Learning, History, Culture

Lithuanian Political Illusions: The “Policy” of the Lithuanian Provisional Government and the Beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania in 1941

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is publishing a series of articles by the historian Algimantas Kasparavičius, a senior researcher at the Lithuanian History Institute.

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Part 1

In Lithuanian historiography and in the public socio-cultural discourse, Lithuania’s greatest tragedy is often considered the Soviet occupation of 1940, which quickly turned into annexation and the loss of statehood. While not denying the historical significance of this catastrophe for modern Lithuanian statehood, considering the wider and deeper historical view, this is not entirely fair or moral historically. The greatest 20th century tragedy really came upon Lithuania not in June of 1940, when freedom and statehood was lost, but a year later when the Holocaust began in Nazi-occupied Lithuania. The greatest 20th-century tragedy for Lithuania is the destruction of the Jewish community which had lived for half of a millennium and had created a civic Lithuanian identity. Even the loss of national statehood is not an irreversible process, as shown by the experience of many peoples. When a nation loses statehood during critical historical circumstances, after the geopolitical situation changes for the better it is possible to restore it. That’s what Lithuania did as well on March 11, 1990. But the former Lithuanian Jewish Litvak community, rich in all senses, will never be restored, unfortunately. And that can only mean one thing, that our Lithuania, which for many Lithuanians still represents, as Dr. Jonas Basanavičius said, “the home of the people,” will remain diminished, darker, emptier, weaker and more fragile. In terms of civilization. Emotionally. Culturally. Demographically. Geopolitically.

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What We Lost in WWII

by Marius Debesis
15min.lt

You could characterize Vilnius today as a city emerging from post-traumatic stress syndrome, covered with the wounds of war still visible to the naked eye, or sometimes only visible under profound examination, scars testifying to the city’s losses, slicing through the street plan but every year receding into the distance, into oblivion. To really understand Vilnius, one must consider the totality of losses, summing up what the capital lost during the war.

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Walking through the city looking for the “heritage” of the war, it’s useful to define several categories for what the Lithuanian capital lost during the war. The one to begin with is not cultural, but rather personal losses, from the loss of people who were an indivisible part of the city of Vilnius. Consider the most painful loss—the Holocaust of Vilnius Jews, which deprived the city of one of its greatest portions of identity, so significant that in Jewish culture Vilnius was bestowed the title of Jerusalem of the North. Although this text talks mainly about Jews, death hovered above everyone in Vilnius without regard to social status or religious or political conviction.

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Full story in Lithuanian here.

Condolences

News of the unexpected death of Ruvinas Taicas has reached the Lithuanian Jewish Community. He was born May 19, 1950, and passed away January 4. Our deepest condolences to his family and many friends.

Ruvinas Taicas, a Litvak with deep family roots in Ukmergė (Vilkomir), was one of the last native Jews in his hometown where he spent his entire life, working for many years in a furniture factory.

The entire Community mourn his loss and send our condolences to his widow Fausta, sons Artūras and Mantas, his brothers and all his relatives, friends and colleagues. We wish you strength and fortitude in overcoming the pain of our shared loss.

LJC Birthdays in January

Happy birthday to all members of the communities celebrating their birthdays in January!

Vilnius Jewish Community

Nina Dubrovskaja (January 22)
Ninel Efros (January 15)
Malka Fišer (January 9)
Borisas Kacas (January 5)
Galina Matskevitch (January 19)
Judif Rozina (January 8)
Ilana Rozentalienė (January 16)
Mira Bloch (January 15)
Ela Kruglova (January 12)
Zinaida Vinickaja (January 12)
Zofija Tunkel (1942 01 10)
Jurij Riabov (January 13)
Jakovas Bumšteinas (January 26)
Polina Kurbanova (January 5)
Michail Safjan (January 26)
Dina Ščerbinkina (January 23)

Kaunas Jewish Community

Civa Čereškienė (January 13)

Panevėžys Jewish Community

Valentina Darinceva (January 28)

Israeli PM Accused of Accepting Cigars as Gifts, Wife Got Pink Champagne

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Vague accusations leading to an interview of long-standing Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu last week just got a lot more specific—and more laughable. According to Times of Israel, leaks from the on-going investigation show Netanyahu is accused of accepting “expensive cigars” as gifts from a Hollywood movie producer, and his wife received gifts of pink champagne from the same man.

Earlier reports alleged his wife Sara had somehow illicitly funneled state monies for the purchase of—lawn furniture, for use at the prime minister’s residence.

