History of the Jews in Lithuania

Happy Birthday to Daumantas Levas Todesas

Happy Birthday to Daumantas Levas Todesas

We wish you with all our hearts the very best, the greatest health, success in your varied endeavors and the joy and warmth of friends and family. You have served us so long in so many capacities it would take a book-length post to list them all here, not least being your work as the chairman of the Vilnius, Jerusalem of Lithuania Jewish Community, as a member of the board of the Lithuanian Jewish Community and as chairman of the Ethnic Communities Council at the Lithuanian Department of Ethnic Minorities. Mazl tov. Bis 120!

Happy Birthday to Boris Gelpern

Happy Birthday to Boris Gelpern

The Lithuanian Jewish Community wish Boris Gelpern a very happy birthday. We wish you fantastic health and happiness. May our wishes for your longevity echo out and repeat forever. Mazl tov. Bis 120!

Yiddish Concert in Kaunas

Yiddish Concert in Kaunas

The Kaunas Jewish Community invites you to their concert “Yiddish Heard Again in Kaunas: Inspired by Grandma’s Songs” at 5:00 P.M. on Sunday, November 27 at the Kaunas Artists’ House located at V. Putvinskio street no. 56 in Kaunas.

Alejandra Czarny of Argentina and more recently the United States with firm family roots in Kaunas will sing accompanied by Michel Gonzales on guitar, including Litvak Yiddish from different periods and Yiddish songs from Argentina and South America. Besides singing Yiddish her entire life, she also has her own radio program and is a cantor for synagogues located in South Florida, where she lives.

The concert is free and open to the public, but prior registration is required by filling out the form here:

https://forms.gle/nkT9Ww3oouyf1RyC8

Condolences

Uogė Ieva Dargienė, a member of the Union of Former Ghetto and Concentration Camp Prisoners, has passed away. She was born in 1931. We extend our deepest condolences to her sister Jadvyga and niece Rima.

Happy Birthday to Yosif User

Happy Birthday to Yosif User

We wish Yosif User, founder and editor-in-chief of the weekly Pensioner and former editor-in-chief of the Obzor Russian-language news site in Lithuania as well as a member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, a very happy birthday. Dear Joseph, with all our hearts we wish you good health, energy, optimism, joy and warmth! Mazl tov. Bis 120!

Jewish Scouts Hike in Pilaitė Neighborhood of Vilnius

Jewish Scouts Hike in Pilaitė Neighborhood of Vilnius

The hike by Jewish scouts through the woods in the Pilaitė neighborhood of Vilnius took place as planned on Friday evening, November 18. The cold wasn’t able to dampen their spirits. Thank you to everyone who took part and weren’t driven off by the light snowfall, and to the organizers. Stay tuned for more scouting activities in the near future.

Read more
LJC Celebrates Tolerance Day with Darna Event

LJC Celebrates Tolerance Day with Darna Event

The first Darna event was held in 2020 during the corona virus panic. Despite many restrictions that time we were able to do more than we had expected, creating an entire virtual festival to mark the International Day of Tolerance. We tried to show during that tough time what diverse and interesting things we have right here in Lithuania, and how these differences are not only interesting, but complement one another perfectly. Today we are very happy to announce we can continue this event for its third year in a row, only this time we can meet face-to-face at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. Everyone of all religious, ethnic and other backgrounds and of all views is invited to come have a cup of tea or coffee, listen to live music and sample Israeli street food from our Cvi Park kiosk starting at 7:00 P.M. on Wednesday, November 16, at the LJC. Note: please disregard earlier announcements which stated the event would be held at the Choral Synagogue. It will be held on the third floor of the LJC at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius.

The event program is available here. Musical performers, cooking workshops and meaningful conversations from the first Darna festival can be found here. More information about this iteration of the celebration can be found here.

