Announcements

Our People Lie Buried Here

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Simon Wiesenthal director and author Efraim Zuroff and Lithuanian author Rūta Vanagaitė are inviting Lithuanians to mark the Day of Remembrance of the Genocide of the Jews in Lithuania on September 23 this year by looking up the mass murder site closest to the their homes and making the trek there to light a candle and perhaps leave a small stone at the grave, a Jewish tradition.

Zuroff and Vanagaitė are focusing commemoration efforts on the town of Vėliučionys, a mass murder site about 12 kilometers outside Vilnius.

Efraim Zuroff:

This coming Friday, Lithuania commemorates the Holocaust, and Rūta Vanagaitė and I have launched a special initiative entitled “Čia guli Musiškiai” (Our People Lie Buried Here) to encourage Lithuanians to visit the mass grave of Shoa victims nearest their home. In all, there are 227 recognized mass graves in Lithuania, documented in the Lithuanian Holocaust Atlas, which is available online.

We are encouraging residents of Vilna/Vilnius to visit one of the most neglected mass graves near the city at a place called Vėliučionys, where 1,159 Jewish men, women and children were murdered by Lithuanian auxiliary police and a special mass murder squad on September 21 and 22, 1941. There will be a brief ceremony at 5 PM as we march from the manor where they were confined to the site of their murder.

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Press Release

September 20, 2016

Events to mark the Day of Remembrance of Jewish Victims of Genocide in Lithuania and to honor those who rescued Jews during the Holocaust begin this week, running from September 20 to September 28. It begins Tuesday with a volunteer group clean-up of the Jewish cemetery on Sudervės road in Vilnius. On September 21 a tour of Jewish Vilna will be offered, and a screening of the film “Gyvybės ir mirties duobė” [The Pit of Life and Death] will be held at 6 P.M. On September 22 the Israeli vocalist group Adam le Adam will hold a free concert at the square in front of the Old Town Hall in Vilnius at 6 P.M. A monument to commemorate the children who died in the Vilnius ghetto will be unveiled in the Garden of Brothers at the Vilnius Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium. Then a ceremony will be held to commemorate Holocaust victims at the Ponar Memorial Complex outside Vilnius.

The conference “They Rescued Lithuania’s Jews, They Rescued Lithuania’s Honor” will be held at the Lithuanian parliament from 11:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. on September 25, followed by a presentation of the Lithuanian Jewish Community Jewish calendar for the year 5777. The events at parliament mark the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania and the 150th anniversary of the birth of Lithuanian president and Righteous Gentile Kazys Grinius. A ceremony to present awards to rescuers of Jews is scheduled for September 28 at the Lithuanian President’s Office.

“This year this special emphasis on the small towns whose tragedy affected all people living in Lithuania. The mass murder of the Jews of the shtetls has revealed the full dimension of the tragedy,” Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said. “Lithuania is changing, a much braver younger generation is coming of age who take a different view of the history of their nation. The German press has called Lithuania the first state in Eastern Europe to openly raise the question of its own citizens’ complicity in the Holocaust. Lithuania is coming of age; we hope the country sets an example for neighboring states.

“As we remember every year the extremely painful losses we Jews have experienced, we advocate for analyses of the historical facts, what happened, what the Provisional Government of Lithuania did, how the Lithuanian Activist Front behaved. The Lithuanian Jewish Community is not an academic institution, but as much as we are able, with help from the state, without fanfare and sensationalism, we strive to make sense of the facts and circumstances in the Holocaust, and to educate the Lithuanian public on the history of the Jews of Lithuania. Again and again we dive deeper into Lithuanian history trying to understand why and how neighbor could turn on neighbor and murder their innocent, until then peaceful, well-educated and cultured good neighbors, including men, women, children and the elderly. Then stealing their property, and for decades denying they took part in the Holocaust. Forever and ever, but especially today, we remember our honorable fellow citizens, the Lithuanians who rescued Jews,” chairwoman Kukliansky said.

Events program here.

www.lzb.lt

Names of Jews Murdered To Be Remembered in Lithuania

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On September 22 and 23, the 75th anniversary of the mass murder of the Jews of Lithuania, the names of Holocaust victims will be read out loud on the eve and day of the Day of Remembrance of the Jewish Genocide Victims of Lithuania. The civic initiative VARDAI [NAMES] invites the public to remember the brutally exterminated citizens of Lithuania by uttering their names and surnames at the locations where they once lived.

