Learning

Lithuanian Archivist Seeks Lost Documents among Cape Town Litvaks

Lithuanian Archivist Seeks Lost Documents among Cape Town Litvaks

Lithuanian state radio and television reports on efforts by Juozapas Blažiūnas, the director of the Lithuanian Literature and Art Archive, for making a working trip to South Africa following expeditions to Australia and New Zealand as well as Argentina and Uruguay to seek a legacy of lost documents, netting the archive over 800 kilograms of paper.

In an article entitled “Kraštas, kuriame ‘pinigai semiami saujomis,’ arba, ką PAR [sic] veikė 2015 žemaičių” [The Country Where ‘Money Is Taken by the Fist-Fulls,’ or, What Were 2,015 Žemaitijans Doing in the Republic [sic] of South Africa?], chief archivist Juozapas Blažiūnas writes:

“Why did we travel there? About 90% of the 80,000 Jews living in South Africa are of Lithuanian origin (the so-called Litvaks), and this is the largest Litvak community in the world. And it wasn’t just Jews, Lithuanians also travelled to the distant country seeking success, for example, according to the newspaper Lietuva, from 1892 to 1895 some 2,015 Žemaitijans [an ethnic subgroup in Lithuania] travelled to South Africa just through the port of Bremen [Germany] alone.”

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Litvak Artists in Paris

Litvak Artists in Paris

Lithuanian state radio and television reports on a new exhibit in Vilnius called Litvak Artists in Paris, demonstrating for the first time here a comprehensive exhibit of works of art by the Litvak ensemble living in Paris before and between the two world wars. Lithuanian state media spoke with Litvak art expert and curator of the exhibit Vilma Grandinskaitė, PhD.

Q.: What story does Litvak Artists in Paris tell?

A. The exhibit talks about the Litvak artists, the wave of Lithuanian Jewish migration to Paris, with Paris the destination most desired by artists at that time. We can differentiate three different waves of migration. The first was in the latter half of the 19th century with Mark Antokolski, the first Jewish sculptor from our Lithuania. Antokolski set up a studio in Paris. Many artists soon flocked to it, his followers. The second wave was students from the Vilnius School of Drawing, including Marc Chagall, Michel Kikoïne, Jacques Lipchitz, Emmanuel Mane-Katz and Chaïm Soutine. Gradually with Chagall the news spread of Paris as the Promised Land, a Mecca of the arts, and one after another artist began moving there. The third wave involves Lithuania in the interwar period when Arbit Blat, Max Band [Maksas Bandas] and Jacob Messenblum [Jacques Missene] left.

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Library Named after Litvak Novelist in Home Town

Library Named after Litvak Novelist in Home Town

The public library in Jonava, Lithuania, has been renamed the Grigoriy Kanovitch library. The late Litvak writer came from Jonava originally.

At the naming ceremony the writer’s son, Sergejus Kanovičius, also a writer, quoted from an interview made with his father several years ago:

Q.: If you could be anywhere in an instant, which location do you hold most dear?
A.: I’d go back to my childhood. To Jonava, on the banks of the Vilija [Neris River].

Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein and Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky both attended the ceremony at the town hall as well. Both women thanked the city council and the library for the name-change. The library awards a Gigoriiy Kanovitch literary prize annually.

“A few days ago my father would have celebrated his 94th birthday and tomorrow would be exactly 82 years since he and his family were forced to leave Jonava, as he believed, for life. I am extraordinarily grateful that after so many years you have brought his memory back to Jonava, to his childhood on the banks of the Vilija,” his son said.

ICAN Issues Travel Advisory for Vilnius NATO Summit 2023

ICAN Issues Travel Advisory for Vilnius NATO Summit 2023

Advisory Includes Interactive Maps and Guides to Ensure Culturally Sensitive Visit to Vilnius

June 21, 2023

WASHINGTON, D.C.–The Israeli-American Civic Action Network (ICAN), a leading U.S.-based non-governmental organization, is launching a culturally sensitive website and issuing a travel advisory for attendees of the NATO Summit 2023 in Vilnius, Lithuania. The advisory aims to provide attendees with crucial information about certain sensitive historical sites within the city, fostering an environment of intersectionality and understanding.

