Heritage

Jewish Cultural Heritage in Lithuania

The Cultural Heritage Department under the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture has posted a PDF document called Jewish Cultural Heritage in Lithuania:

Jewish Cultural Heritage in Lithuania

Jews settled in the territory of historic Lithuania during the rule of Grand Duke Gediminas in the first half of the 14th century. Economic and historic conditions in the Lithuanian lands proved to be conducive for the emergence of a unique community of Lithuanian Jews, which later became known as the Litvaks. The growing Lithuanian Jewish communities attracted rabbis, who were knowledgeable and experienced in the field of education. Jewish quarters were formed in each town, with a synagogue and a synagogue yard as a prayer house and schooling and administrative centre of the local community. As the authority of Lithuania-based rabbis grew and the Lithuanian Jewish communities prospered, yeshivas, Jewish spiritual high schools, were founded in various Lithuanian towns. From the end of the 19th century, and with yet greater intensity after World War I, a network of secular educational institutions developed in the Republic of Lithuania, in Vilnius, and in the surrounding areas, offering instruction in the Yiddish and Hebrew languages. Local printing houses produced sacred and secular books needed for the educational process. All this collectively created a solid foundation for the Jewish press and high culture—theatre, art and literature—to grow and flourish. The Lithuanian Jewry, like Jewish people everywhere else in Europe, was subjected to the horrors of the Holocaust in 1941–1945. Their cultural heritage fell victim to the destruction alongside its creators. In present day Lithuania, the quiet witnesses of this formerly glorious culture can be encountered in various Lithuanian towns and villages.

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Tirkšliai Wooden Synagogue Gets Legal Protection

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A new cultural heritage site has been placed on the list of Lithuanian cultural treasures: the wooden synagogue of Tirkšliai in the Mažeikiai region of Lithuania. The synagogue is believed to be the earliest synagogue in the region built in the late classical style. Cultural Heritage Department director Diana Varnaitė said: “Wooden synagogues are now a rarity in Europe. Bearing in mind how the world values heritage made of wood from the past, we must understand that wooden synagogues are priceless.” She said she was glad another wooden synagogue had been added to the list of cultural treasures and that it will facilitate preserving the site. Antanas Eičas, head of the Telšiai section of the Cultural Heritage Department, said the Žemaitija region is exceptional for its wooden architecture and especially its wooden churches and synagogues. “The Tirkšliai synagogue built in the first half of the 19th century has been listed on the cultural treasures registry. It is now the only remaining wooden synagogue in the Mažeikiai region. It and the former Seda synagogue are from a similar late classical period. Up until World War II there was also wooden Jewish houses of prayer in Viekšniai, Židikai, Leckava, Laižuva and Pikeliai. Let’s preserve this rare and unique cultural heritage treasure,” Eičas commented.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

New Litvak Cultural Museum Concept Presented

Tarbut students on a field trip ca. 1939. Courtesy vilnaghetto.com

Tarbut students on a field trip ca. 1939. Courtesy vilnaghetto.com

The Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum hosted a presentation by director Markas Zingeris of plans to restore the museum’s building at Pylimo street No. 4 in Vilnius for use as a new museum of Litvak culture and achievements December 3.

Currently the building is mostly empty but formerly housed the museum’s History Department and Gallery of the Righteous. It is actually part of the same building now as the Lithuanian Jewish Community and is connected by corridors with the LJC. Formerly it was the Tarbut Gymnasium or high school established after World War I. The name of the proposed new center is the Center of Litvak Culture and Art.

Zingeris’s plan includes showcasing famous Litvaks who have contributed to culture and science and he presented a number of figures including Nobel Prize winners for inclusion. He emphasized the need to teach the Lithuanian public about Litvak achievements as part of their own history. He also had a map projected onto the overhead screen showing other Jewish cultural museums in Europe and spoke specifically about Vilnius’s place on “the Northern European Jewish route.” Whether this “route” is an official EU program or not wasn’t made clear.

