Wooden Synagogue in Alanta Renovated
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LJC, International Comminission and Olga Lengyel Institute Holding Holocaust Seminars for Teachers
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LJC Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky Speaks at Commemoration of Grosse
Aktion in Kaunas
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Šiauliai Opens Righteous Gentile Square at the Intersection of Vilniaus and Ežero Streets at Former Ghetto Gates
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"Symphony from Jerusalem of the North” Mark Day of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide in Presidential Courtyard
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The renovated synagogue in Žiežmariai will become a new cultural center. The first synagogue in appeared sometime between 1690 and 1696. In the 19th century there three synagogues. Not surprising, since the majority of the population were Jewish. This synagogue which has survived and has now been renovated stands in the southern part of town between Vilniaus and Žalgirio streets, with the Strėva river flowing from southeastward from there.
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The Lithuanian Post Office has issued a stamp commemorating 300 years since the birth of the Vilna Gaon
The Lithuanian Post Office has issued a stamp commemorating 300 years since the birth of the Vilna Gaon
with a face value of 0.81 euros, enough to mail letters abroad.
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Lithuania Marks 300th Anniversary of Birth of Vilna Gaon, 2020 Named Year of the Gaon and Litvak History.
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Most important events at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in 2018
Most important events at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in 2018
Revival of Jewish Scouting in Lithuania: The first new Litvak scouting camping trip with children from Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys and Molėtai took place August 24 to 26.
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Jewish newspapers and advertisements from Vilnius in the period between the two world wars. Jews and other minorities were given equal rights in the reconstituted Lithuanian state. Yiddish thrived with many newspapers and books published in the language.
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President Nausėda Unveils Plaque Commemorating Librarian, Bibliographer Antanas Ulpis at YIVO

President Nausėda Unveils Plaque Commemorating Librarian, Bibliographer Antanas Ulpis at YIVO

Photo: YIVO executive board chairwoman Ruth Levine, Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda with wife Diana Nausėdienė and YIVO executive director Jonathan Brent, photograph by Robertas Dačkus

September 19, 2023

As part of his working visit to New York Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda attended the unveiling of a memorial plaque to the Lithuanian librarian and bibliographer Antanas Ulpis at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

Gitanas Nausėda said it is important to preserve the memory of the deeds of Lithuanian librarian, bibliographer and director of the Vilnius Book Chamber Antanas Ulpis and the Paper Brigade because thanks to them thousands of Jewish books and documents were safeguarded during the Nazi and Soviet occupations.

During the Nazi occupation around 20 Jews from the Vilnius Ghetto, the so-called Paper Brigade, hid Jewish books, Torahs and other documents, risking their lives. Later Antanas Ulpis, director of the Book Chamber, saved these unique documents and texts from destruction by the Soviets by hiding them in nooks and crannies at St. George’s Church in Vilnius.

“This is not only an important part of the history of Lithuanian Jews which has been preserved, but also an example of humanism, when evil is countered with good and darkness with light,” the Lithuanian president said.

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Schedule of Commemorative Events for the 80th Anniversary of the Anti-Nazi Resistance and Liquidation of the Vilnius Ghetto

Schedule of Commemorative Events for the 80th Anniversary of the Anti-Nazi Resistance and Liquidation of the Vilnius Ghetto

European Days of Jewish Culture

Time: Starts at 10:00 A.M. on September 3, 2023
Location: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius; Choral Synagogue, Pylimo street no. 39, Cvi Park (Petras Cvirka Square across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community).

Exhibit “Ghetto Children Tell Their Story to Contemporary Children”
Time: September 4 to September 30, 2023
Location: Adomas Mickevičius Public Library, Trakų street no. 10, Vilnius.

