Religion – Page 97 – Lithuanian Jewish Community

Lithuanian Jewish Community Position on the Reconstruction of the Great Synagogue in Vilnius

The following is an official letter sent by the Lithuanian Jewish Community to concerned government agencies.

September 27, 2016

To:
Remigijus Šimašius
mayor, city of Vilnius

Alminas Mačiulis
Government chancellor

Šarūnas Birutis
minister of culture

Linas Linkevičius
minister of foreign affairs

Diana Varnaitė
director, Cultural Heritage Department under the Ministry of Culture

On the Reconstruction of the Great Synagogue

As public interest has grown recently in the history and cultural legacy of Lithuanian Jews (Litvaks) and specifically regarding artifacts uncovered at the site of the Great Synagogue in Vilnius, we feel it our duty to again present our view, that of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, regarding the issue of the conservation of surviving parts and the possible reconstruction of the Great Synagogue, a building with extraordinary significance to the Lithuanian and the global Jewish community.

As we have said before many times, we support all meaningful initiatives to preserve, protect and commemorate the legacy and heritage of the Jews of Lithuania, but we do not support unreasonable projects to rebuild non-existing buildings which are carried out in the name of Jews. It seems that is what we are facing again in the idea developing over many years by certain government institutions and possibly including hidden business structures to rebuild the Great Synagogue complex in Vilnius.

In 2015 the municipal government enterprise Vilniaus Planas was commissioned by the municipality’s Urban Development Department to prepare draft construction proposals for a memorial to the Great Synagogue under pre-project proposals submitted by the architect Tzila Zak. The terms of reference of the planning task itself revealed the client’s attitude towards the rebuilding of the Great Synagogue as an attractve real estate development project: the primary task presented to planners was to submit a list of the buildings proposed for rebuilding, to name the rooms and premises slated for reconstruction and to calculate floor space.

2016-09-292016-11-21

Let’s Do Something Good

by Aurelija Servienė

Last week was special for Jews. On September 23 the Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Jews was marked. To mark the day, a club of mentally disabled people in Žemaitija called Telšių Atjauta [Empathy of Telšiai] under their chairman Kazimieras Mitkus did a good deed: they cleaned up the Jewish cemetery in Telšiai.

Mitkus said the club engages in activities which are unusual for similar organizations. He said they strive to make the activities meaningful for the community as well as organization members.

“One of the sectors we care for and maintain is the Telšiai Jewish cemetery. Last week was special, in that we took the initiative without waiting for anyone else and cleaned up the cemetery. In the belief that there might be guests coming this special week,” the club chairman commented.

2016-09-282016-10-20

Prize Recipients Chosen for Best Final Academic Work on Ethnic Minorities in 2016

Išrinkti 2016 m. Premijos už geriausią baigiamąjį mokslo darbą tautinių mažumų tematika laimėtojai

On September 14 the Academic Council of the Lithuanian Department of Ethnic Minorities selected the winners of a new prize created this year for best final academic work on ethnic minorities.

Department of Ethnic Minorities director Dr. Vida Montvydaitė made the final decision on recommendations from her Academic Council and selected Julijana Leganovič in the first nomination category for her bachelor’s work “Comparative View of the Development of the Vilnius and the Kaunas Jewish Communities in the Interwar Period.”

The second category was for master’s work and the winners were Rūta Anulytė with her “Heritage Protection and Maintenance of Historical Jewish Cemeteries in Lithuania: Practice and Recommendations” and Mantas Šikšnianas with his “Jews of Švenčionys from the mid-18th Century to the mid-20th Century: Shtetl, Sabbath, Shoah.”

Full story in Lithuanian here.

2016-09-272016-10-20

Events to Mark Day of Jewish Victims of Genocide in Lithuania and to Honor Rescuers of Jews.

September 20-28

Program of events

Registration form

2016-09-252016-09-25

LJC Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky Speaks at Ponar September 23, 2016

LŽB pirmininkės F. Kukliansky kalba Paneriuose Holokausto aukų pagerbimo ceremonijoje

Dear participants,

I am sincerely thankful that you have gathered here today together with the Jewish Community to honor the memory of Holocaust victims.

