anti-Semitism – Page 25 – Lithuanian Jewish Community

LJC Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky Attending Forum in Sweden to Battle Anti-Semitism

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky is taking part in meetings in Malmö, Sweden, for commemorating the Holocaust and battling anti-Semitism. The forum is addressing issues of preservation of historical memory, Holocaust education and the crimes of anti-Semitism and other hate crimes.

“This forum draws attention to the sad truth that there remain very few people throughout the world who survived the Holocaust and are able to testify about it. Today we must find new ways to preserve and transmit memory, new methods of education. Another big challenge is that the history of the Holocaust is being distorted and used for disinformation and propaganda, and a rising tide of anti-Semitism, both in real life and especially on the internet. In order to fight this, we must rally the education system and museums, but also educate our governments and the public, and that’s what this forum is about,” Faina Kukliansky said.

The LJC chairwoman who was officially invited to the forum will meet with European Commission’s coordinator for fighting anti-Semitism Katharina von Schnuberin, World Jewish Congress executive vice-president Maram Stern and other officials responsible for preserving Holocaust memory and fighting anti-Semitism. Kukliansky said the international community is watching how Lithuania acts towards Holocaust victims with a special focus on historical memory and justice.

Following the forum in Malmö, chairwoman Kukliansky plans to return to Lithuania with Rabbi Andrew Baker, director of the international affairs department of the American Jewish Committee, who will discuss anti-Semitism, Holocaust commemoration and the future of the Jewish community with representatives of the Lithuanian government and public figures.

The forum taking place in Malmö on October 13 and 14 is graced by the presence of the King of Sweden and his consort, King Carl XVI Gustaf and HM Queen Silvia, and more than 80 heads of state, journalists and influencers. It is being held at the initiative of the Kingdom of Sweden and the motto for the forum is “Remember, React.” It is being held on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and on the 20th anniversary of the founding of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, with the date moved from 2020 to 2021 because of the public health panic.

2021-10-132021-10-27

LJC Chairwoman Attends International Forum in Malmö

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky has travelled to Sweden to attend an international forum in Malmö dedicated to Holocaust commemoration and fighting anti-Semitism.

“Anti-Semitism is an attack on European values, and any racist actions or those fueled by hate are irreconcilable with human rights and the principles of democracy. Let’s try to overcome division in society by actively presenting Jewish culture and traditions to the broader public. The indirect or hidden anti-Semitism and the distortion and denial of Holocaust history we are still seeing continue to be a painful insult to people of Jewish ethnicity,” Kukliansky said.

During the discussions in Malmö Kukliansky will meet with heads of delegations and special envoys and officials responsible for preserving Holocaust memory and fighting anti-Semitism, including the EU’s Katharina von Schnuberin and others.

In Sweden she will also meet with Rabbi Andrew Baker, director of international affairs for the American Jewish Committee.

2021-10-132021-10-13

Launch of Book about Rescuers

The Lithuanian Jewish Community will host the launch of the Lithuanian book “Dešimties stebuklų liudytojai” [Witnesses to 10 Miracles] by Rimantas Stankevičius at 6:00 P.M. on Tuesday, October 19, 2021, at the Community located at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius.

The book’s title comes from a quote by Litvak Holocaust survivor Sameul Bak, who said at least ten miracles had to occur for him to have survived. It tells the story of rescuers at the Benedictine Monastery in Vilnius, Juozapas Stakauskas, Vladas Žemaitis and Marija Mikulska, who hid twelve Jews from September of 1943 to July of 1944.

The book launch will feature a panel of speakers including Ginas Dabašinskas, Libertas Klimka, Indrė Valantinaitė, Benediktas Stakauskas and author Rimantas Stankevičius. The discussion will take place in Lithuanian.

2021-10-122021-10-12

LJC Holding Human Rights Roundtable

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is hosting a round-table discussion on human rights and specifically the rights of Jews in Lithuania at 6:00 P.M. on October 20 at the Bagel Shop Café at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. The discussion will be broadcast via internet as well.

As a member of the Lithuanian Coalition of Human Rights Organizations, the LJC has contributed this year to a “shadow report” to the United Nations initiated and presented by the Law and Justice and the Educational and Scientific and Human Rights Committees of the Lithuanian parliament, intended to improve the human rights situation for ethnic minorities in Lithuania, including Jews.