The sudden corruption probe followed hard on the heels of a diplomatic falling-out with the United States last week which some media pundits called the lowest point in the history of US-Israeli relations ever. Outgoing Obama administration secretary of state John Kerry added insult to the injury of US tacit approval for a resolution condemning Israeli actions in the West Bank adopted by the UN Security Council by taking to the airwaves and breaking almost 8 years of complete silence over the issue in a sharply-worded demarche to Israel’s leaders. President-elect Donald Trump has promised a more favorable set of policies for Israel including recognition of Jerusalem as the de jure capital of the Jewish state.

Full story here.

Call for Information about Jews Murdered near Švenčionėliai, Lithuania, in 1941

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Please contact Moshe Shapiro at moisa50@mail.ru if you have any information.

No one who witnessed or lost relatives to the tragic events in the Švenčionys region in October of 1941 will ever forget.

All Jews living in the Švenčionys region, including doctors, bankers, rabbis and any number of other professionals, were locked up in a ghetto and then shot that fall after the Nazis occupied New Švenčionys (that’s what it was officially called in the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic) in October, 1941.

A site for the mass murder of Jews in the Švenčionys region was selected in a pine forest in the village of Platumai near the town of Švenčionėliai across the Žeimena River. The remains of military barracks still stood there. Local police received secret orders in August of 1941 for sending all Jews to Švenčionėliai and stealing their property. Jews held in the barracks for a week suffered hunger and cold besides the looming uncertainty over their future. The barracks were surrounded by a fence and the area around that had land mines.

In October the local district police chief delivered the order by the German regime to shoot all the Jews of Švenčionys and the 22 surrounding towns and villages. About 8,000 Jews were murdered in cold blood at the execution site in October. Locals were shocked.

A memorial first erected in 1961 to the murdered Jews hasn’t been repaired in more than a decade. After standing there for two decades it needed repairs in 1984 and was reconstructed by the architect Astutė Bučinskaitė then. It was again reconstructed in 1993. The centerpiece is a granite slab with the names of the shtetls. The last major refurbishment was in 2002 when benches were installed and gravel brought in.

The Švenčionys Regional Jewish Community wants to fix up the memorial and better commemorate the victims.

The project will cost about 6,200 euros. The Ethnic Minorities Department under the Lithuanian Government will provide partial funding, and the Švenčionys regional administration will also make a financial contribution, totaling 20 percent of total costs or 1,200 euros.

The project will learn the names of victims and compile a comprehensive list, and the new memorial will include an information board. Although some names are known from the Lithuanian archives and from the book in Hebrew and Yiddish called the Book of Memory of the Twenty-Three Jewish Communities of Švenčionys Region published in Tel Aviv in 1965, there are still real difficulties in learning the specific identities of those who were murdered and buried across the river from Švenčionėliai.

Švenčionys Regional Jewish Community chairman Moshe Shapiro is highly cognizant and appreciative of the grave responsibility posed by this important project, and is asking those who survived the Holocaust from the smaller towns in the Švenčionys region, their children, grand-children and relatives, wherever they might live now, to share any information they might have, including stories and the names and surnames of the victims.

Please contact Moshe Shapiro at moisa50@mail.ru if you have any information.

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Vilnius Metropolitan Gintaras Grušas’s Hanukkah Greetings

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December 21, 2016

To Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community

I sincerely congratulate you and the entire Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) Community on the holiday of Hanukkah.

Together with you I take joy in the miracles of the Creator, which He has done for your people and is now effecting in the life of every human being.

May the light of the Hanukkah candles, enjoining us to give thanks to our Creator, fill your community to overflowing with peace and joy, and encourage all of us to spread the goodness and hope of God to all people.

[signed]
+ Gintaras Grušas
Vilnius metropolitan archbishop

Shalom (from Birzh)

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Executive board of Association of Biržai Firefighters, 1936. First person sitting on left: Boruch Michelson. Third seated from left: G. Belickas. First standing from left: S. Chaitas. Fifth from left standing: I. Masas. Photo courtesy Sėla Museum.

by Borisas Januševičius

This is a greeting among Jews. It is the wish for peace, spiritual peace and security. Lithuanian “sveikas” corresponds to “shalom aleichem,” peace to you [sic]. I heard these types of greetings often in my childhood. Parents—neighbors, Jews—of my friends (in Jewish jargon khebra: meydal and bakhur) used to use them. We also used this jargon, Kučinskų Aliukas, Kėkštų Zenka, Karpuškų Liolė and others, including me. Our chebra, our friends of darker extraction have been lying in the ground in Pakamponys for 75 years now. Their memory is fading fast into the past.

