Lithuanian Jewish Community

Lithuanian Jewish deportees – untold story

The first mass deportation of Lithuanian citizens to remote locations in the Soviet Union began on the night of June 14 in 1941.

The story of Lithuanian Jews deported has not been told. This untold story is the title of Dr. Violeta Davoliūtė’s lecture on Jewish exiles. The Soviet deportations in Lithuania in 1941 affected people of all ethnicities, including Lithuanian citizens of Jewish origin. Merchants, servants, industrialists and other Jews branded enemies of the Soviet regime were deported with their families to remote regions of the Soviet Union and imprisoned in gualgs and prisons. This aspect of the history of the deportation has not been widely studied and remains little known to the Lithuanian public. How did Lithuanian Jews survive deportation? How did the different ethnic groups get along in exile? How did deported Lithuanian Jews feel when they returned to their country, Lithuania, and were unable to find families and communities destroyed by the Holocaust?

2015-06-14

Deportee Abramas Leščius Spent His Childhood in the Gulags of Inta

www.lzb.lt

Abramas Leščius. the son of Chaimas, always stresses he’s from Raseiniai, Lithuania.

“I am a resident of Raseiniai. My mother travelled to doctor Levitanas in Kaunas to give birth to me. All Jewish women went to him to give birth. That’s what mother said. The roots of our family were in Seda and Mažeikiai. My great-grandparents, grandfathers and grandmothers lived there since ancient times, one may count it in centuries. I lived in Raseiniai with my parents until June 14, 1941. That day the Soviet Russians deported us. Why did they deport us? My father operated as a so-called middleman, he used to visit farmers and buy up linen and all sorts of grain. Then he brought it by car to a rich fellow in Klaipėda who bought everything from him. Father fed the whole family.

There were three of us children: my two sisters and I. Mother didn’t work. We were not rich, we lived moderately. I remember where we lived there was a synagogue in the yard to which my father and I went. Father was a good Jew, meaning, in his heart he was a Jew, and always helped with money if anyone asked, he prayed at synagogue and kept the Sabbath. Mother’s father was a rabbi in Seda, so she was more religious. I remember when we used to go to synagogue father and I would stop at an inn and when father took a drink mother would get very angry. Dad said there was a person in Raseiniai who used to say the Jews are bad, and perhaps he turned us in and that’s why we were deported. Many Jews lived in Raseiniai before the war.

2015-06-14

Preparations to Digitize YIVO Archives from Vilnius

Three archivists and three librarians have been conserving the documents at YIVO in New York, while a third of the archive remains in Vilnius, Lithuania.

After the project is completed within seven years, the documents scattered during the Holocaust will constitute a new virtual library with descriptions in English and Lithuanian.

Executive director of the YIVO Jonathan Brent told Baltic News Service: “We plan to process about a million and a half documents and about ten thousand books and to add this material to what we have in Vilnius.”

“Work has begun here and in Vilnius with books and manuscripts. This is a seven-year project. The people working on it have to know Polish, Russian, Yiddish and Lithuanian languages,” Brent said.

2015-06-14

Meeting with Ambassador of the State of Israel Mr. Amir Maimon

Dear Friends,

You are kindly invited to meet the Ambassador of the State of Israel Mr. Amir Maimon.

The meeting will take place in Vilnius Jewish Public Library, Gedimino pr. 24, Vilnius,

on June 18 at 3:30 PM

The main topic of the meeting is Operation Solomon where Mr. Amir Maimon took immediate participation as the Chief Campaign Coordinator (bernardinai.lt). Operation Solomon (Hebrew: מִבְצָע שלמה, Mivtza Shlomo) was a covert Israeli military operation to airlift Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1991. Non-stop flights of 35 Israeli aircraft, including Israeli Air Force C-130s and El Al Boeing 747s, transported 14,325 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 36 hours. (Wikipedia) The Jewish Community was threatened by the arising political and military destabilization in the country. A historical documentary to be screened during the meeting

New York Times about the successful campaign:

http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/26/world/ethiopian-jews-and-israelis-exult-as-airlift-is-completed.html

Looking forward to see you in the library!

RSVP by e-mail: info@vilnius-jewish-public-library.com ; or phone call: (8-5) 219 77 48

2015-06-14

Deputy Cultural Minister Discusses Synagogue

A delegation consisting of Lithuanian Jewish Community chair Faina Kukliansky, deputy minister of the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture Dr. Romas Jarockis, director Diana Varnaitė of the Cultural Heritage Department under the Ministry of Culture and urgita Bieliūnienė, advisor to the Lithuanian parliament’s Education, Science and Culture Committee, visited Alytus (Olita) mayor Vytautas Grigaravičius to discuss the fate of the Alytus synagogue, plans for renovating it and sources for financing that renovation.

