Lithuanian Jewish Community

Grigory Kanovich: I Tried to Create a Written Monument to the Lithuanian Jews

He is the last Lithuanian Jewish author with first-hand experience of the shtetls, the small Jewish towns which vanished from the face of the earth in 1941.

”I have tried to create a written monument to the Lithuanian Jews”, says Grigory Kanovich in an interview with Baltic Worlds.

Kanovich turns 90 this summer. At 85 he stopped writing when he published his last book, Shtetl Love Song. The book Devilspel, from which an extract is published in this issue of Baltic Worlds, was written back in 2002 but not translated into English until now.

Kanovich has lived in Israel since 1993, and his son Sergey has helped in translating our questions into Russian and then translating the answers into English. First his father only answered three of the questions, and he was too tired to continue, but the following day came the rest of the answers.

Full text here.

2019-07-08

Changing the Name of Škirpa Alley: A Hasty Initiative

Note: The author of the following opinion piece identifies as a Jewish woman and is a member of the Šiauliai City Jewish Community, which is not a constituent member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community. Her views are not shared by the Lithuanian Jewish Community in any way and are presented here only in the interest of informing our readers of arguments for commemorating Holocaust perpetrators in Lithuania. Kazys Škirpa, the person in the middle to the left of Adolf Hitler in the photograph above, was a leading proponent of Nazi ideology and worked closely with the German Abwehr, or military intelligence, to ease the invasion of Lithuania by the Wehrmacht during World War II. The Vilnius city council is planning in the next few days to again address the issue of the known Nazi collaborator’s name being honored as a street name in the center of the nation’s capital. A similar move by Vilnius city council members several years ago was shot down before it came to a vote.

Photo: Škirpa celebrating Hitler’s 50th birthday, April 21, 1939. Note Lithuania Lithuania acquiesced to Hitler’s ultimatum and handed the Memel region, aka Klaipėda, back to Germany on March 23, 1939. Škirpa is on the far right in the photograph. Photo from Kazys Škirpa’s own memoirs in the book “Lietuvos nepriklausomybės sutemos (1938-1940)” [“The Twilight of Lithuanian Independence (1938-1940)”], Chicago-Vilnius, 1996.

Changing the Name of Škirpa Alley: A Hasty Initiative

by Kamilė Šeraitė, councilor, Vilnius city council

The Holocaust will remain Lithuania’s tragedy through the centuries, not just for the families touched by tragic fate whose descendants carry in their heart the yellow star of David, not just for the members of the Jewish community who have fought many long years for the memory of each innocent life which perished, but as the tragedy of our people.

2019-07-082019-07-12

LJC Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky Awarded Star of Lithuanian Diplomacy

URM.lt

Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevičius awarded a Foreign Ministry award called the Star of Lithuanian Diplomacy to Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky July 5.

The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry’s highest award was bestowed on chairwoman Kukliansky in recognition of her active involvement in organizing international dialogue and important agreements, cooperation between the LJC and Foreign Ministry, her contribution to making the Goodwill Law a reality and the active involvement of the LJC under her leadership in projects at Lithuanian diplomatic offices.

“I am proud of our friendship and cooperation. This is vital to the interests of our state. Your work goes beyond just leading the Jewish community, and your work for the good of Lithuania is very visible,” Lithuanian foreign minister Linkevičius said.

2019-07-052019-07-10

European Days of Jewish Culture

The European Days of Jewish Culture celebrations are scheduled to kick off September 1 and around that date. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Days. As in previous years, Lithuania is participating, although the theme for this year’s events in Lithuania is yet to be announced. The provisional theme announced by the main organizers is “innovation.”

More information here.

2019-07-042019-07-04

Archaeological Dig Resumes at Great Synagogue Site in Vilnius

The summer archaeological dig at the site of the former Great Synagogue in Vilnius is set to resume this year starting July 1 and running to July 19. The team includes archaeologists from Lithuania, the USA and Israel. The continuing exploration of the site is being supported by the Goodwill Foundation in partnership with the Israeli Antiquities Authority and the Lithuanian Jewish Community.

In 2011 the team discovered the exact boundaries and fragments of the former building. In 2016, 2017 and 2018 they explored the former mikvot, or bathhouses used for ritual purification and located the central bimah of the synagogue.

This year they hope to continue exploring the remains of the building and to locate the aron kodesh, the ark used to house the Torah scroll in synagogues. Within the first three days of digging the team had already uncovered the rear entrance to the main hall of the subterranean synagogue, a set of descending steps located near the mikvot.