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Alanta Wooden Synagogue Saved from Collapse

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Building technical supervisor and engineer Giedris Butanavičius of the SDG company reported in July this year the synagogue in Alanta was in a state of imminent collapse. A main support beam had rotten through allowing the ceiling beams to sag, deforming the roof. The possible continued deterioration of ceiling beams threatened to bring the whole building down. The Lithuanian Jewish Community took immediate action, calling on experts to draw up a list of tasks and a work-plan for dealing quickly with the collapsing synagogue. Under the plan drafted by the company Senamiesčio Projektai led by Jakobas Mendelevičius, the construction and restoration firm Ateities Projektai of Molėtai, Lithuania, began to implement the urgent plan in November under the direction of Bronius Gaižutis. They propped up sagging support beams, internal walls and the entire skeleton of the building, and sealed up broken windows. The Goodwill Fund financed the drafting and implementation of the plan to save the synagogue. The Community would like to thank all the planners, restorers and everyone who contributed to a rapid solution to the problem.

The Alanta synagogue is one of perhaps only 20 wooden synagogues still standing in Europe. Judging from its architecture it was built in the latter part of the 19th century. It was used as grain storage after World War II. It was returned in a very poor state to the Lithuanian Jewish Community following Lithuanian independence. In September the synagogue in Alanta was declared under state protection.

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Niv Shimoni Asks LJC for Help Finding Jewish Roots in Aukštadvaris

The Lithuanian Jewish Community has received a letter from Niv Shimoni of Israel. He is interested in his Lithuanian roots which he discovered only recently. His grandfather lived in Aukštadvaris. If anyone is able to help, please contact us via the Communicate section located on the right-hand side of the webpage.

Aukštadvaris

My grandfather, Sneur Razin, was born in Aukštadvaris in 1910, a small village 50 kilometers from Vilnius. During World War II most of his family was murdered in the Holocaust. Before the war he began studies in Kaunas in order to become a pharmacist yet decided to drop everything and make aliyah to Israel. He was active in the Zionist movement which greatly influenced him and of course helped him in his decision to come and be a part of Israel. Now, more than a hundred years later, his children wanted to see where their parents came from (their mother was from Latvia). They returned from this journey filled with emotional impressions, especially because after they discovered a small and remote Jewish cemetery in Aukštadvaris, the final resting place of their grandfather. I have now decided that I, too, must see with my own eyes his resting place and to discover more about him. It is impossible to describe the feelings I would have standing next to my great-grandfather’s resting place which until only a few weeks ago I did not imagine could ever be found. I have a special connection with the city of Vilnius, its past and future and ancient Jewish heritage. It is heartbreaking to see how one of the largest Jewish communities has disappeared almost completely.

All of my big family live in a small village in the north of Israel. They are people who contribute to the State of Israel and the Zionist movement in agricultural education and security. Our grandfather always said it was important to contribute to the state as much as possible. To do more and talk less. My goal is strengthening ties among Jewish communities with the land of Israel.

http://nivshimoni.wix.com/niv-s
http://nivshimoni.wix.com/niv-s#!contact/c24vq

Panevežys Jewish Community Conference Report

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Principal Aida Adiklienė opened the conference “The History of the Holocaust: A Bridge from the Past to the Future,” financed by the Goodwill Fund and held on November 25 at the Rožynas Pre-Gymnasium in Panevežys, Lithuania. She emphasized the institution she heads supports the recognition of human rights. In consideration of that, the gymnasium constantly emphasizes local history, including local Jewish history. “It says in the Universal Charter of Human Rights that everyone is born free and equal, with intelligence and conscience,” the principal said. “When we talk about the Holocaust, we are truly talking about our own history. We need to be glad that we have addressed this topic for more than ten years now at the gymnasium.” Adiklienė said the Holocaust is one of the most complicated topics and not all schools want to deal with it. She was disappointed that even now not all people accept people of other religions and ethnicities. She said there were clear signs of intolerance at work in our society.

