History of the Jews in Lithuania – Page 14 – Lithuanian Jewish Community

Biblio File: Journey toward Dark Truths

Photo: Jews in the Kovno ghetto in Lithuania are boarded onto trucks during a deportation action to a work camp c. 1942 (Image: US Holocaust Memorial Museum)

by Justin Amler, August 30, 2023

Our People: Discovering Lithuania’s Hidden Holocaust
by Rūta Vanagaitė and Efraim Zuroff
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 240 pp., A$49.99

Under the terms of the secret protocols of the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940. After the Nazis attacked the Soviet Union, Lithuania was occupied by the Germans in June 1941.

Caught in the middle were the country’s Jews.

Our People is a book about a journey in search of truth in the face of authorities who want to take that truth and distort it into something quite different.

One of the greatest myths of the Holocaust was that it was Hitler and the Nazis alone who committed the atrocities against the Jews. But this is, at best, misleading. While the Nazis were the driving force behind the genocide of the Jewish people, they could not have succeeded without the collaboration of willing local citizens across many countries.

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Keydan Holocaust Victims Remembered

Yesterday was the 82th anniversary of the annihilation of the Jewish community of Keydan (Kėdainiai). Jews from the city of Keydan and the small towns of Šėta and Žeimiai were murdered at Daukšai village near Keydan in 1941. This mass murder operation targeted 2076 people in total with 710 men, 767 women and 599 children brutally massacred for being born Jewish. The Keydan Jewish community had lived in the area for 300 years before this.

The commemoration ceremony took place at the mass murder site, followed by a presentation at the City of Kėdainiai’s Multicultural Center of Aron Pik’s book Notes from the Valley of the Slaughter. Translator of the book Andrew Cassel also participated, as did Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas and a representative from Lithuania’s International Commission for Assessing the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Regimes in Lithuania.

2023-08-30

Nechama Lifshitz Song Contest Slated for Mid-September

The Nechama Lifshitz Song Contest is back and scheduled for several days in mid-September. A big hit last year, we expect it will draw even more attention this third time around.

Nechama, or Nekhama according to a stricter transcription, was an amazing Yiddish-language songstress sometimes called the Jewish Nightingale who began her professional career in Vilnius and Kaunas, going on to fame in the Soviet Union and world renown with concert tours abroad.

The best voices from Lithuania and abroad will meet at the Lithuanian Music and Theater Academy performance hall from 11:00 A.M. till 6:00 P.M. on September 17. The hall is located at Tilto street no. 16 in central Vilnius. That same evening Jazz Cellar 11 at Aušros vartų street no. 11 in Vilnius will host popular music vocalists starting at 8:00 P.M.

On September 18 there will be a concert performed by prize winners at the Old Town Hall in Vilnius starting at 6:00 P.M. The same evening the party continues at Jazz Cellar 11 with the closing ceremony for the song contest.

2023-08-30

Yiddish Lesson with Simas Levinas

“I grew up in a Jewish setting. We lit candles during Hanukkah as did everyone, we ate home cooking. Only now, thinking about how that food was prepared, so I realize this was kosher food. We were surrounded by Jews, Jews came over as guests, when you got sick it was Jews who treated you. When I was small I didn’t even know things could be any other way. I only saw girls dressed colorfully next to the Gates of Dawn in Vilnius, and I wanted those kinds of clothes, too, but my grandmother wouldn’t let me, saying only Polish girls dressed that way,” Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman and attorney Faina Kukliansky recalled about her early childhood.

“Later on life changed, school, studies, new people, new homes where you couldn’t keep chickens with their legs tied as in my grandmother’s kitchen. One important thing, however, didn’t change: the Yiddish language which we used at home, all our relatives and closest friends…” …

Simas Levinas will deliver a lesson in basic Yiddish at 11:00 A.M. on September 3 in the kitchen of the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius. Everyone is welcome to attend the free event which is part of the European Day of Jewish Culture celebrations in Lithuania.

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Presentation/Discussion of Book about Vilnius Yiddish Folk Theater

You’re invited to a presentation and discussion of the book “Вильнюсский еврейский Народный театр 1971-1999” [Vilnius Jewish Folk Theater 1971-1999] with the author Betsalel “Tsalik” Frank from Israel. Boris Kirzner will serve as moderator for the Russian-language event. Following the event, the author will invite the audience to share a glass of wine and celebrate Sabbath together. The event will take place in the Jascha Heifetz Hall at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius at 6:00 P.M. on Friday, September 8.

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Jewish Community of Balbirishok Remembered

A stone stele marking the site of the synagogue which once served the Jewish community in Balbirishok (Balbieriškis) was unveiled in the small Lithuanian town last week.

Attending the unveiling ceremony were Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas, US embassy chief of mission William Kendrick, Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein, educational program coordinator of the International Commission for Assessing the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in Lithuania Ingrida Vilkienė, representatives of the Prienai regional administration and the Balbieriškis aldermanship and a large contingent of local residents and students from the Balbieriškis primary school’s Tolerance Center.

LJC chairwoman Kukliansky welcomed the audience and said she was impressed and pleased the truly significant role played by Litvaks in the history of the town was being remembered and appreciated.

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European Day of Jewish Culture Events in Vilnius

September 3rd is coming. The first Sunday in autumn, the day the Lithuanian Jewish Community will again celebrate the European Day of Jewish Culture, a day the Community has celebrated for a decade now. As in previous years, all events across Europe to celebrate the day are modeled on a general theme. This year it’s memory. This topic is like a bridge leading to the Jewish cultural legacy which remains to a great extent unknown by the wider population. #Atmintis or Memory doesn’t end on the first Sunday in September, of course, and in September and October the Lithuanian Jewish Community will hold and coordinate events throughout Lithuania.

Below you’ll find the events program for September 3, all of which are free and open to everyone.

#EŽKD2023 #EDJC2023 #Atmintis #AEPJ #LietuvosŽydų(litvakų)Bendruomenė #CviParkas #BeigeliųKrautuvėlė Kultūros Paveldo Departamentas Tautinių mažumų departamentas prie Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybės #mūsųbendruomenės #OurCommunities

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Sunday Quiz on Great Litvak Artists

This Sunday’s quiz will test your knowledge of Litvak artists, their influence on art history, what stands out in their work and why Litvak artists are important on the world stage. Prizes are to include falafels, wine and other goodies. It all takes place starting at 5:00 P.M. on Sunday, August 20, at the Israeli street food kiosk in Petras Cvirka Square across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. Everyone is welcome.

2023-08-18

Grotesque Commemoration of Evil

by Grant Gochin

Fearing stigmatization and persecution, Lithuanian rescuers of Jews awarded the “Righteous among the Nations” designation, often hid it from their neighbors and family members for decades. Today, the Lithuanian Government honors these Rescuers on a national level (as they should have from the very beginning). Unfortunately, the Lithuanian honors are not sincere and are just another performance. Jewish people who were saved are reduced to vehicles for Lithuanian virtue signaling.

“Righteous Among Nations” Lithuanians comprised only 0.04% of the Lithuanian population. These genuine heroes are now used by the State as an alibi for anyone who is Lithuanian, i.e. the 0.04% are presented to the public as the stereotypical norm, while the 99.96% of Lithuanians who were not “Righteous Among Nations”, are negated or their deeds rewritten. This is clear Holocaust distortion.

Krikštaponis

The case of Juozas Krikštaponis is far more illustrative of Lithuania then, and now. Krikštaponis was a vicious, genocidal murderer. But, he “only” murdered Jews. So, for Lithuania this is not any impediment to national honors. Lithuania honors so many murderers of Jews, that it appears this could be a standard for national hero status.

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Condolences

Adasa Skliutauskaitė has died. She was born in Kaunas on May 5, 1931. Skliutauskaitė, a Litvak, was an accomplished illustrator of children’s books and magazines. She also painted and made lithographs. Our deepest condolences to her children, relatives, friends and those who knew her through her work.

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Panevėžys Jewish Community News

Deputy chief of mission Erez Golan and cultural attaché Virginija Bunevičiūtė from the Israeli embassy visited the Panevėžys Jewish Community. They asked Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman about community activities and he gave them a tour of Jewish heritage in the Lithuanian steeped in Jewish historical, cultural and religious lore. Golan was keen to learn more about educational programs in local primary and high schools. The Israeli delegation also visited a famous local theater, met with municipal representatives and that same evening presented the Israeli Film in Your Town project, an Israeli cinema retrospective, at the Garsas movie theater. The first screening was Blaumilch Canal, a 1969 Israeli comedy written and directed by Ephraim Kishon depicting the madness of bureaucracy through a municipality’s reaction to the actions of a lunatic.

“We Jews like to laugh at ourselves on film as well as in life,” Golan told moviegoers.

Lithuanian film critic Auksė Kancerevičiūtė also spoke to the audience about Israeli film.

The Garsas movie theater will hold two more showings in the series: on August 24 they will screen Turn Left at the End of the World (2004) and on August 31 Abulele (2015). All shows are free and with Lithuanian subtitling, a gift from the Israeli embassy to the city of Panevėžys.

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Happy Birthday to Samuel Bak

The Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes Samuel Bak a very happy milestone birthday. We think you are one of the most remarkable painters of the 20th century. You cut right to the heart of human nature in your work, infusing even the most tragic historical events with meaning and recalling for the world the lost world of Jewish Vilna. Mazl tov. Bis 120!

2023-08-14

Discussion Club on Litvak Artists in Lithuania and the World

The #ŽydiškiPašnekesiai Jewish discussion club is to discuss the influence Litvak painters have had and do have on Western art styles. It’s not a one-way street, of course: Litvak artists were also influenced by primitivism, Renaissance realism, impressionism, surrealism, pop-art and so on. So of course one hour won’t suffice. We’ll have to go minimalist this time around. Panel speakers include Shmuel Tatz from New York, a serious art collector, and Raimondas Savickas, a serious artist, along with a number of other experts, thinkers and artists.