2019-07-012019-07-08

Anti-Semite Alley

15 min.lt

by Viktoras Bachmetjevas

The Vilnius city council will finally begin considering renaming Škirpa Alley. For those who might never have heard of Kazys Škirpa, it suffices to day he is best known to Lithuanian history for two things.

Perhaps I should say at the onset that as a resident of Vilnius I don’t want a street in my city named after a person whose anti-Semitism was political and systemic, and who directed an organization which issued calls which, according to historians, were a factor in the summer of 1941 in Lithuanians contributing to the carrying out of criminal orders by the Nazis.

Full text in Lithuanian here.

2019-07-012019-07-01

Events to Mark 75th Anniversary of Destruction of Kaunas Ghetto

Events have begun in Kaunas to mark the 75th anniversary of the liquidation of the ghetto there. On June 15 the Kaunas Drama Theater staged Getas [Ghetto] directed by G. Varnas and on June 29 the Kaunas City Museum invited the public to a free guided tour called Voice of Hope where museum specialist Aušra Strazdaitė-Ziberkienė told of the Jewish musicians who worked at the Kaunas State Drama Theater and the music school, the conservatory and other venues, and their contribution to establishing and enriching Lithuanian music and popularizing Lithuanian composers. She also spoke about the tragic mass murder of the Jews in the Holocaust. The tour was followed by a screening of Seserys [Sisters] by L. Kopač and D. Selčinskaja telling the story of the rescue of Danutė Pomerancaitė, the accomplished violinist.

Those who missed the event can attend repeat performances at 5:00 P.M. on July 12 and 12 noon on July 13. Please register either by calling (8 37) 731 184 or by sending an email to mkp.kasa@kaunomuziejus.lt

More information about the tour is available in Lithuanian here.

2019-07-012019-07-01

Lietūkis Garage Victims Remembered in Kaunas

The anniversary of the Lietūkis Garage massacre was commemorated on June 28, 2019. On June 27, 1941, during the first days of the Nazi invasion, the horrific torture and murder of Jewish men was carried out at the Lietūkis agricultural cooperative’s garage, now Miško street no. 3 in Kaunas.

Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas led the commemoration and recalled the events. Rokas Makštutis on clarinet and vocalist Vitalij Neugasimov performed a musical rendition of the horror which moved many in the audience to tears.

The commemoration was followed by other commemorations at other mass murder sites including the Jewish cemetery in Slobodka, the Seventh Fort and the Jewish cemetery in Žaliakalnis. Kaunas Hassidic Synagogue Religious Community chairman Iser Shreiberg said a prayer in memory of the Holocaust victims.

2019-07-012019-07-05

Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the Liquidation of the Kaunas Ghetto

The Kaunas Jewish Community, the city of Kaunas and the Lithuanian Jewish Community invite you to attend events to mark the 75th anniversary of the destruction of the Kaunas ghetto.

July 14

12:00 Commemoration at the stone marking the site of the ghetto gate at Kriščiukaičio street no. 12/Linkuvos street no. 2, Kaunas

1:00 Guided tour through Kaunas ghetto territory and unveiling of new commemorative steles (Kaunas ghetto gate to Democracy Square)

5:00 Concert at the Kaunas State Philharmonic with performances by the Kuryat Ono youth orchestra from Israel, the St. Christopher Chamber orchestra and Lithuanian Jewish tenor Rafailas Karpis

All events are free and open to the public. Come join us.

2019-07-01

Righteous Gentile Commemoration Architect: They Were Better People

Bernardinai.lt

by Augminas Petronis and Gediminas Šulcas

“At first it was very frightening to carve another person’s headstone. Yes, I have hands, I have carved this and that, but to carve on someone’s headstone… I sat with the sculptors for a month, and they told me: ‘It will be ten times easier than you imagine.’ But I was getting ready for it as if for a flight into space, and I hung the first commemorative sign for my uncle, just in case I ruined something…” said Tauras Budzys, the Vilnius architect who thought up and implemented a project to hang commemorative symbols on the headstones of rescuers of Jews.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

2019-07-01

Lithuania Faces Challenges Celebrating 2020 as Year of Vilna Gaon and Litvak History

Several months of silence have ensued since the publication of a shocking “explanation” with the features of gross Holocaust denial issued by a Lithuanian state institution, the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania, published with no author attributed.

The “explanation” from this Lithuanian national historical research institution claims “the inhabitants of occupied Lithuania did not understand ghettos as part of the Holocaust” in attempting to vindicate Jonas Noreika’s culpability in establishing the Šiauliai (Shavel) ghetto, isolating Jews and seizing their property.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community not only believes these statements violate article 170-2 of the Lithuanian criminal code, but also desensitize the public to the Holocaust, and possibly intentionally and calculatedly encourage conflict in society and belittle and debase the memory of brave Lithuanians who rescued Jews from the Holocaust.