Special Concert to Remember Victims of the Holocaust
Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė, patroness
Time: September 6, 2023
Location: Lėlė Theater, Arklių street no. 5, Vilnius.
by invitation only

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Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of Vilnius Ghetto: Commemoration of Holocaust Victims at Ponar

Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of Vilnius Ghetto: Commemoration of Holocaust Victims at Ponar

Commemoration of Holocaust Victims at Ponar Memorial Complex on September 21

Program:

2:40 P.M. March of the Living procession from Ponar railroad tracks to Ponar Memorial Complex, duration about 20 minutes;

3:00 P.M. Ceremony to commemorate Holocaust victims at the main memorial in the Ponar Memorial Complex.

If you’d like transportation, the LJC will provide a bus leaving at 2:00 P.M. sharp from the Neringa Hotel located at Gedimino prospect no. 23 in Vilnius. Those who wish to ride the bus must register by calling Liuba at+370 685 06900 or by sending an email to office@lzb.lt with your full name. Those who haven’t registered won’t be boarded and the bus won’t wait for latecomers.

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Reminder about Bus to Ponar

Reminder about Bus to Ponar

Reminder: If you’d like transportation to the Holocaust commemoration at Ponar on September 21, the LJC will provide a bus leaving at 2:00 P.M. sharp from the Neringa Hotel located at Gedimino prospect no. 23 in Vilnius. Those who wish to ride the bus must register by calling Liuba at+370 685 06900 or by sending an email to office@lzb.lt with your full name. Those who haven’t registered won’t be boarded and the bus won’t wait for latecomers.

Eightieth Anniversary of the Liquidation of and Uprising in the Vilnius Ghetto: Student Play Remembers Ghetto Teachers, Students and Children

Eightieth Anniversary of the Liquidation of and Uprising in the Vilnius Ghetto: Student Play Remembers Ghetto Teachers, Students and Children

This play by students from the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius is based on passages from the diaries of Yitzhak Rudashevski, Masha Rolnik and Hermann Kruk with Vilnius ghetto songs performed by Rafailas Karpis and Darius Mažintas. Sholem Aleichem students will tell the stories of children from the Vilnius ghetto.

Location: Konstantinas Sirvydas Square in Vilnius, next to the French embassy
Time: 8:00 P.M., September 20.

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Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of Vilnius Ghetto: Play “Symphony of Dance from the Jerusalem of the North”

Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of Vilnius Ghetto: Play “Symphony of Dance from the Jerusalem of the North”

The dance troupe Lietuva and the Prabudimo orkestras present a song and dance spectacular called “Symphony of Dance from the Jerusalem of the North.” The performance is based on Jievaras Jasinskis’s work “Simfonija iš Šiaurės Jeruzalės” [Symphony from the Jerusalem of the North]. The story begins 4,000 years ago and extends till the present. The performance will take place on different dates around Lithuania. Tickets available here.

Schedule:

7:00 P.M. on September 23 at the State Youth Theater in Vilnius, by invitation only.

6:00 P.M. on September 24 at the State Youth Theater in Vilnius

7:00 P.M. on September 27 at the State Drama Theater in Kaunas

6:00 P.M. on October 7 at the Concert Hall in Palanga

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Panevėžys Jewish Community Celebrates New Year

Panevėžys Jewish Community Celebrates New Year

Rosh Hashana is one of the most important Jewish holidays. The new year 5784 has begun. A small picnic took place in the courtyard of the Panevėžys Jewish Community on September 17 with apples and honey and challa bread, and warm wishes were expressed for Jews around the world.

This year for the first time this century Lithuanian Jewish scouts from Vilnius visited the Panevėžys Jewish Community. They were returning from the Žalioji Forest where they had camped for two days with scouts from Panevėžys. The Panevėžys Jewish Community treated them to a tour of the town including stories about the Jews of Panevėžys and the Holocaust.

After a brief rest at the Community, the scouts joined Community members for a holiday meal including the traditional dishes which according to custom should be sampled in greeting the Jewish New Year.

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Rosh Hashana at the LJC

Rosh Hashana at the LJC

Last Friday the Lithuanian Jewish Community hosted a bnei maskilim–followers of Progressive Judaism–Kabalat Shabat ceremony and marked the Jewish New Year or Rosh Hashana, 5784, at the same time. Shana tova!

