Litvaks – Lithuanian Jewish Community

The Wreath and the Knife

by Grant Gochin

On June 27, 2026, the eighty-fifth anniversary of the Lietūkis Garage massacre will be marked in Kaunas and by Lithuanian diplomats in Israel and the USA.

Expect the wreaths. Expect the candles, the bowed heads, the violin music, the brief and dignified statement. Expect a Lithuanian official, perhaps a diplomat, to speak of the Jews who “perished,” who were “lost,” whose world “vanished.” I have set out elsewhere, in What Lithuania Means When It Says “Vanished,” “Lost,” or “Perished,” what that vocabulary is built to hide. The short version is that none of those words contains a killer. They are the grammar of a state that has learned to mourn the Jews it cannot bring itself to say were murdered by Lithuanians.

Watch closely this June, because the commemoration is the knife.

2026-06-18

Lietūkis Garage Commemoration

The Kaunas Jewish Community is inviting the public to mark the 85th anniversary of the Lietūkis Garage massacre on Monday, June 29. The ceremony will take place at the commemoration to victims at Miško street no. 3 in Kaunas at 4:00 P.M., followed by a concert in the Great Hall at Vytautas Magnus University, Gimnazijos street no. 7, Kaunas, at 6:00 P.M.

2026-06-112026-06-12

Jewish Life in the Baltic Countries, 1917-1945

Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas in cooperation with the US Holocaust Museum, the Sugijara House Museum in Kaunas and the Ninth Fort Museum in Kaunas is holding a conference called “Jewish Life in the Baltic Countries, 1917-1945: from June 9 to June 11. The conference marks the 85th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in the Baltic states with presentations on Jewish life including art, music, literature, education, languages, religion, government, land and nature, emigration, resistance, the rescue of Jews and commemoration. The Kapela Kotra trio will perform Litvak music and documentary films by Saulius Beržinis will be screened.

The conference will be held in the Senate Hall at Vytautas Magnus at Donelaičio street no. 28 in Kaunas. The program begins at 9:00 A.M. on Tuesday, June 9. It begins at 11:00 A.M. on June 10 and at 9:30 A.M. on June 11.

2026-06-092026-06-09

More Visitors in Panevėžys

A delegation of three guests from Israel visited the Panevėžys Jewish Community last week. Mordechai (Moudi) Ben Shach’s father and grandparents had lived in Panevėžys and ran the former Kommerts Hotel there. His grandfather Yaacov Chachvich from the Tuch family came to Panevėžys in 1890 from the town of Gedera in what is now Israel.

The rabbi accompanying the other two visitors was looking at the Community’s photography exhibit and was surprised to see a photograph of his great-grandfather, also a rabbi. He said it was a great honor to visit Panevėžys, one of the most important Jewish religious and cultural centers in the world.

Moudi Ben Shach said the foundation for the life of the community is not just various activities and projects, and that meeting and talking to people, keeping in contact and working together for the good of the community are just as important if not more so.

2026-06-042026-06-05

Fayerlakh to Perform in Trakai

Fayerlakh is to perform at the Ninth Ethnic Communities Festival with other ethnic performers in Trakai south of Vilnius on Saturday.

Time: ~3:30 P.M.-6:30 P.M., Saturday, May 30
Place: Trakai castle, Karaimų street no. 1, Trakai, Lithuania

2026-05-28

Al Jolson Birthday Celebration in Hometown

The town of Seredžius (Srednike back in the Russian Empire) where Al Jolson was born into a Litvak family on May 26, 1886, is celebrating the 140th anniversary of his birth on May 29, 2026, with performances by musicians from the Kaunas Jewish Community and the unveiling of a commemorative bench honoring the Hollywood star. Born Asa Yoelson, he starred in Hollywood’s first “talkie,” meaning a motion picture with synchronized soundtrack, the Jazz Singer (1927, USA). The event starts at 4:00 P.M. on Friday, May 29, outside the former synagogue in Seredžius in the Kaunas district.

2026-05-28

Ethnic Minorities Department Awards Ruth Reches, Gercas Žakas

The Lithuanian Culture Ministry awarded its order of merit to psychologist and school principal Ruth Reches and Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas on Friday, Lithuania’s Cultural Minorities Day.

Gercas was recognized for his work in preserving Jewish identity, commemorating famous Litvaks, care for Holocaust victims and rescuers and Holocaust commemoration.

Lithuanian Ethnic Minorities Department director Dainius Babilas presented Reches the silver order of merit, third degree, for her consistent work in minority education, teaching Jewish culture and history and her work to have the Yiddish language included on Lithuania’s list of immaterial cultural treasures.

