According to the Lithuanian Jewish Community, there are currently about 5,000 Jews living in Lithuania, constituting less than one percent of the country’s total population. Despite their small demographic spread, members of the Jewish community living in Lithuania continue to encounter a lack of tolerance and expressions of hate. Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky says that although no one is beating Jews or drawing swastikas on their backs, there could be a lot more respect and the sense of shared humanity.

No lack of angry comments, go back to Israel

“Thirty years of independence have expanded our society’s horizons and made us more tolerant of one another. Travelling in other countries people begin to recognize diversity and realize we are all different. Even so, when some positive information appears in the public space about Jews and supportive of this community in Lithuania, there come endless disgusting comments and hate speech,” Kukliansky said.

She revealed she had experienced a number of anti-Semitic attacks in her life and therefore would never allow herself to think of another person as somehow lesser because of their ethnicity, race or other characteristics.

“Back in childhood I experienced teasing and bullying from other children and anti-Semitic statements from some teachers, but this wasn’t considered a crime then. When my children were growing up there was also all of this, even physical acts. The last attack I experienced was last year on January 13 in parliament when one of those invited to the commemoration said publicly that I and my Jews should go to Israel. The most surprising thing was that of those people around me not one defended me, on the contrary, they defended the person among them sowing hate. When I recognized the person who made the attack I took the photograph to the police, but I wasn’t an active victim. And so he went unpunished, but I didn’t demand he be punished,” Kukliansky recalled.

Full interview in Lithuanian here.