But can we truly speak about honoring Holocaust victims when multiple streets in Lithuania are named after Kazys Škirpa, there is a school named after Jonas Noreika and the monument to Juozas Krikštaponis has still not been torn down?

We don’t have public spaces named after Ozer Finkelstein, Katz Motel or Volf Kagan. How many know the name of Liba Mednikienė, a scout in the Lithuanian battles for independence? Despite her service, she was murdered by Lithuanians during the Holocaust.

This and similar fates awaited the victims at Ponar. Our younger generation still doesn’t know about 650 years of Jewish history in Lithuania, before, during and after the Holocaust. Will the history textbooks teach this to the young citizens of Lithuania someday?

The Lithuanian Jewish Community has more questions than answers. The only sure thing is that an irreversible process has taken place and the country will never again be what it was before the Holocaust. But the Jewish Community is still here, and as long as it is, it will seek justice. But the highest value, truth, can only be restored when Lithuania works up the courage to name the perpetrators of the Holocaust. To remain silent about the Holocaust perpetrators, to forget the victims of the Holocaust and to disregard the living Jewish community is the same thing as killing the Jews again.

Today we mark the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the mass murder of the Jews in Lithuania. Our hope is that the smaller towns of Lithuania will remember their lost Jewish communities all year round, not just during Holocaust commemorations. From sporadic, random and often simply superficial events, memory of the Holocaust needs to become general knowledge, to become an integral part of the worldview of every conscientious citizen of Lithuania.

Thank you all who are not indifferent to the memory of the Holocaust, the Jewish tragedy, Lithuania’s tragedy.

2016-09-252016-09-25

Lithuanian Jewish Genocide Victims Honored at Ponar

Paneriuose pagerbtos Lietuvos žydų genocido aukos

lrkm.lrv.lt

A ceremony to honor the victims of the genocide of the Jews of Lithuania was held at the Ponar Memorial Complex on September 23. The event was organized by the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Defense Ministry, the Lithuanian Jewish Community, the International Commission to Assess the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in Lithuania and the Vilnius municipality.

A minute of silence was observed and wreaths and flowers were laid at a monument to Holocaust victims. Students sang the Vilnius ghetto anthem. Vilnius ghetto inmates shared their thoughts. A cantor performed kaddish and an Israeli choir performed songs and hymns.

Before the ceremony participants in the Way of Memory civic initiative read the names of people murdered at Ponar, including the age and profession of victims, bringing the dead and the living closer together.

2016-09-252016-09-25

Kaunas Jewish Community Visit Balbieriškis and Prienai

Kauno žydų bendruomenė lankėsi Balbieriškyje bei Prienuose.

The Kaunas Jewish Community visited Balbieriškis and Prienai, Lithuania at the invitation of Balbieriškis Tolerance Center director Rymantas Sidaravičius on the European Day of Jewish Culture, September 4. The delegation toured a Balbieriškis Tolerance Center exhibit on the history of the Jews of the town and reflecting the center’s current relationships and friendships with Jews from around the world. They also toured the town, where Jewish homes and buildings from before the war still stand, and honored the memory of the dead with a prayer at the old Jewish cemetery in Balbieriškis.

Representatives then went to Prienai and honored Holocaust victims there. In Prienai they attended a museum event dedicated to the European Day of Jewish Culture. The museum event included a stirring presentation of the history of the Jews of Prienai, funny stories from Jewish life from before the war, significant achievements, good relations between Jews and other town residents and the Holocaust. The event included passages in Hebrew and Yiddish. The hosts made the delegation feel right at home at every stop on their visit, as if they were visiting old friends.

