A project to study the history of pre-Holocaust Lithuanian Jewish and Roma urban and rural communities has begun in Palanga. The aim is to recreate city, town, village and community history to understand how the former way of life connects with the present and future. Called “Children of the Holocaust: Illuminating the Shadows of Lithuanian History,” the Palanga Jewish Community said in a press release public understanding of the Holocaust is changing, with the history of the Jews now being told by creating a personal connection with the past.

This Lithuanian Jewish Community for implementation between 2024 and 2026 is supported by the EVZ Fund in Germany. The Palanga Jewish Community, the Jonas Šliūpas Museum in Palanga, the Old Gymnasium in Palanga, the Palanga Youth and Volunteer Center, the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius and the Roma Community Day Center are all partners in the project.

The goal is to encourage specific, novel, lively retellings of history to engage young people from Vilnius and Palanga. The focus is on children who were victims of the Holocaust from the Litvak and Roma ethnic communities and their experience, stories and recollections among survivors.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

I, Gercas Žakas, have been the chairman of the Kaunas Jewish Community for almost three decades now. I know, not from second-hand sources, what irreparable damage anti-Semitism causes, because I grew up in the family of a former ghetto and concentration camp prisoner. My parents survived the Holocaust but lost their families and almost all of their relatives.

Sadly, we hear many anti-Semitic statements being made in Lithuania at this time, and I have never heard in my lifetime the avalanche of cynicism and lies being poured out by Remigijus Žemaitaitis. Among other things, he has told multiple media outlets he has met with the chairman of the Kaunas Jewish Community.

I say with full responsibility that I have never met with this figure who was recognized as an anti-Semite by the Constitutional Court. This claim alone is in opposition to my values and does harm to my reputation in the eyes of the Jewish communities and society. I therefore demand Remigijus Žemaitaitis retract his words to the effect has met with the chairman of the Kaunas Jewish Community. Otherwise I reserve the right to defend my honor and dignity through legal remedy.

Gercas Žakas, chairman
Kaunas Jewish Community

Photo: Erikas Ovčarenko/15min.lt

The Vilnius Jerusalem of Lithuania Jewish Community posting on https://www.vilniauszydai.lt has taken strong exception to an Al Jazeera television report on a pro-Hamas protest held in Vilnius presumably months ago which included editorial content linking the Palestinian cause to the Lithuanian struggle for independence from the Soviet Union. The Community said it was disgusting and shameful to hold street marches in support of terrorism.

The pro-Hamas website palestina.lt for some reason provided a translation from Arabic (Al Jazeera mainly broadcasts in English) of the report and editorial (translated back into English here):

“There are demonstrations taking place in Lithuania to express solidarity with Palestine. From the beginning of the war in Gaza activists have held many events in public spaces in the capital Vilnius [sic, two at most]. Participants demand an end to the genocide of Palestinians. The demonstrations are being organized by palestina.lt to bring public attention to events in Palestine, to counter the pro-Israeli narrative dominant in the country’s media, to condemn the close relationship Lithuanian politicians have with Tel Aviv and to emphasize there was also oppression, deportations and colonization in the history of Lithuania dating from the Russian Empire’s period of rule (1795) through the Nazi occupation right up until the restoration of independence.”

The Jerusalem of Lithuania Jewish Community countered: