Holocaust – Page 33 – Lithuanian Jewish Community

Hour of Music to Mark 80th Anniversary of the Holocaust

Judita Leitaitė, teacher at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater, will perform a concert with her singing students Aija Jermoloviča, Jūratė Minelgaitė, Greta Rimšaitė, Gabija Žvinklytė, Natalija Dmuchovska, Skirmantė Vaičiūtė, Giedrius Gečys and Joris Gudelevičius at 5:00 P.M. on Tuesday, October 12, on the third floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community located at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius.

The hour of music is dedicated to commemorating the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania. Admission free, proof of vaccination required.

2021-10-062021-10-14

Švenčionys Commemorates 80th Anniversary of the Holocaust

Locals and visitors gathered October 3 at the Menorah statue marking the territory of the former ghetto in Švenčionys to mark the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust there. Švenčionys Jewish Community chairman Moisėj Šapiro, Lithuanian MP Emanuelis Zingeris, Švenčionys regional administration mayor Rimantas Klipčius, Polish ambassador to Lithuania Urszula Doroszewska, Ela Gurina, high school history teacher Danguolė Grincevičienė and others attended and spoke.

2021-10-062021-10-06

Concert to Commemorate Grosse Aktion in Kaunas Ghetto

At 7:00 P.M. on Friday, October 8, the Kaunas Jewish Community and the organization Prabudimo orkestras will hold a concert at the Kaunas Cultural Center to mark the 80th anniversary of the so-called grosse aktion in the Kaunas ghetto. The cultural center is located at Vytauto street no. 79 in Kaunas.

This will a repeat performance of the Symphony from the Jerusalem of the North by Jievaras Jasinskis. Entry is free to the public but registration is required.

More information here.

2021-10-05

LJC Chairwoman Visits Toronto

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky attended an event by the Lithuanian embassy to Canada and the Canadian-Lithuanian community held Saturday at the Anapilis Hall set up by Canadian-Lithuanians generations ago in Toronto.

Kukliansky welcomed attendees at the event which was intended to issue Lithuanian state awards and letters of thanks from the ambassador to members of the Toronto Lithuanian community for support rendered to the Lithuanian state. It included a presentation of virtual Canadian Lithuanian Museum and archive exhibits and a musical performance by Litvak opera soloist Rafailas Karpis accompanied by. D. Mažintas. After the event participants visited the St. John’s Church cemetery adjacent to the venue and laid a wreath for those who fought for Lithuanian independence. Attendees also visit the Canadian Lithuanian Museum there.

Faina Kukliansky visited the Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto Sunday, which included “A Letter from the Past: Yiddish Songs” performed by Karpis and Mažintas. Lithuanian ambassador to Canada Skusevičius and Kukliansky presented the 300th anniversary coin commemorating the Vilna Gaon issued by the bank of Lithuania to synagogue leaders and the Lithuania Order of the Life-Saver’s Cross to the family members of Righteous Gentile V. Baltušis

2021-10-04

Vilnius University to Hold Public Lecture by German Historian Christoph Dieckmann

Vilnius University and the Lost Shtetl Museum are launching jointly a series of lectures and discussions called “Open Conversations on History” which will raise topical questions of historical truth, memory wars and society’s ability to resist the pressure to serve one or another ideology.

We invited Christoph Dieckmann, a prominent historian and author of books on German occupation policy and the Holocaust in Lithuania, to the first discussion at 6:00 P.M. on October 1. He will give a lecture called “Looking back on our past. Lithuanians, Germans, and Jews.”

Dieckmann will share his insights on the relationship between history and memory, talk about personal searches trying to find the best way to study the Holocaust in Lithuania and the method used to help incorporate the different perspectives of Holocaust participants.

2021-10-012021-10-01

Symphony from Jerusalem of the North Concert in Presidential Courtyard

Photographs by Polina Butkienė

The courtyard of the President’s Office in Vilnius hosted a concert called “Symphony from Jerusalem of the North” to mark the Day of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide on September 23. The work composed by Jievaras Jasinskis was performed by the Vilnius St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra with special guest on Middle Eastern instruments Yaron Cherniak from Israel. Lithuanian National Ballet and Opera Theater senior conductor Ričardas Šumila conducted the ensemble.

Tadas Daujotas who performed on shofar horn said they thought deeply about the Litvak contribution over the centuries to Lithuanian culture and development as they created this work to mark the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania. “We sought to pay respect to the memory of the Jews who lived in Lithuania and to express solidarity with the Jewish community through this music project,” he said.

