The Lithuanian Jewish Community’s Gesher Club invites its members and their families to a special Sabbath celebration according to the traditions of modern Judaism at 6:30 P.M. on Friday, December 17 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. “Baal tefila” Viljamas Žitkauskas will lead the ceremony to greet the Sabbath with the traditional prayers. A Sabbath dinner will follow. Registration is required by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt or by calling 8 678 1514.
Aleksandras Štarkas performed works by Mozart, Beethoven, Paganini, Tartini, Massenet, Saraste and Bloch at the Lithuanian Jewish Community recently. He was accompanied on piano by Aušra Marija Banaitytė.
Štarkas was born in Vilnius. From 1961 to 1972 he attended the M. K. Čiurlionis Art School. In 1977 he was graduated from the Lithuanian State Music Conservatory. For ten years he played in the Lithuanian chamber orchestra conducted by Saulius Sondeckas and played in Lithuanian National Philharmonic orchestras for another three years. In 1987 he moved to Israel and began playing in the Israeli Philharmonic orchestra the same year, where he remained in 2021. Štarkas performs in concerts with different chamber orchestras around the world and has won international renown.
The Sabbath begins at 3:34 P.M. on Friday, December 10, and concludes at 4:57 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
December 10, 2021, marks 94 years since the birth of Vilnius ghetto diarist and victim Yitzhak Rudashevski.
Lithuanian MP Rita Tamašunienė, a representative of the Polish Electoral Action/Union of Christian Families party and the alderwoman of the Lithuanian Regions faction in parliament, Thursday announced plans to reintroduce legislation for a Law on Ethnic Minorities drafted back in 2013. It met with disapproval from the Lithuanian parliament’s Legal Department and Law and Order Committee earlier for possibly violating the Lithuanian constitution.
The legislation attempts to define basic principles for protecting the rights and freedoms of ethnic groups, to regulate protection of ethnic minority education, use of languages and cultural values, and to regulate NGO activities.
The draft law provides: “in administrative territorial units where a given ethnic minority lives closely together, local institutions and organization use the (local) language of that ethnic minority along with the state language.” It also says street signs in such areas may include ones in the local minority language alongside Lithuanian signs.
by Zigmas Vitkus
By invitation of the mayor of Ukmergė, a public discussion was held in Ukmergė (Vilkomir) on December 2 concerning the problem of historical commemoration of captain Juozas Krikštaponis, an officer of the Second Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalion. Lithuanian History Institute historian Mindaugas Pocius delivered an extremely important report there detailing his comprehensive and repeated research on this man’s activities during World War II and demonstration Krikštaponis as an officer in a unit which served the Nazis from October to December of 1941 had taken part in the mass murder of thousands of Jews and Soviet POWs in Nazi-occupied Byelorussia.
The Ukmergė administration which has long postponed addressing this problem will have to decide soon what to do with the statue located in the town center dedicated to “the commander of the Lithuanian partisan military district Vytis who died in 1945” in battle with NKVD troops, a man who, as the facts show, was also a war criminal.
Full text in Lithuanian here.
A Lithuanian History Institute historian says it’s a mistake to issue awards to commander of the partisan Vytis military district captain Juozas Krikštaponis and to commemorate him in Ukmergė (Vilkomir) and elsewhere.
Mindaugas Pocius who works at the institute’s Twentieth Century History Department said: “There are no doubts among historians regarding Krikštaponis’s participation in the mass murder of Jews and other civilians. We need to put an end [to this controversy].” He was speaking last Thursday at a discussion held by the Ukmergė regional administration, the Lithuanian History Institute and the Ukmergė Jewish Community on the life and person of Juozas Krikštaponis.
The former partisan commander is commemorated and lauded in Ukmergė as a fighter in the post-WWII liberation struggle, but historians say they have determined he was a Holocaust perpetrator. Pocius says bestowing state awards on him was done too hastily and a mistake was made in not doing comprehensive research on Krikštaponis’s biography before commemorating him. A stone monument was erected in his honor and a street named after him in Ukmergė in 1996. In 1997 Dalia Kuodytė, director of the Center for Research of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania, provided him the status of military volunteer. In 2002 president Valdas Adamkus issued a decree promoting Krikštaponis posthumously to the rank of colonel, based on the recommendation of Lithuanian defense minister Linas Linkevičius.
“Of course neither the Defense Ministry nor the President’s Office had complete information. They went by [Genocide] Center’s recommendation, which at that time had not performed research on Krikštaponis’s biography and knew nothing about his activity during the war,” Mindaugas Pocius said.
Full story in Lithuanian here.
The Panevėžys Jewish Community held their annual Holocaust quiz for high school students on December 2 this year, the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania. Four teams of students competed.
Before the quiz the high school students watched a documentary film about the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex where more than 1.5 million people were murdered, more than one million of them Jewish men, women, children and elderly.
Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman said it wasn’t just Jews who suffered from the barbaric actions planned by the Nazis in World War II against humanity. Europeans of other ethnicities also suffered because of their religion, ethnic origin, traditions and disabilities. Nonetheless, six millions Jews were exterminated simply because they were Jews.
Members and guests gathered in the courtyard of the Panevėžys Jewish Community to waatch the lighting of the first Hanukkah light. Song and dance began the holiday according to Jewish tradition. Hanukkah is a holiday which symbolizes freedom, light, hope and good wishes for our families and friends.
Two thousand and two hundred years, a miracle occurred when there was only enough oil for one day. The oil lasted for eight days. This was one of the major miracles in those times. Therefore Jews today celebrate the eight days of Hanukkah in their homes, lighting a candle for each day. We read three prayers and light the first Hanukkah light on the first day.
We read out greetings from our friends and colleagues, and Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania Yossi Avni-Levy greeted us on the holiday of Hanukkah, wishing us light and happiness in our hearts, and he sent on Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s video greeting, as well as those from Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky. Young and old were presented small gifts and holiday packages at the holiday table.
The high holiday spirits imparted hope and joy for our future.
We report with sadness the death of Eva Ščupak on December 3. She was a member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community and a long-time medical volunteer. A renowned neurologist, she also pioneered the use of acupuncture in Lithuania. We extend our deepest condolences to her son.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community looks on in surprise and with concern at statements issuing from the press secretary of the Communist Chinese Foriegn Ministry claiming Jews and other ethnic minority communities in Lithuania are suffering “serious discrimination” and pressure, the LJC said in a press release.
Although there is public and free dialogue between the LJC and Lithuanian government institutions concerning commemoration of the past and other painful chapters of history regarding the Holocaust, we vigorously reject any and all accusations Jews are experiencing discrimination in Lithuania today.
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said: “Lithuania is a democratic country which respects its Jewish citizens and safeguards the rights of all its citizens. While we sometimes have differing opinions regarding heritage and property destroyed during World War II by the Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators, or regarding unreturned property, we are nonetheless and active and free part of Lithuanian society. In our country we freely express our views, and we support open and public dialogue with institutions and other groups of society. It is absolutely unacceptable attempting to draw our small community into a solution of bilateral and international disagreements through mendacity and manipulation.”
The Sabbath begins at 3:37 P.M. on Friday, December 3, and concludes at 4:59 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
The Godo culture bar in Kaunas will mark the 90th anniversary of the death of interwar Lithuanian crooner and comedian Danliu Dolskis on Friday, December 3. Algirdas Šapoka and Kaunas city museum specialist Aušra Strazdaitė-Ziberkienė will talk about his life.
Event organizer Šapoka said: “The commemoration of his death will be constituted of two parts: we will talk about his personality with historians, after which there will be an evening of Lithuanian music. Just as he used to appear, here on a small stage in a restaurant or bar on Freedom Alley. The artist, after all, froze to death with a bottle of beer in hand.”
Full story in Lithuanian here.
Dear Community members,
An exceptional Hanukkah Evening: we’ll light the seventh Hanukkah candle while tasting and discussing wine.
Do you know which wine goes with what dish at the dinner table? Wine expert Edvinas Gurinas will be present at this wine tasting and you’ll learn which wine is appropriate for different dishes through tasting. Traditional Jewish snacks and dishes will be served. We’ll learn why some wine/food combinations work while others put a damper on taste and mood.
Please register by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt. Space is very limited. The event will take place at 5:00 P.M. on December 4at the Bagel Shop Café.
The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club held their annual tennis tournament November 27 with both amateurs and tennis veterans taking to the courts. In the open group the winners were Danielius Merkinas in first place and Norbertas Faktarovičius taking second, and in the veterans group the winner was Eduardas Gurvičius. Ilja Bereznickas also made a good showing in the veterans group. The matches were followed by impassioned discussions of the play and plans for the future.
Residents of Ukmergė (Vilkomir) and others were invited to attend a Hanukkah concert at the Ukmergė Regional History Museum with the Rakija Klezmer Orkestar performing on November 29, the second day of the eight-day holiday. Ukmergė Regional Jewish Community chairman Artūras Taicas briefly told the audience the story of Hanukkah and what it means. Ukmergė Regional History Museum director Violeta Reipaitė was invited to light the first candle and chairman Taicas lit the second.
Guests were invited to sample traditional Hanukkah dishes with special food packages to take home.
Here are some photographs from the lighting of the first Hanukkah light at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius Sunday evening.
Genadijus Šteimanas passed away November 29 following a long battle with illness. He served for many years as a member of the board of directors of the Panevėžys Jewish Community. A wonderful person who always cared for his family, he also paid close attention to the needs of the community. Our deepest condolences.
Jenta Timukienė passed away Sunday. She was born in 1939 and was an inmate of the Kaunas ghetto. May her soul rest in peace. Our deepest condolences to her family, friends and fellow members of the Union of Former Ghetto and Concentration Camp Prisoners.