Learning, History, Culture

Interview with Ruth Reches on the Holocaust

Interview with Ruth Reches on the Holocaust

Photo: Ruth Reches, by J. Stacevičius, courtesy LRT.lt

by Domantė Platūkytė

Life in the lion’s den, classmates as part of execution squads and concentration camps. These are aspects of Ruth Reches’s family life she shared with the LRT.lt website. Her grandmother after coming back from a concentration camp found the family home occupied. The new owners brought out a tub of water and let them spend the night on the ground in an adjacent shack. “What happened in Lithuania can’t be understood and explained rationally,” Reches said.

Reches, the principal of the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium and a doctor of psychology, gave an interview to LRT.lt and spoke about her grandparents surviving the Holocaust, the brutality of people and the impulse to aggression disinhibited by the war.

“When neighbors and classmates murder people… My grandfather’s mother was murdered by my grandfather’s brother’s classmates in Alytus. There are so many stories where teachers shot their students, and the town priest rang the bells so the shots wouldn’t be heard,” Reches, who has a published a book about the Holocaust and self-identity, said.

She said the experiences of the Holocaust haunted her grandparents their entire lives.

“The Holocaust left trauma in my grandparents’ lives because the environment to which they returned after the war was hostile and traumatizing. They returned to their hometowns and my grandparents saw their homes had been taken, and society wasn’t ready to accept them back. They felt no support from society, only anger that they had survivied,” Reches told LRT.

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No More Lies. My Grandfather Was a Nazi.

No More Lies. My Grandfather Was a Nazi.

The author’s grandfather, Jonas Noreika. Family photograph

In Lithuania, he was celebrated as a hero. But we can’t move on until we admit what he really did.

by Silvia Foti

Ms. Foti is a journalist and the author of the forthcoming “The Nazi’s Granddaughter: How I Learned My Grandfather Was a War Criminal.”

When I was growing up in Chicago during the Cold War, my parents taught me to revere my Lithuanian heritage. We sang Lithuanian songs and recited Lithuanian poems; after Lithuanian school on Saturdays, I would eat Lithuanian-style potato pancakes.

My grandfather, Jonas Noreika, was a particularly important part of my family story: He was the mastermind of a 1945-1946 revolt against the Soviet Union, and was executed. A picture of him in his military uniform hung in our living room. Today, he is a hero not just in my family. He has streets, plaques and a school named after him. He was awarded the Cross of the Vytis, Lithuania’s highest posthumous honor.

On her deathbed in 2000, my mother asked me to take over writing a book about her father. I eagerly agreed. But as I sifted through the material, I came across a document with his signature from 1941 and everything changed. The story of my grandfather was much darker than I had known.

Full story here.

Tu b’Shvat

Tu b’Shvat

Today is the Jewish holiday of Tu b’Shvat, the 15th day of the month of Shvat, the New Year for trees also known as Israeli Arbor Day. It is traditional to eat of the shvat ha’minim (seven species endemic to the Land of Israel): wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. Hag sameakh!

Lithuanian MP Rakutis on International Holocaust Day and Historical Memory

Lithuanian MP Rakutis on International Holocaust Day and Historical Memory

The following paean to modern sophisticated Lithuanian Holocaust distortion appeared on the webpage of Lithuanian Public Radio and Television, which disavowed any responsibility for its content. The author’s contention tautininkas doesn’t mean the same thing as nationalist is ahistorical, the tautininkai and the ateitininkai were pre-WW II Lithuanian political movements/parties whose titles were directly translated from nationalists and futurists, respectively.

International Holocaust Day and Historical Memory
by Valdas Rakutis, Conservative MP

The world marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day January 27. This observance is especially important to Lithuania where the dimensions of the Holocaust as a percentage were among the largest throughout Europe. It is calculated that over several years from 1941 to 1944 about 96 percent of Lithuanian Jews were murdered (approximately 190,000 people).

Barely nine thousand Jews remained in Lithuania after the war. The Holocaust represents the largest number of victims over the shortest period in Lithuanian history. Wikipedia in English provides these numbers. These numbers don’t include Jews who fled into the U.S.S.R., their number isn’t known precisely.