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Blogger Focuses on Litvak Architecture, Cemetery Protection

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Among the 60 or so experts from more than a dozen countries at the multi-disciplinary conference on Jewish cemeteries in Europe organized by the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe and hosted by the Lithuanian Jewish community on October 25-28 in Vilnius, Lithuania, was Samuel Gruber. Gruber is a cultural heritage consultant who has consulted in the drafting of various documents, scientific research, conservation, exhibition and educational projects in the USA and Europe. He is an historian of architecture and an archaeologist, and an expert on Jewish artistic, architectural and historical sites. He is also a prolific blogger. His blog contains copious posts on Jewish sites, commemorative monuments and issues in Lithuania.

Some of his more recent postings include:

Lithuania: Test Excavations (2011) and Ground Radar Survey (2015) of Great Synagogue and Shulhoyf point to More Archaeology in 2016

Lithuania: The Pakruojis Jewish Cemetery as an Example Where Historic Boundaries Have been Diminished

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Presentation of Book on Biržai Jews

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During a conference on November 13 to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Meir (reported here in earlier news items), a large book called “Žydai Lietuvos žemėlapyje. Biržai” [“Jews on the Map of Lithuania. Biržai”] was presented to the public in the Arsenal Hall of the Biržai Castle. Those who attended included Panevėžys Jewish Community members Yuri Smirnov and Tamara Antanaitienė, Panevėžys school teacher Asta Kurulytė and history teacher and head of the Rožynas school’s Tolerance center Genutė Žilytė. Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania, Amir Maimon, was invited and arrived early to look over the old Jewish cemetery in Biržai and pay his respects at the graveside of the last Jew of Biržai who recently passed away, Sheftel Melamed, and to visit the memorial for the Jews who were murdered in the Pakamponys Forest. Greeting the large audience who turned out for the event, the ambassador remembered the old proverb: “If you want to know where you’re going, you have to know whence you’ve come.”

Speaking of the Holocaust, the ambassador said the past cannot be forgotten so that it never happens again. “One of my priorities is the protection of Jewish heritage,” he also said. The ambassador managed to surprise even locals with his knowledge of Biržai Jewish history, citing prewar population figures and talking about the walks of life of local Jews.

Full story in Lithuanian and picture gallery here.

Panevėžys Celebrates 150th Anniversary of Birth of Doctor Shakhnel Avrahom Meir

Margaritos mokykla

Panevėžys city mayor Rytis Račkauskas attended a conference to unveil a memorial plaque to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of public figure and doctor Shakhnel Avrahom Meir. The project was financed by the Goodwill Fund and was supported by the Panevėžys Jewish Community and the municipality.

“The great contribution made by Dr. Meir to the life of the city is undisputed among residents. The doctor set up a hospital, clinics for children and adults and a tuberculosis dispensary. It is difficult to list all his accomplishments. But one must be mentioned: his concern for people. Meir dedicated himself to children from poor families and never discriminated against patients based on wealth or ethnicity. To him they were all the same, they were all important to him. The 150th anniversary of his birth compels us to remember and commemorate this notable person. I sincerely thank the organizers of this event for this initiative,” mayor Račkauskas told the audience.

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Celebrating 150th Birthday of Panevėžys Doctor Shakhnel Avrahom Meir

This year marks 150 years since the birth and 85 years since the death of Dr. Meir.

A ceremony to honor the memory of Dr. Shakhnel Avrahom Meir will be held in Panevėžys, Lithuania on November 13, the famous Lithuania doctor’s hometown.

He studied medicine at Moscow University and began his medical practice in Chernigov guberniya in the Ukraine before returning to Lithuania in 1891, where he first set up practice in Pasvalys and then moved back to Panevėžys in 1914. He had a reputation for selflessness and devoted all his time and energy to healing everyone who needed help. He improved his skills by working in clinics abroad and kept up with the latest advances in medicine, applying them at home. The Jewish Hospital was built and opened in Panevėžys in 1919 on his initiative. It served people of all ethnicities.

