Wooden Synagogue in Alanta Renovated
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LJC, International Comminission and Olga Lengyel Institute Holding Holocaust Seminars for Teachers
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LJC Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky Speaks at Commemoration of Grosse
Aktion in Kaunas
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Šiauliai Opens Righteous Gentile Square at the Intersection of Vilniaus and Ežero Streets at Former Ghetto Gates
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"Symphony from Jerusalem of the North” Mark Day of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide in Presidential Courtyard
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The renovated synagogue in Žiežmariai will become a new cultural center. The first synagogue in appeared sometime between 1690 and 1696. In the 19th century there three synagogues. Not surprising, since the majority of the population were Jewish. This synagogue which has survived and has now been renovated stands in the southern part of town between Vilniaus and Žalgirio streets, with the Strėva river flowing from southeastward from there.
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The Lithuanian Post Office has issued a stamp commemorating 300 years since the birth of the Vilna Gaon
The Lithuanian Post Office has issued a stamp commemorating 300 years since the birth of the Vilna Gaon
with a face value of 0.81 euros, enough to mail letters abroad.
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Lithuania Marks 300th Anniversary of Birth of Vilna Gaon, 2020 Named Year of the Gaon and Litvak History.
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Most important events at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in 2018
Most important events at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in 2018
Revival of Jewish Scouting in Lithuania: The first new Litvak scouting camping trip with children from Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys and Molėtai took place August 24 to 26.
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Jewish newspapers and advertisements from Vilnius in the period between the two world wars. Jews and other minorities were given equal rights in the reconstituted Lithuanian state. Yiddish thrived with many newspapers and books published in the language.
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Fate of Central European University: Educational Issue, or Anti-Semitism?

by Gintarė Kubiliūtė
bernardinai.lt

The existence of the Central European University in the Hungarian capital Budapest is now under threat after Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban’s government announced amendments to the education law.

The CEU was established by Hungarian Jewish businessman in 1991. It is accredited in the United States and Hungary, but only operates in Hungary. The right-wing government led by Orban wants the CEU to open a branch in New York state, and if they don’t, the university in Hungary will be shut down. Furthermore, under the new legislation the university would be forced to issue diplomas valid in the US and Hungary.

The possible new requirements by Orban’s government could be fatal to the Central European University because there is not enough funding to open a branch campus in New York state and coordination the issuing of diplomas between governments would be slow, complicated and, one can say, the university wouldn’t have very much influence on the process. Therefore the legislative amendments would make the CEU completely dependant on the Hungarian ruling party.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

NOVA Documentary Holocaust Escape Tunnel Screened at Vilna Gaon Museum

The Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum screened the NOVA documentary about Jewish Vilna which aired earlier in the spring on the PBS network in the United States on July 18. The event space was filled with audience members and staff had to find additional chairs for the large crowd. Many sat in the upstairs balcony overlooking the space. Also in attendance were current and former staff from the Vilna Gaon museum and MP Emanuelis Zingeris. The audience was mainly interested members of the Lithuanian public including a large number of young Lithuanians.

Speaking before the film, museum director Markas Zingeris praised the documentary about archaeological digs at the site of the former Great Synagogue in Vilnius and at the Holocaust mass murder site Ponar just outside the Lithuanian capital.

Deputy chief of mission at the United States embassy to Lithuania Howard Solomon also called the film important and reiterated long-standing US support for the Lithuanian Jewish community.

Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon noted Israelis remember the heroes as well as the victims during Holocaust commemorations, and said his personal hero was Fania Brancovskaja, the FPO partisan present in the audience. He also expressed the hope the documentary would be shown throughout Lithuania.

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WJC President Lauder Applauds French President Macron for Denouncing Anti-Zionism as New Form of Anti-Semitism

Jews around the world are suffering the effects of anti-Israel hate speech, Lauder says

NEW YORK – World Jewish Congress president Ronald S. Lauder on Monday applauded and thanked French president Emmanuel Macron for denouncing anti-Zionism as a “renewed form of anti-Semitism,” and for his pledge to “never surrender to the messages of hate.”