Deputy mayor Tautvydas Tamulevičius, mayorial advisor Vilija Ramanauskienė, city council member Robertas Šarknickas, head of the Municipal Works Department Algimantas Tarasevičius and senior specialist from the same department Ramunė Jegelevičienė took part in the meeting.

“We are united by Jewish heritage issues, so once per half year our informal group travels to regions and other cities. There is a Jewish synagogue in Alytus so we came here. Our aspiration is for the revival of Jewish heritage and adaptation to educational, cultural and other activities in cities and towns where the it has been forgotten undeservedly. The Lithuanian and Jewish peoples and cultures are intertwined and have left deep impressions in one another’s culture. The goal of our visit is to engage in consultations and discussions,” deputy minister of the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture Dr. Romas Jarockis said.

Source

2015-06-14

Conference of Lithuanian Jewish Community Called

The Lithuanian Jewish Community, corporation number 190722117, located at Pylimo No. 4 in Vilnius, Lithuania, calls a conference of the Lithuanian Jewish Community at 12 noon on June 16, 2015.

Planned agenda for the LJC conference:

1. Annual financial report of the LJC for 2014 and report and discussion of LJC activities in 2014;

2. Presentation and discussion of audit report;

3. On additions to LJC regulations.

We warmly welcome all LJC members’ attendance at the conference. A more detailed agenda can be viewed at the LJC headquarters.

For additional information, please call (8 5) 2613 003.

Fainia Kukliansky, LJC chair

Announcement in Lithuanian for >>download

2015-06-14

European Union Could Fund Renovation of Alytus Synagogue, Deputy Minister Says.

Cultural Heritage Department director Diana Varnaitė, deputy cultural minister Romas Jarockis and Lithuanian Jewish Community chair Faina Kukliansky have travelled to Alytus (Olita) in the south of Lithuania to meet the new municipal administration and discuss the fate of the Alytus synagogue. The delegation included Government representative Lina Saulėnaitė and Jurgita Bieliūnienė, a representative from the parliament’s Education, Science and Culture Committee.

The issue of the synagogue comes up often, but very few actual steps have been taken. City mayor Vytautas Grigaravičius said there was a project for how to develop the public use of the synagogue before, but now this idea needs to be examined more deeply. Museum exhibits might be housed at the rabbi’s house next to the synagogue.

Deputy minister of the Ministry of Culture Romas Jarockis said several funding sources could be used to finance the renovation of the synagogue. If there was approval from the Committee of the Regions, in the 2014-2015 funding period about 85 percent of funding for the synagogue could come from the EU, and 15 percent from the municipality. The deputy minister said the renovation of the cultural heritage site would have to be useful to the local community, so the renovation wouldn’t culminate in empty buildings but that they would become instead lively public venues. Cultural Heritage Department director said renewal of the Alytus synagogue is not only a great responsibility, but would provide as well a new opportunity to join the European Route of Jewish Heritage. Lithuanian Jewish Community chair Faina Kukliansky said the time has come for there to be a site in Alytus not just for the mass murder of Jews, but also a place for Jewish life.

Source

2015-06-14

Bagel Shop Tolerance Campaign Invites You to Meet Professor Markas Petuchauskas

The Bagel Shop tolerance campaign invites you to meet professor Markas Petuchauskas, a theatrical specialist, doctor of art history and the author of a number of books about the art of theater.

The meeting is to take place at 5:30 P.M. on June 16 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo No. 4 in Vilnius.

The professor plans to share his memories of the Vilna ghetto theater, its offerings and actors and the interaction of Lithuanian and Jewish culture. His new book Price of Concord/Portraits of Artists/Interactions of Cultures is to presented at the meeting.

Those who want to attend may register by sending an email to agne.zilinskaite@lzb.lt or by calling+370 613 81889 before 5:00 P.M. on June 15.

2015-06-14

Pastor Michael Maass

Today Pastor Michael Maass, director of the Lithuanian branch of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) became the first Christian leader to speak out in writing on plans for a congress and entertainment complex on the site of the oldest Jewish cemetery in Vinius

>>More information

>>BACKGROUND

www.DefendingHistory.com

2015-06-10

Lithuanian Jewish Tolerance Awards Presented at Lithuanian Government

Vilnius, June 5 BNS — On Friday the Government House in Vilnius hosted an awards ceremony by the Lithuanian Jewish Community for fostering tolerance in Lithuania. The awards are presented to six people or organizations.