Thanks to Viljamas Žitkauskas for providing photos of the event below.

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Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of the Vilnius Ghetto: Conference at Parliament “Communism and Anti-Semitism”

Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of the Vilnius Ghetto: Conference at Parliament “Communism and Anti-Semitism”

The Lithuanian parliament will host an international conference called “Communism and Anti-Semitism” beginning at 10:00 A.M. on November 28. The organizers of the conference include the Lithuanian Jewish Community, YIVO, the POLIN institute and the Goodwill Foundation. It will be broadcasted on the parliament’s website www.lrs.lt and via the parliament’s youtube channel. Stay tuned for more details.

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Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of the Vilnius Ghetto: Play “The Choice”

Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of the Vilnius Ghetto: Play “The Choice”

The Lėlės Theater in Vilnius presents a play in Lithuanian called “Pasirinkimas” based on Holocaust survivor and trauma psychologist Edith Eva Eger’s book “The Choice: Embrace the Possible,” which details her Holocaust experience as a young woman. The play starts at 4:00 P.M. on Sunday, September 24. The theater is located at Arklių street no. 5 in Vilnius.

Tickets are available here.

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Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of the Vilnius Ghetto: Short Underground Films

Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of the Vilnius Ghetto: Short Underground Films

Filmmaker Justinas Lingys’s two shorts “Vilniaus geto gyvybės arterija” [Life Artery of the Vilnius Ghetto] and “Holokausto aukoms atminti” [To Remember the Victims of the Holocaust] will be screened at the Adomas Mickevičius Public Library at Trakų street no. 10 in Vilnius at 5:30 P.M. on September 28.

The celebrated Lithuanian filmmaker takes two approaches regarding the Vilnius ghetto: the actual Holocaust, and the underground city connected by a system of tunnels where life was carried on unseen by the Nazis and Lithuanian collaborators, where people taught children, through which food supplies were smuggled into the ghetto and through which information and news about the war travelled. Jews were also rescued through the tunnels, and when the Vilnius ghetto was liquidated a small number escaped through the tunnels.

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Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of the Vilnius Ghetto: Film “Jerzy Orda: Anarchista w duchu św. Augustyna”

Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of the Vilnius Ghetto: Film “Jerzy Orda: Anarchista w duchu św. Augustyna”

“Jerzy Orda: Anarchistas pagal šv. Augustiną” aka “Jerzy Orda: Anarchista w duchu św. Augustyna” [Jerzy Orda: The Anarchist Who Followed St. Augustine] (2022, Lithuania) is a flim about the man Jerzy Orda who said he was a Vilniusite by choice and whom others called an “integral humanist” and “a man of paradoxes.” During the period between the two world wars, he called himself “an anarchist inspired by St. Augustine.” He also rescued people from the Holocaust and was posthumously awarded Lithuania’s Order of the Life Saver’s Cross. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion at the Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum at Naugarduko street no. 10 in Vilnius starting at 6:00 P.M. on September 26. The film consists of recollections and interviews in Polish and Lithuanian and there will be Lithuanian subtitles for the Polish segments.

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Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of the Vilnius Ghetto: Play “Ghetto”

Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of the Vilnius Ghetto: Play “Ghetto”

The National Drama Theater in Kaunas presents the play “Getas” [Ghetto] written by Joshua Sobol and directed by Gintaras Varnas at 4:00 P.M. on September 24 and 6:00 P.M. on November 14. The theater is located at Laisvės alley no. 71 in Kaunas.

The play centers around Vilnius ghetto inmates who waged a spiritual and cultural war for survival under genocidal conditions, founding the Vilnius ghetto theater in the face of almost certain death.

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Eightieth Anniversary of the Liquidation of and Uprising in the Vilnius Ghetto: Film Clips about Ponar and Litvaks

Eightieth Anniversary of the Liquidation of and Uprising in the Vilnius Ghetto: Film Clips about Ponar and Litvaks

The Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum will host a viewing of scenes about the Ponar mass murder site outside Vilnius from the 9.5-hour-long documentary film Shoah (1985, France) and short film clips from YIVO and the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D. C., touching on Jewish life in Lithuania before the Holocaust. A panel discussion will follow.