Reches is actually a Hebrew teacher as well as psychologist and principal. She earned a PhD in psychology several years ago and her publications and academic work include topics such as attachment disorders, trans-generational Holocaust trauma and developmental psychology. She has served as the principal of the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius, the capital city’s only Jewish primary and secondary school, for over a decade. She is the daughter of Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky.

2026-05-262026-05-26

LJC on New Decisions on the Sports Palace and the Šnipiškės Jewish Cemetery

The Lithuanian Jewish Community expresses its profound concern regarding the decision adopted by the parliament or Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania following its initial approval of draft resolution No. XVP-1423 which effectively revives plans first proposed more than a decade ago to convert the former Vilnius Sports Palace into a venue for congresses, conferences and cultural events (Government Resolution No. 597 of June 9, 2015).

These plans had previously provoked strong opposition from international Jewish organizations, including Jewish religious authorities. According to Jewish religious law, a cemetery is sacred and inviolable ground; not only are entertainment events and concerts prohibited there, but even disturbing the soil is forbidden. It was precisely for this reason that a special working group was established, bringing together representatives of state institutions, the Lithuanian Jewish Community and international organizations.

After lengthy and complex discussions, a compromise solution was reached, one that balanced respect for the dead, preservation of historical memory and the public interest. This agreement was confirmed by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania in July of 2024 (No. S-2174 of July 17, 2024).

2026-05-222026-05-25

Great Synagogue Exhibit at Litvak Identity Museum

The Litvak Identity Museum of the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum will open a new exhibit dedicated the Great Synagogue in Vilnius, damaged by the Nazis and destroyed by the Soviets, but never completely forgotten by Vilnius and the residential community.

The exhibit includes archaeological discoveries, depictions in art, historical photographs and reconstructions.

The opening ceremony is to include a performance by cantor Shmuel Ya’atom and a guided tour of the Gros-Shul exhibit by its curators. The exhibit runs till January 31, 2027.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Tuesday, May 19
Place: Litvak Culture and Identity Museum, Pylimo street no. 41, Vilnius

2026-05-19

Kaunas Jewish Community Thanks Righteous Gentiles

For more than 30 years now the Kaunas Jewish Community has thanked rescuers of Jews every spring with a special ceremonial dinner, expressing deep gratitude and appreciation for the bravery and humanity they demonstrated. This the ceremony was held last week.

“Discussing Lithuanian and other European Jewish communities after World War II is impossible without the stories of the rescuers of Jews. If not for them, who are mainly humble and quiet about it, not boasting of their heroism, many of us would not be here in this land, and the dark time of the Holocaust would be even darker,” Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas told the audience this year.

As time passes there are fewer and fewer rescuers remaining, although there are examples of living rescuers such as Righteous Gentile Vladas Palkauskas who is now 93 and still going strong.

2026-05-192026-05-19

News from Panevėžys

Last weekend volunteers from the Panevėžys Jewish Community cleaned the interior and grounds of the Chevra Torah synagogue there. The brick synagogue was built in 1910. It was closed in 1940, the interior was destroyed and the decorative façade heavily damaged.

On May 6 Panevėžys Jewish Community representatives attended a lecture at the Lost Shtetl Museum in Šeduva by Holocaust historian Christoph Dieckmann called “How Did It Happen?” During questions afterwards, Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman thanked Dieckmann and asked about sources on Jewish vital statistics from the period between 1938 and 1941, engendering a discussion about the drop-off in marriages and births at a time when the Jewish community sensed the onset of tragedy.

2026-05-192026-05-19

Kurkliai Synagogue Opens Rhona Gorvy Exhibit for European Museum Night

The restored Kurkliai synagogue in the Anykščiai region north of Vilnius will open its doors to the public on European Museum Night, May 23, with an exhibit of graphic works and sculpture by the late South African artist Rhona Gorvy called “Life and Dreams.” The program for the evening includes an address by Ieva Šadzevičienė, curator of the Samuel Bak museum of the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum, live percussion by Arkadijus Gotesmanas and recollections of the past and stories from others. The event is free and open to the public.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Saturday, May 23
Place: Kurkliai synagogue, Salomėjos Neries street no. 4A, Kurkliai, Anykščiai district

2026-05-142026-05-15

Natalja Cheifec to Give Guided Tour of Choral Synagogue

Teacher and lecturer Natalja Cheifec will provide a guided tour of the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius on Wednesday evening. The only traditional synagogue still working in Vilnius has a long and interesting history. Cheifec will talk about its architecture, symbolism and traditions, and about its place in Jewish life before and now. Cheifec will conclude the tour with questions from the audience. Participants are asked to donate 2 euros to the synagogue.