Historian Lara Lempertienė was recognized for her work in passing on the Jewish cultural legacy to future generations and Žana Skudovičienė, long-time coordinator of LJC Social Center programs, received the award for her lifelong devotion to her work.

Museum specialist Monika Žąsytienė received the distinction for her work in preserving historical memory and the heritage of ethnic minorities, and the Jewish song-and-dance ensemble Fayerlakh were awarded for their enduring promotion of Yiddish culture in Lithuania and abroad.

2015-06-10

Film about Lithuanian Conductor Saulius Sondeckis Screened at Lithuanian Jewish Community

On May 21, 2015, founder and organizer of the on-going Likimai [Fates] cycle of seminars and deputy chairwoman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community Maša Grodnikienė hosted a public screening of a long-awaited film about famous Lithuanian musician and conductor professor Saulius Sondeckis. The moderator for the event was professor Leonidas Melnikas, who spoke about the concerts conducted by the maestro and his interpretations. Professor Melnikas said this is Lithuania’s musical legacy. The maestro himself thanked his parents for his successful musical career, noting stories of their good deeds circulated by word of mouth: the charity work of his mother, a teacher, to help poor students, and the deeds of his father, the burgermeister of Šiauliai, in saving Jews from the Holocaust.

Melnikas said from childhood the future conductor and teacher was sensitive to true human values and led an upright life. The film, lasting more than an hour and a half, features wonderful music, but also brings viewers face to face with Saulius Sondeckis as he speaks, whereas at concerts viewers usually only see the conductor’s back. Also in attendance at the screening were the conductor’s wife Silvija, herself a professor and a wonderful violoncellista, and their son Saulius.

Picture galery:

2015-06-10

A Meeting with the Israeli Ambassador to Lithuania at the Lithuanian Jewish Community

Israel’s first ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon was the guest at the 31st meeting of the “Likimai”[Fates] cycle of seminars initiated and organized by Lithuanian Jewish Community deputy chairwoman Maša Grodnikienė on June 9, 2015.

The event was billed as an opportunity for LJC members and the general public to get to know ambassador Maimon better. Opening the event, Grodnikienė said it was the first actual meeting of the ambassador with the LJC members, because not all were able to attend the historic opening of the first embassy of the State of Israel in Vilnius earlier this year.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chair Faina Kukliansky also delivered a warm-hearted and friendly introduction, but cautioned that the State of Israel and the Lithuanian Jewish Community were two entirely different entities and sometimes held differing positions.

Ambassador Maimon beamed confidently at the full third-floor auditorium and said he disagreed with Kuklianksy. He said both the local community and the state were essentially the same thing: the Jewish community. After that he launched into a retelling of his life and career starting with his great-grandparents’ generation and his ancestors who lived in Yemen. His entire talk was marked by a kind of joviality which occasionally manifested as humorous remarks, all of which were faithfully and accurately translated.

2015-06-10

They Come Back

Geoff Vasil

Over the years they come back. Just a handful, to be sure, but they come. They come to find the site of the most confused chapter in the Lithuanian Holocaust. The Church of the Missionaries in Vilnius, where the Final Selection took place.

For the children and grandchildren of the few survivors, the very small group of witnesses who saw what happened there and lived to tell anyone, the site is Rosa. The name has been lost to modern residents of the city, many decades ago. The city itself has changed, not just the names. Once there was a courtyard behind the gate of the Church of the Missionaries on Subačius street just a block or two out of the Old Town. There was a railroad spur right there which connected with the central Vilnius train station, somewhat more distant than the Old Town and in a different direction. The square was called Rosa. There was a nunnery adjacent, and apparently a small jail called the Rosa Street Jail which the Nazis used, implying there was also a Rosa street. If you continue down Subačius or Subocz street past the church, you reach the two large apartment complexes where the Jews enslaved to the HKP, essentially the local automobile workshop for the Wehrmacht, were kept, just a hop, skip and a jump away from Rosa Square.

2015-06-09

Palestine is a Geographical Area, Not a Nationality – The Area of Palestine was Set Aside Exclusively for the Self-Determination of the Jewish People

Eli E. Hertz

51 member countries – the entire League of Nations (today the United Nations) – unanimously declared on July 24, 1922:

“Whereas recognition has been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.”

Palestine lies on the western edge of the continent of Asia between Latitude 30ẃ N. and 33ẃ N., Longitude 34ẃ 30’ E. and 35ẃ 30’ E.

On the North it is bounded by the French Mandated Territories of Syria and Lebanon, on the East by Syria and Trans-Jordan, on the South-west by the Egyptian province of Sinai, on the South-east by the Gulf of Aqaba and on the West by the Mediterranean. The frontier with Syria was laid down by the Anglo-French Convention of the 23rd December, 1920, and its delimitation was ratified in 1923.