#InternationalDayOfTolerance

World War I Remembrance Day Marked

World War I Remembrance Day Marked

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky together with religious leaders and ambassadors resident in Vilnius took part in a Remembrance Sunday event held by the British embassy to Lithuania November 13 at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Vilnius. She read from the Book of Ecclesiastes.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

Read more
Evening Hike for Jewish Scouts and Young People in Vilnius

Evening Hike for Jewish Scouts and Young People in Vilnius

A hiking excursion in the Pilaitė neighborhood of Vilnius for Jewish scouts will be held at 5:00 P.M. on November 18. Young people in the 5th to 8th grades are also invited to make the hike and come and experience scouting for themselves. The hike is free but prior registration is required before 9:00 P.M. on November 15. For more information and to register, write skautai@lzb.lt or call scout leaders Audrius at +37061611505 or Adomas at +37060645094.

Litvaks Who Came Back: An Exhibit

Litvaks Who Came Back: An Exhibit

Kęstutis Grigaliūnas’s personal exhibit “Litvaks Who Came Back from the Nazi Concentration Camps” will open at the Museum of Photography in Šiauliai at 5:00 P.M. on November 10. Grigaliūnas is a recipient of Lithuania’s Culture and Art Prize.

Natalija Arlauskaitė is the curator of the exhibit. She’s a professor at the International Relations and Political Science Institute of Vilnius University.

The exhibit features photographs of 335 Lithuanian Jews who survived and returned from the concentration camps with brief bios. A book of the same name as the exhibit, actually the source of the exhibit, will be launched at the opening. The exhibit runs till December 18.

Read more
World of Trakai Executed in Varnikai Forest: A Fancy Menorah, a Mad Mob and a Leather Briefcase

World of Trakai Executed in Varnikai Forest: A Fancy Menorah, a Mad Mob and a Leather Briefcase

Photo: Trakai in 1952. From the personal collection of Algimantas Dočkus courtesy LRT.

by Rasa Kalinauskaitė

“Sir, I report that while inventorying the Jewish property taken to the synagogue I discovered seven fur coats suitable for police service. Three of them are of a yellow and unlined falling to below the knees, four are lined with cloth material, coming down to the knees. I request an order these fur coats be seized for police officers to wear as they perform their duties.”–from report by chief of Trakai police department to chief of district police, October 17, 1941.

I and a contingent of Trakai residents as well as two people who came from further off went on a tour of the Trakai Old Town, visiting sites recalling the Jews who lived here before World War II, stopping at former Jewish homes which are still standing. We became fellow travellers, in that those who toured Trakai in earlier times have shared their memories from many decades ago in the photographs they took, which show a town which has now completely changed. I wanted to share this with those who were not able to come, so I will attempt to describe this trip.

This is a journey through memory, because that same day, September 30, was the day in 1941 when the Jews of Trakai, Aukštadvaris, Lentvaris, Rūdiškės, Onuškis and Žydkaimis, 1,446 people of whom 597 were children, were murdered in Varnikai Forest.

Full article in Lithuanian here.

Jewish Scout Meeting

Jewish Scout Meeting

The Lithuanian Jewish Community will host a Litvak scouting meet at 3:30 P.M. on Thursday, November 10 at the Ilan Club room at the Community building at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius under the direction of scout leader Adomas Kofman. We will continue to learn about the scouting movement and engage in edifying and fun activities. All young people aged 6 to 18 are invited. For more information, write skautai@lzb.lt.

Netanyahu: In Israel They Choose a Government That Promises Strength, Not Weakness

Netanyahu: In Israel They Choose a Government That Promises Strength, Not Weakness

JERUSALEM, Nov. 2, 2022–Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu commenting on preliminary results from parliamentary elections said that the right block he headed is on the verge of a major victory. Netanyahu spoke to voters in West Jerusalem. “Voters want to restore national pride and choose a government that promises strength, not weakness,” Netanyahu said.

Full article in Russian available here and here.

Yiddish Again Heard in Kaunas

Yiddish Again Heard in Kaunas

The first concert in the Kaunas Jewish Community’s Yiddish song project was called “The Jewish Nightingale from the Provisional Capital,” dedicated to the late Yiddish songstress Nehama Lifshitz’s 95th birthday, ended with the promise made by everyone to meet again five years from now to celebrate Nehama’s 100th birthday, perhaps with a two-part concert, perhaps even with an orchestra.