Location: Israel street food kiosk in Petras Cvirka Square, Vilnius.
Time: 5:00 P.M., Wednesday, August 16

2023-08-14

Seeking Cemetery Keeper

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is seeking to hire an administrator for the Jewish section of the cemetery on Sudervės road in Vilnius. The job entails serving visitors, working with burial documents and upkeep, maintenance and supervision of the Jewish cemetery. Applicants must be computer literate and speak Russian, Hebrew and English. Write info@lzb.lt or call +370 652 09915 for more information and to apply.

2023-08-09

A Special Meeting

There are so few Litvaks left in the world that every encounter brings forth unexpected and extraordinary feelings and excitement. This time was even more unusual became the Lithuanian Jewish Community received an extraordinary visitor by the name of Marc Berenson.

He’s a professor at one of the most esteemed universities in the world, at King’s College London’s Russia Institute. He’s a specialist in Eastern politics and security who has written a number of academic works and speaks Russian and Ukrainian fluently. He’s also special to us because he’s related to Senda and Bernard Berenson. Senda Berenson Abbott was born in Butrimonys near Alytus in Lithuania and immigrated to America. She was the first champion of women’s basketball in the USA, the author of the first book on women’s basketball and is sometimes fashioned the mother of women’s basketball worldwide.

Her brother Bernard was one of the most renowned and influential audio-visual art historian and critic. Great-grandson professor Marc Berenson is in Vilnius looking for more information about his family history and roots. World Lithuanian Student Organization president Dovydas Šotland-Juzefovičius brought him to the LJC and introduced him to LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky. The professor expressed keen interest in current events, culture and Community activities as well as the past.

“It is a moving experience to return to where your family came from,” Berenson said.

2023-08-09

Lithuanian Jewish Community Calls for Immediate Removal of Statue Commemorating Juozas Krikštaponis in Ukmergė

The De-Sovietization Commission convened by the Lithuanian parliament has presented recommendations to the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania (hereinafter Genocide Center) that the statue commemorating the partisan Juozas Krikštaponis in Ukmergė (Vilkomir) be removed. Unfortunately, instead of taking concrete actions to remove this statue commemorating a person responsible for the murder of thousands of Jews, the Genocide Center has sent a request to the Lithuanian Office of Prosecutor General to rescind this man’s status as a Lithuanian partisan fighter. This is clearly an attempt to prolong the process and to place responsibility on a different agency.

“Krikštaponis’s culpability in the Holocaust is not disputed. This is shown by the documents the Genocide Center has collected and in their own finding of history concerning him. Carrying out mass murder is a crime which is not annulled by other good deeds. In marking the 80th anniversary of the anti-Nazi resistance and liquidation of the Vilnius ghetto, this monument to Krikštaponis is an insult to the memory of all the victims and to their surviving family members,” Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman and attorney Faina Kukliansky said.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community calls upon the Genocide Center to take immediate action based on the recommendations by the De-Sovietization Commission to remove this statue to Krikštaponis from the city center of Ukmergė.

2023-08-082023-09-04

Rugelakh Now Available at Bagel Shop Café

As the Lithuanian Jewish Community counts down the days to the New Year 5784, the Bagel Shop Café has come up with some new menu items. One of them is rugelakh, the amazing pastry traditionally served during Shavuot and Rosh Hashanah. The name comes from the Yiddish root “rugel” meaning little twist or tie.

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Removal of Monument to Lithuanian Nazi Collaborator Stuck

Although Lithuania’s De-Sovietization Commission sent a recommendation to the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania [hereinafter Genocide Center] for the removal of a statue commemorating [Nazi collaborator and Holocaust criminal] partizan Juozas Krikštaponis located in Ukmergė [Vilkomir], it appears a decision on the matter has been postponed. Genocide Center says since Krikštaponis’s status as a volunteer soldier hasn’t been annulled, it would be wrong to remove the monument stone honoring him. The Genocide Center says its leadership has asked the Lithuanian prosecutor general to remove his status as a volunteer soldier.

De-Sovietization Commission chairman Vitas Karčiauskas as well as people filing complaints about the statue are all unhappy with this decision by the Genocide Center and believe this is an attempt to postpone addressing the controversy. They say Krikštaponis’s role in Holocaust crimes is obvious and that the stone commemorating him needs to be removed.

Genocide Center deputy general director Vytas Lukšys reported the Genocide Center had signed a request to the Lithuanian Office of Prosecutor General Tuesday [July 25] for voiding Krikštaponis’s status as a volunteer soldier. He said they did so because it would be wrong to remove the marker commemorating Krikštaponis as long as he is recognized as having been a volunteer soldier.

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