Just after marking the anniversary of the horrific Lietūkiis garage massacre and as we mark the 75th anniversaries of the destruction of the Kaunas and Šiauliai ghettos in coming days, we feel it is important to recall the roots and origins of the Holocaust in Lithuania.

2019-07-012019-08-08

Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the Liquidation of the Šiauliai Ghetto

The City of Šiauliai and the Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community invite you to attend events to mark the 75th anniversary of the liquidation of the Šiauliai ghetto on July 15, 2019.

11:30 Placing of flowers, wreaths and stones at the base of the monument stone marking the gate of the Šiauliai ghetto (on the corner of Trakų and Ežero streets).

12:00 Official ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the liquidation of the Šiauliai ghetto at the Haim Frankel Villa Park.

3:00 Unveiling ceremony of plaque commemorating Right Gentile father Jonas Borevičius, SJ (Vilniaus street no. 245).

4:00 Ceremony to honor the victims at the Kužiai mass murder site at Norutaičiai village, Kužiai aldermanship, Šiauliai region.

5:30 Ceremony to honor ghetto inmates sent to concentration camps at the Radviliškis train station.

Artūras Visockas, mayor, city of Šiauliai
Naum Gleizer, chairman, Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community

2019-06-28

Honorary Member of the Panevėžys Jewish Community

World War II began in 1939. Jews didn’t know this was the onset of hell for the entire world and especially for the Jews themselves. More than 60 million people died, and 6 million of them were Jews. Jews were shot and tortured to death in the concentration camps and ghettos.

Today the world community is grateful to those who saved Jews during the Holocaust.

Teresė Giedrikaitė is a frequent visitor to the Panevėžys Jewish Community. She is the daughter of Emilija and Juozas Giedrikas, who were awarded posthumously the Lithuanian order of the Life-Saver’s Cross. She is an honorable member of the Community. She was invited to attend the unveiling of the new Holocaust memorial in Biržai, Lithuania, but was unable to attend due to poor health. She spoke in an informal setting at the Community, telling the story of her parents who rescued Jews during the war.

She recalled painful memories lodged deep from childhood with tears in her eyes. She was four at the time. Neither time nor Soviet deportation has erased the painful recollections. Her parents hid a Jewish newlywed couple from Kaunas in their home in the small town of Vabalninkas.

2019-06-272019-07-01

Remembering the Victims of the Lietūkis Garage Massacre

The Kaunas Jewish Community invites the public to come and commemorate the victims of the Lietūkis Garage massacre at the monument to them located at Miško street no. 3 in Kaunas at 4:00 P.M. on June 28. Following that ceremony there will be ceremonies held at the Slobodka (Vilijampolė) Jewish cemetery located on Kalnų street in Kaunas, the Seventh Fort in Kaunas and the Žaliakalnis Jewish cemetery on the Radvilėnų highway in Kaunas to honor Holocaust victims.

2019-06-27

European Commission Considers Security of European Jewish Communities

A meeting convened by the European Commission to discuss challenges facing Jewish communities in Europe was held on June 20 in Brussels.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky spoke at the meeting, thanking Lithuanian law enforcement institutions for long and productive cooperation, but stressed Lithuania is one of only a few European countries without a systematic policy for safeguarding Jewish sites and institutions.

The LJC has adopted all security measures meeting European standards by itself and with help from the Security and Crisis Center under the European Jewish Congress.

2019-06-27

Outdoor Painting Workshop

The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites you to a plein air outdoor painting workshop over five days and four nights with famous artist Raimondas Savickas. Lodging will be double rooms at the Karvys manor on Karvys Lake in Paežeriai village, Maišiagala aldermanship, Vilnius region (http://www.karviodvaras.lt/kontaktai/) with three meals per day, activities and personal consulations with teachers, running from July 27 to August 2. Cost per person is 180 euros. Registration is open till July 12. For more information, contact Žana Skudovičienė by email at zanas@sc.lzb.lt or by telephone at +370 67881514.

Bank transfers can be made to the Lithuanian Jewish Community, corporate code 190722117, VAT code LT100010504214, bank account number LT09 7044 0600 0090 7953 at SEB Bank. Please indicate the payment is for Educational Plein Air 2019 and the name and surname of the person for whom the payment is being made.

2019-06-272019-06-27

Proposal to Rename Vilnius’s Škirpa Alley Tricolor Alley

Photo: Lukas Balandis/15min.lt

by Violeta Grigaliūnaitė

A decision to rename Škirpa Alley at the base of Gediminas Hill in Vilnius is brewing within the city council. Municipality administration director Povilas Poderskis has received a request to initiate a decision by the Vilnius city council to rename it Tricolor Alley. Freedom Party faction member Renaldas Vaisbrodas prepared the request. The small street next to the Vilnia creek was named after Kazys Škirpa in 1998.

