The mayor and active citizens of the region of Kaišiadorys (Koshedar) are calling for more people to volunteer their time and labor to clean up the old Jewish cemetery in Žiežmariai (Zhezhmer) on Friday, August 21. Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky invites members of the community and especially youth to take part in the effort. Tools will be provided.
Work begins at 10 A.M. and those who want to go should contact the Lithuanian Jewish Community by 5 P.M. on Thursday, August 20.
for more information, see: Facebook Event
According to the Lithuanian newspaper and website Lietuvos žinios [News of Lithuania], the town of Žiežmariai is first mentioned in the historical sources in the 14th century and received charter rights as a city in 1792. Besides the Old Jewish Cemetery, the town has other attractions such as buildings surviving from the 16th century, a monumental neo-Gothic church and a unique wooden synagogue from the 19th century. The Old Jewish Cemetery contains hundreds of burials witnessing to the bustling Jewish life there until World War II, when almost all remaining Jews of Žiežmariai were murdered.

