VARDAI coordinator and museum specialist Milda Jakulytė-Vasil said: “A person is not a number. The reading of the names is a personal expression of commemoration and empathy. It only takes five minutes. We welcome everyone who wants to remember.” Participants at the events have said this kind of Holocaust victim commemoration helped them comprehend the scope of the tragedy in a very personal way. When you say a person’s name, it’s no longer possible to pretend that person never existed, and the statistics telling us 90 percent of 220,000 Jews living in Lithuania were murdered becomes more than just a number.

This will be the sixth annual reading of the names in Lithuanian cities and towns, to include more communities than ever before. At least several dozen cities and towns are participating in reading the names this year, including Vilnius, Kaunas, Marijampolė, Ukmergė, Merkinė, Molėtai, Jonava, Kėdainiai, Švėkšna, Dieveniškės, Eišiškės, Kretinga, Jurbarkas, Žemaičių Naumiestis and others. Many of these events include additional components, such as cleaning up mass murder sites, visiting old Jewish cemeteries and meetings with survivors.

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Jewish Street in Vilnius to Get Trilingual Street Sign

Žydų gatvė (Jewish street, aka Yidishe gas, aka ulica Żydowska), where the traditional Jewish quarter and the Great Synagogue of Vilnius was located, is about to get signs in Yiddish and Hebrew.

The special event to unveil the new sign is scheduled for 11:30 A.M., Tuesday, September 20 at Žydų street no. 2.

The program includes a performance of a piece by the Jewish song and dance ensemble Fayerlakh, followed by Vytautas Mitalas, chairman of the Vilnius municipal council’s culture, education and sports committee, presenting Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius. Šimašius is to present a small speech. Mitalas will then introduce Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, who will also deliver a small speech. The mayor and the chairwoman will then unveil the new street sign. Fayerlakh is then scheduled to perform another song.

The historic street and a neighboring street were cleared of their mainly Jewish residents in 1941 when the Nazis and Nazi collaborators set up the Vilnius ghetto. The residents were murdered and a large population of Jews from other parts of the city were forced into the cramped quarters there. It was part of the so-called Small Ghetto in Vilnius, liquidated in October of 1942. Žydų gatvė was the site of the Shulhof, the collection of buildings built around the location of the residence and study of the Vilna Gaon and the Great Synagogue.

Lithuanian Jewish Community Demands Halt to Construction Work

Lithuanian Jewish Community

 

September 7, 2016 No. 319
September 6, 2016 No. 1-/6/P-007

To:

Tomas Pauliukonys, director
Vestata
V. Kudirkos street no. 18, Vilnius 03105

Arvydas Avulis, chairman of board of directors,
Hanner
Konstitucijos prospect no. 7, Vilnius 09308

cc:

Diana Varnaitė, director
Cultural Heritage Department under the Ministry of Culture
Šnipiškių street no. 3, Vilnius 09309

REGARDING WORK AT RINKTINĖS STREET NO. 3, VILNIUS

 

It has come to our attention that by order of companies under your direction during the last days of August of this year there was earth dug without permission during demolition and construction at the site of the former Žaligiris Stadium within the protected zone of the old Vilnius Jewish cemetery in Šnipiškės (cultural heritage register number KVR 31812, henceforth “Cemetery”). This is a gross violation of the signed agreement on the terms of the cultural heritage protection of the protective buffer zone of the Cemetery (henceforth “Terms”) adopted on August 26, 2009, as well as the agreement between the Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Vesata company and the Archeoligijos centras public organization (henceforth “Agreement”).

We demand an immediate halt to all work within the territory of the Cemetery and its protected zone until representatives of the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe (henceforth “Committee”) are able to assess the situation and decide appropriately regarding further work at the site.

According to our information, the earliest date a Committee representative could arrive is from September 12 to 15 of this year. Please respond quickly as to whether this date is appropriate for a visit, and as to whether you are willing to pay all costs associated with it.

[signed]
Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman

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Reminder about Cemetery Clean-Up

Dear LJC members participating in the September events,

This is to remind you that we are going to the Jewish cemetery on Sudervės road in Vilnius at 2:30 on September 20 to do a clean-up. The bus will leave from the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius.

Please wear clothing appropriate for the work and the weather!

Thank you for taking part! If you have any questions, please contact us.

Sincerely,
Lithuanian Jewish Community administration

telephone: +370 5 261 3003
email: info@lzb.lt

Israeli Embassy Vilnius Bike Ride 2016

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Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon and the public organization Sveikas Maistas invite you to celebrate the coming new year of 5777 by joining our bicycle ride on Sunday, September 18.

We will meet at the Vilnius Old Town Hall Square (Rotušės aikštė) at 10:00 A.M. and the starting time for the ride is 11:00 A.M.

The first 200 people will receive a special t-shirt with an event logo emblazoned on the front.