Those recommendations are available in Lithuanian here.

Participants will include LJC chairwoman and attorney Faina Kukliansky, Sholem Aleichem principal Ruth Reches, human rights expert Jūratė Juškaitė, diplomat Marius Janukonis, equal opportunities ombudsman Birutė Sabatauskaitė, MP and chairwoman of the parliament’s Commission on Battles for Freedom and State Historical Memory Paulė Kuzmickienė, MP and Lithuanian Supreme Court judge Stasys Šedbaras, General Prosecutor’s Office prosecutor Justas Laucius, former Constitutional Court judge and dean of the International and EU Law Faculty at Mykolas Romeris Justinas Žilinskas and others.

More information about registering and attending virtually available on facebook here.

2021-10-112021-10-22

EJC Condemns Belgian Constitutional Court Decision Upholding Ban on Kosher Butchering

Brussels, October 1, 2021–The European Jewish Congress expresses its profound regret at the decision of Belgium’s Constitutional Court to uphold a ban on the Jewish method of slaughter of animals for meat, known as shechita.

The Court upheld two decrees adopted in 2017 which banned shechita in the Flemish and Walloon regions of Belgium in 2017, ruling that these did not violate religious freedoms according to the Belgian constitution.

This follows a 2020 decision by the European Court of Justice that ruled that Belgium was allowed to impose stricter rules on the slaughter of animals than those prescribed by the EU.

2021-10-04

Vilnius University to Hold Public Lecture by German Historian Christoph Dieckmann

Vilnius University and the Lost Shtetl Museum are launching jointly a series of lectures and discussions called “Open Conversations on History” which will raise topical questions of historical truth, memory wars and society’s ability to resist the pressure to serve one or another ideology.

We invited Christoph Dieckmann, a prominent historian and author of books on German occupation policy and the Holocaust in Lithuania, to the first discussion at 6:00 P.M. on October 1. He will give a lecture called “Looking back on our past. Lithuanians, Germans, and Jews.”

Dieckmann will share his insights on the relationship between history and memory, talk about personal searches trying to find the best way to study the Holocaust in Lithuania and the method used to help incorporate the different perspectives of Holocaust participants.

2021-10-012021-10-01

LCJ Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky’s Speech at Ponar

Honored guests,

I stand before you in order to deliver a speech, but this place and this sad occasion calls for concentrating and remaining silent. The reflection, respect and humble silence which meets every thinking and feeling person in this place cannot be confused with the silence of apathy, ignorance and fear. All of us have kept silent too long. Too long. We have kept quiet about what happened, where it happened and why. It was kept quiet for most of those eight decades we count since the beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania. Out of fear? Ignorance? Apathy?

2021-09-242021-10-13

Slovakia Condemns Jewish Code Adopted by Protectorate of Slovakia in 1941

Declaration of the Government of the Slovak Republic on the 80th anniversary of the so called Jewish Code

2021-09-162021-09-16

Courage of Rescuers Lesson to Us All

Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda held the annual ceremony at the President’s Office September 14 to award rescuers of Jews from the Holocaust and their descendants the Lithuanian Order of the Life-Saver’s Cross.

“Every September as we mark the Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide, we pay respect to memory of Lithuania’s Jewish citizens murdered during World War II. We also honor the rescuers of Jews, those people who dared oppose the occupational regime without regard to the mortal danger this posed to them and their families,” he said at the ceremony.

The Lithuanian president recalled the historical context in which these rescuers operated, with anti-Semitism dripping from the pages of the press, the mass murder of Jews underway. Despite this, they dared hide the condemned Jews and resist the occupational regime.

2021-09-142021-09-14

Pope Francis Expresses Shame over Slovakian Holocaust Victims

Photo: The Pope’s visit to Slovakia and meeting with members of the Jewish community was called historic.

“Here, in this place, the name of God was dishonored,” Pope Francis said at a Holocaust memorial in Bratislava. During World War II Slovakia was governed by a Nazi puppet regime headed by Catholic priest Jozef Tiso.

