HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE ACTIVITIES, BY COUNTRY

Summary of Holocaust Remembrance Activities in Lithuania


In Lithuania, Holocaust Memorial Day is observed on 23 September to commemorate the victims of the destruction of Vilnius ghetto, murdered in Paneriai in 1943. In 1994, the 23rd of September was declared the National Memorial Day for the Genocide of Lithuanian Jews, and it has been commemorated every year since. The Commission for the Preparation of National Holidays under the Ministry of Culture is responsible for programmes of official events.

In 2003, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the destruction of the Vilnius ghetto, the Temporary Organisational Work Group was formed, consisting of representatives of the President, the Prime Minister’s office, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, and other governmental and nongovernmental institutions. That year’s events on National Holocaust Memorial Day were attended by Lithuanian authorities, a delegation from Israel headed by the Speaker of Parliament (Knesset), representatives of Great Britain responsible for that country’s commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day, representatives of international Jewish organisations, and other guests.

In 2004, to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, the Commission for the Organisation of National Holidays of the Republic of Lithuania prepared a programme for the official events taking place on 22–23 September. Prime Minister Algirdas M. Brazauskas and other high officials, representatives of the diplomatic corps and of Jewish community, schoolchildren, and guests participated in the official commemoration event in Vilnius at the Paneriai Memorial. Vilnius Gaon Jewish State Museum organised the official opening of a permanent exposition The Lost World. This is a special exhibition of works of art by Lithuanian Jews that were forcefully dispersed or damaged but were miraculously preserved. The Embassy of Great Britain and the Holocaust Educational Trust, UK, directed by Lord Janner of Brownstone QC, presented the completion of the project of Signposting the Holocaust sites in Lithuania. The Foundation for Educational Change presented the Web site www.shoah.smm.lt with information about this Mass Graves Project.

On 27 January 2005, the official Lithuanian delegation, headed by Prime Minister Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas, participated in the official ceremony of the 60th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Oświęcim, Poland. The day before that, the Genocide and Resistance Research Center of Lithuania together with the Cultural Club of Lithuanian Jews organised in Vilnius Municipality Hall a presentation of the famous book by Herman Kruk The Last Days of the Jerusalem of Lithuania, translated into Lithuanian in honour of the commemoration of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Every year, regional communities and schoolchildren are becoming more actively involved in Holocaust commemoration activities through projects implemented by other governmental and nongovernmental organizations. Several Tolerance Education Centres have been established in secondary schools of eight counties, following the Holocaust Educational Programme of the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Ocupation Regimes in Lithuania. On 27 January, on their own initiative they organised remembrance activities for schoolchildren.