Photos by Miglė Zakarauskaitės and Aušra Jonušytė
Local residents and politicians commemorated Lithuania’s Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Jews September 23 at a monument to Holocaust victims at the Jewish cemetery there and visited an older Jewish cemetery in the once-thriving shtetl, laying stones gathered from streets in the town.
The same day the public library housed in the restored synagogue held a lesson on Jewish life in Kupiškis for students in grades 1 through 4.
Panevėžys Jewish Community members and local politicians, educators and residents gathered at the foot of the Sad Jewish Mother monument on Memory Square in the town center to mark the Lithuanian Day of the Genocide of Lithuanian Jews on September 23.
The Panevėžys ghetto was liquidated, meaning prisoners were mainly murdered, or sent to other ghettos and concentration camps, on August 15, 1941. That day 13,500 Jewish prisoners there were shot in nearby forests.
Last Tuesday the Šiauliai Jewish Community held a meeting of members and friends with Rabbi Kalev Krelin to discuss material and spiritual preparations for the upcoming holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year celebration.
The Cvi Park Israeli street food kiosk and performance space will host a performance Saturday by vocalists Julija Stupnianek-Kalėdienė and Vakarė Banuševičiūtė with Giedrė Muralytė on piano of opera arias, duets and songs by Italian, French and Lithuanian composers. The kiosk is located in Petras Cvirka Park across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius. The music starts at 2:00 P.M. on September 28. The events is free and open to the public and food will be available for purchase from the kiosk.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community, Lithuanian politicians and foreign ambassadors marked the Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Jews September 23 at the Ponar Memorial Complex outside Vilnius.
LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky spoke at the event, saying among other things: “I have several requests by the Lithuanian Jewish Community. First, I want to know the names of the people who were murdered here. And throughout Lithuania as well, where 400, 500, 600 Jews were murdered in every town. Where are their names? … The Lithuanian Jewish Community also wants to know the names of the murderers. Many years ago now we were promised they would be made public, but they remain unknown to us. I am convinced it has to be made very clear who was a murderer and who was a rescuer. So I would like to ask sincerely the lists of those are known now at least be made available to us.”
Also attending and speaking were Lithuanian MP Emanuelis Zingeris, Israeli ambassador Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein with Israeli embassy chargé-d’affaires Erez Golan, German ambassador Cornelius Zimmermann, US ambassador Kara McDonald, speaker of Lithuanian parliament Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė and others. Choral Synagogue cantor Shmuel Yaatom performed kaddish. Vilnius Religious Jewish Community chairman Simas Levinas also participated.
A Holocaust commemoration was held September 23 in Pabradė, a town in eastern Lithuania on the border with Belarus. September 23 is Lithuania’s Day of the Genocide of Lithuanian Jews. The event was held under the umbrella of the Memory Road civic initiative in cooperation with the Švenčionys Jewish Community, the Pabradė Municipal Culture Center, the Pabradė aldermanship and 6th, 7th and 8th graders from the Rytas Gymnasium in Pabradė under the tutelage of history teacher Danguolė Grincevičienė.
Participants walked the path along which Jews were marched to their deaths to the mass murder site there. Švenčionys Jewish Community chairman Moshe Shapiro and history teacher Danguolė Grincevičienė spoke to the students about the former Jewish community there.
A ceremony was held in Nemenčinė (Nementchin, Niemenczyn) just north of Vilnius Friday at the site of the former synagogue to remember the approximately 500 Jews from that once-thriving shtetl murdered in the Holocaust.
Those attending the ceremony included Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Israeli ambassador Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein, Tammy Nguyen representing the US embassy, Lithuanian MP Rita Tamašunienė and Vilnius regional administration mayor Robertas Duchnevičius, among others. Students from the Sholem Aleichem school in Vilnius staged brief presentations. The participants proceeded on to the mass murder site several kilometers away where Choral Synagogue cantor Shmuel Yaatom prayed for the victims.
In deep sadness we report the death of Fania Brantsovskaya on September 22 in Vilnius. She was born in 1922.
Fania was a Jewish partisan who originally served as a courier. Several films have been made about her life. She was one of only a handful of Jewish partisans who remained in Lithuania after the Holocaust. In her later years she continued to speak out publicly and teach younger generations about what happened in Lithuania.
Our deepest condolences to her family and many friends.
We report in deep sadness the death of Yuri Smirnov on Septmber 20, 2024. He was born in 1935 and was a member of the Panevėžys Jewish Community and a client of the Saul; Kagan Welfare Center.
Yuri was born in the Pskov region. He, his mother, two brothers and sister were sent to the concentration camps in Panevėžys and Šiauliai during the Holocaust. He survived thanks to his mother.
An active member of the Panevėžys Jewish Community, he served for many years as deputy chairman there.
We extend our deepest condolences to his grandson Viktoras and daugher-in-law Jovita.
Here are some snapshots from a very special birthday celebration for Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky last week. A big thank-you to everyone who attended and made this afternoon birthday party a success, including the German embassy, the US embassy, the Polish embassy, the Lithuanian Government, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, the Lithuanian parliament, the Lithuanian Department of Ethnic Minorities, the Vilnius Jerusalem of Lithuania Jewish Community, the Kaunas Jewish Community, the Palanga Jewish Community, the Ukmergė Jewish Community, the Švenčionys Jewish Community, the Klaipėda Jewish Community, the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum, Northway Medical Centers, the Vilnius regional administration, Bella Toscana, Lithuanian Makabi, the Prabudimo orkestras, Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium, Cvi Park Israeli street food kiosk and performance space, the Šiauliai Jewish Community and many others too numerous to name.