2016-09-21

Former Alytus Synagogue to House Museum

Buvusi sinagoga taps muziejumi

lzinios.lt

Renovation has begun on a century-old synagogue in Alytus, Lithuania. The building was used to store salt in the Soviet era and is now set to become a city community center and museum of Jewish culture. The Lithuanian Jewish Community, the Cultural Heritage Department and Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon who visited the town all gave their approval to the plans by Alytus. Support was pledges to secure funding to set up the museum of Jewish culture there and to acquire the necessary exhibit items.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

2016-09-21

Jewish Street Gets New Sign in Yiddish, Hebrew

Vilniuje Žydų gatvės pavadinimas užrašytas dar dviem kalbomis – ir יידישע גאס (jidiš klb.), ir רחוב היהודים (hebrajų klb.)

Žydų gatvė (Jewish Street, aka Yidishe Gas, aka ulica Żydowska), where the traditional Jewish quarter and the Great Synagogue of Vilnius was located, got a new sign in Yiddish and Hebrew Tuesday.

This was one in a continuing series of new signs in foreign languages, a controversial effort by Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius to showcase the multicultural identity of the Lithuanian capital. Earlier signs in “minority” languages included ones for Islandijos [Iceland] street, Washington Square, Varšuvos [Warsaw] street, Rusų [Russian] street and Totorių [Tatar] street in Vilnius.

2016-09-202016-09-21

Jewish Street in Vilnius to Get Trilingual Street Sign

Žydų gatvė (Jewish street, aka Yidishe gas, aka ulica Żydowska), where the traditional Jewish quarter and the Great Synagogue of Vilnius was located, is about to get signs in Yiddish and Hebrew.

The special event to unveil the new sign is scheduled for 11:30 A.M., Tuesday, September 20 at Žydų street no. 2.

The program includes a performance of a piece by the Jewish song and dance ensemble Fayerlakh, followed by Vytautas Mitalas, chairman of the Vilnius municipal council’s culture, education and sports committee, presenting Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius. Šimašius is to present a small speech. Mitalas will then introduce Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, who will also deliver a small speech. The mayor and the chairwoman will then unveil the new street sign. Fayerlakh is then scheduled to perform another song.

The historic street and a neighboring street were cleared of their mainly Jewish residents in 1941 when the Nazis and Nazi collaborators set up the Vilnius ghetto. The residents were murdered and a large population of Jews from other parts of the city were forced into the cramped quarters there. It was part of the so-called Small Ghetto in Vilnius, liquidated in October of 1942. Žydų gatvė was the site of the Shulhof, the collection of buildings built around the location of the residence and study of the Vilna Gaon and the Great Synagogue.

2016-09-192016-09-20

Lithuanian Jewish Community Demands Halt to Construction Work

Lithuanian Jewish Community

September 7, 2016 No. 319
September 6, 2016 No. 1-/6/P-007

To:

Tomas Pauliukonys, director
Vestata
V. Kudirkos street no. 18, Vilnius 03105

Arvydas Avulis, chairman of board of directors,
Hanner
Konstitucijos prospect no. 7, Vilnius 09308

cc:

Diana Varnaitė, director
Cultural Heritage Department under the Ministry of Culture
Šnipiškių street no. 3, Vilnius 09309

REGARDING WORK AT RINKTINĖS STREET NO. 3, VILNIUS

It has come to our attention that by order of companies under your direction during the last days of August of this year there was earth dug without permission during demolition and construction at the site of the former Žaligiris Stadium within the protected zone of the old Vilnius Jewish cemetery in Šnipiškės (cultural heritage register number KVR 31812, henceforth “Cemetery”). This is a gross violation of the signed agreement on the terms of the cultural heritage protection of the protective buffer zone of the Cemetery (henceforth “Terms”) adopted on August 26, 2009, as well as the agreement between the Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Vesata company and the Archeoligijos centras public organization (henceforth “Agreement”).

We demand an immediate halt to all work within the territory of the Cemetery and its protected zone until representatives of the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe (henceforth “Committee”) are able to assess the situation and decide appropriately regarding further work at the site.

According to our information, the earliest date a Committee representative could arrive is from September 12 to 15 of this year. Please respond quickly as to whether this date is appropriate for a visit, and as to whether you are willing to pay all costs associated with it.