“At a time of resurging anti-Semitism across Europe, including in France, the World Jewish Congress is encouraged by president Macron’s recognition that anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are two sides of the same coin,” Lauder said.

“It has become all too normative and acceptable for anti-Semites to hide behind the so-called politically correct curtain of criticizing Israel, and Jewish communities around the world are suffering the effects. Anyone who challenges the Jewish right to self-determination is an anti-Semite, and anyone who believes that it is even remotely acceptable to lash out at Jews amid criticism of the Jewish state is an anti-Semite.

“Thank you, president Macron for your pledge to protect the Jewish community of France against messages of hate. I trust that you will fulfill this commitment to fighting anti-Semitism in both its traditional form and in its new manifestation of anti-Zionism.

“Europe as a whole is contending with the rise of global terror, coupled with a dangerous atmosphere of xenophobia. We must do everything in our power to curb the violence and incitement, and ensure that all communities in Europe, large and small, are able to live under the values of liberty and justice that makes European society so strong,” Lauder concluded.

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Lithuanian Makabi Makes Successful Showing at Maccabiah Games

A delegation of 28 athletes from the Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club participated at the 20th quadrennial Maccabiah Games in Israel from July 4 to July 18. The Lithuanian team took part in 7 different sports and won six medals, two gold in the youth singles competitions and with Israeli table tennis athlete Janin Karmazin in doubles, won by Lithuanian table tennis player Neta Alon. She won another bronze medal in women’s doubles matches with teammate Vanesa Ražanskytė.

In badminton Mark Šames took silver in singles matches and Daniel Tarachovskij with Ukraine’s Natalija Ruzgaizer won bronze in mixed doubles matches.

Chess master Eduardas Rozentalis won another bronze for Lithuanian Makabi.

Our mini-soccer team (top rated among European teams) took a very respectable fifth place, defeating Mexico 6:6 due to a penalty on July 16. During matches the Lithuanian Makabi mini-soccer team beat Cuba, Gibraltar and Sweden, lost to Australia and tied with Brasil but failed to secure the right to compete for bronze because of an overall worse proportion of goals.

During the Maccabiah Games members of the delegation, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and leaders of Litvak organizations in Israel participated in a meeting with Lithuanian embassy consular officer Aleksandras Kubada.

The official closing ceremony for the 20th Maccabiah Games takes place July 17.

Semionas Finkelšteinas, president
Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club

OSE Part 1

It seems the French social welfare system has no equal. We visited one of the oldest Jewish social support organizations, the OSE (Œuvre de Secours aux Enfants), whose origins extend back to St. Petersburg, Russia in 1912, when the Interior Ministry of the Russian Empire granted permission for the establishment of the OZE (Obshchestvo Zdravookhraneniya Evreev), the Jewish health-protection association. Russia was enveloped in heavy anti-Semitism at the time and pogroms were frequent. The granting of permission for the organization coincided in time with the beginning of the movement for Jewish cultural autonomy. The main goal of OZE was to establish a modern social welfare and health-care system for Jews for whom medical care was inaccessible in the Russian Empire. The organization established a branch in France in 1933.

During the Nazi occupation Jewish children were ruthlessly murdered. Various ways to save them were found, either sending them out of the country, or hiding them. One of the more active players in rescuing Jewish children was the Œuvre de Secours aux Enfants organization, or OSE, who saved hundreds of children.

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Macron Condemns French Role in Holocaust

Paris, July 16, BNS–French president Emmanuel Macron Sunday condemned his country’s collaboration with the Nazis in the Holocaust and criticized those who seek to reduce France’s role in sending tens of thousands of Jews to their deaths.

French Jewish leaders delivered speeches during an emotional event at the Velodrome d’Hiver indoor bicycle racing cycle track and stadium where 75 years ago, on July 16 and 17, 1942, Vichy police imprisoned about 13,000 Jews. Less than 100 of them survived being sent to Nazi death camps.

At the 75th anniversary ceremony president Macron affirmed “it was France who organized this.” The president noted not a single German had participated in the mass arrest, it was carried out by French police collaborators with the Nazis.