Pope Francis paid tribute on Monday to the thousands of Slovak Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust.

The comments came during the pontiff’s official visit to Slovakia against the backdrop of accusations around the Catholic Church’s role in Holocaust atrocities in Slovakia.

What did the pope say?

Speaking at a former Jewish neighborhood in the capital Bratislava, Pope Francis sharply criticized “the frenzy of hatred” in World War II and continuing anti-Semitism.

Full story here.

2021-09-142021-09-14

Alytus Marks 80th Anniversary of Onset of Holocaust

Wednesday the city of Alytus south of Vilnius marked the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust with a procession before noon from the Old Town to a mass murder site in the Vidzgirdas Forest.

A commemoration ceremony was held at the memorial at the Holocaust site.

Jewish community members from Kaunas and Vilnius, Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, MPs, local government officials, foreign ambassadors, students from schools in the area and local residents participated.

Following the ceremony the renovated synagogue building on Kauno street was opened as the new home of the Alytus Audio-Visual Arts Center with a concert by Rakija Klezmer Orkestar.

2021-09-10

Grave Robbers Hit Old Jewish Cemetery in Kaunas

September 9, 2021

Unknown criminals desecrated the old Jewish cemetery on the Radvilėnai highway in Kaunas, exhuming at least three graves in what might have been an attempt steal valuables from the dead.

The Kaunas municipal agency charged with maintaining cemeteries noticed the disturbed graves Thursday morning while clearing tree branches at the site.

The three graves well all adjacent to one another in the southern section of the cemetery near the fence. Maintenance personnel found several pits which seemed to be dug towards the upper body section of the corpses. The pits were about a half meter deep and were partially filled in.

2021-09-102021-11-08

Holocaust Mass Murder Memorial Vandalized

While Lithuanians and Litvaks spent much of June, July, August and now September of this year marking the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in locations around the country, vandals attacked a Holocaust memorial in the Kretinga region for the second time in two years.

The memorial marks the spot where about 700 local Jews were murdered in 1941. Kretinga alderwoman Sigita Riepšaitė said the monument was first attacked two years ago just four months after it was erected, and that the cost of repairs was roughly half the total cost for the monument to begin with, which was around 900 euros.

Lithuania’s LNK News reported the alderwoman had made a police report regarding the metal plaque attached to a large stone at Kviečiai village in the Girėlė Forest. Riepšaitė said the police were taking the report seriously at least partially because this is a repeat crime.

2021-09-092021-11-18

My Grandfather’s Crimes against Humanity

Photo: Courtesy Silvia Foti

A family memoir gets surprising reactions from Lithuanians, Russians and Jews.

by Silvia Foti, Aug. 25, 2021 6:14 P.M. ET, wsj.com

I grew up the proud granddaughter of a Lithuanian war hero who fought against Communists. My grandfather Jonas Noreika has a school and streets named after him. When my mother on her deathbed in 2000 asked me to write a story about her heroic father, I enthusiastically agreed.

Unfortunately, as I dug deeper I discovered to my horror that my grandfather was also a Holocaust perpetrator involved in murdering at least 8,000 Jews. On my story’s release, Russians wanted to use me, Lithuanians vilified me and Jews embraced me.

My grandfather wrote an order on August 22, 1941, to send thousands of Jews to a ghetto in Žagerė where they were slaughtered. My family story has brought this to the forefront, toppling Lithuania’s image as an innocent bystander in the Holocaust.

2021-08-26

Five Years On Molėtai Marches Again

Five years ago Marius Ivaškevičius wrote of the need to remember the exterminated Jewish community of Molėtai, a town about 60 miles north of Vilnius. His call to mobilize with a march through the town became the second-most popular item ever on this website (the most popular being a reprint of an article about the South African Jewish community which continues to attract hits years later). The march itself was a watershed moment in Lithuanian Holocaust consciousness, drawing ethnic Lithuanians from around the country and the world together with Lithuanian Jews and Jews from South Africa, Uruguay, Great Britain, the USA and other countries. Several thousand people turned up on the town square and listened to the different speeches before marching to the mass murder site across town there.

The march was covered by the New York Times, Washington Post, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Jerusalem Post and other publications.

