April 6, 2016

Wednesday, April 6, Vilnius. President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė met with the initiators of a unique project to aid rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust in Lithuania and Germany. The unusual project for Lithuanian Jewish rescuers carried out in two countries was the initiative of the Order of Malta and the Lithuanian Jewish Community.

The goal of the project was to help people living in Lithuania who saved Jews during World War II. Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaitė and German Federal Republic president Joachim Glauck supported the initiative.

“Even during the darkest hours of our history, Righteous Gentiles demonstrated humanity. Lithuania and Germany together remember their bravery and sacrifice, and we will always be grateful for the heroism and nobility of the Righteous Gentiles. This project brings together people and countries and forms a bridge between the past and the future, denying victory to apathy,” the president of Lithuania said.

The project involved holding a benefit concert in Germany to raise money for Righteous Gentiles living in Lithuania. Currently there are 87 people living in Lithuania with the title of Righteous among the Nations, or Righteous Gentiles. Lithuania and Germany work closely together in the spheres of economics, defense, science, innovation and culture. The president of Lithuania is to make a state visit to Germany two weeks hence, on April 20 and 21, and is to meet with German president Joachim Gauck and chancellor Angela Merkel, and is schedules to open a German-Lithuanian business forum. German president Gauck paid Lithuania a state visit in the summer of 2013. Last year the president of Lithuania was presented with a decoration from the Order of Malta, the Knightly Order pro Merito Melitensi, for her special and significant contributions to welfare activities, volunteer work, humanitarian values and aid to the suffering in support of the work of the Order of Malta.

Press Service of the President of Lithuania