To mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Lithuanian Jewish Community is holding an internet discussion called “When No Eye-Witnesses Remain” at 2:00 P.M. on Wednesday, January 27, at https://www.facebook.com/zydubendruomene

LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, who helped initiate the virtual conference and plans to take part, said: “There are ever fewer Holocaust witnesses who can take an active part in educating society. When the last eye-witnesses die, all responsibility for preserving memory will pass to the younger generations. Memory of the Holocaust should become simply an history lesson where dates, names and locations are the most significant. It should be an eternal lesson in human moral values which moves the heart as well as the mind.”

Watch live, starting at 2:00 P.M.:

Writer, publicist and professor at the Institute of International and EU Law at Mykolas Romeris University Justinas Žilinskas will also participate, as well Baltic Region History and Archaeology lecturer Hektoras Vitkus, Human Rights Monitoring Institute executive board member and philisopher Paulius Gritėnas and Vilnius Policy Analysis Institute Media and Democracy Program director Donatas Puslys. Writer and director of the Šeduva Jewish Memorial Foundation Sergejus Kanovičius will moderate the discussion.

Sergejus Kanovičius said: “We live in an interesting time. Following decades of silence we are able finally to speak openly about the Holocaust, to educate society and to remember the victims and the rescuers. This is also a time when the last living eye-witnesses are leaving us, so we are seeking new ways to preserve their memory and pass it on to others. We should refrain from the formal remembrance of special days and instead create a living community connected with the past, a community which not only remembers but also discovers, learns, teaches, takes an interest in and reflects on the Holocaust, but moreover on life before and after.”

Again, the discussion will be live-streamed here:
https://www.facebook.com/zydubendruomene

Text in Lithuanian here.