Conflicted Thoughts against the Backdrop of Noble Action

For some time now I have been watching the burgeoning interest in the Jews who lived so numerously in Biržai between the wars. Their mysterious codes are deciphered, projects are planned and carried out and the attempt is made to provide a background of international significance to this activity. The Israeli ambassador, the deputy US ambassador, Lithuania’s chief rabbi [sic], the chairwoman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, the president of the Brooklyn Synagogue, Lithuanian members of parliament, Kaunas archbishop Lionginas Virbalas, representatives of the Jewish communities of certain cities and many others all rushed to Biržai. The men of Biržai donned Jewish “yarmulkes.” The sorrowful hymn of the cantor rang out across the Jewish cemetery. Some of the guests only then learned that there is a place called Biržai in this world with its unique Jewish and Karaite cemetery.

Unfortunately, Sheftel Melamed was not among those who turned, who used to call himself the only surviving Jew in Biržai. Melamed died more than a year ago. Sheftel and his brother went to Russia in June of 1941 and that’s how they survived. When he came to his hometown in 1945 he didn’t find his parents’ home on Vytauto street, it had burned down. Neither did he find the relatives he had left here four years earlieir. His mother Paya, his father Peisach and his brother Hirsh were shot in Pakamponys.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

Kaunas Jewish Community Celebration

The Kaunas Jewish Community send their greetings for the New Year and Hanukkah, both of which members celebrated at a number of locations in Kaunas.

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Festivities included lighting candles together, a violin and saxophone concert, a pancake-eating contest and potato pancakes and doughnuts for all.

Holiday celebrations were organized using Goodwill Foundation and LJC Social Program funds.

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Challenges of History after the Hanukkah Miracle

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Dr. Aušra Pažėraitė

The discussion rages on on the social networks about the wisdom or folly of lighting large menorah displays in non-Jewish cities, whether or not to say the blessing, and how much authentically Jewish is really left in the holiday of Christmukkah, as images of square and overturned Christmas trees with branches forming menorahs are exchanged. In respect to all this, we could turn back again to the historical opposition between Greek and Jew and the Jewish victory. The more salient aspect today, though, having in mind the different possible interactions of a religious or ethnic minority with the dominant host culture, is the history of what happened “Post-Hanukkah.”

It’s ironic that, as researcher Erich Gruen points out, after the Hasmoneans won the independence of the state of Judea and established a royal dynasty, and after they established the Torah as the law of the land (or constitution), the Hellenization of the country only increased, and accelerated throughout the period of the kingdom. Martin Hengel also believes the Judaism of Judea in the period was highly Hellenized, although he tries to frame it within “the conflict between the Judaism of Palestine and the spirit of the age of Hellenism” and is forced to explain the crisis of the Maccabee era did lead to a reaction in Judea which put a halt to syncretism, channeled intellectual activities to Torah study and blocked any criticism of the cult and the law. As many authors note, the influence of Hellenism in Judea is obvious, while literature written in the Land of Israel clearly differs from that written in the Diaspora. There Hellenistic literature was neither completely assimilated, nor was it entirely rejected. (As an analogue one might think about contemporary Israel which includes a completely modern secularism differing in none of its essentials from that of the West, and also extremely segregated religious communities.)

Historian Louis H. Feldman presents different artifacts discovered by archaeologists in the Land of Israel from Hellenistic times. Among them are representations of different Greek gods and figures in synagogues, private homes and other locations. Feldman says, based on Rab Gamaliel (first century CE) in the mishnah tractate Avoda Zara, the rabbis of the period weren’t frightened of the pagan deities and didn’t believe they could somehow engage Jews in the pagan cults. Gamaliel says the bath h went to was not the ornament of Aphrodite, but on the contrary, Aphrodite was the ornament of the bath, a mere decoration. This view might have been the one prevailing among the sages of Judea at the time, namely, that the use of Greek gods and other Greek elements in daily life was a degradation of these gods, in modern terms perhaps their “commodification,” and in no way their worship. Feldman shows third-century rabbi Yohan was likewise unopposed to mosaics portraying Aphrodite.

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Remembering Osip Mandelstam, Litvak Poet, 125 Years after His Birth

Šiemet minimos 125-osios garsaus poeto, litvako Osipo Mandelštamo gimimo metinės

This year marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of famous Litvak poet Osip Mandelshtam. At the LJC’s Mini Limmud conference held in November, one of the lectures was dedicated to the work of the famous poet. The lecture was by Ellena Suodienė, who is the author of 16 books of poetry and defended her doctoral thesis on the Russian poetry of Marina Tsvetaeva. Suodienė was awarded the Golden Quill diploma of the European Arts and Literature Institute and taught at the Kaunas Liberal Arts Faculty of Vilnius University until the year 2000. She published three books of poetry while she was teaching. She is the currently the hostess of the Nadezhda Russian Meeting Club in Kaunas. Suodienė has dedicated much of her time and research to the life and work of Osip Mandelstam and even wrote a poem about him.

