Litvaks

Remembering the Unknown, Experiencing the Non-Existent

Remembering the Unknown, Experiencing the Non-Existent

The Vilnius Picture Gallery and the Lithuanian National Art Museum invite the public to a lecture by Giedrė Mickūnaitė called “risiminti nežinomą, patirti nesantį–keli žydiškojo Vilniaus maršrutai” [Remembering the Unknown, Experiencing the Non-Existent: Several Tracks in Jewish Vilnius] at the Vilnius Picture Gallery at 5:30 P.M.om September 9. The galLery is located at Didžioji street no. 4 in Vilnius.

According to the hallery’s announcement of the public lecture:

“Historical knowledge and making it topical, urban planning not just as space and architecture, but as a way of life–these are the questions confronting Vilnius. The lecture invites you to an indirect tour of the current city and provides a glimpse of the Jewish past, asking you to experience that loss in the present.”

The lecture is free, open to the public and registration is not required.

Akvilė Grigoravičiūtė on Early 20th Century Litvak Identity in Yiddish Literature

Akvilė Grigoravičiūtė on Early 20th Century Litvak Identity in Yiddish Literature

The Ieva Simonaitytė Public Library in Klaipėda is pleased to host a presentation by Akvilė Grigoravičiūtė, Yiddish literary researcher and translator, on changes to Litvak identity in the early 20th century as illustrated in Yiddish literary works.

The event is scheduled from 5:30 to 6:30 P.M. on Wednesday, September 10.

Called “Yiddish Literature in Interwar Lithuania,” the author discusses the evacuation of Jews from the borderlands in Tsarist Russia during the First World War and the lasting effects that had on Jewish identity. She characterizes Lithuanian Yiddish literature in the 1920s as showcasing separation, alienation and solitude. In the 1930s, she says, a new Jewish identity began to coalesce, tied organically to the culture and society of the Republic of Lithuania. Her presentation will include passages from Yiddish writers, literary clubs and publications from 1918 to 1940

The library is located at Herkaus Manto street no. 25 in Klaipeda. For those unable to attend, the lecture will be live-streamed via the internet, register here.

For more information in Lithuanian, click here.

In Search of the Shtetl in Švėkšna

In Search of the Shtetl in Švėkšna

The Švėkšna Museum presents “In Search of the Shtetl in Švėkšna” illustrating the town’s multicultural and multiethnic past and legacy starting with an exhibit at the Švėkšna synagogue, now the Švėkšna Museum, at 1:00 P.M. on Saturday, August 6. The address is Liepų alley no. 12, Švėkšna, Lithuania. The exhibit features mosaics by Lina Šlipavičiūtė and Lauryna Kiškytė who both plan to attend the event. This will be followed by a guided tour of the town discussing the settlement by Jews in the 17th century, emigration, the period of thriving trade and a thriving economy, life and education of young Jews and the religious life of the shtetl. The event is part of the European Days of Jewish Culture which falls on the first Sunday in September every year.

For more information, call +370 657 57 152. or for more information in Lithuanian, see here:

Vilner Quiz at National Library

Vilner Quiz at National Library

The Vilnius Jewish Public Library in concert with the 15min.lt news website will hold a quiz on Jewish Vilna history and culture at the Lithuanian National Library at 3:00 P.M. on Sunday, August 7. The event is intended to commemorate the anniversary of the founding of YIVO in Vilnius and the European Days of Jewish Culture which falls on the first Sunday in September annually..

Master of ceremonies will be Ugnius Antanavičius, an editor at 15min.lt.

Contestants will compete in teams of from 2 to 6 people of their own making. Prizes await the winners. The quiz is expected to last about 2 hours.

The quiz is open to the public and there is no fee for competing. To register send an email to uantanavicius@gmail.com, indicating your team’s name and the expected number of players..

Grigoriy Kanovitch Literary Prize

Grigoriy Kanovitch Literary Prize

The Grigoriy Kanovitch Public Library in Jonava in central Lithuania will hold their 9th annual awards ceremony to present the Grigoriy Kanovitch literary prize to the most worthy recipient on September 10.