“ICAN is committed to promoting understanding and respectful engagement during the NATO Summit,” said Dillon Hosier, ICAN CEO. “Our travel advisory and website resources are designed to help attendees navigate Vilnius in an informed and sensitive manner, acknowledging the internalized oppression that can result from historical distortions.”

The travel advisory identifies several locations in Vilnius associated with Holocaust denial and distortion. These sites, which include monuments and plaques, present a distorted view of historical events, leading to a dangerously corrosive form of cultural appropriation further undermining Lithuania’s already vulnerable Jewish population. ICAN encourages attendees to avoid visiting these locations during their stay in Vilnius to ensure focus remains on the important discussions and collaborations of the NATO Summit.

Full advisory here.

Against Anti-Semitism in Name Only

Against Anti-Semitism in Name Only

by Geoff Vasil

Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda has joined the chorus, the other two heads of state, the prime minister and the speaker of parliament, in declaring Lithuania has zero tolerance for anti-Semitism. At the same time, the state and the nation continue to glorify, lionize and commemorate, often enthusiastically, Lithuanian Nazis who were complicit in Holocaust crimes and responsible for the death of nearly every Lithuanian Jew.

The state-funded Lithuanian Academy of Sciences has removed the Jonas Noreika plaque on its walls “for repairs” even though permission was never granted by any state or municipal body to place the plaque there. Its latest incarnation was the work of enthusiastic Lithuanian neo-Nazis. Streets, schools and squares retain the names of known Holocaust perpetrators with commemorative plaques and statues to them scattered across Lithuania.

At the same time, the ruling coalition, aka the Lithuanian Government, has engaged in rank censorship for two and a half years now, along with a complicit media and law enforcement bodies. This has created a virtual atmosphere of full-fledged fascism and conformity in the country, with straight-up propaganda de rigueur on a range of topics.

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Commemoration of Garage Victims

Commemoration of Garage Victims

The Kaunas Jewish Community will hold a ceremony to commemorate the Jewish victims murdered during the barbaric Lietūkis garage incident in Kaunas in the early days of World War II this June 26 at 4:00 P.M. at the statue to the victims at Miško street no. 3, moving afterwards to the Slobodka Jewish cemetery on Kalnų street and then to the Žaliakalnis Jewish cemetery on the Radvilėnų highway.

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Lithuanian Jewish Community Statement on Anti-Semitic Statements by a Member of the Lithuanian Parliament

Lithuanian Jewish Community Statement on Anti-Semitic Statements by a Member of the Lithuanian Parliament

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is saddened by the recent anti=Semitic statements and posts made by member of the Lithuanian parliament Remigijus Žemaitaitis in some of the media, social networks and even at the Lithuanian parliament itself. It must be said that these sorts of expressions haven’t appeared in Lithuania in a very long time, and that the Jews who live in Lithuania, 80 years after the liquidation of the Vilnius ghetto, had hoped there would be no more such expressions. All the more so as the war continues in Ukraine and people who comprise an ethnic minority can be used by the aggressor as a tool for inciting social conflict and dividing society.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community believes this act by the member of parliament intentionally sows ethnic discord and is a distortion of historical memory as well as a continuation of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” promulgated by the security service of the Russian tsar over a century ago.

