Litvaks

Condolences

Richard Freund passed away in Charlottesville, Virginia, on July 14 due to complications involving a bone-marrow transplant he received 18 years ago. He was 67. Freund was a frequent visitor to Vilnius and a friend of the Lithuanian Jewish Community. Besides annual summer digs at the Great Synagogue site in Vilnius, revealing many new facts and the existence of surviving elements and a few surprises at that site, he also headed the non-invasive investigation of the escape tunnel dug by the brenner kommando at Ponar, Jews who were forced to exhume corpses, burn the flesh and crush the bones, who themselves were slated for death upon completion of their task aimed at hiding Holocaust crimes. The rediscovery of the tunnel was featured in an hour-long documentary by NOVA on the American public television network PBS. Freund also led the effort to map the lost Jewish shtetl of Rumshishok (Rumšiškės) just outside Kaunas flooded in the post-war period to create a hydroelectric generation station, and worked on a number of other Jewish sites in Lithuania. He also used non-invasive techniques to investigate the Warsaw ghetto in 2021.

Freund always found the time in the middle of his work to explain his finds to interested on-lookers, and presented his findings to the Lithuanian Jewish Community in a series of presentations in Vilnius.

We mourn his loss and extend our deepest condolences to his widow Eliane, his three children Eli, Ethan, and Yoni and his many other family members and friends at the University of Hartford and around the world.

Who Are the Degenerates Now?

Who Are the Degenerates Now?

Grant Gochin

In a study by the UN titled ”History under Attack,” António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, stated: “Understanding the history of the Holocaust is crucial to safeguarding our future. This is particularly crucial as we see some seeking to rewrite history or to whitewash and rehabilitate those who committed crimes against humanity. If we fail to identify and confront the lies and inhumanity that fueled past atrocities, we are ill-prepared to prevent them in the future.” This article borrows heavily from this UN study.

UN Findings

The UN finds that Holocaust distortion is just as pernicious as Holocaust denial. Holocaust distortion depends upon and spreads antisemitism. It threatens the ability to remember and learn from the past by misrepresenting the historical record. It is an attack on truth and knowledge. It feeds on and spreads antisemitic tropes and prejudices, and threatens our understanding of one of the most tragic and violent histories–the genocide of six million Jews.

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Jewish Headstones Removed from Vilnius Hill

Jewish Headstones Removed from Vilnius Hill

Jewish headstones used to construct stairs up Vilnius’s Tauras Hill (Góra Bouffałowa aka Tauro kalnas) during the Soviet era began to be removed Monday, the Vilnius city municipality reported.

Illegible headstones will be taken to the old Jewish cemetery in the Šnipiškės neighborhood next to the Palace of Sports for alleged safe-keeping, according to Vilnius city officials. Those with legible inscriptions will be brought to the old Jewish cemetery on Olandų street for research. According to the city, the removal of the headstones was coordinated with representatives of the Lithuanian Jewish Community and Lithuania’s Cultural Heritage Department.

Photograph by Saulius Žiūra.

Full text in Lithuanian here.

Condolences

Michail Rositsan passed away July 11, 2022. He was born in Belarus in 1955 with roots in Lithuania. He completed a law degree in Lithuania, founded a business and often travelled across the Atlantic. He founded a factory producing mannequins which were exported to dozens of countries and his business card contained an address in Vilnius and in Toronto. In 2014 he served as Israel’s honorary consul in Lithuania. Together with his brother Boris he founded the Rositsan and Maccabi Elite Checkers and Chess Club in Vilnius. His brother served as president of the club and passed away in 2021. Our deepest condolences to his family and friends.

Vilna Gaon Mausoleum Now State-Protected Heritage Site

Vilna Gaon Mausoleum Now State-Protected Heritage Site

MadeinVilnius.lt

Lithuanian culture minister Simonas Kairys has added the mausoleum containing the remains of the Vilna Gaon at the Sudervės road cemetery in Vilnius to the list of cultural heritage sites. protected by the state.

In his order he wrote the mausoleum is important in terms of public dignity and should be protected because of its architectural, historical and commemorative significance.

The site and surrounding territory now has a protection status intended to maintain authenticity.

The rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon, lived in the 18th century and is considered one of the most remarkable commentators on the Talmud.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

Vilnius Approves Restoration of Jewish Street

Vilnius Approves Restoration of Jewish Street

MadeinVilnius.lt

The city of Vilnius wants to reconstruct historical Žydų or Jewish street and decorate the territory of the former Great Synagogue with architectural accents recalling the 16th century. The Vilnius municipality and the Vilniaus Planas group of architects back in May presented the public proposed projects for the restoration of Žydų street and the Shulhoyf. The Vilnius city municipality approved a project this week.