It’s not enough to say this was a wonderful concert, that would be an understatement. It was an extraordinary evening with so much love, inspiration, light, humanity and the victory of life, overcoming all the world’s misfortunes. The entire experience was good and those special emotions will remain with us for a long time. At least this morning the music heard yesterday evening is still echoing through mane hearts and minds.

We are so thankful for this concert, for this miracle created, to Svetlana Kundish for her thanksgiving and hymn to her teacher, and to the accomplished team of musicians including Patrick Farrell, Rasa Vaičiulytė, Dainis Buika and the young female soloist Ramunė Buikaitė.

The spirit of Nehama, fragile and gentle, firm and fearless singing of life, truly visited the Kaunas State Philharmonic concert hall last Monday evening.

Read more
Jewish Scout Jamboree

Jewish Scout Jamboree

The Lithuanian Jewish Community will host a Litvak scouting jamboree at 4:30 P.M. on Thursday, November 3 at the Ilan Club room at the Community building at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius under the direction of scout leader Adomas Kofman. All young people aged 6 to 18 are invited.

Launch of Book about Herman Perelstein

Launch of Book about Herman Perelstein

Hermanas Perelšteinas, the founder of the Ąžuoliukas boys choir, is the subject of a new biography which will be launched at an event at the Lithuanian Music and Theater Academy (formerly known more simply as the Music Conservatory) at Gedimino prospect no. 42 in Vilnius at 5:00 P.M. on Friday, November 4.

The author Darius Krasauskas, also a reporter, translator and long-time member of the Ąžuoliukas choir, will present his new biography. He will be interviewed informally by Simonas Keblas, the director of the Vilnius Little Theater and also a long-time member of Ąžuoliukas.

This is the first longer work–about 400 pages–on Perelšteinas, presenting history and archival documents as well as recollections by friends and colleagues to paint a picture of Lithuania’s most famous choir master and his life during the Holocaust and in Soviet exile.

The event is free and open to the public.

Grant Gochin Delivers Speech in Cape Town, October 27, 2022

Grant Gochin Delivers Speech in Cape Town, October 27, 2022

Grant Gochin delivered the following remarks to an audience of about 200 people at the Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre of the Green and Sea Point Hebrew Congregation in Cape Town in the early evening of October 27.

Hello, chaverim, friends, I am honored and delighted to be on my home soil, speaking to my own people. My Mishpocha. Thank you for coming. My sincere thanks to the organizers and attendees, and those who have kept me going in this cause.

Every Jewish person in this room has ancestry from Lithuania. Most of us here now, are alive because our families got out before Lithuanians were able to murder us. We are all who are left, to remember and speak the truth. Our families’ voices cannot be stilled through apathy or forgetfulness. Our families’ voices must be heard.

I became eager to find out about the “Old Country” from the stories and lessons of my paternal grandfather. More and more, I knew I had to walk those streets and see those forests.

I was the very first Jew to apply to Lithuania for citizenship. Three times, they rejected me for reasons even the Lithuanian Supreme Court ruled to be “absurd.” There were two sets of rules, one for real “ethnic” Lithuanians, and a separate queue for Litvaks. This simplified their process–automatic denial for Jews. I fought back.

Read more
New Film Gives Voice to Lithuanian Holocaust Victims

New Film Gives Voice to Lithuanian Holocaust Victims

by Tali Feinberg

When thinking about the Holocaust in Lithuania, some of us can only think about the horror from a distance or in small doses. But filmmaker Michael Kretzmer has made it his duty to look up close in a new documentary that exposes the depravity of the killing, and questions Lithuania’s Holocaust denial.

The documentary, to be released in Australia in November, looks at the “murder of children in front of parents; the smashing of babies’ skulls against trees; girls being loaded onto trucks for deadly rape parties by Lithuanian gangs; the imprisonment of thousands of Jews in their own synagogues and their murder either by fire or starvation and thirst amidst human filth and the stench of their loved ones’ rotting bodies; the beheadings; the immolations; and the thousands of lethal humiliations.”

This is what Kretzmer found over the past three years, during which his life was “entirely absorbed” in the making of the documentary that “attempts to tell the truth about the Lithuanian Holocaust.”

Read more