Heritage – Page 19 – Lithuanian Jewish Community

Synagogue in Žiežmariai Opens Doors

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Kaišiadorys city municipality invite the public to visit the restored synagogue in Žiežmariai, Lithuania, September 17.

As part of the European Days of Jewish Culture, the LJC is sponsoring the event in Žiežmariai to discuss the public utilization of Litvak heritage sites and the relationship between the local community and this synagogue specifically.

The event will be moderated by Martynas Užpelkis, the LJC’s heritage specialist.

Participants will include LJC chairwoman Faina, Kukliansky, Kaišiadorys mayor Vytenis Tomkus, Lithuanian heritage expert and historian Diana Varnaitė, Kaišiadorys Museum director Olijardas Lukoševičius and others.

The event begins at the synagogue at 2:00 P.M. on September 17.

2021-09-16

Invitation to Remember and Honor the Large Jewish Community of Švenčionys Murdered in the Holocaust

It has become a tradition now to meet on the first Sunday in October at the Menorah in the park in Švenčionys to remember and honor the large Jewish community of Švenčionys who had their own culture and traditions, and to remember their tragic fate.

I am please to invite everyone to attend the Holocaust commemoration at the Menorah statue in the Švenčionys city park marking the boundary of the Švenčionys ghetto. The commemoration starts at 11:00 A.M. on October 3, 2021.

Program:

2021-09-152021-10-12

Alytus Marks 80th Anniversary of Onset of Holocaust

Wednesday the city of Alytus south of Vilnius marked the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust with a procession before noon from the Old Town to a mass murder site in the Vidzgirdas Forest.

A commemoration ceremony was held at the memorial at the Holocaust site.

Jewish community members from Kaunas and Vilnius, Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, MPs, local government officials, foreign ambassadors, students from schools in the area and local residents participated.

Following the ceremony the renovated synagogue building on Kauno street was opened as the new home of the Alytus Audio-Visual Arts Center with a concert by Rakija Klezmer Orkestar.

2021-09-10

New Jewish Calendar Available

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is happy to announce our annual Jewish calendar has been printed and is ready for distribution. This year’s calendar, for the year 5782, features the communities and people who lived in Lithuania before the Holocaust, with period photography from shtetls across the country. The format this year is smaller and hopefully more convenient and functional but contains the features from past years, including local times for Sabbath, fasts and holidays. It will be made available to the public starting Thursday, September 9, at the Bagel Shop Café.

2021-09-07

Molėtai Marks 80th Anniversary of Holocaust with Commemorative March, New Monument

The Lithuanian city of Molėtai, located about 60 miles north of the capital Vilnius, marked the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust on August 29. On that date in 1941 more than half the population of Molėtai, the local Jewish community, was murdered.

Five years ago a large Jewish commemorative march was held in Molėtai, attracting international attention. Tzvi Kritzer, the organizer of that event, was made an honorary citizen of Molėtai by the local municipality.

This year’s event began with the unveiling of a monument at the site where the town’s four synagogues once stood. The monument is a commemorative plaque affixed to a large field stone in the town center with a silhouette of the former synagogues and inscriptions in several languages saying this is where the synagogues once stood. Saulius Pilinkus, an art historian who was directing this event, called upon Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Molėtai regional administration mayor Saulius Jauneika, screenwriter and cartoonist Ilja Bereznickas and the creator of the plaque, Aurimas Širvys, to help in the unveiling.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, administration mayor Saulius Jauneika and Molėtai Regional History Museum director Viktorija Kazlienė both said Molėtai is striving to restore historical memory.

2021-09-032021-10-01

Celebrating 100 Years since the Birth of Olga Aleksandrovna Šteinberg

Photo: Olga Šteinberg with Veronika Vitaitė, from Veronika Vitaitė’s collection

The Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater will mark the milestone 100th anniversary of the birth of pianist, professor and Lithuanian musical giant Olga Aleksandrovna Šteinberg at 6:00 P.M. on September 9 in the main hall there. The event was postponed from April 20 of last year due to health concerns. Her students will perform and share their memories and a film about her life will be shown.