On the 125th anniversary of his birth we are again reminded Osip Mandelstam is one of the most famous Litvaks on the world stage. Many remember him as a brilliant poet who suffered under the persecution of the Stalin regime. Suodienė calls him a martyr to poetry.

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Holiday Greetings from Gediminas Kirkilas

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Deputy speaker of parliament and former prime minister Gediminas Kirkilas sends holiday greetings to the Lithuanian Jewish Community. Unofficial translation:

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

I greet you on the occasion of the coming holiday, the most beautiful holiday of the year and the coming New Year, 2017. This is a special time to remember all of you, to take joy in our having spoken, shared, sympathized and learned from one another. This is a time for sincere and heartfelt greetings. May harmony prevail in your home, may your hearts be filled with warmth and may success follow upon your new endeavors.

Yours,

[signed]
Gediminas Kirkilas,
deputy speaker,
chairman of the European Affairs Committee
Lithuanian Parliament

Discover, Recognize, Accept

One beautiful December afternoon director Vida Pulkauninkienė and members of the Dukstyna Tolerance Education Center travelled to Vilnius to meet with Jewish Community member Geršonas Taicas. The knowledgeable Taicas took them on a tour of the Vilnius Old Town and told them about famous Jewish personalities.

During the walking tour Taicas took them to the remnants of the old city wall where in the early 17th century the Bastillion was built at the Subocz Gate. This is a defensive fortification consisting of a tower, an artillery section and a tunnel connecting them. From there they walked to a location where the city and its surrounding areas are clearly visible and took in the view.

On Strazdelio street they saw the building where the Romm publishing house operated.

They also saw the building where Jascha Heifetz, the famous 20th century violinist, studied.

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New York Times: Ponar Top Science Story in 2016

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Jewish forced laborers dug a tunnel from this holding pit near Vilnius, Lithuania, into the surrounding forest. Photo: Ezra Wolfinger for NOVA

In a look back at the top science stories of 2016, the New York Times science desk included non-invasive archaeology last summer at Ponar outside Vilnius. In “Evidence of a Great Escape” (not to be confused with The Great Escape at Stalag Luft III in Poland), New York Times science writer Nicholas St. Fleur talks about the discoveries made there.

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In 1943, the Nazis forced 80 Lithuanian Jews to dig up the rotting bodies of their murdered neighbors, pile them on top of wood and burn them.

They were then ordered to mix the ashes with sand and bury the remains so no one would know of the atrocities committed at Ponar, an extermination site where the Nazis executed more than 100,000 people.

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Panevėžys and Ukmergė Jewish Communities Celebrate Hanukkah

On December 30 the Panevėžys City and Ukmergė Regional Jewish Communities celebrated Hanukkah together at the restaurant Vakarinė žara, where they have held such celebrations for several years now. The event was heavily attended by members of both communities, their families and honored guests, including Panevėžys mayor Rytis Račkauskas, Panevėžys Jewish Community patron Yuri Grafman, the historian Vidmantas Janukonis and city council members Galina Kuzmienė and Alfonsas Petrauskas, among others. Attendees appeared to have a wonderful time and there was much conversation and many greetings. Participants enjoyed traditional Hanukkah treats including latkes and doughnuts.

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Greetings from Japan

Mr. Takanobu Fuchikami, the mayor of Tsuruga, Japan, sends holiday and New Year’s greetings to the Lithuanian Jewish Community. Tsuruga is a Japanese port city which received Jewish refugees issued transit visas by Japan’s consul in Kaunas, Lithuania, Righteous Gentile Chiune Sugihara.

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Hanukkah at Choral Synagogue

Chanukos šventė Vilniaus Choralinėje sinagogoje 2016

The Hanukkah celebration at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius yesterday was both moving and fun with many esteemed guests and traditional Hanukkah foods including latkes and doughnuts. A warm and happy atmosphere prevailed and the klezmer group Rakija Klezmer Orkestar contributed to the festive mood with great performances of Jewish song. Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky greeted celebrants of the Hanukkah miracle. The miracle of this year’s Hanukkah, she said, was Lithuanians celebrating the Jewish holiday with Jews at the synagogue and Lithuanians and people of other ethnicities performing Jewish music there. It is a blessing to be able to celebrate together with the Jewish community in one’s own land, she said.

Lithuanian parliamentary speaker Pranckietis, Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon, Lithuanian ambassador to Israel Bagdonas and US embassy deputy chief of mission Solomon attended.