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Two Steps Forward, One Back

Two Steps Forward, One Back
by Geoff Vasil

Readers of the Lithuanian Jewish Community website might have been surprised yesterday by a news item appearing there in which Jonas Noreika was absolved, seemingly, of complicity in the Holocaust. Noreika is one of those names which lives on in infamy among scholars of the Lithuanian Holocaust but proffered as an anti-Soviet hero by Lithuanian nationalists. The intent of the LJC, of course, was merely to report the Lithuanian news to Jews here and abroad, and not to white-wash Noreika in any way. The news item would not have been surprising even a few years ago, but now it comes as a shock exactly because Lithuanian society has moved forward so rapidly in coming to terms with the horrible loss to the country known as the Holocaust.

In summary, a Lithuanian state institution, the Center for Research on the Genocide and Resistance of the Residents of Lithuania, charged with sorting out history, issued a politicized report claiming Noreika was only involved in isolating Jews during World War II, not murdering them. The report came in response to a joint call by well known figures in Lithuania, including Tomas Venclova, to remove a plaque honoring Noreika from the wall of the library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences in Vilnius, a move which the LJC has long championed.

The document released this week cautions Noreika’s actions “cannot be judged categorically.”

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Remembering the 74th Anniversary of the Large Action at the Kaunas Ghetto

The Kaunas Jewish Community plans to mark the 74th anniversary of the Great Action at the Ninth Fort in Kaunas at 12 noon on October 25, 2015.

Let’s remember and honor the memory of the victims.

The Large Action was the mass murder operation on October 28 and 29, 1941, during which about 10,000 people were murdered at the Ninth Fort in a single twenty-four hour period, including about 4,300 children.

Lithuanian President: Litvaks Played Special Role in Establishment of Lithuania and Israel

VILNIUS, October 21, BNS–Litvaks, or Jews originating from Lithuania, played a key role in establishing both Lithuania and Israel, Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaitė said at the opening of the World Litvak Forum in Israel.

She said Litvaks are among the most active Israeli public, business, cultural and political figures who have worked effectively in all the parliaments of democratic Lithuania, both in the interwar period and after the country regained independence in 1990.

“Litvaks have always been among the most active Israeli public, business, cultural and political figures, they still are and will continue to be so,” the Lithuanian president said in a press release published by the presidential press service.

She applauded the Litvak contribution to the Lithuanian economy, culture and science.

President Grybauskaitė said Lithuania and Israel cherish democracy, human rights and a culture of tolerance, and that world-wide challenges including terrorism and aggression are problems the two countries share.

According to a census in 201ą, 3,000 Jews lived in Lithuania. In Israel the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry calculates there are about 200,000 Litvaks and their descendants, the world’s largest Litvak community.

BNS

Lithuanian President Impressed by Patriotism Taught at Vilnius Jewish School

VILNIUS, October 5, BNS–Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaitė said she’s very happy with the way Lithuanian patriotism is being taught to students at the Vilnius Sholem Aleichem Gymnasium where many children of Lithuanian Jewish Community members attend.

“This school is also important because people of many ethnicities attend–there is much competition to enter–and it’s a high quality school. As we have seen and heard during our visit, the children are being given a sense of patriotism, as citizens of Lithuania, and that causes great joy,” president Grybauskaitė said Monday at the school. She chose to visit the school on International Teacher’s Day because of its multiethnic make-up, she told reporters, and because it was also Simchat Torah, the Jewish holiday for reading the Torah.

She said she appreciated not just that the school was modern and progressive, but also because it celebrates the traditions, culture and language of the ethnic community. “Today is truly a happy day. I am happy that this day this year coincides with your school’s joy, with the day of reading the Torah. It is a combined holiday for all us,” the president told the audience of students and staff. She also noted the school had scored very high marks in hard science tests of students going on to university, preparing the way for them to study hard science and technology.

