymas neighborhood of Vilnius September 21. The stone marks the future site of a larger monument to rescuers.

This milestone event was achieved only after many years of requests by the Lithuanian Jewish Community to the city of Vilnius for a site for such a statue, without response. Discussions on a monument commemorating Righteous Gentiles continued for several years with the institutions responsible criticizing one another.

The LJC asked for a commemoration site near Ona Šimaitė street, named after the Righteous Gentile Ona Šimaitė, at the intersection of Misionierių and Maironio streets in Vilnius. The courtyard of the Missionaries Monastery was the site of the final selection on the last day of the liquidation of the Vilnius ghetto, September 23, 1943. Thousands of Jews from Vilnius were forced to undergo the selection and several members of the ghetto resistance were hung in the courtyard.

LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, who initiated the idea for a statue to the rescuers, spoke at the ceremony and personally thanked the Žukauskas, Matukevičius, Daugevičius and Lukaševičius families for rescuing her relatives from death.

“There is a painting with people sitting on this hill. There were ghetto gates, it was destroyed and people are sitting and awaiting their fate. The lucky ones went to concentration camps, the unlucky to Ponar. That’s why this site is so moving,” she told BNS.

Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevičius noted Pope Francis would stop at the former Vilnius ghetto wall over the weekend and pray for the Jews murdered.

“They were murdered by the Nazis and Lithuanian collaborators, and we can never forget this. But when there are tragic events, challenges, people appear who cannot accept this, people for whom truth and justice are more important than their own lives. … This is like a promise that those values more important than life itself have not been forgotten,” Linkevičius said about the pledge to build a monument.

Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius told the story of his great-grandfather who drove by in a cart in town when he heard the voice of a Jewish acquaintance crying out for help because there were armed soldiers around.

“He drove by probably knowing full well that he probably couldn’t have acted otherwise, but this feeling haunted him his whole life. Let’s admit that such people were the majority in Lithuania, people who could have but didn’t help, or who could not, but regretted they hadn’t helped. There were lowlifes who contributed to the murder of their own people … but there were also people who nonetheless found a way to help,” the mayor said.

First deputy Government chancellor Deividas Matulionis pledged the new memorial would appear at the site by 2020.

“These people rescued our honor during World War II and it is truly a joyful thing that there are almost 900 such people who contributed through their sacrifice to insure others might live, and that we could hold our heads high when we talk about our history,” he said.

Yad Vashem has recognized just over 900 inhabitants of Lithuania with the title Righteous Gentile.

Vilnius archbishop Gintaras Grušas said it was a good thing the Pope’s visit to Lithuania coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Vilnius ghetto. He said we can neither forget our shared wounds nor those who distinguished themselves by their goodness. “This monument to the Righteous Gentiles and rescuers is and should be for each of us a reminder of that greatness of spirit which existed among us, but which we must continue to foster,” the archbishop said. “I hope this monument will be a reminder to each of us that we must foster our fellowship with humanity daily: Christians with Christian values, Jews by living according to the principles of the Torah. But the teaching is the same: to love your neighbor, to love God with all your heart,” he continued.

The Vilnius ghetto was destroyed over a period of several weeks with the final day of liquidation marked as September 23, 1943.

A number of notables turned out for the ceremony for the long-awaited monument. Besides members of the Jewish community and the above-mentioned political and ecclesiastical figures, professor Vytautas Landsbergis, credited as the father of modern Lithuanian independence, also attended.