On March 12 in the middle of a blizzard people gathered at the Litvak Commemorative Garden in Plateliai, Lithuania, to commemorate Lithuania’s first-recognized Righteous Gentile, Vilnius University librarian Ona Šimaitė.

Lithuania marks the first-ever Day of Rescuers of Lithuanian Jews in the country March 15. It was on this day in 1966 that Yad Vashem in Israel recognized Ona Šimaitė as the first Righteous Gentile from Lithuania.

The Litvak Commemorative Garden has a number of metal apple tree sculptures with the names of Lithuanian Jewish communities exterminated in the Holocaust and Lithuanian Righteous Gentiles inscribed on the apples.

Full story in Lithuanian here.