The march is to be repeated this year. August 29 is the date all Jews from Molėtai were murdered. On that “Day of Wrath” they were marched under armed guard two kilometers from one of the synagogues to the killing ground.

2021-08-262021-09-03

EJC Slams Polish President, Calls Anti-Restitution Law Undemocratic, Unjust, Immoral

Saturday, August 14, 2021–European Jewish Congress president Moshe Kantor slammed the ratification of a bill passed by the Polish parliament which will make it far harder for Jews to claim restitution on properties appropriated and stolen during the Holocaust era.

“This law is undemocratic, unjust and immoral,” Kantor said. “This is not bringing order to chaos as president Duda claims, it is making legal what should be illegal and is merely legalizing theft. The president had an opportunity to right the wrong created by the parliament. He could have shown moral clarity and leadership, but he chose not to.

“Moreover, this law will also further highlight Poland’s unique position as the only country in the region which makes Holocaust restitution impossible and runs counter to its international commitments. It is outrageous that someone who survived the Holocaust, who will be in their later years, will still be deprived justice by this cruel, illegitimate and discriminatory law.”

2021-08-172021-08-17

Holocaust Procession in Biržai

Last Sunday a Road of Memory procession commemorated the 80th anniversary of the onset of the Holocaust in the northern Lithuanian town of Biržai.

Participants marched from the town’s Memory Square to the Pakamponys Forest where approximately 2,400 Jews including about 900 children were murdered in 1941.

Full announcement in Lithuanian here.

2021-08-102021-08-10

Shalom, Akmenė

On August 4, 1941, the Jews of the Akmenė region who were being detained in the town of Akmenė were taken to Mažeikiai and murdered. An event called “Shalom, Akmenė” was organized and held to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust there on August 4. A new monument marking the site of the former synagogue in Klykoliai village was unveiled and the victims were remembered at the town square in Akmenė with a reading of names, sung prayers and kaddish. The ceremony there ended with a procession along Stoties and Viekšnių streets to the Akmenė town cemetery. Old Jewish cemeteries on the Tirkšliai-Mažeikiai highway were also visited.

Participants included members of the Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community, Lithuanian MP Kasparas Adomaitis and others. Our gratitude goes to the organizers, Diana and Marijus Lopaitis and the Akmenė History Museum.

2021-08-062021-08-06

Kupiškis Remembers Onset of Holocaust 80 Years Ago

On July 30 organizers and guests of the “Road of Memory 1941-2021” project and local residents assembled at the Kupiškis Ethnographic Museum where museum historian Aušra Jonušytė moderated events.

United States embassy to Lithuania representative Wartenberg welcomed visitors in the name of US ambassador Robert Gilchrist and Lithuanian Foreign Ministry ambassador Marius Janukonis and veteran Conservative Party politician, former minister and MEP Rasa Juknevičienė as well as others participated and spoke at the event whose main organizer was Lithuania’s International Commission to Assess the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes, whose deputy director Ingrida Vilkienė also delivered an address to the audience. Kupiškis regional administration mayor Dainius Bardauskas also spoke.

A procession bearing banners and flags walked to the mass murder site at the Freethinkers’ Cemetery in Kupiškis with marchers bearing flowers, candles and stones inscribed with the names of the murdered. The commemoration included a reading of the names of the victims and descriptions of their lives and families.

2021-08-04

Table of Truth Web Event

About the event

Learn about the extraordinary connection to one chess table with Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman, Lithuanian Jewish Community; Shulamit Rabinovich, San Francisco engineer; Dudu Fisher, Israeli-based world-renowned entertainer; Grant Gochin, South African wealth Manager and Silvia Foti, Chicago journalist.

We will reveal recently discovered facts about the Holocaust in Lithuania, Holocaust denial by the Lithuanian Government, and present new paths to education about the horrors of the past.

The table WILL talk.

We will conclude the program with Dudu Fisher chanting Kaddish.

When: 10:00 A.M. PST, 1:00 P.M. EST, 7:00 P.M. South Africa, 8:00 P.M. Israel, September 12, 2021

Representatives of the Lithuanian Government have also been invited to attend and speak.

For more information and to register, see http://israelusa.org/table-of-truth/

2021-08-022021-09-14