Olga Šteinberg was born in Roston-on-Don on April 20, 1920. Her first teacher was her aunt Sara Kan, a concert pianist, who taught her at home. Her family moved to Odessa where she studied music at the school located inside Piotr Stoliarky’s home. Even then she performed with her future husband Shaya (Alexander) Livont. She began studies at the Odessa Conservatory in 1939 but when the war broke out she was forced to quit classes. She and her mother first fled to Udmurtia where she gained much work experience reading musical notation and working with artists at the Musical Comedy Theater in Izhevsk. Later she matriculated at the Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg) Conservatory in 1942 under Heinrich Niehaux. From 1943 to 1947 she studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow under Yakav Zak, matriculating with a recommendation from Livont.

2021-09-01

Vilnius City Council Says Palace of Sports Reconstruction Must Go On

Photo by Saulius Žiūra

In response to a Government decision not to go forward with plans to reconstruct the Palace of Sports in Vilnius, the Vilnius City Council adopted a resolution today [August 25] urging the Government and other state institutions to continue with the reconstruction project to build the Congress Center [convention center] meeting international standards and important to the nation as a whole.

Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius tabled the resolution and said: “It is very important for Vilnius that the central part of the city be vital, and the renovated facility would allow for exploiting the potential of conference tourism. There is a real lack of a conference center in Vilnius. Maybe the Government has a different vision, but I would highly urge to continue the project which the capital, business and all of Lithuania need.”

The city council pointed out the capital has set for itself the goal of building a conference venue in its general plan and other strategic documents which could appear following reconstruction of this protected building with unique architecture.

2021-08-272021-09-10

Five Years On Molėtai Marches Again

Five years ago Marius Ivaškevičius wrote of the need to remember the exterminated Jewish community of Molėtai, a town about 60 miles north of Vilnius. His call to mobilize with a march through the town became the second-most popular item ever on this website (the most popular being a reprint of an article about the South African Jewish community which continues to attract hits years later). The march itself was a watershed moment in Lithuanian Holocaust consciousness, drawing ethnic Lithuanians from around the country and the world together with Lithuanian Jews and Jews from South Africa, Uruguay, Great Britain, the USA and other countries. Several thousand people turned up on the town square and listened to the different speeches before marching to the mass murder site across town there.

The march was covered by the New York Times, Washington Post, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Jerusalem Post and other publications.

The march is to be repeated this year. August 29 is the date all Jews from Molėtai were murdered. On that “Day of Wrath” they were marched under armed guard two kilometers from one of the synagogues to the killing ground.

2021-08-262021-09-03

A Lecture and a Prize

Jon Seligman of the Israeli Antiquities Authority delivered a lecture called “The Great Synagogue of Vilnius: Finds from the Past and a Vision of the Future” in the evening on August 24 in the Jascha Heifetz hall on the third floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky made use of the occasion to present the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak History commemorative medallion to Jon Seligman for his work keeping Litvak traditions, learning and the Litvak cultural legacy alive.

2021-08-26

News from the Great Synagogue

Archaeologists continuing their annual summer digs at the Great Synagogue complex in Vilnius plan to share their results from this year’s dig with media at the site itself at noon on August 26. The site is located at Vokiečių street no. 13A in Vilnius.

This year they continued to uncover the bima and aron kodesh, and uncovered a floor mosaic. They’ve also uncovered the base of one of four pillars.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said “This year there was an especially moving moment: finally we have seen the central part of the synagogue which was destroyed more than sixty years ago.”