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Snapshots available here.

Video footage available here and here courtesy of Amit Belaitė.

Hanukkah and the Light of the Torah

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Dr. Aušra Pažėraitė

The Talmud (Shabbat 21b) speaks rather laconically of the origins of this holiday:

“Kislev 25, the days of Hanukkah which are eight, there is no mourning, there is no fasting during these days. When the Greeks came into the Temple, they polluted all the oil in the Temple, and when the Hasmonean dynasty overcame and defeated them, they checked [the Temple] and found just one jug of oil, which was in its place, and was sealed with the seal of the High Priest. But in it there was oil [only sufficient] for burning for just one day. A miracle occurred in connection with it: it burned for eight days. The next year they established them [these days] as holy days for giving glory (hallel) and thanks.”

The retelling isn’t as comprehensive as found in the Christian Bible where the two Books of the Maccabees written in Greek are found. They tell a longer story of Jewish persecution during the reign of the Hellenistic king of Syria Antiochus Epiphanes, the Jewish revolt under the brothers Maccabee and their victory. The Greek telling is full of rhetorical details speaking to how widespread Greek culture had taken root throughout the nation, even among the priesthood of the Temple in Jerusalem: “Now such was the height of Greek fashions, and increase of heathenish manners, through the exceeding profaneness of Jason, that ungodly wretch, and no high priest; That the priests had no courage to serve any more at the altar, but despising the temple, and neglecting the sacrifices, hastened to be partakers of the unlawful allowance in the place of exercise, after the game of Discus called them forth; Not setting by the honors of their fathers, but liking the glory of the Grecians best of all” (2 Maccabees 4:13-15). Athletics were practiced in the nude, and so displayed the evidence of circumcision, which caused shame, since it didn’t fit with the Greek ideal of manly virtue, kalokagathia. It tells how the Temple was looted and desecrated, and renamed Jupiter Olympus. Demands by the “Greek” regime to violate the Torah are also enumerated, and the story of the martyrs who refused to do so is provided. Many of the details of the stories are unclear to historians, but a general picture of the times is more or less provided. And this includes not just the brutal actions of the Hellenistic regime, but also the attraction and endless temptation Hellenistic thought and the Hellenistic lifestyle exerted.

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President-Elect Trump: Stand Strong, Israel, January 20th Is Fast Approaching!

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Baltic News Service reported a statement by outgoing US leader Barack Obama angered president-elect Donald Trump, who issued a text on twitter in response stating he is trying not to pay attention to Obama’s many attempts to bait and provoke. Trump said he had expected the transfer of power to go smoothly, but had been disappointed, according to BNS.

Earlier in the week Obama claimed he would have been elected to a third term if he were allowed to do so, and that a majority of the electorate supports what he called his political vision.

President-elect Trump took Obama to task over Israel in his postings on twitter, saying the US had alienated her best friend Israel by acting dishonorably and in an insulting manner. Trump said the current spat began with an agreement with Iran over the peaceful use of nuclear energy and then moved into the arena of United Nations. “Stay strong, Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!” the new leader of the United States wrote.

Last week for the first time since 1979 the 15-member Security Council of the United Nations adopted a resolution demanding an immediate halt to Jewish settlement in occupied Palestinian territories. In past efforts the United States used its veto power to stop such resolutions. This time the US abstained and allowed it to pass. Trump said the US needed to veto the resolution and criticized Obama for stances taken against America’s closest ally in the Middle East.

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Respect for Ethnic Community Heritage Successful Element of Integration

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The Ethnic Minorities Department under the Lithuanian Government held a discussion called “Respect for Ethnic Community Heritage a Successful Element of Integration” just before Christmas where heritage specialists, representatives of Lithuania’s ethnic minorities and members of the press discussed ethnic heritage.

Ethnic Minorities Department director Dr. Vida Montvydaitė opened the discussion noting the topic of heritage unites all of the country’s communities and associations.

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Diana Varnaitė, director of the Cultural Heritage Department under the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture, said Lithuania’s cultural heritage is reflected in the country’s ethnic associations and their stories in the context of the development of the Lithuanian state. “Our state is very rich in associations who have created symbols. The most easily and most frequently recognized ones are sacred sites,” she said, noting many associations hold dear their historical cemeteries. She said there is often a lack of knowledge preventing recognition of this diversity, so that the ethnic communities are often the best partners in heritage protection work, and that her organization has great expectations of the Ethnic Minorities Department. Varnaitė said recognition of heritage is the key to its preservation. “What we recognize, what we hold dear, becomes part of us, our communities, the ethnic associations themselves and the local communities.”

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