[signed]
Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman

2016-09-192016-09-19

Same Problem Every Year at Jewish Mass Murder Sites

Kiekvienais metais ta pati problema prie žydų žudymo vietų

Every year the Panevėžys Jewish Community writes the municipal and regional administrations regarding the most tragic sites in Jewish history, sites which need continual upkeep and maintenance, the Jewish mass murder sties in the city, district and region of Panevėžys. And also in other towns such as Kupiškis, Pasvalys, Biržai, and smaller towns such as Krekenava, Pumpėnai, Raguva, Obeliai, Ramygala, Vabalninkas and others.

A large number of municipal and regional administrations consider all our requests in a spirit of goodwill and are engaged in solving the problem of maintenance at these places of tragedy, but, unfortunately, there are also a number of administrations who discover all sorts of reasons not to fulfill our requests. We believe there needs to be a common stance by government so that every year, especially in summer, cemeteries and the mass murder and mass grave sites are mowed and cleaned up. The municipal bodies of the towns of Kupiškis and Rokiškis are paying attention to the problem, while we have to beg and cajole the Pasvalys administration constantly to maintain and clean up the mass murder site in the Žadeikiai Forest there. The Jewish cemeteries in Krekenava and Raguva are in extremely bad repair.

2016-09-162016-09-16

Support the Lithuanian Jewish Community

Even your small donation today can help the Lithuanian Jewish Community achieve great things tomorrow.

The Lithuanian Jewish community has roots going back 700 years. Only a remnant survived the Holocaust. Although the current community is small, we are extremely active and are working hard to foster Jewish identity, maintain traditions and culture, commemorate Holocaust victims, provide social services to our members and promote tolerance in society.

We invite you to contribute to reviving at least a small portion of the legendary Jerusalem of Lithuania. Perform your mitzvah (good deed) today!

2016-09-152016-09-15

I’m Not Jewish

marius-ivaskevicius
by Marius Ivaškevičius

That’s what I want to tell everyone who the last three months have tactfully asked this of my friends and relatives. I am not Jewish at all, I don’t have a drop of Jewish blood. So why is he casting his lot with those Jews, what wild insect bit him? That’s another question heard often.

I can answer it almost by rote: I was bitten by a tick. Three years ago I filmed one scene at the old Jewish cemetery in Warsaw and it sucked my blood there. Furthermore, I got Lyme disease. And it so happened, or perhaps it was decided beforehand by that treacherous Jewish tick, that when I was taking antibiotics I became interested in the Jews in my town, their fate in my native Molėtai. And my hair stood on end and I got goose-bumps when I realized I had been living for 40 years in complete ignorance, on the margins of a gigantic tragedy without even sensing it existed. I knew there had been Jews, they had lived here, because their old cemetery still exists in Molėtai, as does their old “red bricks,” a long building, the oldest in the town, of connected shops, a sort of shopping mall of the period. I knew some unknown number of them had been killed, since, as I thought, some of them had been involved in Communist activities.

2016-09-092016-09-09

New Bagel Shop Menu

The Community’s kosher café the Bagel Shop invites you to come in and try some of new menu items for fall, including new bagels, Israeli salads and fresh-squeezed juice. Our new menu is displayed below and you can download it as well, or just stop by at Pylimo no.4 in Vilnius during regular business hours and see if you don’t find something which makes your mouth water. Oh, and we’re baking fresh challa bread every Friday.

Download

2016-09-092016-09-09

Molėtai Holocaust Procession Draws Record Crowd

eisena-skirta-iszudytiems-moletu-krasto-zydams-pagerbti-faina

More than 2,600 and perhaps as many as 4,000 people attended a rally and walked the route along which 2,000 Jews were marched to their deaths 75 years ago in the sleepy Lithuanian town of Molėtai Monday. The population of Molėtai was roughly 6,400 when last counted in 2011.