We feel ashamed of the county in which we live and which we love and respect. Its citizens cannot elect to parliament a member who can allow himself to descend to making the following statements:

“It seems that besides Putin another group of animals has appeared in the World: ISRAEL. One group razes schools with tanks, the other group uses tractors,” the politician wrote on his facebook page. “After these kinds of incidents, it’s no surprise why these sorts of statement arise: ‘A Jew climbed a ladder and fell down accidentally. Children, take a stick and beat that little Jew to death…'”

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MP Žemaitaitis Steps Up Anti-Semitic Posts

MP Žemaitaitis Steps Up Anti-Semitic Posts

Lithuanian member of parliament Remigijus Žemaitaitis who came under scrutiny several weeks ago for anti-Semitic posts on facebook has stepped up his attacks on Jews during Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė’s working visit to Israel this week, according to Lithuanian media reports.

According to Tele3 news, on Tuesday Žemaitaitis released a new flurry of facebook posts blaming Jews for the Soviet deportation of Lithuanians, claiming Lithuanians experienced a greater genocide than Jews did in the Holocaust and blaming Jews for this alleged genocide. He published a list of alleged Jewish perpetrators of Lithuanian genocide and claimed Soviet Jewish partisans had committed mass murder in Pirčiupiai, a village in southern Lithuania near the town of Varėna. He also referred to Jews as “a subspecies,” presumably of Homo sapiens and presumably meaning subhuman.

Besides misspelling the name of the village, historian Algimantas Kasparavičius told Tele3 news he got the facts wrong: a Nazi SS unit destroyed that village and murdered 119 inhabitants on June 3, 1944, as revenge for several German soldiers murdered by Soviet partisans in the area.

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Renovated Wooden Synagogue in Kurkliai Opens Doors

Renovated Wooden Synagogue in Kurkliai Opens Doors

Last weekend one of the few extant wooden synagogues in Europe opened its doors to visitors following renovation work. Last December Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky signed an agreement with the Anykščiai Cultural Center: in exchange for renovation, the center will enjoy the use of the building for its activities.

Chairwoman Kukliansky commented: “There was a significant Jewish community in Kurkliai before World War II which was lost following the tragic events of the Holocaust. The reconstructed building will soon fall into ruin again if it isn’t used. We are therefore very glad the Anykščiai Cultural Center and the whole regional community stood shoulder to shoulder to outfit the building for a new life. This is yet another wonderful example of cooperation between the Lithuanian Jewish Community and municipal and regional governments as well as cultural centers.”

The synagogue building will include an exhibit about the Kurkliai Jewish community and Jewish life in the village located about midway between Anykščiai and Ukmergė just north of Vilnius.

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New Commemorative Plaque Marks Old Synagogue in Panevėžys

New Commemorative Plaque Marks Old Synagogue in Panevėžys

Following vandalism in January of 2022 to the commemorative plaque marking a former synagogue in Panevėžys, a new plaque has been placed on the building located at Valančiaus street no. 4.

That certainly wasn’t the only recent act of vandalism against Jewish sites in the area, including at Jewish cemeteries, at Memory Square and the “Sad Jewish Mother” monument to Holocaust victims where vandals poured paint. That’s been cleaned up as well and there are now video cameras monitoring the square.

The stone stele commemorating 100 years of activity by the Joint or Jewish Distribution Committee in Panevėžys and Lithuania was also vandalized.

Over the last decade anti-Semitic vandalism also occurred at the mass murder site in the Žalioji Forest and at the monument in the Kurganava Forest. Around 5500 Jews were murdered at the former and around 8000 Jews at the latter site.

Congratulations to Joana Viga Čiplytė

Congratulations to Joana Viga Čiplytė

Joana Viga Čiplytė, an historian who has written extensively about the history of the Panevėžys Jewish community, has been awarded the Gabrielė Petkevičaitės-Bitė medal “Tarnaukite Lietuvai” [To Serve Lithuania] in recognition of her work. Her first book was called “Mažosios Jeruzalės – Panevėžio žydų istorija. Holokaustas” [The History of Little Jerusalem, the Panevėžys Jewish Community: The Holocaust].

At the award ceremony Čiplytė said she was grateful to her family and to Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman for their support.

