Information from the Ethnic Minorities Department under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania

The Ethnic Minorities Department under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania assembled an awards commission for their annual award November 18. Nominations were accepted from chairpeople of ethnic community organizations, minority NGOs, social organizations and cultural center directors for whom to award as part of the Department’s celebration of the International Day of Tolerance. The awards commission received 36 requests and recommendations for award recipients.

Alvida Gedaminskienė, the director of the social organization the Ethnic Communities Center, was chosen to receive the grand prize version of the award “For Merit.”

The next highest award was the golden award of respect “For Merit” and was awarded to Aldona Kodytė, a member of the Lithuanian Association of Belarussian Schools; Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and to Kęstutis Zenonas Šafranavičius, the chairman of the Kaunas Regional Tartar Community.

Silver medals “For Merit” were awarded to Zigfridas Binkevičius, the chairman of the Visaginas city section of the Polish Union of Lithuania and director of the Polish group of the Native School of the Visaginas Cultural Center; to Klausas Peteris Paulius Grudzinskas, the chairman of the Klaipėda German Association; the singer Rafailas Karpis; Klaipėda City Belarussian Association Krynitsa chairman Nikolai Logvin; Alikas Melechas, leader of the Aliye Lithuanian Tartar folk ensemble; National Association of the International Writers and Publishers Association president Levas Mesengiseris; vicar of the Visaginas St. Paul the Apostle parish and priest Vidmantas Rudokas; Pushkin Literary Museum director Nadežda Petrauskienė and Atpūta Klaipėda District Latvian Association founder Gotfridas Tapinas.

The awards commission decided to present souvenir gifts from the Department–watches with inscriptions–to founder and director of the Birlik Lithuanian Karaïte Youth Ensemble Ina Lavrinovič, member of the Visaginas Tartar Association Guzel Naidionova; Klaipėda Jeiwsh Community member Lina Spevak; to Zita Stankevičienė, Alytus Naujienos newspaper photo-correspondent, member of the Lithuanian Journalists Union and of the Lietuvos Spaudos photographers club; and to soloist Vitkor Tereshchenko of the Kaunas Russian Community.

The Department also presented honorary certificates of appreciation to Lidija Antonova Abochina, a teacher at the Santarvė school in Klaipėda; Lithuanian Karaïte Cultural Association board member Irina Abragamovič; Vera Khitra, the founder and a member of the Rodyna Ukrainian Cultural and Education Center; Nur Klaipėda Tartar Association member Zilia Gorochova; Lithuanian Karaïte Cultural Association member Dmitrijus Jurkevičius; Nadežda Russian-Lithuanian Meeting Club member Valentina Kiseleva and Tartar Cultural Center member Roza Radeckienė.

The awards ceremony was postponed due to fears of the corona virus.

Text of resolution by the awards commission of the Ethnic Minorities Department in Lithuanian here.