Litvaks – Lithuanian Jewish Community

Kaunas Jewish Community and Ninth Fort to Mark 85th Anniversary of Grosse Aktion

Eighty-five years ago the persecution and extermination of Lithuanian Jews began. The Nazis and Lithuanian Nazis called their mass murder operations aktionen. The Grosse Aktion, or Great Operation, was the largest single mass murder of Jews in Lithuania, where around 10,000 inmates from the Kaunas ghetto were murdered at the Ninth Fort in just over 24 hours.

The Kaunas Jewish Community and the Ninth Fort Museum invite you to mark the tragedy this year with a commemoration at the Ninth Fort in Kaunas followed by a concert at the fort called Muzik fun zikoyrn, or Music from Memory, featuring the trio Trise, saxophonist Petras Vyšniauskas, pianist Aleksandra Žvirblytė and percussionist Arkadijus Gotesmanas, performing works by Jospeh Achron, Max Helfman, Anatoly Shenderov and others as well as Jewish melodies.

The Ninth Fort Museum will screen a short documentary (by Karolina Vilkelienė, 2026) about the Grosse Aktion during the commemoration there. The commemoration at the Ninth Fort will conclude with a candle-lighting and stone-laying ceremony on the actual killing field.

The event is free and open to the public.

Time: 6:30 P.M., Wednesday, October 28
Place: Ninth Fort Museum, Žemaičių highway no. 73, Kaunas

2026-10-21

Šiauliai Jewish Community Visits Kupiškis

Members of the Šiauliai Jewish Community and guests from Germany took a trip to Kupiškis, a town with a deep and rich Jewish legacy. There they visited the Kupiškis museum and learned about the town’s cultural and historical heritage. Then they took a guided tour of Kupiškis’s central square where once three synagogues operated. Two of the synagogue buildings remain standing. They learned about Kupiškis before the Holocaust, Jewish life, traditions and history there, and that Lithuanians and Jews lived next to one another in peace before the Holocaust.

2026-10-212026-10-21

State Media on Litvak’s Visit to Žagarė

Photo: Joanne Fedler by Vilmantas Raupelis/LRT

Lithuanian state radio and television on their website LRT.lt featured Sydney-based writer Joanne Fedler’s visit to Žagarė, Lithuania, in spite of her family’s injunction never to set foot in Lithuania.

Fedler is the author of 17 books and teaches creative writing. She operates a small publishing house called Joanne Fedler Media. She was born and raised in South Africa to a family of Litvak immigrants before coming to Australia in 2001.

In fall of 2025 she was at a month-long writing workshop in Finland and decided the family hearth, Žagarė, was too close not to visit. She told LRT a dream of her grandfather as a young man was the sign for her which sealed the deal. She decided she would honor her family by travelling to Lithuania rather than avoiding it.

2026-10-202026-10-20

First Sunday in October in Žagarė

On Sunday descendants of Jews from Žagarė who live now in Šiauliai, Vilnius and other Lithuanian towns and cities gathered in front of the statue to Rabbi Israel Salanter aka Yisrael ben Ze’ev Wolf Lipkin along with Shimon Pesach from the Israeli embassy and Rabbi Kalev Krelin.

This is an annual event. On the first Sunday in October they come together to remember the Jewish history of Žagarė, to honor the Jews who lived here and to preserve their memory. Participants also visited the mass murder sites in Naryškinas Park and at the old Jewish cemetery.

The meeting then moved on to a local café where the discussion continued.

2026-10-142026-10-14

YIVO Studied a Living Yiddish Culture. What Happened When That World Was Nearly Destroyed?

Photo: YIVO reading room at 1048 Fifth Avenue, ca. 1958. (YIVO Institute for Jewish Research)

by Andrew Silow-Carroll October 11, 2026

Kalman Weiser’s new history follows the institute from Vilna to New York where it had to preserve a vanished world and cultivate a future.

When YIVO was founded in Vilna in 1925 its mission was to study a living people.

The Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut was meant to be a national university for Jews scattered across Eastern Europe and increasingly the world. Its scholars studied Yiddish language and literature, but also Jewish sociology, psychology, history and contemporary life. YIVO was interested in how Jews actually lived and in helping them navigate modernity.

When the Nazis destroyed much of that world, YIVO’s surviving caretakers were forced to ponder how and why to keep their efforts going in a new world haunted by unimaginable loss.

Their efforts are explored in Kalman Weiser’s new history “Yiddish Scholarship Comes to America: The YIVO Institute at 100.” After World War II a relocated and heartsick YIVO had to become a guardian of a nearly vanished culture, a rescuer of its texts and artifacts and an institution which could somehow make that culture meaningful to Jews who were rapidly shedding Yiddish and embracing a distinctly American, English-speaking identity–all simultaneously.