Media contacts:

Michail Segal, executive director, Lithuanian Jewish Community, +37065075939, info@lzb.lt

Dr. Jon Seligman, Israeli Antiquities Authority, jon@israntique.org.il

Zenonas Baubonis, archaeologist, z.baubonis@gmail.com

2021-08-252021-08-25

Gesher Club Offers Tour

The Gesher Club at the Lithuanian Jewish Community is offering a two-day tour of the Panemunė castles and the Curonian Spit on August 28 and 29. The group will visit the Pažaislis monastery, the Raudondvaris manor estate, Vilkija, the Veliuona earth-mounds and the Raudonė and Panemunė castles. They will also visit the Holocaust memorial and Alley of Synagogues in Jurbarkas, with rest and an overnight stay in Klaipėda with an evening tour of the Klaipėda Old Town. Following breakfast on Sunday the group will move on to the Curonian Spit with visits to Juodkrantė, the Dead Dunes and Nida, followed by the return trip to Vilnius. The tour will be conducted by long-time LJC member and professional tour guide Markas Psonikas. For more information and to register, call+37067881514 or send an mail to zanas@sc.lzb.lt. For more about Markas’s tours, see here.

2021-08-19

Almost Half Million Euros Wasted on Palace of Sports Reconstruction Project

Photo: Palace of Sports, Vilnius, courtesy BNS/Lrytas.lt

Now that the Lithuanian Government has rejected a plan to outfit a conference center in the Palace of Sports falling into disrepair in Vilnius, Lithuania’s Turto bankas maintains they’ve received no directions on how to use the space in the future. Nonetheless, this Lithuanian state property bank says it has to maintain the building and is considering carrying out necessary maintenance work there.

Turto bankas, the state agency responsible for the project, said they cannot comment further on the Government’s reasons for rejecting the plan. Government reps told BNS they will seek alternatives to the Congress Center conference center project.

“For now all we can say is the Government resolution for reconstructing the Palace of Sports as the Congress Center has not been rescinded, annulled or amended,” Turto bankas told BNS.

2021-08-172021-08-22

The Great Synagogue of Vilnius: Finds from the Past and a Vision for the Future

At 6:00 P.M., August 24, Israeli Antiquities Authority department of digs and research director Jon Seligman will deliver a lecture called “The Great Synagogue of Vilnius: Finds from the Past and a Vision for the Future” at the Lithuanian Jewish Community located at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. The lecture will be in English and is open to the public.

Archeological investigation resumed this year at the synagogue site on August 9 and the team of archaeologists including Seligman have begun fully uncovering the remains of the bima and aron kodesh there. They plan to uncover the main floor and the southeast and northwest wall sections as well.

Event announcement here.

2021-08-172021-08-17

EJC Slams Polish President, Calls Anti-Restitution Law Undemocratic, Unjust, Immoral

Saturday, August 14, 2021–European Jewish Congress president Moshe Kantor slammed the ratification of a bill passed by the Polish parliament which will make it far harder for Jews to claim restitution on properties appropriated and stolen during the Holocaust era.

“This law is undemocratic, unjust and immoral,” Kantor said. “This is not bringing order to chaos as president Duda claims, it is making legal what should be illegal and is merely legalizing theft. The president had an opportunity to right the wrong created by the parliament. He could have shown moral clarity and leadership, but he chose not to.

“Moreover, this law will also further highlight Poland’s unique position as the only country in the region which makes Holocaust restitution impossible and runs counter to its international commitments. It is outrageous that someone who survived the Holocaust, who will be in their later years, will still be deprived justice by this cruel, illegitimate and discriminatory law.”

2021-08-172021-08-17

Polish Senate Approves Bill Limiting Holocaust Restitution

Photo: Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid lashes out at bill last June. Photo by Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images

The law would prevent Holocaust survivors from regaining property seized after World War II. It triggered sharp criticism from Israel and the United States.

Poland’s parliament late Wednesday passed legislation that would put an end to most legal claims for properties confiscated after World War II.

The bill states that administrative decisions can no longer be challenged in court after the expiration of a 30-year period, essentially preventing Jews from recovering property seized by Poland’s Communist-era authorities.