Briefly stated, the boundaries of Palestine are as follows:

2015-05-29

Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism – very short update

To: All WJC Affiliated Communities & Organizations
WJC Executive Committee

Dear Friends,

Last week the Foreign Ministry of Israel convened The 5th International Conference of the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism.

There were all together 1,200 participants from over 80 countries present over the 3 days in Jerusalem. Most of them were professionals dealing with this issue, but politicians, diplomatic representatives as well as press were also present.

Following you will find the statements adopted by the conference on Combating Cyberhate and Online Antisemitism and Combating Antisemitism in Europe – as well as my own closing statement of the conference.

2015-05-24

Few things about bagels

Chew On This: The Science Of Great NYC Bagels (It’s Not The Water)

One of the first life lessons I picked up in college was this: The secret to the shiny crust and chewy bite prized in New York bagels is boiling. Any other way of cooking them, my Brooklyn born-and-raised, freshman-year roommate told me, is simply unacceptable.

ONE BAGEL, TWO BAGEL, THREE BAGEL by DOVID KATZ

Leo Rosten famously noted in The Joys of Yiddish (1968) that bagels are mentioned around 1610, in Jewish community rules (takónes) from Krakow but he oversimplified a bit when he reported that “bagels would be given as a gift to any woman in childbirth”.

2015-05-24

Kol Europe Newsletter

Welcome to Kol Europe, the only news bulletin dedicated to European policy news for Jewish communities brought to you by CEJI – A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe. The “voice of Europe” focuses on the latest policy and institutional developments that can have an impact on the creation of an inclusive Europe where Jews and everyone can live securely to their fullest potential.

2015-05-24

Shavuot – the Festival of Weeks

The Torah was given by G-d to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai more than 3300 years ago. Every year on the holiday ofShavuot we renew our acceptance of G‑d’s gift, and G‑d “re-gives” the Torah. The word Shavuot means “weeks.” It marks the completion of the seven-week counting period between Passover and Shavuot.

You shall count for yourselves — from the day after the Shabbat, from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving — seven Shabbats, they shall be complete. Until the day after the seventh sabbath you shall count, fifty days… You shall convoke on this very day — there shall be a holy convocation for yourselves — you shall do no laborious work; it is an eternal decree in your dwelling places for your generations. -Leviticus 21:15-16, 21

2015-05-22

“The Naked Truth” on Lithuanian Television

by Geoff Vasil

The national Lithuanian television channel Lietuvos rytas TV recently (on May 4) broadcast a show by veteran talk-show host Rūta Grinevičiūtė (surname recently changed to Janutienė) called Nuoga Tiesa, “Naked Truth,” which posed the question, “Do you want the Jews to return again [sic] to Lithuania?” Viewers were invited to call in and/or vote by special telephone lines for Yes and No with a one euro toll per call. For that and a number of other reasons the entire program had something of the macabre about it, and although some of the guests made some important points, all of them seemed to miss certain glaring details which would have been the center of attention in the West.

2015-05-21

The Expulsion of Jews from Lithuania and Courland 1915: One Century Later

It was a time of trial and tribulation for World Jewry. Shavuot 1915 was one of the largest single expulsions of Jews since Roman times. Over 200,000 Jews in Lithuania and Courland would be abruptly forced from their homes into dire circumstances.

With the advance of the German army on the Eastern front in the spring of 1915, retreating Russian forces vented their fury against the Jews and blamed them for their losses. They leveled spurious accusations of treason and spying for the enemy and sought to keep a distance between Jews and German forces to prevent contact by expelling Jews near the war front. From province to province throughout Poland, multitudes of Jews were expelled. Many also fled from their homes as German forces moved eastward.

By March, German forces approached Lithuania as Russian forces continued their retreat. The first expulsion in Lithuanian took place in a small town of Botki. In April, at the town of Kuzhi, the local Jews were accused of hiding German troops in their homes. Although proofs were brought by members of the Duma debunking the charges as fiction, the accusations had already spread throughout Russia via newspaper reports and became another pretext to persecute Russian Jewry. Soon after, the mass expulsion from Lithuania commenced.

While preparing for the upcoming Shavuot holiday, notices appeared calling for the Jews living in areas closer to the war front to vacate their homes over the next day or two days. Most of the notices gave 24 hours or even less time.

In just a few days, Lithuanian Jewry, which had a legacy of hundreds of years made a hasty exit, ordered to move eastward. Even the sick and the infirmed were included in the decree. Those who did not comply faced execution.

2015-05-20

Israeli President Isaac Herzog Visits Lithuania

On the War in Israel and the Situation in Lithuania