Attendees will have the chance to meet and talk with the winner afterwards, followed by a street theater performance called Quintetto della Morte.

The Grigoriy Kanovitch Public Library is located at Žeimių street no. 9, Jonava, Lithuania.

Event to Re-Open Former Synagogue in Žemaičių Naumiestis

Event to Re-Open Former Synagogue in Žemaičių Naumiestis

The town of Žemaičių Naumiestis is inviting the public to attend an event reopening the former synagogue there as a cultural and performance space, reintegrating it into the municipal landscape.

In the past the synagogue was used as a storage space and as a Soviet Palace of Culture, and for a time as a sports gymnasium. It has been empty and abandoned for years now.

The organizers of the upcoming festival called “Bridges of Michael” hope to extend a bridge between the past and present through art.

Ot begins at 5:00 P.M. on September 23 with an exhibit of works by Ilja Bereznickas including screenings of his animated films. At 6:00 P.M. an installation with live music opens featuring pianist Darius Mažintas, with video by Andrius Seliuta von Rath and Dali Rust. Organizers of the event invite visitors to photograph and film as much as they like, and to share their recordings on social media.

The event is free and open to the public but seating is limited, so attendees are asked to register by sending an email to mykolotiltai25@gmail.com or by clicking here.

There will be a party afterwards at the Pas Virgą café and ffor that registration is strictly required by clicking the same link indicated above.

Comedy in Jewish Poetry

Comedy in Jewish Poetry

Miglė Anušauskaitė, a noted Lithuanian cartoonist as well as translator and Judaica scholar, will give a presentation in Lithuanian on humor in Jewish poetry at the Lithuanian National Library at 6:00 P.M. on Thursday, August 4. This is the first installment in a series of events and lectures dedicated to an exhibit of works by Tania Mouraud, the French artist. The Mourand exhibition runs till November 9 at the Lithuanian National Art Museum, Gostauto street no. 1, Vilnius, and is titled “In Honor of Revived Pain” [loose translation].

International Yiddish Courses a Success

International Yiddish Courses a Success

The two-week International Yiddish Courses hosted by the Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium brought students together from around the world with Yiddish song, excerpts from classical texts, comedy and the lore of Jewish Vilne.

“I would like to thank all the organizers who helped us hold the annual courses. We are so happy that Jewish students from Lithuania and from abroad are studying Yiddish, that they are interested in it as a language, but also as a tradition, partially religious, including food and songs. All this together constitutes Jewish culture which we strive to preserve,” Lithuanian Hewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky commented.

Read more
News from Šiauliai

News from Šiauliai

Visitors from Germany visited the Šiauliai Jewish Community last week. In the company of Šiauliai Jewish Community members they visited the Šeduva Lost Shtetl Jewish Museum whuch they said left a deep impression on them. The visitors said they’d like to visit the museum again.

The guests from Germany attended a Sabbath celebration with the Šiauliai Jewish Community.

Read more
The Enemy Within: The Treacherous “As a Jew” Jews

The Enemy Within: The Treacherous “As a Jew” Jews

by Grant Gochin, August 11, 2025

For three decades, my soul has roared with an unquenchable fire, forged in the crucible of my family’s slaughter in Lithuania. No polished diploma adorns my walls–my education was ripped from the smoldering ruins of personal tragedy and honed in the blood-soaked trenches of diplomacy across Africa’s most perilous corners. This is no academic sermon; it’s a primal scream, carved from scars, seething rage and an ironclad vow to never let genocide’s shadow fall on my people again. The ancient blood libel–that vile lie blaming all Jews for the crimes of none, or sometimes, possibly, a few, a grotesque slander conjured from thin air to vilify our people without a shred of truth–has been resurrected by traitors who wield their Jewish identity like a blade to disembowel our nation. These are the “As a Jew” Jews, a festering betrayal we must rip out root and branch.