The contours of historical Jewish street were established more precisely according to the location of fragments of street paving boards discovered. The current street trajectory has changed from the historical one and the proposal is to return it to its original course through the deconstruction and removal of existing street and sidewalk pavement. The paving stones on Stiklių street, which becomes Žydų street, would continue on into Žydų street, according to the current plan.

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Judith Tsik Was Born July 7 in Gargždai

Judith Tsik Was Born July 7 in Gargždai

The Yiddish poetess Judith Tsik, also known as Yehudis and Yudis and the pen-name Judika, was born July 7, 1898, in Gargždai, Lithuania.

Encyclopaedia Judaica:

YUDIKA

YUDIKA (Yudis (Judith ) Tsik; 1898–1988), poetess. She was born in Gorzhd (Gargždai), Lithuania. Poverty forced her family to send Tsik to live with an aunt in Eastern Prussia, then annexed to Germany.

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Kaunas Jewish Community Members Tour Western Lithuania

Kaunas Jewish Community Members Tour Western Lithuania

One weekend last June members of the Kaunas Jewish Community made a tour of Western Lithuania. Our guides included Monika from Švėkšna, Živilė from Šilutė, Raimondas from Preila and Rasa from Klaipėda, all of whom taught us about this wonderful region surrounded by water. They explained the rich and painful history of the land.

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Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Netflix Hit Stranger Things Slammed for Nazi Prison

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Netflix Hit Stranger Things Slammed for Nazi Prison

by Emma Myers

Netflix has come under fire for using the sites of past atrocities as locations or inspiration for its nostalgic hit show Stranger Things, including a plan to let fans book a themed cell in a former Holocaust prison on AirBnB.

Two of the locations in its fourth season–the final episodes of which were released last week–have dark roots in the real world.

Russian prison scenes were filmed in a former Lithuanian prison used by Nazis during the Holocaust while the show’s fictitious mental hospital was inspired by an infamous U.S. asylum with a similar name.

Mental health and Jewish advocates have criticized the streaming giant for what they see as exploitation of a brutal history. Both locations are also now tourist attractions.

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Presidential Palace Reception on Coronation of Mindaugas Day

Presidential Palace Reception on Coronation of Mindaugas Day

Photo: Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and son Rafaelis attended the reception. Photo by J. Stasevičius courtesy Lithuanian State Radio and Television.

The Lithuanian president invited special guests to attend a reception at the presidential palace compound Wednesday to mark Coronation of Mindaugas Day, the day chosen by historians and others to celebrate the coronation Lithuania’s first and only king, Mindaugas, in A.D. 1253 with a crown sent by Pope Innocent IV.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

Story of King Mindaugas in brief here.

New Condo Ad in Kaunas: “Lietūkis: A Building with History”

New Condo Ad in Kaunas: “Lietūkis: A Building with History”

A building built between the two world wars on Vytautas prospect in Kaunas is now undergoing renovation. The architect was Karolis Reisneris, the same architect who designed the Church of the Assumption in Kaunas. Advertisements to purchase apartments have caused controversy because of the phrase “Lietūkis: A Building with History,” recalling the Lietūkis garage massacre in Kaunas in late June of 1941.

Artist Paulina Eglė Pukytė spotted the advertisement on facebook and was surprised by it.

“If the ad campaign is mentioning history, then how can it ignore completely some of the blackest pages of 20th century history connected with the word Lietūkis? The advertisement suggests ‘touching history.’ How should we touch it, and which history?” she said to 15min.lt.

Between the two world wars the compound word “Lietūkis,” made up of Lietuva or Lithuania, shortened to Liet-, followed by ūkis, meaning economy, farm or household, was the name adopted by the Union of Lithuanian Agricultural Cooperatives, which operated in Kaunas from 1923 to 1940. Their headquarters were located at no. 43 on Vytautas prospect. The daylight pogrom and mass murder of Jews was perpetrated at the garage, actually an automobile service and repair station, located on Miško street in Kaunas and still known as the Lietūkis garage, despite abolition of the Lietūkis organization, the Union of Lithuanian Agricultural Cooperatives, prior to that.

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Free Tango Lessons at Israeli Street Food Kiosk

Free Tango Lessons at Israeli Street Food Kiosk

The Cvi in the Park Israeli street food kiosk is hosting free tango dancing lessons open to everyone at the park across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius at 7:00 P.M. on July 5. The vocalist Eudardo will perform tango music from Latin America and the Argentine.