The legislation, which passed earlier in the Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, still has to be signed by president Andrzej Duda before taking effect.

Full story here.

2021-08-132021-09-10

News from the Kaunas Jewish Community

I am endlessly grateful for the friendship and fruitful cooperation from the very beginning with the Kaunas 2022 team (and especially the Memory Bureau team) and I am thankful for the honor bestowed me as a member of the consultation committee for the Litvak Forum to take place in 2022.

I am so very glad because it is always pleasant to communicate with open, tolerant people who are hungry for knowledge and who are striving to insure our society might also become more open, more tolerant and more accepting.

I am glad because we are joined in a common goal: to encourage recognition of the multicultural history of our city and to appreciate what we have, while not averting our gaze from painful episodes.

2021-08-09

Panevėžys Jewish Community Receives Visitors

With virus restrictions eased, the Panevėžys Jewish Community received some foreign visitors interested to learn more about their relatives, their biographies and their fate.

Yeir and his wife, both from Israel, visited us on July 25. He’s the great-grandson of famous Panevėžys rabbi Rabinovitch, the ilui who lived and worked here for more than 20 years. Yeir was keen to learn more about religious life in Panevėžys in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He experienced the city and visited Jewish heritage sites here.

According to archive documents from 1857, eight synagogues in Panevėžys are mentioned, with a few more synagogues located in private residences. Religious life in Panevėžys is the subject of a forthcoming book called “Žvilgsnis į praeitį: Panevėžio žydų istorija ir palikimas” [A Glimpse into the Past: The History and Legacy of the Jews of Panevėžys], already printed and soon to be launched.

2021-08-09

Shalom, Akmenė

On August 4, 1941, the Jews of the Akmenė region who were being detained in the town of Akmenė were taken to Mažeikiai and murdered. An event called “Shalom, Akmenė” was organized and held to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust there on August 4. A new monument marking the site of the former synagogue in Klykoliai village was unveiled and the victims were remembered at the town square in Akmenė with a reading of names, sung prayers and kaddish. The ceremony there ended with a procession along Stoties and Viekšnių streets to the Akmenė town cemetery. Old Jewish cemeteries on the Tirkšliai-Mažeikiai highway were also visited.

Participants included members of the Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community, Lithuanian MP Kasparas Adomaitis and others. Our gratitude goes to the organizers, Diana and Marijus Lopaitis and the Akmenė History Museum.

2021-08-062021-08-06

Kupiškis Remembers Onset of Holocaust 80 Years Ago

On July 30 organizers and guests of the “Road of Memory 1941-2021” project and local residents assembled at the Kupiškis Ethnographic Museum where museum historian Aušra Jonušytė moderated events.

United States embassy to Lithuania representative Wartenberg welcomed visitors in the name of US ambassador Robert Gilchrist and Lithuanian Foreign Ministry ambassador Marius Janukonis and veteran Conservative Party politician, former minister and MEP Rasa Juknevičienė as well as others participated and spoke at the event whose main organizer was Lithuania’s International Commission to Assess the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes, whose deputy director Ingrida Vilkienė also delivered an address to the audience. Kupiškis regional administration mayor Dainius Bardauskas also spoke.

A procession bearing banners and flags walked to the mass murder site at the Freethinkers’ Cemetery in Kupiškis with marchers bearing flowers, candles and stones inscribed with the names of the murdered. The commemoration included a reading of the names of the victims and descriptions of their lives and families.

2021-08-04

Storm Damage at the Jewish Cemetery and a Request from the Administration

The most recent storm in Vilnius did damage to the Jewish cemetery on Sudervės raod in Vilnius. Many grave monuments fell down and some broke. If you have loved ones interred at this cemetery, the administrator of the cemetery is asking you to renew your contact information including telephone numbers and email addresses so that the administration can contact you.

The administration’s telephone number is 370 67025750 and the email is es48e@hotmail.com

2021-08-032021-08-04