Read more
Israeli President and Wife Visit Lithuanian Jewish Community

Israeli President and Wife Visit Lithuanian Jewish Community

“I am a proud Litvak,” Israeli president Isaac Herzog told an audience of LJC members and students from the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius Monday last week.

He and wife Michal watched a performance by younger students from the school and the president fielded questions from students afterwards.

“Jews have been living in Lithuania 600 years now. This is our home, our gomeland, while Israel is our historical homeland which we support and always weill,” Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky told the assembly.

Read more
Launch of Davidas Geringas’s Book “Just Don’t Tell Anyone”

Launch of Davidas Geringas’s Book “Just Don’t Tell Anyone”

A book of interviews with Lithuanian cellist Davidas Geringas written by musical journalist Jan Brachmann is now abailable in Lithuanian and will be presented Monday, August 11. The book is called “Tik Niekam Nesakyk” [Just Don’t Tell Anyone] and tells the story of Geringas’s persecution by Soviet security structures and his family’s experience as Jews in Soviet Lithuania, along with Geringas’s meetings with remarkable people and his support for Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenytsin. The book was previously translated into German and Italian.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Monday, August 11
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius

Israeli President Isaac Herzog Visits Lithuania

Israeli President Isaac Herzog Visits Lithuania

Israeli president Isaac Herzog visited Vilnius Monday and met with Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda at the Office of President, held a joint press conference with the Lithuanian president and attended a business forum event. President Herzog also met with the Lithuanian Jewish Community at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius earlier Monday morning.

Lithuanian television news channels reported the visit but focused on protests outside the Office of President and Government House instead.

The major evening news outlets included three points from the press conference:

Read more
LJC on Government Plan to Change Old Šnipiškės Jewish Cemetery Memorial

LJC on Government Plan to Change Old Šnipiškės Jewish Cemetery Memorial

The Lithuanian Jewish Community, uniting 32 organizations across Lithuania and abroad, is deeply surprised by the unilateral decision made by the Government under the leadership of Gintautas Paluckas to disregard a project previously approved back in 2024 for the memorialization of the old Šnipiškės (Shnipishok, formerly Piromont neighborhood) Jewish cemetery and the existing commemorative site at the Palace of Sports. This project has been under development for several years and was carefully coordinated by a working group composed of representatives from the Lithuanian Jewish Community, the European Jewish Cemetery Preservation Committee, the American Jewish Committee’s Department of International Affairs and other organizations dedicated to preserving Jewish heritage.

The solutions proposed so far have ensured appropriate respect for the Jews buried in the cemetery as well as historical events related to Lithuania’s struggle for independence and the victims of the tragic events of January 13, 1991, at the Vilnius television tower.

We emphasize the decision to alter the intentand content of the memorial was made without prior consultation with the Lithuanian Jewish Community or any other Jewish organizations anywhere. We were not informed of any changes to the original plans.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community will refrain from further commenting on this decision for now because we have not received confirmed information regarding the content of this new plan nor the reasons behind this change in course.
Nevertheless, we wish to note that such actions undermine trust in our state and damage Lithuania’s reputation in the eyes of strategic partners.

Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community

Embattled PM Has Big Plans for Old Jewish Cemetery

Embattled PM Has Big Plans for Old Jewish Cemetery

The Lithuanian and Russian news portals madeinvilnius.lt and ru.delfi.lt are reporting Lithuanian prime minister Gintautas Paluckas (Social Democratic Party) has renewed government plans to refurbish the former Palace of Sports complex in central Vilnius and to renovate the Jewish cemetery where it was built and which surrounds the building.

Paluckas is facing calls to stand a confidence vote in parliament following revelations of sweet-heart loan deals and large discounts for real estate purchases.

According to both news sites, Paluckas wants to renovate the large but decrepit building for use as a conference center, the same plan floated by earlier governments. This iteration of the on-going talk of renovation now includes plans by the PM to install a museum within that space for commemorating the first meeting of Sąjūdis there, and victims of the January 13, 1991, Vilnius television tower massacre. Sąjūdis officially became a political party there and went on to contest elections to the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet against the Lithuanian Communist Party led by Algirdas Brazauskas. Original member of Sąjūdis and later Brazauskas supporter Arvydas Juozaitis is currently completing a boom on the history of the early Lithuanian independence movement which includes a detailed description of that founding meeting, according to pre-publiicty from the author himself.