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When No Eye-Witnesses Remain: LJC Invites Public to Internet Discussion on Holocaust

To mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Lithuanian Jewish Community is holding an internet discussion called “When No Eye-Witnesses Remain” at 2:00 P.M. on Wednesday, January 27, at https://www.facebook.com/zydubendruomene

LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, who helped initiate the virtual conference and plans to take part, said: “There are ever fewer Holocaust witnesses who can take an active part in educating society. When the last eye-witnesses die, all responsibility for preserving memory will pass to the younger generations. Memory of the Holocaust should become simply an history lesson where dates, names and locations are the most significant. It should be an eternal lesson in human moral values which moves the heart as well as the mind.”

Watch live, starting at 2:00 P.M.:

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Remembering and Honoring Holocaust Victims: Global #MesPrisimename/ #WeRemember Campaign

Remembering and Honoring Holocaust Victims: Global #MesPrisimename/ #WeRemember Campaign

by Nadežda Spiridonovienė, historian, museum specialist, Nalšia Museum

Lithuania along with the United Nations marks Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27. Only by preserving the memory of the victims of the Holocaust can we create a safe future for humanity, the kind in which no anti-Semitism, racial, ethnic and religious hatred and discrimination would remain.

We remember the tragedy of the extermination of 6 million European Jews on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

What happened to people during the Holocaust? What happened in Švenčionys where Lithuanians, Jews, Tartars, Ukrainians, Poles, Russians and other peoples lived together? Where within a territory of a few kilometers people prayed at Catholic church, five synagogues, the Orthodox church and other houses of prayer? What happened 80 years ago to people if there was such a catastrophe, and what can the younger generation do today to insure it never happens again?

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They Aren’t Beating Jews on the Street and Drawing Swastikas on Our Backs, But There’s Still a Lot of Hate

They Aren’t Beating Jews on the Street and Drawing Swastikas on Our Backs, But There’s Still a Lot of Hate

According to the Lithuanian Jewish Community, there are currently about 5,000 Jews living in Lithuania, constituting less than one percent of the country’s total population. Despite their small demographic spread, members of the Jewish community living in Lithuania continue to encounter a lack of tolerance and expressions of hate. Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky says that although no one is beating Jews or drawing swastikas on their backs, there could be a lot more respect and the sense of shared humanity.

No lack of angry comments, go back to Israel

“Thirty years of independence have expanded our society’s horizons and made us more tolerant of one another. Travelling in other countries people begin to recognize diversity and realize we are all different. Even so, when some positive information appears in the public space about Jews and supportive of this community in Lithuania, there come endless disgusting comments and hate speech,” Kukliansky said.

She revealed she had experienced a number of anti-Semitic attacks in her life and therefore would never allow herself to think of another person as somehow lesser because of their ethnicity, race or other characteristics.

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Implementing the IHRA Definition of Anti-Semitism for NGO Funding

Implementing the IHRA Definition of Anti-Semitism for NGO Funding

About the speakers

Prof. Gerald Steinberg is founder and president of NGO Monitor and professor emeritus at Bar Ilan University. His current research focuses on the politics of human rights, soft power and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). His book “Menachem Begin and the Israel-Egypt Peace Process: Between Ideology and Political Realism” was published in 2019.

Ellie Cohanim served as deputy special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism at the U.S. Department of State. Former deputy special envoy Cohanim helped inform and carry out policies and related initiatives that aim to counter global anti-Semitism at the State Department.

Mike Whine is a senior consultant at WJC. Between 2010 and 2012 he acted as lay advisor to the Counter Terrorism Division of the Crown Prosecution Service. In September 2013 he was appointed UK member of the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), a human rights agency of the Council of Europe.

Olga Deutsch is vice president at NGO Monitor where she works with elected officials around the world. Olga brings extensive experience in international politics and Europe-Israel relations, and expertise in advocacy and building effective strategies to combat delegitimization, BDS and modern anti-Semitism.

The Institute for NGO Research, 10 Yad Harutzim , Jerusalem, 9342148 Israel

Register here.

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Happy Birthday, Vilnius

Happy Birthday, Vilnius

We are celebrating the official birthday of Vilnius with great enthusiasm and devotion, and on this occasion we would like to share with you an extraordinary work; Rafailas Karpis and Darius Mažintas accompanied by Dalia Dedinskaite on violin and Gleb Pyšniak on cello present the music video “A Tour of Jewish Vilnius” using the musical composition of Anatolijus Šenderovas.

