To never forget, to always remember and to seek to make sure it never happens again–these are our duties. We often repeat these words in commemoration Holocaust victims. We repeated them again in the afternoon on Friday, March 24, in Kaunas when we remembered the victims of the most horrific mass murder operation in the Kauinas ghetto, the Children’s Aktion.

Horrific also because, as Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon said at the commemoration, it is incomprehensible how a human being can turn into a murderer of innocent children, of babies who don’t even understand what is going on in the world around them. Horrific and painful because it impossible to imagine what the parents felt when they returned home to the ghetto after forced labor and found their only joy, their children, were missing. Administrative director of the Kaunas municipality Nijolė Putrienė cried speaking about the unrealized dreams of the murdered children, about the murder of their futures and about Lithuanian citizens who could have made a difference. Survivor of the Children’s Operation Ela Glinskienė spoke of her memories. Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas led the event and long-time Kaunas Jewish Community friend, the daughter of a rescuer of Jews, actress Kristina Kazakevičiūtė and flautist Artūras Makštutis provided music and poetry.

Kaunas Hassidic Religious Community chairman Iser Shreyberg and Rabbi Moshe Sheynfeld performed kaddish.