The town center and surrounding streets were filled with local residents and people from around the world, including Holocaust survivors and their descendants. Many Lithuanians brought their children and there were people from Estonia and a number of Lithuanian officials in the crowd. One group of young people waved Polish flags–the Polish Armia Krajowa operated in the area in 1944. A small group of Lithuanian boy and girl scouts attended, while another small group carried a Lithuanian flag, and others sported Israeli flags. A monk in black robes stood by the stage, on the other side of which there was a long line of people holding posters with names, faces and descriptions. A central area contained about twenty folding chairs for elderly and distinguished guests, including Vytautas Landsbergis and Holocaust survivor Irena Veisaitė. Lithuanian MP Emanuelis Zingeris, a Litvak, also attended. The priest Tomas Šernas was also there, as was Lithuanian Jewish partisan Fania Brancovskaja. Other distinguished guests included Conservative Party and parliamentary opposition leader Andrius Kubilius, Lithuanian defense minister Juozas Olekas and deputy foreign minister Mantvydas Bekešius.

2016-09-082016-09-09

Record Turnout for Biržai Holocaust Commemoration

Around 200 people attended an annual commemoration of the Holocaust victims of Biržai, Lithuania Sunday, August 28, 2016. In prior years those travelling to the rural town near the Latvian border numbered in the dozens. Only members of four families survived the Holocaust in Biržai. Their descendants now live in other locations in Lithuania and Israel and have been making the pilgrimage back to honor their murdered relatives since the end of World War II.

A Holocaust historian who attended said larger interest this year was likely the result of publicity for the Molėtai Holocaust commemoration on August 29.

Ten speakers spoke at the commemoration, including a moving speech by Lionginas Virbalas, the Catholic archbishop of Kaunas who was born and grew up in Biržai. Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky also spoke eloquently about the past and the future. Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon spoke and a representative from the US embassy whose Jewish family roots are in Biržai also participated.

There wasn’t a formal march to the killing site. Instead there was a walking tour of Jewish sites in Biržai, including the former synagogue, Jewish houses and buildings and the old Jewish cemetery, where a portion of the Jews of Biržai were murdered. The group then moved to the killing site about 2 kilometers outside town where prayers were said by representatives of different religious communities.

2016-09-082016-09-08

Israeli Embassy Invites You to an Exhibit of Children’s Drawings

ldj

Children’s Art Exhibit Let’s Draw Jerusalem

The Israeli embassy and municipalities of Vilnius and Elektrėnai have the pleasure of inviting you to attend the opening of the Let’s Draw Jerusalem exhibition of drawings by children in the second-floor foyer of the Vilnius Municipality building at Konstitucijos prospect no. 3, Vilnius at 2:00 P.M. on September 12.

The artwork is the result of a student contest the Israeli embassy and the municipality of Elektrėnai sponsored in April of 2016 called “Let’s Draw Jerusalem.” The idea was to combine symbolically the past and the future and the children were instructed to draw anything they associate with Jerusalem and Vilnius, Israel and Lithuania and the history and legacy of Litvaks. Come take a look at the wonderful pictures they came up with!

The exhibit will run till September 23.

2016-09-08

Wooden Synagogues: Lithuania’s Unique Ethnic Architectural Legacy

Medinės sinagogos – unikalus etninės Lietuvos architektūros paveldas

The relicts of the Jewish cultural landscape created over more than 600 years in cities, towns and villages throughout Lithuania can be placed in four categories: mass murder sites; cemeteries; synagogues and other heritage buildings; monuments and other commemorative markers. Martynas Užpelkis, Lithuanian Jewish Community heritage protection expert delivering a lecture at an event dedicated to the European Day of Jewish Culture, said: “The Lithuanian Jewish Community, almost exterminated during the Holocaust, is not able to maintain and protect heritage sites throughout Lithuania alone today. The role of the Lithuanian state and municipal institutions, NGOs and citizens is crucial. Many challenges are arising, but great results have been achieved in cooperation with the Cultural Heritage Department and the municipalities.”

To what use should the synagogue buildings be put?

About 80 synagogues survive in Lithuania today, and 43 of them are listed on the register of cultural treasures. There are only two working synagogues and all other buildings are being put to other uses or are not being used at all. The LJC owns 13 synagogues and synagogue complexes. Most of the buildings are not in use and are in serious disrepair.

2016-09-042016-09-26