2026-10-132026-10-13

Commemoration of 85th Anniversary of Onset of the Holocaust in Švenčionys and Lithuania

A sizeable group gathered at the Menorah in the central park in Švenčionys on October 4 to commemorate the anniversary of the start of the Holocaust in Lithuania. Organizer of the event Kristina Sizonova began the commemoration followed by historian Nadežda Spiridonovienė who went over the historical facts with the audience. From June to November of 1941 over 80% of Jews resident in Lithuania had been murdered. By 1944 more than 200,000 Jews had been murdered in Lithuania.

Students from the Zigmas Žemaitis Gymnasium in Švenčionys gave further presentations of Jewish life there before the Holocaust.

Švenčionys Jewish Community chairman Moshe Shapiro thanks attendees for coming and invited people to lay stones, wreaths and candles on the Menorah. The commemoration then moved to the mass grave in the Platumai Forest where about 8,000 Jews were murdered, including entire Jewish communities from surrounding town and villages.

MP Emanuelis Zingeris spoke at the mass grave memorial, as did Artur Soroko from the Polish embassy in Vilnius. Chairman Shapiro ended the commemoration retelling his own family’s tragedy.

2026-10-08

Sukkot Celebration in Šiauliai

The Šiauliai Jewish Community gathered Monday to celebrate Sukkot. The event was attended by a special guest: Rabbi Shalom Kaplan, the rabbi at both the Beit Izrael synagogue in Jurnala, Latvia, and the Birkat Baruch synagogue in Jerusalem. The rabbi gave a presentation on the history, traditions and meaning of the holiday of Sukkot, and shared his knowledge of and insights into the special significance Sukkot holds. The entire Community was grateful for the opportunity to learn more together and grow stronger as a community.

Hag Sukkot sameach!

2026-09-292026-09-29

Condolences

Alfonsas Bukontas died September 23. He was born Mordchelis Michnickis on September 11, 1941. Both his parents were murdered during the Holocaust in Lithuania and Bukontas was raised by Lithuanians. He was an accomplished poet, translator of German, Yiddish, Polish and even Sanskrit, and writer. He was a member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Union of Former Ghetto Inmates. Our deepest condolences to his friends, family members and members of the Union of Former Ghetto Inmates. May his memory be a blessing.

2026-09-282026-09-28

Šiauliai Marks Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide

The Šiauliai Jewish Community marked the Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide September 23. Students from the Saulius Sondeckas Art Gymnasium in Šiauliai began the event with a musical performance.

Deputy mayor Justinas Švėgžda attended. After the ceremony a silent procession moved from the site of the gate of the first ghetto (Caucasus) to the monument marking the gate of the second ghetto (Trakai).

2026-09-282026-09-28

Holocaust Commemoration in Švenčionys

The Švenčionys Jewish Community invites the public to remember the victims of the Holocaust and to mark the anniversary of the liquidation of the Švenčionys ghetto on October 4. Community and friends will gather at 11:00 A.M. on Sunday, October 4 at the Menorah statue in the Švenčionys city park. At noon there will be a commemoration at the mass grave in Platumai village in the Švenčionėliai aldermanship.

2026-09-28

Kaunas Jewish Community Accompanies Fayerlakh at Kaunas Concert

The Jewish song and dance group Fayerlakh performed at the Garden of Cultures 2026 event in Kaunas this month which showcases Lithuanian ethnic cultures. Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas and other Community members spoke to the audience as well on Jewish culture and its place in the history of Kaunas.

2026-09-28

Birthday Greetings from Šiauliai Jewish Community

The Šiauliai District Jewish Community sincerely congratulates Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky on the occasion of her birthday!

May Success never leave you, accompanied by Litvak Strength!

Respectfully,
Šiauliai District Jewish Community

2026-09-172026-09-18

Droga Dō Concert Series Remembers Jewish Escape Route to Japan

The Droga Dō chamber concert series is dedicated to the memory of the escape route Polish and Lithuanian Jews took to Japan during the Holocaust, and to Japanese ambassador and Righteous Gentile Chiune Sugihara who made it possible, saving thousands of Jews. Dō (Dou, Doo) means “way” in Japanese, as does droga in Polish.

Droga Dō will be performed at the Kaunas State Philharmonic on September 19 with works by Toru Takemitsu, Dai Fujikura, Kishio Kirao, Mieczysław Weinberg, Władysław Szpilman, Aleksander Tansman, Aleksandr Veprik, Joseph Achron and others. For more information, click here. For information in Lithuanian and to purchase tickets, click here.