Prior registration is required, click here.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Wednesday, May 13
Place: Choral Synagogue, Pylimo street no. 39, Vilnius

2026-05-112026-05-11

Lost Shtetl Fifth Most Beautiful Museum in the World

The Lost Shtetl Museum in Šeduva, Lithuania, placed fifth in the Prix Versailles selection of the world’s most beautiful museums announced May 4 at UNESCO in Paris. Prix Versailles judges singled out the museum’s architecture designed by Finland’s Rainer Mahlamäki. The outer form of the museum is intended to replicate the silhouette of the skylines of typical Lithuanian shtetlakh.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

2026-05-052026-05-05

Dance Me Back to the Future

The Karlsruhe Concert Duo of Reihard Armleder on cello and Dagmar Hartmann on piano will perform a concert program called “Dance Me to the End of Time and Back to the Future” at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius in mid-May. The two will perform works by Leonard Cohen, Back, Beethoven, Moscheles, Bloch, Gershwin, Heifetz, Schumann and Liszt. The concert is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the culture section of the German embassy in Vilnius in cooperation with the Goodwill Foundation and Pasaka x Create Culture Group.

Registration is required by May 16. Send an email to koncertas.lzb@gmail.com.

Time: 5:00 P.M., Sunday, May 17
Place: LJC, Vilnius

2026-05-04

Holocaust Exhibit at Ninth Fort in Kaunas

The Ninth Fort Museum in Kaunas has opened a new exhibition called “Raised from the Ashes, Kaunas,” a series of drawings by Mindaugas Lukošaitis.

Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas expressed his own enchantment, respect and gratitude for the exhibit, as all as that of the Kaunas Jewish Community, and thanked the Ninth Museum, the organizers of the exhibit, the performer at the opening and the artist.

The exhibit will run till October 4.

2026-04-292026-04-29

LJC Hosts TOLI Seminar

The Lithuanian Jewish Community hosted for the seventh time last week a seminar organized by the New York-based Olga Lengyel Holocaust Studies and Human Rights Institute (TOLI) and the International Commission to Assess the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in Lithuania. Thirty teachers from 15 countries attended.

The motto for this seminar was “Learning from the past, we work for the future.” The seminar provides participants the opportunity to hear Holocaust testimonies from survivors and provides access to the best research material in order to attempt to make sense of what happened and what the consequences were and are.

2026-04-27

Rafailas Karpis Performs Israeli National Anthem

Opera tenor Rafailas Karpis performed the Israeli national anthem HaTikvah, The Hope, at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius Wednesday to mark Yom haAtzmaut, Israeli independence day.

2026-04-232026-04-23

New Jacques Lipchitz Museum in Druskininkai

The Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum has opened up a new museum in Druskininkai dedicated to the life and work of Litvak sculptor Jacques Lipchitz.

Newly-appointed Vilna Gaon Museum director Sergejus Kanovičius welcomed guests at an opening ceremony who included Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Lithuanian MP Emanuelis Zingeris, Lithuanian culture minister Vaida Aleknavičienė and Druskininkai mayor Ričardas Malinauskas.

Lipchitz came from Druskininkai. He was born in 1891 and passed away in 1973 having founded what he called crystal cubism as a genre and leaving a remarkable impression on 20th century art. He gained renown in Paris with a group of artists including Pablo Picasso before fleeing the Nazi invasion for the US, where he continued his work.

Vilna Gaon Museum has a number of geographically-scattered sites including the Tolerance Center, the Green House Holocaust Exhibit and the Litvak Identity Museum in central Vilnius, but also the Ponar Memorial Complex outside Vilnius. Their newest museum is located at Šv. Jokūbo street no. 17 in the spa town Druskininkai on the border with Belarus in southeast Lithuania.

Photos courtesy Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum.

2026-04-202026-04-20

Yom HaShoah in Vilnius

The Lithuanian Jewish Community marked Yom HaShoah on Sunday in Vilnius with a March of the Living procession.

“Every day I think about what my father Saulius Kuklianskis, who went through the horrors of the Holocaust in his childhood, would say about the things happening in society today. Most likely he would think the time just before the war had returned… It is our duty to preserve the memory of those who died, but also to speak out loudly so that that dark period would never return,” LJC chairwoman Fainia Kukliansky said.

Photos by Mila Kuizinienė

2026-04-15

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