Macron rejected arguments from the French extreme right claiming Vichy collaborators hadn’t acted in the name of the French state and called such claims “comforting, but incorrect.”

At the event attended by Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Macron pledged to fight continuing anti-Semitism. He called for an exhaustive investigation of a Paris women recently murdered and thought to be the victim of anti-Semites.

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Jews of Vilkomir on Lietuvos Rytas TV

The Lietuvos Rytas television program Travel with a Reporter features Ukmergė (Vilkomir) Jewish Community chairman Artūras Taicas and discusses the former Jewish community in the Lithuanian town.

Watch the program in Lithuanian here.

Social Programs Client-Family Needs Computer

Dear Community member,

One family with children who are clients of the LJC Social Department need your help.

Recently the family lost their computer and television. Thanks to members who have already responded, the family now has a television, but the children still need a computer for school and are unable to afford one.

If you can help or know someone who can, please contact the LJC Social Programs Department Family Program coordinator by telephone at 865213146 or by email at rasheles@sc.lzb.lt

Thank you for caring!

Condolences

The Lithuanian Jewish Community has lost an outstanding member and long-time friend. Boris Olšanickij was born September 16, 1937 and passed away July 16, 2017. He in earlier times was the director of the LJC’s Social Center. He passed way before we could thank him for all his service on his 80th birthday, just two months away.

Our deepest condolences to his family, loved ones, former colleagues and friends.

Lithuanian Makabi Mini-Soccer Team Ties with Mexico July 16

In the battle for fifth place, the Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club mini-soccer team won against Mexico in penalty kicks July 16, repeating their achievement back in 1989. Falling behind 1:4, the boys rallied and Mexico was tied with Lithuania 6:6. Markas Plineris made the winning goal in penalty kicks.

Educational Plein Air Outdoor Painting Workshop, July 31-August 4

Dear Community member,

If you have a yearning to paint, like art, enjoy nature and good company, you won’t want to miss this year’s educational plein air outdoor painting workshop, our third in as many years.

The plein air painting workshop will last 5 days and 4 nights at an inspiring rural location under the direction of the famous painters Raimondas Savickas from Lithuania and Alexander Ganelin and Anna Khodorkovski, both from Israel.

The workshop will be held at the Įlanka farm on Bebrusas Lake in the Molėtai region where participants will spend four nights. Three meals per day will be provided (with vegetarian options). Daily work includes practical activities and one-on-one consultation with teachers, painting and other media, and an education/free-time program including a ride on the Švyturys recreational ferry across the lake, a sauna, cultural events and a Sabbath ceremony.

The cost for Community members is 150 euros. Please register by noon, July 18, because space is limited.

After sending the sum by bank transfer please send a copy of the payment form to zanas@sc.lzb.l

For more information and registration, contact:
Žana Skudovičienė by email at zanas@sc.lzb.lt or by telephone at + 370 67881514.

Details for payment:

to: Lietuvos žydų (litvakų) bendruomenė [Lithuanian Jewish Community]
company code 190722117
tax code: LT100010504214
bank account number: LT09 7044 0600 0090 7953
bank: AB SEB bankas

Please indicate the payment is for “Edukacinis pleneras 2017” [Educational Plein Air 2017] (and indicate the name of the person for whom payment is made).

The Educational Plein Air Outdoor Painting Worskhop 2017 is made possible by the Lithuanian Jewish Community, the Goodwill Foundation and the Joint Distribution Committee

Archaeologists Return to Digs at Shulhoyf, Ponar

from Jewish Heritage Europe

The second season of archaeological excavations is under way at the site of the destroyed Great Synagogue in Vilnius and the surrounding Shulhoyf complex of Jewish buildings. A team of Israeli, Lithuanian and American volunteers began work on July 10 and will continue until July 21.

The objective is to continue last year’s work  researching the water system of the complex developed in the 18th century and two mikvaot, ritual baths. Plans are to open “an area … probably near the entrance staircase descending into the synagogue and around the area of the bimah.”

