Serafima Velkovich from Israel delivered a public lecture at the Chaim Frankel villa on February 14, 2019, called “The Fate of Litvaks in the Holocaust in Yad Vasherm Documents and Projects.” The event was intended to mark the 75th anniversary…
Paul Packer, New Chairman of the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, Visited Lithuania in July
Paul Packer, chairman of the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, visited Jewish heritage sites including the Ponar Memorial Complex and the old Jewish cemetery in Šnipiškės with representatives from the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, the US…
Thank You to Out-Going Cultural Heritage Department Director Diana Varnaitė
The Lithuanian Jewish Community sincerely thanks Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Department director Diana Varnaitė for all the work she’s done to preserve Jewish heritage in Lithuania. The Community is also wondering who could replace her professionalism, intellect and sense of heritage…
Conference to Preserve Jewish Heritage in Pušalotas, Lithuania
A conference and inspection tour took place in Pušalotas, Lithuania, June 15, of the synagogue there known as “Yoshke’s house” which also included a Jewish primary school. The synagogue was built by Howard Margol’s great-grandfather, all of whose relatives lived…
Jews in Lithuania Experiencing Crisis in Values
by Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman, Lithuanian Jewish Community Jews as with any people are not homogenous. The history of Jews in Lithuania stretches back almost 700 years and during that time all sorts of things happened, rises and declines, and the…
New LJC Calendar for 5778 Features Lithuanian Synagogues
The new calendar for the Jewish year 5778 published by the Lithuanian Jewish Community features graphic representations of the synagogues of Lithuania in the drawings by Gerardas Bagdonavičius. Bagdonavičius (1901-1986) was an artist working in drawing and painting, an illustrator,…
Inter-Institutional Cooperation for the Preservation of Lithuanian Jewish Heritage
A paper delivered by Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky at the conference “Diaspora and Heritage: The Shtetl” held to mark the European Day of Jewish Culture and the Lithuanian Day of Remembrance of Jewish Victims of Genocide at the…
Thank You
A week has passed during which Lithuanian remembered her shtetlakh. The fourteenth celebration of the annual European Day of Jewish Culture has taken place in Lithuania, this year with the theme “Diaspora and Heritage: The Shtetlakh.” Lithuanian towns which used…
Joniškis White Synagogue Re-Opens
Re-Opening of White Synagogue in Joniškis During celebrations of Joniškis’s own city day next week the restored White Synagogue there is to host a re-opening ceremony. The synagogue was built in 1823 and its external face combines features of the…
Historical Attention to Historic Lithuanian Jewish Buildings
by Martynas Užpelkis, LJC heritage protection specialist An historical event! In recent days, almost a coincidence of sorts but more likely the result of dedicated and constant preparation, three historical Jewish community buildings in Vilnius have been repaired and restored…
Separate Program for Jewish Heritage Proposed
Diana Varnaitė. Photo courtesy Lithuanian Parliament BNS–Director of Lithuania’s Cultural Heritage Department Diana Varnaitė is proposing separate financing for preservation of Jewish heritage. Lithuanian parliamentary speaker Viktoras Pranckietis approves the idea. “We would think it would be appropriate to increase…
A Tale of Two Synagogues in Vilnius: Both Survived the Meat Grinder of History
… If you call the Choral Synagogue the fortunate daughter, then another surviving synagogue near the bus station and train station could be called the poor stepdaughter in terms of appearance and visitors. The building located at Gelių street no.…
Wooden Synagogues: Lithuania’s Unique Ethnic Architectural Legacy
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.…
Wooden Synagogues as Tourist Attractions
The Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Department under the Ministry of Culture has posted a PDF file on their website about wooden synagogues in Lithuania and their potential as tourist attractions called “Road of Wooden Synagogues”: The Road of Wooden Synagogues The…
A Disappearing Legacy: The Architecture of Wooden Synagogues
The Jewish Culture and Information Center’s Shofar Gallery (Mėsinių g. 3a/5, Vilnius) will host an exhibition of three-dimensional architectural models called “A Disappearing Legacy: The Architecture of Wooden Synagogues” opening at 6:00 P.M. on Friday, December 18, 2015. The cultural…
Alanta Wooden Synagogue Saved from Collapse
Building technical supervisor and engineer Giedris Butanavičius of the SDG company reported in July this year the synagogue in Alanta was in a state of imminent collapse. A main support beam had rotten through allowing the ceiling beams to sag,…
Blogger Focuses on Litvak Architecture, Cemetery Protection
Among the 60 or so experts from more than a dozen countries at the multi-disciplinary conference on Jewish cemeteries in Europe organized by the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe and hosted by the Lithuanian Jewish community on October 25-28 in Vilnius,…
Two Steps Forward, One Back
Two Steps Forward, One Back by Geoff Vasil Readers of the Lithuanian Jewish Community website might have been surprised yesterday by a news item appearing there in which Jonas Noreika was absolved, seemingly, of complicity in the Holocaust. Noreika is…
6 synagogues granted state protection in Lithuania
VILNIUS, Oct 05, BNS – Six synagogues across Lithuania have been listed as cultural objects protected by the state. Under a decree signed by the minister of culture, state protection was granted to synagogue complexes in Lygumos (the Pakruojis district),…
City of Kaišiadorys Adopts Žiežmariai Synagogue
At a meeting Thursday, July 30 of the Kaišiadorys City Council with mayor Vytenis Tomkus and Lithuanian Jewish Community chairperson Faina Kukliansky as well as the LJC’s heritage protection expert Martynas Užpelkis attending, the council considered what to do about…