Program:

7:00 P.M. – 7:45 P.M. Public tango lesson
8:00 P.M. First portion of concert (Argentine and Latin American tango music)
8:30 P.M. Milonga (tango dances)
9:00 P.M. Second portion of concert
10:00 P.M. Finale.

Painted in Sound: An Interview with Samuel Bak

Painted in Sound: An Interview with Samuel Bak

by Karolis Vyšniauskas, photographs by Ieva Lygnugarytė, sound engineer Adomas Zubė

Samuel Bak is a miraculous survivor of Vilnius Ghetto. Now 88 at his studio in Massachusetts, the prolific painter recalls lost Jewish life in Vilnius for a NARA podcast.

For many decades Samuel Bak didn’t want to come back to Vilnius. It is the city where his father, grandparents and even his best friend, a child at the time, were killed.

But eventually through an initiative by local Lithuanians he returned to the place which formed his childhood memories. Now Vilnius hosts the Samuel Bak Museum, to which the painter has donated more than 50 of his works.

Full text and audio file of interview here.

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One Hundred and Seven Years Late for Dinner

One Hundred and Seven Years Late for Dinner

by Grant Gochin

When your grandmother’s last words make it clear that she’s not who you thought she was, you are willing to move all the mountains in Europe to get to the truth

Dinner between cousins was scheduled for Shabbat on Friday, May 14, 1915. How was I to know that the Shabbos meal never took place? Without warning, Russian forces launched a genocidal mass deportation of Baltic Jews deep into Russia. Families were torn apart, lives were destroyed and communities of Jews devastated.

The first inkling I had was on my grandmother’s deathbed. Her final lucid words to me were: “I wish I knew my name. I wish I knew who my family was.” We thought we knew her name–Bertha Lee Arenson. We were wrong.

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Fayerlakh Jewish Song and Dance Ensemble Celebrates 50th Birthday

Fayerlakh Jewish Song and Dance Ensemble Celebrates 50th Birthday

The Jewish song and dance ensemble Fayerlakh celebrated their 50th birthday on Sunday, June 19, at the Polish House of Culture in Vilnius with performances by musicians, singers and dancers.

The group formed back in the early 70s within the general milieu of Jewish, Lithuanian, Russian and Polish volunteer collectives, including the Yiddish-language People’s Theater. Many of the Jewish volunteer cultural groups–a choir, vocalists, a dance troupe, actors and personnel from the People’s Theater and a popular stage band–later immigrated to Israel and formed the Anakhnu Kan ensemble there. 1971 was also the year Jewish musician Yasha Magid founded a vocal and instrumental group. By 1972 this group had formed its core of enthusiastic musicians and the dance troupe, and held their first concert. That’s the story of how Fayerlakh, at the time the only Jewish song and dance ensemble throughout the Soviet Union, formed in Vilnius.

Kaunas Jewish Community to Commemorate Lietūkis Garage Victims

Kaunas Jewish Community to Commemorate Lietūkis Garage Victims

The Kaunas Jewish Community will commemorate the victims of the Lietūkis garage massacre at 4:30 P.M. on Monday, June 27, at the monument to the victims located at Miško street no. 3 in Kaunas. Following that commemoration participants will go on to the Vilijampolė (Slobodka) Jewish cemetery on Kalnų street and the Žaliakalnis Jewish cemetery on the Radvilėnų highway to commemorate Holocaust victims.

On June 27, 1941, around 50 Jewish men were tortured to death in front of crowd of on-lookers at the Lietūkis garage. The men were simply grabbed at random off the street for the public execution and included people from all walks of life. They were derided and brutally tortured with crow bars and high-pressure water from hoses. The names of most of the victims and executioners remain unknown, although one of the victims was Jurgis Štromas, who had been the director of the Industry and Trade Department at the Lithuanian Finance Ministry.

Vytautas Bruveris’s Presentation at Fifth World Litvak Congress

Vytautas Bruveris’s Presentation at Fifth World Litvak Congress

Lithuanian journalist Vytautas Bruveris gave a presentation at the Fifth World Litvak Congress held in Vilnius last month called “Jews in Lithuania: A Still-Undiscovered or an Already-Lost Shared History?”:

Many here have spoken about the war in the Ukraine. That’s natural, because it is continuation and horrific metastasis of the same story we are all talking about. I would like to talk about a different aspect, however, about empathy. Lithuanian society is showing they are very capable of human empathy and solidarity. We see that especially clearly in the huge and praise-worthy movement to receive war refugees from the Ukraine.

A question arises in this context, however, for me: is it not true that Lithuanian society are most able to feel empathy for those whom they understand as their own people, as participants of the same history?

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