The Sabbath begins at 8:56 P.M. on Friday, May 13, and concludes at 10:30 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Wooden Synagogue in Alanta Renovated
Read more
Lithuanian Jews Oppose Any Commemoration of Kazys Škirpa
Sabbath Times
Victory Day
Members of our Community met on sunny May 8 to mark the end of World War II, an end without which none of us would likely be alive.
Vandal Attacks Holocaust Monument near Darbėnai in Kretinga District
A monument commemorating the mass murder of Jews has been vandalized near the town of Darbėnai in Lithuania’s Kretinga District.
A town resident noticed the vandalism while walking the in White Mountain Forest on Tuesday, May 10, 2022. The man reported the vandalism to the aldermanship after which the police were contacted about the incident.
The monument marked the site where about 320 Jewish women and children were shot to death in 1941. The site was recognized as a protected cultural heritage site with historical and commemorative values. Now the site contains a single stone marker, a broken stone plaque, vodka bottle shards and a swastika scratched on the commemorative stone.
Events Program for the Fifth World Litvak Congress in Vilnius
The following is the program of events for the Fifth World Litvak Congress to be held in Vilnius from May 23 to May 26, 2022.
A PDF file of the program can be downloaded here.
§§§
Events Program for the Fifth World Litvak Congress in Vilnius
May 23
Opening ceremony for the Fifth World Litvak Congress
The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites Litvaks living around the world to return to Vilnius May 23 to May 26, to visit the land of our ancestors and to attend the Fifth World Litvak Congress.
Golda Vainberg-Tatz in Concert
The Vilnius Jerusalem of Lithuania Jewish Community presents a solo concert by the pianist Golda Vainberg-Tatz to be held at 6:30 on Thursday, May 12, on the third floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. She will perform works by Bach, Beethoven and Chopin. The event is free and everyone is invited.
A Remarkable Event: Litvaks from around the World to Gather in Vilnius
The Lithuanian Jewish Community is inviting Litvaks from around the world to come to Vilnius from May 23 to May 26, to visit the land of their ancestors and to take part in the Fifth World Litvak Congress. The four-day congress has a program which includes discussions, tours of historical sites and different cultural activities dedicated to Jewish heritage in Lithuania and achievements by Litvaks on the world stage.
Events include the opening at the Lithuanian parliament and a concert by American cantor and professor Joseph Malovany at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius in an evening of concerts called “A Date with Vilne” which will include Lithuanian musicians and actors paying homage to the memory of the Jews who lived and worked in Lithuania.
Lithuanian parliamentary speaker Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen is the official patron of the Fifth World Litvak Congress. She said: “This Litvak Congress is happening while aggression is running wild in the Ukraine, when war fever has infected the entire region, which is significant to Lithuania historically and today, and to the entire world of Yiddish culture. In the face of blind brutality and violence it is always important to emphasize humanitarianism, empathy, the highest spiritual values from which the long Litvak tradition has always taken strength. This is especially urgent today when in the east of Europe an aggressive and imperialistic anti-Semitism has again raised its head, distorting historical facts and manipulating peoples’ emotions. We must oppose this.”
Film Getas Shown after Yom haShoah Ceremony
Following the commemoration of Holocaust victims at the Ponar Memorial Complex outside Vilnius on Yom haShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, on April 28, a screening of Julius Dautartas’s film Getas [Ghetto] took place at the Lithuanian Jewish Community.
This feature film is based on true events. The location is the Vilnius ghetto set up by the Nazis. It tells the story of the ill-fated, illegal and completely unequal love between Austrian SS officer, amateur musician and true psychopath Bruno Kittel who was placed in charge of the Vilnius ghetto and later the Kaunas concentration camp, and Jewish songstress Khaya. It is claimed that the theater which was established in the Vilnius ghetto was the result of Kittel’s love for Khaya.
Hermann Kruk in his Vilnius ghetto chronicle records some of the consternation ghetto inmates felt about the creation of the new cultural institution in their place of torment. Kruk records the phrase “whistling in the graveyard,” meaning while mass murder was taking place, the people were distracted with the spectacle of plays and drama.
The idea overcame resistance, however, and the cultural life of the Vilnius ghetto became a force for resistance and ultimately survival.
Full interview with the director in Lithuanian here.
Condolences
Abramas Starobinas passed away May 8. He was born in 1935. Our deepest condolences to his fellow social center clients and family members.
New Lithuanian Play Introduces Holocaust to Children
A new play called Jokūbo dienoraštis [Jacob’s Diary] intended to introduce young audiences to the topic of the Holocaust premiered at the Kaunas State Puppet Theater Sunday evening, May 8, 2022.
What Remains When, after the War, Nothing Remains
lrytas.lt
“This is the story of the fate of a small town during World War II,” director Milda Mičiulytė said.
Full story in Lithuanian here.
Arkadijus Vinokuras: Beat the Jews to Save Russia?
The morally ruined, degenerate Putin regime, having driven itself into a corner, is seizing upon an anti-Semitic call used numerous times in Russia’s history: “Beat the Jews, save Russia!” Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov puts it this way: “So what if Vladimir Zelensky is a Jew? Even Hitler had Jewish blood, and the biggest anti-Semites are Jews.” Of course, hatred of Jews has overflown during historical cataclysms not just in Russia.
