A ceremony to award the title of Righteous Gentile was held in Lithuania’s Government House May 5. The award recognizes those who saved Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Prime minister Algirdas Butkevičius said at the event the tragedy of the Holocaust 75 years ago took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Lithuanian citizens, our friends, neighbors and loved ones. The numbers would have been even higher if not for those who found the courage at the darkest moments to remain human, Butkevičius said.
“Righteous Gentiles are the real heroes. They risked their own lives and those of their families to provide shelter to people who would been murdered. They disregarded their own situation and paid no heed to reputation, they were led by the voice of the heart. They helped the victims hide, fed them, gave them a roof and embraced them,” he continued.
The Lithuanian prime minister said Government House was hosting an exhibition currently on one of the heroes of the day, Lithuania’s interwar president Kazys Grinius, whose family hid and aided Dmitri Gelpern, second in charge of the Kaunas ghetto antifascist resistance organization.
The Lithuanian prime minister said the role of education in explaining the tragedy of the Holocaust is extremely important. He said Lithuanian children should know about the suffering of the 20th century and its heroes who sacrificed everything to end that suffering. “This information needs to be spread during memorial days in the schools and in exhibitions at Lithuanian museums about the history of the Jewish people and their rescuers. Only by knowing the history of our country and our people will we be able to create a beautiful, sensitive Lithuania of the future,” the prime minister said.
He thanked the Righteous Gentiles for their sacrifice, nobility and courage. “May the gratitude of those rescued be forever associated with your names,” Butkevičius said.
Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon presented medals and certificates to the relatives of the Righteous Gentiles being honored posthumously. The medals bear the inscription: “If you save one life, you save an entire world.”
This year the following were recognized as Righteous Gentiles: Kazys Grinius (1866–1950) and Kristina Griniuvienė (1896–1987), Viktorija Jacinavičaitė (1897–1988) and Elena Jacinavičiūtė (1895–1975), Juozas Petrulis (1904–1975), Balys Simanavičius (1907–1984), Konstantin Sokolovskij (1885–1962) ir Viktorija Sokolovskaja (1888–1963), Helena Talkevičiūtė (1899–1986), Juozas Zaveckas (1891–1978) and Marcelė Zaveckienė (1900–1971).
The state of Israel awards those who rescued Jews from the Nazi genocide. Their names are inscribed on the Wall of Honor in the Garden of the Righteous at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. This is the second time in ten years this ceremony has been held in Lithuania. As of May 5, 2016, 888 Lithuanian citizens have been recognized as Righteous Gentiles.
Today Government chancellor first secretary Rimantas Vaitkus spoke at the March of the Living ceremony in Ponar, calling the Holocaust our shared pain.
“We lost the Lithuanian Jews with whom we had lived together for centuries. Together we had created a more just and more beautiful country. Lithuania will never forget this tragedy because here, in Ponar, our friends were brutally murdered. Sadly, the historical tradition of our peoples living together was blackened by those with the blood of our friends on their conscience,” Vaitkus said, and expressed the hope the Paneriai (Ponar) Memorial Complex will be a history lesson for the current generation in Lithuania and around the world.
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