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Screening of NOVA Documentary about Ponar

Dear all,

The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum and the embassy of the United States of America in Vilnius kindly invite you to a screening of the documentary film “Holocaust Escape Tunnel” at the museum’s Tolerance Center (Naugarduko St. 10/2, Vilnius) on Tuesday, July 18, at 5:30 P.M. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the archaeologists featured in the film.

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On Issues Surrounding the Protection and Conservation of Anti-Semites


by Sergejus Kanovičius

bernardinai.lt
July 29, 2016

Recently members of the City of Vilnius’s Commission of Names, Monuments and Memorial Plaques (hereinafter the City Commission) visited these issues.

Members of the Commission apparently didn’t feel a lack of expertise in the matters at hand and didn’t seek the advice of the Lithuanian Language Commission on how to write Washington Square (there is no W in Lithuanian, but in any case it wasn’t Wrocław), didn’t ask for public input on Ukraine Square and felt confident enough to deliberate on issues related to commemorating Jonas Basanavičius.

But one question was the subject of much–how to say it precisely–profound avoidance of responsibility and competence. This was the issue connected with Vilnius City Council member Mark Harold’s statement in which he argued for renaming Kazys Škirpa Alley the Alley of the Righteous Gentiles. What did the Commission do? The Commission said they didn’t know what to do. They asked for help from another institution which, also not knowing what to do, issued historical reports on Škirpa full of evasions (he didn’t take part in mass murder because the Germans wouldn’t allow him to travel, he didn’t murder anyone personally, he was just the head of the anti-Semitic LAF and called for getting rid of the Jews in this manner: “Having examined the anti-Semitic statements encountered in texts prepared by the Berlin LAF organization, it can be stated its members proposed solving ‘the Jewish problem’ not through genocide, but by means of driving them out of Lithuania.” This is a quote [translated] from Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Lithuanian Residents director T. B. Burauskaitė’s history report sent to the head of the municipal administration of Kaunas).

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An Ugly Monument and the Ugly Truth


by Geoff Vasil

I entered Kaišiadorys in a pounding rain to see the Soviet monument the local residents want removed.

Visibility was perhaps 10 feet as I passed what seemed to be farmsteads and fields. Up ahead the road bisected a rather beautiful little lake. A weird light enveloped the scene, black clouds on one side and open blue sky on the other, with cattails, a bright green made neon against dark gray.

The monument appeared there on the other side of the lake right by the road, looking for all the world like a broken-down chimney of an abandoned factory, but surrounded by a natural idyll the summer squall was unable to diminish.

The monument itself has no inscription. It might have, once upon a time, but there was no evidence even of a stolen metal plaque, no holes for bolts, no tell-tale metal stains dripping down from an empty space anywhere on its face. The only thing close to an inscription was some faded graffiti, some message left in blue spray-paint but now illegible.

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Majority of Residents of Kaišiadorys Want Monument Removed

by Daiva Baronienė
daivabaro@lzinios.lt
www.lzinios.lt

A survey of people living in Kaišiadorys, Lithuania, or hailing from there found the majority don’t want an obelisk commemorating Nazi victims, a Soviet relic. Photo: www.kaisiarodys.lt

A public opinion survey in Kaišiadorys determined the majority of residents and people from the town who are currently abroad or living abroad no longer want the obelisk to victims of the Nazis to stand at the entrance to the town.

Kaišiadorys regional administration head Vytenis Tomkus’s wish to greet the 100th anniversary of Lithuanian independence next year after having removed from the region sites and constructions which don’t correspond to the ideological values of today is gaining momentum. A poll of residents over the period of one month asking whether they need to monument to victims of the Nazis to remain standing in Kaišiadorys or not found that the majority of informants in the rather active survey are convinced the town does not need this sort of monument.

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Lithuanian Makabi Take Silver, Bronze at Maccabiah Games


Table tennis team-play competition medal winners Neta Alon and Vanesa Ražanskytė.

 


Markas Sames took silver in one-on-one youth badminton competitions.

 


Danielius Tarachovskism won a bronze medal in mixed doubles youth badminton.

 


Photographer Dovydas Fligelis captured a moment from a mini-soccer match between Lithuania and the USA (3:1).