Natalja Cheifec’s #ŠALOM club invites you to a zoom meeting at 5:30 P.M. on September 26 featuring an intriguing account of Jewish life and traditions. Receive zoom credentials by registering and don’t forget to include your questions of interest on the registration form.
Register here: https://forms.gle/BTA6PZpaHLmKfM969
The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club is holding its annual sporting spectacular for athletes, family and friends. This year’s program includes a number of branches of sports and new challenges.
The event is free to all who register and to approved contestants. The program includes volleyball, 3-on-3 basketball, soccer, chess, orienteering and a krav maga class with a professional trainer. Snacks and drinks will be served as well.
The celebration begins at 12:00 noon and carries on till 5:00 P.M. on Sunday, September 29.
To register, click here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdlBOoVrQUbr4RtJF2g-dLs93YtS87uBREjgIYnDA6xyMYlyA/viewform.
The Sabbath begins at 7:04 P.M. on Friday, September 20, and concludes at 8:13 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
The Cvirka Park Israeli street food kiosk and performance space across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community will host a picnic this Sunday with food and beverages on sale, chess matches, badminton and ping-pong. Čižas, Puppystyle, Kajus, Zemenu, Herman Drowning and Ryo Ishimoto.will perform music. So far the weather looks good.
The Kaunas Jewish Community invites you to an evening to remember Righteous Gentile Ona Šimaitė at the Vincas Kudirka Public Library, A. Mapu street no.18, Kaunas at 6:00 P.M. on Thursday, September 19.
Author of a biography in Lithuanian and researcher Rimantas Stankevičius will speak at the event hosted by the historian Linas Venclauskas. Rokas Makštutis will provide musical accompaniment.
You’re invited to attend a commemoration of the Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Jews to be held in in Panevėžys, Lithuania, starting at 1:00 P.M. on Monday, September 23.
Program:
1:00 P.M. Opening ceremony and wreath-laying at “Sad Jewish Mother” statue on Memory Square on Vasario 16-osios street.
1:30 P.M. Trip to mass murder site in Kurganava Forest.
2:00 P.M. Trip to Holocaust memorial site in Žalioji Forest.
3:30 P.M. Screening of Yad Vashem film about the Holocaust at Panevėžys Jewish Community
Please indicate your intention to attend by calling the chairman of the Panevėžys Jewish Community at 8 611 20882 or the administrator at 8 610 17608.
September 23 is the Day of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide and the Lithuanian Jewish Community invites you to attend a commemoration ceremony at the Ponar Memorial Complex outside Vilnius to remember the more than 70,000 people murdered there.
There will be a bus to ferry participants from central Vilnius to the memorial complex and back. Those wishing to ride the bus are required to register by sending a request to info@lzb.lt including your name and contact information. The bus will leave promptly at 12:15 P.M. on September 23 from the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium at Kraševskio street no. 5 in Vilnius and will not wait for late arrivals.
Time: 2:00 P.M., September 23
Place: Ponar Memorial Complex, Agrastų street no. 15A, Vilnius district
The Sydney Jewish Museum in Australia has taken down from their webpage an announcement for an event called “Remembering the Holocaust in Lithuania” without explanation.
The event had been scheduled for 11:00 A.M. on September 29 and was billed to include USHM resident historian and professor emeritus Konrad Kwiet and Lithuanian ambassador to Australia, former ambassador to Israel and South Africa Darius Degutis who was supposed to speak on ongoing efforts to insure the Holocaust be properly remembered and commemorated in Lithuania at the current time.
Sources close to the Museum said ambassador Degutis’s appearance had been cancelled due to the Lithuanian state’s ongoing Holocaust distortion and a recent finding from the Lithuanian Genocide Center exculpating Lithuanian Nazi leader Kazys Škirpa.
by Geoff Vasil
The Jerusalem Post reported last week the Australian Government under the Labor Party prime minister Anthony Albanese had sent legislation to parliament “to combat hate crimes and doxxing, with severe penalties for offenders. The move comes in response to a rise in anti-Semitic incidents.”
A casual look at Australian news and politics over the past year shows clearly the legislative package isn’t aimed at fighting anti-Semitism but is intended to add legal teeth to the Albanese Government’s attempts to control both facebook and twitter content.
On October 9, Australian time, before the IDF had even completely quelled Hamas’s invasion into “mainland” Israel, pro-Hamas activists stormed the Sydney Opera House chanting “gas the Jews.” A single Israel supporter was stopped there by police before he could unfurl his Israeli flag and was detained by New South Wales police for the crime of supporting Israel. A later investigation by NSW police claimed the bloodthirsty mob had actually chanted “Where’s the Jews?” despite fairly clear audio to the contrary. As if “Where’s the Jews?” were some sort of attempt at Borat-like Judaeophobic humor rather than yet another, not much different call to genocide.
We wish LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky a very happy birthday today.
Dearest Faina,
Your life sets an example and is an inspiration to so many people. Thank you for your work and sacrifice for the betterment of the Community and the entire country. May this birthday bring you joy, love and health, and may the coming year be filled with new opportunities and happiness. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