The ride ends at the White Bridge in Vilnius, where we’ll eat traditional Rosh Hashana treats, apples with honey, and exchange greetings for a happy New Year.

Bring your friends and family!

We care about your safety, so please bring a helmet.

For more information see our facebook page Israel in Lithuania:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1023764371064576/

Club Birthday Chess Tournament!

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The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Rositsan and Maccabi Elite Chess and Checkers Club invite you to a chess tournament to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the club at 11:00 A.M. on September 18, 2016 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius.

Tournament director: FIDE master Boris Rositsan

For further information and to register, please contact:

email: info@metbor.lt
telephone: +3706 5543556

Support the Lithuanian Jewish Community

Even your small donation today can help the Lithuanian Jewish Community achieve great things tomorrow.

The Lithuanian Jewish community has roots going back 700 years. Only a remnant survived the Holocaust. Although the current community is small, we are extremely active and are working hard to foster Jewish identity, maintain traditions and culture, commemorate Holocaust victims, provide social services to our members and promote tolerance in society.

We invite you to contribute to reviving at least a small portion of the legendary Jerusalem of Lithuania. Perform your mitzvah (good deed) today!

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Award

Apdovanojimas

Lieutenant Artūras Jasinskas, commander of the Lithuanian military’s volunteer defense forces, awarded Nicholas Benjamin Israel, head of Baltic regional military information operations support team of US special operations in Europe, for his exceptional personal contribution to expanding and strengthening cooperation between the US military and Lithuania’s volunteer defense forces Friday, September 9.

The name of the Lithuanian military medal is “For Distinguished Service.”

Israel’s cousin, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, attended the ceremony.

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I’m Not Jewish

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by Marius Ivaškevičius

That’s what I want to tell everyone who the last three months have tactfully asked this of my friends and relatives. I am not Jewish at all, I don’t have a drop of Jewish blood. So why is he casting his lot with those Jews, what wild insect bit him? That’s another question heard often.

I can answer it almost by rote: I was bitten by a tick. Three years ago I filmed one scene at the old Jewish cemetery in Warsaw and it sucked my blood there. Furthermore, I got Lyme disease. And it so happened, or perhaps it was decided beforehand by that treacherous Jewish tick, that when I was taking antibiotics I became interested in the Jews in my town, their fate in my native Molėtai. And my hair stood on end and I got goose-bumps when I realized I had been living for 40 years in complete ignorance, on the margins of a gigantic tragedy without even sensing it existed. I knew there had been Jews, they had lived here, because their old cemetery still exists in Molėtai, as does their old “red bricks,” a long building, the oldest in the town, of connected shops, a sort of shopping mall of the period. I knew some unknown number of them had been killed, since, as I thought, some of them had been involved in Communist activities.

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New Bagel Shop Menu

The Community’s kosher café the Bagel Shop invites you to come in and try some of new menu items for fall, including new bagels, Israeli salads and fresh-squeezed juice. Our new menu is displayed below and you can download it as well, or just stop by at Pylimo no.4 in Vilnius during regular business hours and see if you don’t find something which makes your mouth water. Oh, and we’re baking fresh challa bread every Friday.

Download

Film Gitel Looks at Lithuanian Holocaust

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A cinematic premiere has been added to list of important events to honor Lithuania’s Holocaust victims. British director Robert Mullan’s film Gitel, filmed in Lithuania and elsewhere, will open at cinema theaters September 23. The film looks at the mass murders of 1941 through the eyes of a female survivor who has lost her family.

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Israeli Embassy Invites You to an Exhibit of Children’s Drawings

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Children’s Art Exhibit Let’s Draw Jerusalem

The Israeli embassy and municipalities of Vilnius and Elektrėnai have the pleasure of inviting you to attend the opening of the Let’s Draw Jerusalem exhibition of drawings by children in the second-floor foyer of the Vilnius Municipality building at Konstitucijos prospect no. 3, Vilnius at 2:00 P.M. on September 12.

The artwork is the result of a student contest the Israeli embassy and the municipality of Elektrėnai sponsored in April of 2016 called “Let’s Draw Jerusalem.” The idea was to combine symbolically the past and the future and the children were instructed to draw anything they associate with Jerusalem and Vilnius, Israel and Lithuania and the history and legacy of Litvaks. Come take a look at the wonderful pictures they came up with!

The exhibit will run till September 23.

