by Gediminas Kirkilas

September 23 is the Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Genocide. On this day in 1943 the Vilnius Jewish ghetto was liquidated [sic, the ghetto was liquidated over several weeks–trans.]. Behind this fact hides the unusually complex and tragic history of the Jews of Lithuania (Litvaks), the unimaginably painful and tragic personal fates of Jews and their families. Of about 208,000 Jews resident in Lithuania, about 195,000-196,000 were murdered. Every year as we mark dates important to Litvaks, each time, let’s think hard about what hides behind these numbers.

We must continue to learn and teach and learn and teach more about the history of the Litvaks and the Holocaust, to increase our consciousness and sharpen our critical thinking, and to nip in the bud all kinds of right-wing extremism, so that there would be no place for xenophobia, racial and ethnic hatred and everyday domestic anti-Semitism in Lithuanian.

Full text in Lithuanian here.