More on the #MesPrisimename Campaign to Remember the Victims of the Holocaust

More on the #MesPrisimename Campaign to Remember the Victims of the Holocaust

International Holocaust Remembrance Day will be marked around the world January 27 and the Lithuanian Jewish Community has and is inviting the people of Lithuania to join the #MesPrisimename (#WeRemember) campaign to remember the Jewish communities of Lithuania’s cities and towns exterminated in the Holocaust, the survivors and the rescuers.

“We remember the tragedy of the destruction of six million Jews of Europe every year at this time. We invite everyone–heads of state, politicians, the entire academic and education community and all the people of Lithuania–to remember on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day the people who were murdered in the flames of the Holocaust. This is our shared loss, the loss of the entire country,” Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said.

“We appeal to the entire academic and education community: use the opportunity this day provides and give attention to educating young people on commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. Hold virtual meetings with older members of the Jewish communities who remember these horrific periods of history. We still have the unique opportunity to speak directly with the eye-witnesses of these events, so let’s use it,” she added.

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Internet Discussion: When All Eye-Witnesses to the Holocaust Are Gone

Internet Discussion: When All Eye-Witnesses to the Holocaust Are Gone

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is holding an internet discussion on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, called “When All Eye-Witnesses to the Holocaust Are Gone, There Must Still Be Public Commemorations.” The internet discussion is scheduled for 2:00 P.M. Wednesday.

Participants are to include LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, writer and law professor Justinas Žilinskas, Institute of the History and Archaeology of the Baltic Region Hektoras Vituks, Human Rights Monitoring Institute executive board member and philosopher Paulius Gritėnas and director of the Media and Democracy Program of the Vilnius Policy Analysis Institute Donatas Puslys. Šeduva Jewish Memorial Fund director and writer Sergejus Kanovičius is to moderate the event.

Those interested in “attending” are invited to go to the LJC facebook page for the event or youtube channel at the designated time and date.

#MesPrisimename Campaign to Mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day

#MesPrisimename Campaign to Mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day

The annual commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day takes place on January 27, the day Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated, and this year will mark the 76th time the United Nations’ commemorative day has been marked.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community wants to use this day to teach young people about the Holocaust and to hold virtual meetings between young people and survivors.

The LJC invites you to join the #WeRemember campaign on social media, which is called #MesPrisimename in Lithuanian. You can make a sign or inscription with either variant and photograph yourself with it, then post it with these hashtags, and send it projects@lzb.lt before January 25.

Artist and Cartoonist Leizeris Kaganas

Artist and Cartoonist Leizeris Kaganas

by Polina Pailis on his 110th birthday for Septynios meno dienos newspaper

New trends in art appeared in Lithuania in the early 20th century based on new ideas and the search for new techniques for expression. Many cartoonists and caricaturists appeared in the press in the interwar period. The artist Leizeris Kaganas was especially prolific from 1931 to 1933.

Kaganas was born in 1910 and his place of birth is unknown. In 1929 he attended the Kaunas Art School but left after his first year. His off-the-cuff sketches and caricatures first appeared in the Kaunas newspapers in 1931. In the second half of that year he moved to Riga and competed in sketching contests there. In 1932 and 1933 he held exhibitions in Lithuania. In 1932 he was part of an exhibition in Stockholm. In 1939 and 1940 he lived and worked in Denmark. Kaganas’s fate following the German occupation of Denmark is unknown.

The first article about the young artist appeared in Lietuvos aidas newspaper on September 30, 1931, which said his talent had been noticed from the beginning.

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History of the Jews of Šiauliai from the City’s First Industrialist to the Lincoln Penny

History of the Jews of Šiauliai from the City’s First Industrialist to the Lincoln Penny

Photo: 3-D miniature diorama of the Old Town of Šiauliai by Saulius Kruopis, late 19th or early 20th century. Photo by Karolina Savickytė

by Gabija Strumylaitė, 15min.lt

It’s impossible to tell the story of Šiauliai without the names of important Jews who come from there or lived there. One was the industrialist Chaim Frankel whose leather factory once employed a fifth of the city’s population. Victor David Brenner, the Litvak whose most famous work is the United States Lincoln penny still in circulation, put Šiauliai on the world map.