Composer Jievaras Jasinskis said he wanted to show how intertwined Lithuanian and Jewish history is.

2021-10-012021-10-01

Suspected Holocaust Criminal Flees Trial

Mere hours before trial was set to begin, 96-year-old suspected war criminal Irmgard Furchner fled justice in Itzehoe, Germany, on Thursday, September 30. She’s accused of complicity in the murder of 11,000 people at the Stutthof concentration camp in what is now Poland between 1943 and 1945.

German media report she left the senior care home where she lives by taxi but failed to appear in court. A warrant was issued for her arrest. Law-enforcement managed to find her within several hours and the court must now decide whether she represents a real flight risk, and should be jailed before court proceedings resume on October 19.

2021-10-012021-10-04

Plaque Commemorating Jewish School Unveiled in Tauragė

by Margarita Rimkutė, taurageszinios.lt

Perhaps not every resident of Tauragė knows that the building which houses the Tauragė district prosecutor’s office was once a Jewish primary school. On Wednesday a ceremony was held to unveil a plaque commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Tarbut school there. The event was part of a series of events in town called “The Shtetl in Tauragė.”

Senior events director of the Cultural Center Algima Juščiuvienė led the event and said the school established in 1921 held classes until 1941.

“The horrific tragedy of the Holocaust silenced the cries of children playing and killed the Jewish spirit of this city. In 1947 a Russian pre-gymnasium was set up in the building. In 1954 it housed the Tauragė music school, in 1988 an evening school, and since 1996 the building has belonged to the prosecutor general. It is the oldest school building in the city. The Jewish school which had four grades then had 250 pupils. All the school’s teachers were licensed and drew their salaries from the Ministry of Education. The school belonged to the Tarbut school network, meaning it was the strongest modern educational organization in Eastern Europe,” Algima Juščiuvienė said.

2021-09-30

Only 64 of 141 Lithuanian MPs Attended Session for Jewish Genocide Day

by professor Pinchos Fridberg
Vilnius

I would like to comment briefly on a press release which appeared on the webpage of the Lithuanian parliament on September 23.

My opinion about this resolution good in its entirety was shaken by the words “64 members of parliament voted unanimously.” De facto the word unanimously means the majority of representatives (77!!!) did not participate in the session dedicated to marking the Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Jews and the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania.

Why they didn’t come to pay their respects on this tragic day of Lithuania’s history, I can only speculate.

The probability that all 77 had a justified reason not to attend is very small.

Did some of the representatives actually boycott this topic intentionally?

§§§

Translated from Lithuanian by Geoff Vasil.

2021-09-292021-11-08

Holocaust Victims from Subačius Area Honored

by Aušrinė Merkytė

Officials from the Subačius aldermanship and educational institutions as well as the public attended a commemoration September 23 to honor the memory of Holocaust victims buried in a mass grave on the hill called Lapakalnis in the Ilčiūnai Forest. According to the memorial monument which stands there, 80 people were killed there in July, 1941.

Inga Dovydėnienė, an employee at the Subačius section of the Kupiškis Cultural Center in charge of cultural activities, organized the event and began by reminding attendees that 80 years have passed since those terrific events and we no longer have among us many of the eye-witnesses, and are no longer able to hear the stories and testimonies of the families who died.

2021-09-282021-10-08

Condolences

Survivor of the Kaunas ghetto and Ereda and Stuffhof concentration camps Dobrė Rozenbergienė has died. She was born in 1928. Our deepest condolences to her son, grandchildren, relatives and friends.

2021-09-27

LCJ Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky’s Speech at Ponar

Honored guests,

I stand before you in order to deliver a speech, but this place and this sad occasion calls for concentrating and remaining silent. The reflection, respect and humble silence which meets every thinking and feeling person in this place cannot be confused with the silence of apathy, ignorance and fear. All of us have kept silent too long. Too long. We have kept quiet about what happened, where it happened and why. It was kept quiet for most of those eight decades we count since the beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania. Out of fear? Ignorance? Apathy?

2021-09-242021-10-13

Road of Memory Holocaust Commemoration in Panevėžys

The Panevėžys Jewish Community commemorated the 80th anniversary of the onset of the Holocaust in Lithuania on September 22 with a “Road of Memory” procession meeting at the Sad Jewish Mother statue and regrouping later at the former ghetto gates and the mass murder site in the Kurganava Forest were about 8,000 Jews were shot in 1941.

“Eighty years ago a black mark was made in the history of Lithuania, resulting in the taking of almost 200,000 lives and the lives of about six million Jews in Europe,” Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman said.