Today, because of the well-founded criticism of the Putin regime’s war against the Ukraine, one can take offense at this anti-Semitic statement exaltedly. But if someone thinks this ejaculation by Lavrov is just for domestic consumption, they are profoundly incorrect. In Lithuania more than one and more than two news websites have published similar anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. For instance, in articles by Česlovas Iškauskas, never mind Vitas Tomkus’s anti-Semitic rants in his garbage paper.
Full editorial in Lithuanian here.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 8:44 P.M. on Friday, May 6, and concludes at 10:12 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Mother of Basketball Statue Unveiled in Alytus
The public organization Cultural and Historical Memory Foundation in concert with the Alytus district administration and the Butrimonys aldermanship invited the public to attend the unveiling of a new monument to commemorate Senda Berenson Abbot-Valvroyensky, the Mother of Basketball.
Basketball legend Senda was born on March 19, 1868, in Butrimonys, Lithuania, and later immigrated to the USA, where she became the Mother of Basketball and the founder of the modern rules for the game, according to the International Museum of Jewish Athletes and the Women’s Basketball Museum.
As Lithuanian celebrates the 100th anniversary of basketball, this basketball legend born here, the Mother of Basketball Senda Berenson Abbott-Valvroyensky, is also immortalized here.
Lithuanian Parliament Bans Symbol Commemorating Soviet Liberation from Nazis
In late April the Lithuanian parliament adopted and the Lithuanian president signed into law legislation banning the public display of the ribbon of St. George, usually worn on Victory Day in Lithuania to mark the liberation of the country by the Red Army from Nazi Germany in 1944.
According to Lithuanian parliamentarians it symbolizes Russian aggression in the Ukraine and is now banned along with hammers, sickles and swastikas.
The draft legislation had included bans on the public display of the letter Z, but this was apparently removed from the final draft with the parliament’s Cultural Committee pointing out Z is a common company logo and that Russian troops in the Ukraine are also using the letters V, O, X and A. The Cultural Committee also said use of letters by Russian troops appeared to be arbitrary and subject to change as the campaign continues.
David Harris’s Speech at Ponar on Yom haShoah
American Jewish Committee chief executive officer David Harris spoke at the Ponar Memorial Complex and at a reception afterwards held in Vilnius on Yom haShoah, Holocaust Day, on April 28.
Harris announced his intentions last summer to leave the post in which he has served for 32 years now, with the current month of May as the target date for his retirement.
“For the past 31 years as CEO, David has built AJC into the leading global Jewish advocacy organization it is today,” wrote AJC president Harriet P. Schleifer in a letter to AJC’s leadership. “A tireless visionary and a passionate advocate for world Jewry, the State of Israel and democratic values, David’s leadership has been a gift to AJC and to the Jewish people.”
Fifth World Litvak Congress
Lithuanian President Sends haAtzmaut Greetings to Israeli President
Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda sent greetings to Israeli president Isaac Herzog on Yom haAtzmaut, Israeli independence day, on April 5 this year as Israel celebrates its 74th year as a modern state. He used the occasion to talk about the Ukraine.
“Today a war is happening in Europe. Ukraine. The Ukraine is experiencing Russia’s military aggression. Every day many innocent people of the Ukraine die, are wounded and lose their homes,” he said, adding: “I very much appreciate Israel has joined the countries condemning Russia’s actions.”
Lithuanians at March of the Living in Poland
Members of the Lithuanian public took part April 28 in a March of the Living procession at Auschwitz. People from 25 countries including non-Jews attended.
The event was timed to commemorate the Warsaw Uprising on April 28. Marchers walked about 3.5 kilometers from the Auschwitz museum to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. A group of about 50 people from Lithuania attended. A ceremony to honor the victims took place at the former concentration camp. This began with a word of welcome in 25 languages, including “sveiki,” meaning hello, in Lithuanian. Polish president Andrzej Duda spoke there and used the occasion to compare the war in the Ukraine to the Holocaust.
Survivors spoke of the horror of the camp. Edward Mosberg recalled the murder of his family and spoke about his life history. Torches were lit during the ceremony to symbolize the loss of 6 million murdered Jews. A female university student from Lithuania lit one torch in concert with young people from Germany, Austria, Poland and Israel.
Those who came from Lithuania for the march included Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community chairman Sania Karbelis and other members of the Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community, and others.
Following the event participants had the chance to meet Righteous Gentile Chiune Sugihara’s son Nobuki.
EJC Condemns Russian FM Lavrov’s Statements
Tuesday, May 3, 2022–The European Jewish Congress has condemned statements made by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in which he claimed that the “most ardent anti-Semites are usually Jews” and that Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood.”
EJC president Ariel Muzicant said: “These comments are not just inaccurate and offensive, but harm the memory of victims of the Holocaust. Blaming Jews for anti-Semitism is never acceptable. Jewish communities recall that it was the Red Army that liberated Auschwitz and that millions of Soviet soldiers died fighting Nazism. With this in mind, we call on foreign minister Lavrov to retract these statements and to refrain from making inflammatory comments that can have very serious consequences for Jews in Russia and elsewhere.”
Text here.
Abi Men Zet Zich Club Celebrates 24th Birthday
The club for senior citizens was set up by Lithuanian Jewish Community chairman Simonas Alperavičius and deputy chairwoman Maša Grodnikienė on April 26, 1998, and was later named Abi Men Zet Zich, Yiddish for “just to see you again.” The name was the idea of the late Milan Cheronski. We wish club coordinator and social services director Žana Skudovičienė and all our seniors a very happy anniversary.