BNS

Monument to Gandhi and His Friend from Lithuania Unveiled

VILNIUS, October 2, BNS–A statue portraying Indian independence hero Mohandas Gandhi and his friend Jewish architect Hermann Kallenbach was unveiled Friday in Kallenbach’s hometown, Rusnė, located in the Šilutė region of Lithuania.

Lithuanian prime minister Algirdas Butkevičius was at the ceremony and called the bronze statue a monument to Lithuanian-Indian friendship and a testimony to the achievements of Litvaks. “Today is unveiled a monument to friendship, between two people and two peoples,” he said, standing next to the almost two-meter-tall statue of the two men on the banks of the Atmata River on the border with Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast. Gandhi and Kallenbach, who left Rusnė in his youth, became friends in South Africa at the beginning of the 20th century.

Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi attended the ceremony and said non-violent resistance unite India and Lithuania. He said Kallenbach was an important spiritual influence on his ancestor.

“Lithuania is still a little-known country in India,” Lithuanian ambassador to India Laimonas Talat-Kelpša told BNS. “This is a good opportunity to bring the attention of Indian society to Kallenbach and Lithuania.”

Lithuanian Holocaust Remembrance Day Marked in Batakiai

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Lithuanian Holocaust Remembrance Day was observed in the village of Batakiai, Lithuania, on September 23, 2015. A new monument to Holocaust victims was unveiled there.

The event at the Batakiai House of Culture began with a literary musical composition dedicated to the memory of Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Batakiai High School students and teachers performed the composition which was a sensitive treatment of the Holocaust. Tauragė Regional Administration director Sigitas Mičiulis, deputy director Aušrinė Norkienė and Klaipėda Jewish Community chairman Feliksas Puzemskis spoke at the event.

Members of the audience at the event went to the mass murder site in Gryblaukis Forest. Regional administrator Sigitas Mičiulis and Klaipėda Jewish Community chairman Feliksas Puzemskis unveiled the monument to seven Jews of Batakiai murdered in 1941. A moment of silence was held, flowers were laid at the monument and candles lit. Another nearby mass murder site was visited after the ceremony where about 1,800 Jewish women and children were murdered. A moment of silence was held there, too, and flowers and candles were placed by the second monument.

Klaipėda Jewish Community News

On September 25 the Klaipėda Jewish Community visited Švėkšna for the “Let’s Save the Švėkšna Synagogue” event. A guide provided an excellent tour and told of Švėkšna, its history and important sites. Volunteers took members to the old Jewish cemetery and mass murder sites. The Klaipėda delegation met with the group from Kaunas and were treated to the songs of Vitalijus Neugasimovas.

Members of the Klaipėda Jewish Community along with the rest of the audience were much impressed with the visual presentation on the history of the Švėkšna Synagogue.

Even so, members on the return trip wondered if the money hadn’t been better spent repairing the synagogue roof.

Snapshots here:
https://www.facebook.com/klaipedajewish

Important and Needed Right Now: You’re Invited to Volunteer

The Pavilniai Regional Park administration directed by Vida Petiukonienė is currently clearing growth, brush and trees at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Užupis on Olandų street in Vilnius. Those who drive by can already see how the appearance of the cemetery has changed, it looks like a real cemetery again with clear borders and headstones and fragments of headstones visible. This is only the beginning

We are calling for volunteers to help in this important work.

The regional park director has informed us volunteers are needed to help bring the cut trees and brush to the road. There’s still a lot of work to do, so we’re suggesting not a single day of volunteer clean-up, but a whole season’s worth! Please tell your friends and family and figure out when your group might be able to come and help out. School groups are more than welcome. The director says they are ready to take on volunteers every day.

Everyone is invited. It would be best to have groups of volunteers organized and ready to lend a hand by October 10.

Pavilniai Regional Park director may be contacted directly by email at vida.petiukoniene@gmail.com

or you may contact the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s representative for heritage protection Martynas Užpelkis at paveldas@lzb.lt or by telephone at 8-615 13257

Thank you for your help.