Vilnius, February 7, BNS–The Lithuanian Jewish Community says commemoration of Righteous Gentiles is missing in Lithuania, and so far the Vilnius administration isn’t considering any specific ideas to do so.
LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky hailed an initiative by activists to erect a statue in Israel to rescuers of Jews, but thinks such commemoration needs to begin in Vilnius.
“But why does it need to be built in Israel instead of Lithuania? Is there no need to honor rescuers in Lithuania? I don’t know, maybe it wouldn’t be over the top if such a statue appeared in Israel. I think there are people who left Lithuania who survived, and if someone was left alive, it was thanks to the rescuers. I don’t think people would object to that. But perhaps first we should set things in order in Lithuania,” Kukliansky told BNS.
Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius agreed Lithuanian needs to “make great strides” in the commemoration of rescuers of Jews and pointed out there are trees planted at Yad Vashem in honor of Lithuanian rescuers, and that a Vilnius street was renamed after rescuer Ona Šimaitė last year. “But I think there needs to be more such signs, especially now, when it is being recalled that many Lithuanians took part in the destruction of the Jews. But neither should it be forgotten that very many Lithuanians also rescued Jews… I think there needs to be commemoration in Vilnius as well,” Šimašius told BNS, but said he wasn’t sure if the municipality would contribute to that.
Kukliansky pointed out there was earlier consideration of building such a memorial in Kaunas, which would have been designed by the famous US architect of Jewish background Daniel Libeksind, but that never got past the idea stage.
On Monday the Vilnoja organization led by Vilnius politician Vidmantas Martikonis, a colleague of mayor Šimašius in the Liberal Union party, sent an open letter to Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon suggesting a statue be built in Tel Aviv to honor people of Lithuania who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. The letter was also addressed to Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Lithuanian prime minister Algirdas Butkevičius and Lithuanian minister of culture Šarūnas Birutis. The Israeli embassy confirmed to BNS they had received the letter and that the ambassador would read its contents very soon. Martikonis said he wasn’t going to consider the idea of building a monument in Vilnius because he wants to spread the news of Lithuanian rescuers of Jews in Israel itself.
Our image, Lithuania’s image, would improve somewhat in the eyes of Israeli residents, because now the propaganda of Efraim Zuroff [director of the Jerusalem section of the Simon Wiesenthal Center] is dominant. I understand that the man makes his living that way, but this would understanding from the entire Jewish community. The goal is for to appear in Israel. In Lithuania we ourselves can build ten of them, a hundred, and in the end we always have similar sorts of commemorative markers, but I want the world to know,” he said. Martikonis said he had received a quick reply from the Israeli embassy saying a meeting would be set up with ambassador Maimon. The politician also said he was prepared to find a person to pay for the memorial and have it set up with their own money.