“Before World War I Jews were about 60 percent of the population of Šiauliai. In the period between the wars this figure dropped to 30 percent. There truly is a lot of Jewish heritage in Lithuania. We often stumble upon it and realize it only now. For instance, until my colleague Andrius Kvedaras, whom you will also meet today, nobody conducted exclusively Jewish tours of Šiauliai. It was just part of the general program,” Aušra Museum historian Milda Černiauskaitė said.

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Lithuanian Jewish Community Chairwoman on Importance of January 13 to Nation’s Jews

Lithuanian Jewish Community Chairwoman on Importance of January 13 to Nation’s Jews

Photo: Faina Kukliansky, by Vidmantas Balkūnas, courtesy 15min.lt

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky remembers January 13. Lithuanian Jews, who restored their community finally 30 years ago after decades of restrictions, took part in events in those days [in 1991] Nowadays when they talk about the struggle for freedom, members of the community emphasize the greatest gift: the opportunity to speak freely.

What do you remember personally about that fateful night at the TV tower, the Lithuanian Radio and Television building and the parliament? What does the Jewish community remember about these events?

Jews did the same thing as everyone else in Lithuania. We have collected the recollections of our community members of that fateful night. They watched the television broadcast until it was cut off and they went to the barricades, in Vilnius but also in Kaunas and other cities.

We were there where the majority of Lithuania was. I remember when I travelled from Varėna during that time and saw the road full of tanks. At that time I had an elderly guest from America who said he was seeing tanks for the first time in his life.

On that particular night my friends and I–all of us were together with our young children–followed events, held vigil, waiting for our husbands who were there in the crowd by the barricades or who were doing their job as doctors.

My children are now grown up and always remember that night and the tension. It wasn’t clear what would happen and the tanks were already in place in the city. We didn’t have any information, we had seen the final frame when E. Bučelytė had to quit the [television] studio. We learned that night from medics that there were dead and wounded people.

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The Rebel from Žagarė Who Dared Criticize Stalin

The Rebel from Žagarė Who Dared Criticize Stalin

Facts worth knowing about the Litvak poet Osip Mandelshtam

by Rūta Ribinskaitė, LJC member, for 15min.lt

As we mark the 130th anniversary of Osip Mandelshtam, the Lithuanian Jewish Community is inviting the public to take a new look at one of the most renowned poets of the Silver Age of Russian poetry. We present to readers long-forgotten and little-known facts about the phenomenal poet Osip Mandelshtam.

Mandelshtam’s family on both his mother’s and father’s side came from Lithuania. The Mandelshtam family’s roots are in northern Lithuania in the town of Žagarė. There are assertions the family settled in the town in the early 19th century.

The poet’s mother Flora Mandelshtam née Verbolvskaya was a musician and his father Hatzkel-Emil Mandelshtam belong to the first guild of merchants and was a leather tanner. The young married couple lived in Warsaw where the future poet was born on January 15, 1891, and then moved to live in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1896 and 1897.

Full text in Lithuanian here.

Hebrew Classes

Hebrew Classes

Hebrew classes resume at the Lithuanian Jewish Community January 17 and will take place on Sundays. Classes for beginners start at 11:15 A.M., 1:00 P.M. for advanced students and 2:45 P.M. for intermediate learners.

To register, send an email to ruthreches@gmail.com

LJC Celebrates Life and Work of Osip Mandelshtam on 130th Birthday

LJC Celebrates Life and Work of Osip Mandelshtam on 130th Birthday

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is inviting the public to learn more about one of the best poets of Russia’s Silver Age, Osip Mandelshtam.

Join the virtual day of poetry at 2:00 P.M. on January 15 on facebook by going to https://fb.me/e/1cV0KYzFo

Speakers and critics will present new insights and little known facts in Mandelshtam’s biography and poetry. The actors Viačeslavas Lukjanovas and Larisa Kalpokaitė will read excerpts in Russian and Viktorija Verikaitė will read Lithuanian translations of Mandelshtam’s poetry.