The largest mass murder sites near Panevėžys are in the Žalioji and Kurganava Forests, but the district has more than 30 mass murder sites in total.

2021-09-242021-09-24

Time Doesn’t Diminish the Horror of the Tragedy

by Daiva Savckienė

On the eve of the Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide, the Panevėžys Jewish Community and guests marked this date with a “Road of Memory” procession, meeting at the Sad Jewish Mother monument, then later at the monument at the intersection of Krekenavos and Klaipėdos streets marking the site of the ghetto the Nazis established in Panevėžys, and then in the Kurganava Forest where about 8,000 people were murdered in 1941.

Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman said: “The small towns and large cities are marking the 80th anniversary of the Holocaust with processions.”

It’s not just this tragedy and the innocent people murdered being remembered. All of Lithuania suffered.

2021-09-232021-09-24

Litvaks Who Came Back from the Concentration Camps

The Vilnius Photography Gallery located at Stiklių street no. 4 will open an exhibit by Kęstutis Grigaliūnas at 6:00 P.M. on September 22 called “Lithuanian Jews Who Came Back from the Nazi Concentration Camps.” The exhibit features 335 people who came back, with photographs and short biographies. It will also showcase the book “Lietuvos žydai grįžę iš nacių konclagerių” [Lithuanian Jews Who Came Back from the Nazi Concentration Camps] which contains 2,700 short bios and 335 portraits.

“The visualization of cases in this project becomes a space in which the violence of the Soviet state is examined and whose exhibiting under new spatial, media and institutional conditions allows for the execution of historical justice, and allows the eye and mind of the spectator to enter into intensive interaction with the past seen this way for the first time,” exhibit curator Natalija Arlauskaitė explained.

2021-09-212021-09-24

Kaunas Jewish Community and Ninth Fort Mark Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide

The Kaunas Jewish Community and the Ninth Fort Museum in Kaunas invite the public to attend a commemoration of Holocaust victims at 11:00 A.M. on Thursday, September 23, at the large statue to remember the victims of Naziism.

The commemorative program will last an hour and a half, to be followed by coffee in the museum’s administration building.

Program:

10:30 A.M. Registration
11:00 A.M. Commemoration begins, followed by an artistic reading of recollections by children who lived in ghettos, read by students from the Jonas Jablonskis Gymnasium, followed by a presentation of the “Ecce Homo: To Those Who Remain” project by the Ninth Fort Museum and the Kaunas 2022 organization including meeting the artists.

2021-09-21

Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community Marks Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide with Several Events

The Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community is marking the Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide, September 23, with several events this year.

At 4:00 P.M. on September 22 an exhibit will open in the exhibit hall of the Cultural Center of the Šiauliai Regional Administration located at Ventos street no. 11A in Kuršėnai, Lithuania, an exhibit of photographs by Rolandas Parafinavičius called House Spirits and by photographer S. Zakasaitė who operated in the period between the two world wars, with the combined exhibit called “Jews Then and Now.” Righteous Gentiles Pranas Grigalaitis and Ona Bielskienė will also be honored during the opening ceremony. The exhibit will run till November 5. The Cultural Center is open from 10:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. on week days and during scheduled events.

Additional related exhibits include an exhibit of calendars called “The Jews of Lithuania: An Indivisible Part of Our Society” running from September 6 to October 1 in the exhibition space at the Kuršėnai manor estate in Kuršėnai, Lithuania; the “Don’t Turn Your Back on the Past” exhibit of publications running from September 20 to September 30 at the Augustinas Gricius Library in Gruzdžiai and “Memory Comes of Age through the Past…” running from September 20 till October 22 at the library in Meškuičiai.

2021-09-20

Holocaust Commemoration at Ponar

The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites the public to a Holocaust commemoration at the Ponar Memorial Complex located at Agrastų street no. 15A with a ceremony and speeches at 1:00 P.M. on September 23. Please register by sending an email to office@lzb.lt or by calling (8 5) 2613 003.

2021-09-20

Genocide Day in Navarėnai, Lithuania

The Navarėnai Cultural Center, Navarėnai aldermanship, Navarėnai primary school and Navarėnai library located in the small town in the Telšiai district of northwest Lithuania invite the public to attend events marking the Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide on September 23 this year. The commemoration begins at 1:00 P.M. at the Navarėnai Cultural Center, whence participants will travel to the Jewish mass murder site in the Šiliškė forest. The program includes the unveiling of a monument and speeches by guests with music dedicated to the memory of the dead performed by Valda Valužienė of the Viešvėnai Cultural Center.

2021-09-17

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