Time: 5:00 P.M., Saturday, September 19
Place: Kaunas State Philharmonic, E. Ožeškienės no. 12, Kaunas

2026-09-16

Fayerlakh Coming to Vilnius

Last weekend the Jewish song and dance ensemble Fayerlakh delighted the audience at the Kaunas Gardens 2026 festival in Kaunas with the collective’s unique program of Jewish music and movement. They’re scheduled to perform again next Sunday, September 20, in Vilnius at Kudirka Square outside Government House in central Vilnius as part of the Ethnic Fair held annually along Gediminas prospect. The concert starts at 2:00 P.M. Sunday and is free and open to the public.

2026-09-16

Holocaust Commemoration in Vilkomir

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Israeli ambassador Shelly Hugler Livne and members of the Šiauliai Jewish Community, the Ukmergė (Vilkomir) Jewish Community and Kaunas Jewish Community attended a ceremony to commemorate Holocaust victims at the memorial and mass grave site in the Pivonija Forest on September 6. The United States embassy’s deputy ambassador Dan Hunt and diplomat Emma Locatelli attended, as did Lithuania’s deputy minister for culture Lina Baublienė and others.

After the ceremony participants were invited to attend an exhibit of Righteous Gentiles at the Ukmergė Tolerance Center. Ukmergė Jewish Community chairman Artūras Taicas took the opportunity to announce a new initiative to create an internet archive of historical Jewish passports and identity documents.

2026-09-102026-09-10

Commemoration of 85th Anniversary of Liquidation of Panevėžys Ghetto

A ceremony to mark the 85th anniversary of the liquidation of the Ponevezh ghetto was held in the northern Lithuanian city September 8 with a number of speakers and music.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said they had gathered both to honor the dead and keep memory of the Holocaust alive for future generations.

Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania Shelly Hugler Livne said 85 years is long time in human life but only an instant in terms of historical memory.

Lithuanian MP Ramūnas Vyžintas reiterated the need to safeguard historical memory.

Sister Leonora Kasiūlytė from the Congregation of the Sisters of God’s Providence told the story Marija Rusteikaitė, the nun from the Panevėžys area who rescued 15 Jews including children.

2026-09-10

Litvak Delegation Visits Panevėžys

A delegation of about 30 Litvaks living in Israel are visiting the northern Lithuanian city Panevėžys, or Ponevezh, and have met with the mayor of the city, Loreta Masiliūnienė. For many of the visitors the trip is very personal, an opportunity to visit where their parents, grandparents and forefathers lived and died.

Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel Grisha Deitch sat with mayor Masiliūnienė at city hall in front of the rest of the Israeli delegation and they discussed the history of the Ponevezh community, securing its future and ties with Litvaks abroad.

A memorial ceremony will be held at the monument marking the gates of the Panevėžys ghetto will be held at 2:00 P.M. on Tuesday, September 8, followed by a walking tour of Jewish sites. Later the delegation and others will visit the mass murder site in Kurganava Forest where about 8,000 Jews were murdered, and the mass murder site in Žalioji Forest, where about 5,000 Jews were murdered.

2026-09-07

Vilnius Jewish Public Library Showcases Encyclopedic Vilnius Book

Last week the Vilnius Jewish Public Library recognized Irina Guzenberg and Henrik Agranovski’s impressive and encyclopedic book Vilnius, the result of more than 30 years of research, published in English and Russian.

The book is both a short encyclopedia and a chronicle of Yerushalayim d’Lite, the Jerusalem of Lithuania, Vilnius. Israeli ambassador Shelly Hugler Livne, Lithuanian deputy foreign minister Kristupas Vaitiekūnas, a large contingent from Beit Vilna, Lithuanian Jewish Community members and academics from Lithuania, Israel and the USA attended to book presentation.

The book was previously published as a much shorter version of Jewish sites in Vilnius for tourists and others. The larger volume goes into much greater depth about the sites and histories.

2026-09-07

Kaunas Jewish Community Celebrates Love with Concert September 8

The Kaunas Jewish Community is celebrating this year’s theme for the European Day of Jewish Culture, love, with a free concert. A new installment in the Dance Me Back to the Future called Erev Shel Shoshanim, Evening of Roses, is a two-voice musical dialogue featuring Hebrew love songs and operatic arias.

Katya Kov is the organizer with support from Pasaka and the Create Culture Group in cooperation with Cvi Parkas. Supporters include the Goodwill Foundation and the city of Vilnius.

“The title Dance Me Back to the Future combines Leonard Cohen’s Dance Me to the End of Time and Robert Zemeckis’s film Back to the Future,” she explained. “Together, they open a path between the past and the present, following Lithuanian and Litvak history and stories, recollections and cultural ties which travel from generation to generation and find new voices today,” she said.

The concert is free and open to the public.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Tuesday, September 8
Place: Mikas and Kira Petrauskas House, K. Petrausko street no. 31, Kaunas

2026-09-07

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