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Jewish Food Quiz

Jewish Food Quiz

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the outdoor Cvi Parkas vegetarian Israeli street food kiosk invite everyone to a quiz on Jewish cooking and food traditions. The winner gets an Israeli dish from the kiosk and the two runners-up get a free drink. The quiz will be conducted by Arkadijus Vinokuras most likely in the Lithuanian language. It starts at 5:00 P.M. on Sunday, June 18, at food kiosk located in the park across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. The quiz will be streamed live on facebook here.

LJC Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky Accompanies Lithuanian PM on Visit to Israel

LJC Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky Accompanies Lithuanian PM on Visit to Israel

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky took part in events as part of Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė’s working visit to Israel.

The delegation began the visit at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.

After speaking to the American Jewish Committee conference being held in Tel Aviv, Lithuanian PM Šimonytė met with Israel’s president Isaac Herzog, who expressed interest in the pace of restitution for stolen Jewish property in Lithuania.

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Lithuanian PM Tells Israeli PM World Peace Can Only Be Restored by Ukrainian Military Victory over Russia

Lithuanian PM Tells Israeli PM World Peace Can Only Be Restored by Ukrainian Military Victory over Russia

During her current working visit to Israel Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė met Monday with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. According to the official Lithuanian Government press release, they discussed security in Europe and the Middle East, support for the Ukraine against Russia, Lithuanian-Israeli relations and prospects for expanding cooperation between the two countries.

“Russia’s war against the Ukraine poses a threat to the world as well as our region and Europe because the authoritarian regimes of all continents are waiting and watching to see where we draw the red lines in defense of the rules-based international order and global security,” the Lithuanian PM explained to Netanyahu. She told him a real peace can only be achieved by the Ukraine’s victory over Russia.

The Lithuanian Government site did not include prime minister Netanyahu’s response to her statements regarding hostilities between the Ukraine and Russia.

Full press release in Lithuanian here.

Silvia Foti to Visit Šiauliai Jewish Community

Silvia Foti to Visit Šiauliai Jewish Community

Silvia Foti is scheduled to visit the Šiauliai Jewish Community on June 22 for a presentation of her book about her grandfather, Holocaust perpetrator Jonas Noreika, followed by an open discussion. Jonas Noreika was appointed head of the Šiauliai district under the Nazis and was responsible for the murder of thousands of Jews from the city and region. The event starts at 6:00 P.M. and is free and open to the public.

Israeli Dance Lessons Outdoors

Israeli Dance Lessons Outdoors

Julija Patašnik will continue her Israeli dance lessons this Sunday outdoors at the Cvirka Park’s Israeli street food kiosk and café located across the street from Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. Class starts at 11:00 A.M. Sunday, June 11. Everyone is invited regardless of age and dancing skills, including men, women, children, senior citizens and everyone else. The café will be open and serving all sorts of Israeli street food Sunday.

Lithuanian City Vows to Preserve Ancient Jewish Cemetery

Lithuanian City Vows to Preserve Ancient Jewish Cemetery

by Canaan Lidor, Times of Israel, June 6, 2023

The decade-long controversy surrounding the Snipiškės (Shnipishok) Jewish cemetery in Lithuania’s capital appears to have reached a resolution: instead of building a convention center atop the burial ground, the Vilnius municipality will turn it into a monument for Lithuanian Jews.

The decision announced Thursday by Lithuanian National Art Museum director and former Lithuanian minister of culture Arūnas Gelūnas puts to rest concerns about disturbing the remains of Jews believed by some to be buried under a Soviet-era building authorities wanted to tear down and replace. The plan set off a highly publicized legal fight between some Jewish community members and authorities and Jewish groups.

“It’s a hugely welcome outcome to a dispute that has been going on for too many years,” Michael Mail, chief executive of the Foundation for Jewish Heritage non-profit working to preserve such sites in Europe and the Middle East, told Times of Israel Monday.

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