At Issue: A Finding by the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania

Vaisbrodas included compelling arguments for the decision in his request. Here is an extract from an historical finding by the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania signed by director Birutė Burauskaitė:

“The historians of the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania have performed an exhaustive examination of the activities of Kazys Škirpa in World War II. The actions of the historical figure of Kazys Škirpa are subject to multiple interpretations. On the one hand, he was a Lithuanian patriot who exerted major efforts for the foundation of national independence and for resistance to the Soviet occupational regime. On the other hand, there were expressions of anti-Semitism in his activities in 1940 and 1941.

“One may fault Škirpa and the organization he led because anti-Semitism was raised to a political level in the actions of the Berlin Lithuanian Activists Front and that might have encouraged some Lithuanian residents to get involved in the Holocaust. On the other hand it must be noted the Berlin LAF organization proposed solving “the Jewish problem” not through genocide, but by expulsion from Lithuania. It also must be noted members of the Berlin LAF organization did not know on the eve of war the Nazis planned to carry out the total genocide of the Jews.”

This excerpt comes from a finding presented on April 17, 2019, to the Vilnius municipal commission on names, monuments and commemorative plaques.

Full article in Lithuanian here.

2019-06-262019-07-08

The True State of the Jewish Cemeteries in Vilnius

The True State of the Jewish Cemeteries in Vilnius. Part of a Proud Past Which Must Be Protected

In the international sphere there has been no respite regarding preservation of the old Jewish cemetery in Vilnius (in the historical neighborhood of Piromont, now known as Šnipiškės): petitions are being circulated, the issue has even been raised in the United States Senate and there is the attempt being made to put a halt to plans to renovate the Palace of Sports building there. But are these disputes over the now-destroyed cemetery sufficiently well-founded?

The Soviet Era Destroyed the Šnipiškės Jewish Cemetery and Buried Its Memory

It’s important to look at the history of the Šnipiškės cemetery. The old Jewish cemetery in Vilnius established in 1592 or 1593 (although other sources say 1487) was for all intents and purposes closed in 1830, after which part of the cemetery was destroyed, with another part surviving to the end of World War II.

The Executive Committee of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted a resolution on October 15, 1948, to close the old Jewish cemetery. At that time it had an area of just over three hectares, a quarter of the size of the Užupis Jewish cemetery on Olandų street in Vilnius.

2019-06-262019-08-08

European Commission Holds First-Ever Working Group on Anti-Semitism

As Europe grapples with a rising tide of anti-Semitism, the European Commission held its first-ever working group on the matter. The meeting, which convened almost 100 representatives of Jewish communities, EU member states and international organizations, spent a full day discussing security including risk assessments, building trust and physical protection.

“The Commission is acting together with member states to counter the rise of anti-Semitism, to fight Holocaust denial and to guarantee that Jews have the full support of the authorities to keep them safe. The working group will help member states coordinate their actions and fight anti-Semitism efficiently together,” EU justice commissioner Věra Jourová said in a statement before the session.

The EU was presented with an action plan to combat anti-Semitism in February when the European Jewish Congress called on EU member states to adopt in full the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism.

Full story here.

2019-06-252019-06-25

Remember Those Who Rescued Children from Druskininkai Summer Camp in 1941

When World War II came to Lithuania, the children were on summer vacation, many at Communist Youth and pioneer summer camps in Palanga, Kačerginė and Druskininkai. Stasys Sviderskis (1920-2011) was assigned leader of the youn pioneer camp in Druskininkai, where of the 150 or so children, 70 were Jewish.

Stasys was recognized a Righteous Gentile by Yad Vashem in 1997 and Lithuanian president Algirdas Brazauskas awarded him the Life-saver’s Cross. His elder brother Alfonsas saved Jews from the Kaunas ghetto and was named a Righteous Gentile by Yad Vashem in 1980.

When the war arrived on June 22, 1941, Stasys Sviderskis didn’t wait for instructions and collected all the children in his care to send them east away from hostilities. On the first day of war he managed to put the children on a train to Vilnius which continued a long journey to cities in the east in the Soviet Union. Despite the many dangers which confronted him, Sviderskis evacuated all of his wards out of Nazi-controlled territory and so all the Jewish children were saved. He was named a Righteous Gentile on October 6, 1997, with Yad Vashem also publishing a list of the children he rescued.

2019-06-252019-06-27