During the last few weeks the Kaunas Jewish Community hosted a number of events looking at history and commemorating significant figures. There was discussion at these events of timeless matters as well: adhering to one’s values, the resolution and choice to be free and preserve humanity, the courage to understand and accept the traumas of the past and being open to the truth however painful or unpleasant it might be.

Tadas Daujotas and the Gyvybės žygis [March of the Living] organization held a meeting with international March of Life/March of the Living founder and author of the book “Breaking the Veil of Silence” [Die Decke des Schweigens] Pastor Jobst Bittner from Germany.

The restored grave of Klaudijus Dušauskas-Duž [aka Kłaŭdzi Duž-Dušeŭski, Клаўдзі Дуж-Душэўскі, Клавдий Степанович Дуж-Душевский, Klawdziy Duzh-Dushewski] was also unveiled in a ceremonial setting. He rescued Jews in Lithuania during the Holocaust and created the red and white Belarussian flag. The ceremony took place on March 25, Belarus Freedom Day, commemorating the first independent but short-lived Belarussian state in 1918.

Linas Venclauskas’s book “Tekstų byla. Lietuvių antisemitinis diskursas nuo XIX a. antros pusės iki 1940 metų” [The Case of the Texts: Lithuanians’ Anti-Semitic Discourse from the Late 19th Century till 1940] continues to be presented around Lithuania and Kaunas residents had the chance to meet and speak with the author at a Kaunas Jewish Community event. He and Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas shared their thoughts on the subject with a live audience.