Rays of Light from the Violin Star of the World

Pasaulinės smuiko žvaigždės spinduliuose

lzinios.lt

The year 2017 will mark 30 years since the death of Jascha Heifetz, the 20th century’s answer to Paganini. His name is inscribed indelibly in the history of music and there is no dispute that many new listeners will come to admire him in the future. Unfortunately his colorful name is not always associated with Vilnius and Lithuania. But it could be, since the master was born and took the first steps upon his incredibly important career here, in Vilnius, called the Jerusalem of Lithuania. But it will be all different this season. Internet registration for the Jascha Heifetz violinist contest has already begun. The most talented, the most courageous and the most resolute fiddlers from around the world are already in a rush to sign up for this prestigious tournament and the news has reached young virtuosi in almost 100 countries. Registration is open all during the fall. Then the applications and select video recordings will be handed over to an esteemed commission of professors from the Lithuanian Music and Theater Academy. Thirty–that’s the total number who will be judged worthy to perform in this contest held every quarter. You can find the winners on the contest website on January 2, 2017.

© 2016 Lietuvos žinios

Full story in Lithuanian here.

Events by Tolerance Center of Dukstyna Grade School in Ukmergė for September 23

Program of events by the Tolerance Center of Dukstyna Grade School in Ukmergė (Vilkomir) for September 23:

8:00-9:00 traditional “Memory Track” jog in Pivonija woods; candle lighting ceremony to honor the dead;

11:00 Ukmergė Old Town Architecture: Past, Present, Personal Stories (walking tour of sites)

12:00 Lesson at regional history museum; screening of parts of the film The Dark with discussion to follow; meeting Stasė Staputienė, daughter of Righteous Gentiles Kazimieras and Marcijona Ruzgys.

Information provided by Tolerance Center coordinator Vida Pulkauninkienė

European Day of Jewish Culture 2016

European Day of Jewish Culture 2016
Vilnius speaks Yiddish again!

Sunday, September 4, 2016
Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street No. 4, Vilnius, September 4

Program:

10:00 Bagel breakfast Boker Tov-בוקר טוב – A guten morgn – Labas rytas!
Location: Bagel Shop Café, Pylimo street No. 4, Vilnius

11:00-11:45 Hebrew lessons for kids and parents with Ruth Reches, author of the Illustrated Dictionary of Hebrew and Lithuanian for Beginners, registration required
Meet at the Bagel Shop Café, Pylimo street No. 4, Vilnius

12:00-12:45 Rakija Klezmer Orkestar performance
Location: White Hall, LJC

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Jewish Languages in Lithuania

by Akvilė Grigoravičiūtė, Germanic studies doctoral candidate, Sorbonne

We invite those interested in Lithuanian Jewish culture and heritage to participate in walking tours, attend exhibitions, meetings and concerts and take part in other cultural activities scheduled for Sunday, September 4. The point is to regain a portion of our own historical memory, to disrobe it from a mantle of suppression and to add color beyond black and white to a rather amicable and good-willed former life together.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

The Life of Jacques Lipchitz in Sculpture

Žako Lipšico gyvenimas skulptūroje

by Ieva Šadzevičienė

Jacques Lipchitz, a sculptor whose name became synonymous with cubism and who later invented his own baroque cubist style is without dispute one of the most famous artists to have lived in Lithuania. He was born in Druskininkai to a Litvak family in 1891 and has always been more famous outside Lithuania than at home, where Soviet art scholarship ignored him as a decadent modernist whose work lay outside the bounds of canonical artistic norms. Lipchitz stayed in contact with Lithuania and his correspondence with Vytautas Landsbergis and the sculptor Vladas Vildžiūnas has been preserved.

Currently the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum’s Tolerance Center is hosting an exhibition of his work called “Life in Sculpture: Jacques Lipchitz at 125” which follows his creative path from childhood in his native Druskininkai to his student period in Paris surrounded by creative people, to his later life in the United States.

Full article in Lithuanian here.

Lithuanians Can Now Learn about Israeli Literature

Lietuvos skaitytojams – ypatinga proga susipažinti su Izraelio literatūra

Lithuanian readers finally have the chance to read Israeli author A. B. Yehoshua’s “Woman in Jerusalem” in Lithuanian. This is a special opportunity to get acquainted with the high art produced by this author working in Hebrew.

The translation and publication is the fruit of the Israeli embassy, the Israeli-Lithuanian company Teva and the Lithuanian Cultural Agency. Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon said the successful cooperation will continue, and admitted it was hard for him to contain his emotions when speaking about the project. “Not so many years have passed since the great tragedy of the Lithuanian Jewish community. That was a time when Jewish books were destroyed and burned. It is my great honor to contribute to cooperation which has given exposure to Jewish Israeli authors and allowed the people of Lithuania to get to know and love them,” he said.
This is the first joint project between the embassy and the Sofoklis publishing house. They plan to continue by publishing a new translation of a book in Hebrew at least once per year.

Full story in Lithuanian here.