Read more
North Americans Visit Ukmergė

North Americans Visit Ukmergė

Natania Ramba visited Ukmergė this week with her film crew. She’s filming a documentary about Jews from Ukmergė, or Vilkomir in Yiddish.

Her grandfather also came from Vilkomir.

Ukmergė Jewish Community chairman Artūras Taicas was interviewed for the film.

The Jewish population was almost entirely murdered during the Holocaust.

Taicas showed Ramba around the city just a short drive north of Vilnius, including Jewish heritage sites.

They plan to show the film to descendants of Jews from Vilkomir and to Litvals in general in Mexico and the United States.

Read more
Tisha b’Av and the Ongoing Struggle against Lithuanian Holocaust Revisionism

Tisha b’Av and the Ongoing Struggle against Lithuanian Holocaust Revisionism

by Grant Gochin, July 18, 2025

Tisha b’Av, observed annually on the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, is a solemn day of mourning in Judaism, commemorating a series of tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, most notably the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. Over time, this day has also become a time to reflect on other catastrophic events in Jewish history, including the Holocaust, which saw the systematic murder of approximately six million Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1941 and 1945. For many Jewish communities, Tisha b’Av serves as a moment to mourn the six million victims of the Holocaust, often through the recitation of kinnot, liturgical dirges that lament historical persecutions, including those of the 20th century. As we commemorate these profound losses, however, a troubling issue persists in Lithuania: the government’s ongoing efforts to revise and deny its historical role in the Holocaust, a matter I have confronted through extensive legal action. This article explores the intersection of Tisha b’Av’s remembrance, Lithuania’s Holocaust revisionism and my legal battles to expose this distortion, drawing on insights from my work and the broader discourse on antisemitism.

Tisha b’Av: A Day of Collective Mourning

Tisha b’Av is marked by a 25-hour fast and the recitation of the Book of Lamentations, which mourns the destruction of Jerusalem. Over centuries the day has evolved to encompass additional tragedies, such as the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 and the Holocaust. Religious communities often incorporate special kinnot composed after the Holocaust, such as those by Rabbi Shimon Schwab in 1959 and Rabbi Solomon Halberstam in 1984, to honor the six million Jewish victims. This practice underscores the day’s role as a time to reflect on the enduring impact of antisemitism and the importance of historical truth. The Holocaust as a pinnacle of antisemitic violence is a focal point of this commemoration, making Lithuania’s revisionist policies particularly jarring in the context of Tisha b’Av.

Read more
Happy Birthday, Emanuelchik

Happy Birthday, Emanuelchik

A very happy birthday to Lithuania’s only Jewish MP, signatory to the 1990 Restoration of Lithuanian Independence Act, philologist, the first chairman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community aka the Jewish Culture Club founded in 1988 and all-around good person Emanuelis Zingeris.

The entire Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes you good health, endless energy and the highest continued success in your life and work. Mazl tov. Bis 120!

Šiauliai Jewish Community Celebrates 100th Birthday of Leiba Lipshitz

Šiauliai Jewish Community Celebrates 100th Birthday of Leiba Lipshitz

from the newspaper Šiaulių kraštas

The Chaim Frenkl Villa of the Aušra Museum in Šiauliai hosted a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Leiba Lipshitz on July 16. Lipshitz chronicled Jewish life in Šiauliai, researched regional history and was a well-known publix figure. People called him a walking encyclopedia. He survived the Stuthoff and Dachau concentration camps but lost his entire family in the Holocaust. He went back to his hometown and dedicated the rest of his life to documenting Jewish history and life in Šiauliai.

Historian Jonas Kiriliauskas delivered a presentation of Lipshitz and his views on life at the ceremony.

Read more