The event begins at 6:00 P.M. on September 22 at the Tolerance Center located at Naugarduko street no. 10 in Vilnius.

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Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of the Vilnius Ghetto: Play “Dust”

Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of the Vilnius Ghetto: Play “Dust”

The State Youth Theater located at Arklių street no. 5 in Vilnius presents the play “Dulkės” [Dust] at 6:00 P.M. on September 22, based on the book “Panerių dienoraštis 1941–1943” [Ponar Diary 1941-1943] which is a collection of observations made there by Polish journalist and refugee Kazimierz Sakowicz, hidden in bottles, buried and later recovered after the war and painstakingly deciphered.

The young director of the play Justinas Vinciūnas said he was looking for his own attitude regarding the Holocaust and instead of using literary sources preferred authentic primary sources such as the Ponar Diary.

Sakowicz and his wife were forced out of their apartment in Vilnius and their newspaper press was seized by the Soviets in 1940. He took up residence in Ponar outside Vilnius and observed the daily mass murder operations there. Lithuanian readers are sometimes shocked to learn the mass murder was carried out mainly by Lithuanians with very little Nazi German presence there.

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Condolences

Riva Špiz passed away Tuesday. She was born in 1924. A long-time member of the Community, she was also a combat veteran and beloved wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. The entire Community mourns her passing and extend their condolences to her daughter Ela and her husband, to her grandson Edvinas and to all who knew and loved her. The funeral is scheduled for 5:00 P.M. today, Wednesday, at the Jewish cemetery on Sudervės road in Vilnius.

Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of Vilnius Ghetto: Ceremony and Art Installation at Ninth Fort

Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of Vilnius Ghetto: Ceremony and Art Installation at Ninth Fort

The Ninth Fort Museum in Kaunas will host a ceremony to honor the victims of the Holocaust murdered there, followed by the unveiling of a commemorative art installation at the museum created by Christian Boltansky and called ANIMITAS accompanied by a dance performance by Erika Vizbaraitė. Those attending will also be invited to view the museum’s malina exhibit. The events begin at 1:00 P.M. on September 22 at the Ninth Fort Museum at Žemaičių highway no. 73 in Kaunas.

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Lithuanian Parliament Empanels Commission of Inquiry for Impeaching Allegedly Anti-Semitic MP

Lithuanian Parliament Empanels Commission of Inquiry for Impeaching Allegedly Anti-Semitic MP

Lithuania’s channel 3 evening news reported Tuesday the Lithuanian parliament has approved forming a commission to investigate allegedly anti-Semitic statements made by Lithuanian MP Remigijus Žemaitaitis on facebook for his possible removal as a member of parliament. According to the evening news program, all opposition parties have refused to take part in the MP’s possible impeachment and are saying this is a move by the ruling Conservative Party to remove an MP who is part of their opposition in parliament.

Žemaitaitis, according to channel 3, says his statements weren’t anti-Semitic and targeted specific public figures rather than the Jewish people as a whole.

His same facebook posts displayed a rabid sort of Russophobia which the ruling coalition of Lithuanian Conservatives and Liberals haven’t criticized, although Lithuania’s criminal code also expressly forbids sowing hatred against Russians. The Lithuanian constitution provides for legal immunity to members of parliament, namely regarding freedom of speech. MPs cannot be convicted of a crime by prosecutors unless the majority of the parliament votes to remove legal immunity for a specific MP, including prosaic crimes such as driving while drunk.

Happy Birthday to Faina Kukliansky

Happy Birthday to Faina Kukliansky

We wish a very happy birthday to our chairwoman Faina Kukliansky. Few know how much effort she puts into making everything run smoothly at the Lithuanian Jewish Community. We wish you great joy, limitless energy, success in all your and our endeavors and many happy and wonderful moments with your family, friends, Community members and staff, and many new friends here and around the world.  Mazl tov. Bis 120!