On Monday, September 21, the Ninth Fort Museum in Kaunas marked Lithuanian Holocaust Remembrance Day. Lithuanian deputy foreign minister Mantvydas Bekešius, deputy Kaunas mayor Vasilijus Popovas, relatives of victims and others attended.Deputy mayor Popovas said: “Every year these tragic events recede from us. These locations do not allow us to forget this especially painful page of history, here where people of Jewish ethnicity were murdered en masse. Today is not a day for long speeches, it is better to be silent to remember and consider what these people experienced.”Kaunas Jewish Community chairman akas Gercas said: “We may not forget what happened. It is important to remember one’s past, especially for young people of whom there are many among us today, and that goes to show they will not be antagonistic to any other ethnicities and their beliefs.”
Lithuanian Holocaust Remembrance Day has been marked in Lithuania since 1994. The date of was chosen to mark the date of the liquidation of the Vilnius ghetto on September 23, 1944. This year the day coincided with Yom Kippur, so many chose to mark it early.