News

15 September

11.00 a.m. The Life Saving Cross awarding ceremony to the Righteous among the Nations at the Office of the President.

Organizers: the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Office of the President of the Republic of Lithuania and the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum.

21 September

17.30 p.m. The premiere of the film “Now I tell” at the Jascha Heifetz Hall, the Lithuanian Jewish Community.

The film includes a soundtrack with songs performed by Gali Ben-Arie and Roza Klein-Davidovič, the soloists from the Yiddish Song Workshop under the direction of Nekhama Lifshitz, musical direction of Regina Driker (Israel).

The film “Now I tell” tells the story of a Jewish partisan Vitka Kovner, who lived in Vilnius.  She shares her memories 65 years after the Second World War. For a long time, she was overshadowed by her famous husband Abba Kovner (Lithuanian Jewish poet, writer and partisan leader). The film shows her as a brave fighter and a strong-willed partisan signaller.

22 September

15.30 p.m. The unveiling of a memorial for Anton Schmid, the Righteous among the Nations, at the Antakalnis cemetery. Organizers: The Embassy of Austria, ​​Ministry of Culture and Vilnius City Municipality.

From 1941 to 1942, an Austrian Citizen and a German Wehrmacht Sergeant Anton Schmid saved hundreds of Jews in the Vilnius Ghetto. For this reason he was sentenced and shot.

Speeches: Mayor of Vilnius Artūras Zuokas, Ambassador of Austria Helmut Koller, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Asta Skaisgirytė Liauškienė, representative from the Lithuanian Jewish Community.

17.30 p.m. Ceremony honouring the victims of the Vilnius Ghetto will be held at the sculpture for Holocaust victims called “The Flame of Hope” in the yard of the Vilnius Puppet Theatre Lėlė and the Youth Theatre (formerly the yard of the Vilna Ghetto Theatre, Arklių St. 5).

Speeches: U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania Anne Elizabeth Derse, Mayor of Vilnius Artūras Zuokas, representative from the Lithuanian Jewish Community.

18.00 p.m. Commemorative evening concert “Soul is never silenced” at the Vilnius Puppet Theatre Lėlė (formerly the Vilna Ghetto Theatre). Organizers: the Ministry of Culture, Vilnius Municipal Choir “Young music”.

Performers: Vilnius Municipal Choir “Young music”, Nora Petročenko (mezzo-soprano), Gintaras Mikalauskas (actor), Jūratė Vilūnaitė (actress), Dainius Jozėnas (piano), Vaclovas Augustinas (conductor), director Alvydas Šlepikas, scenographer Jonas Arčikauskas.

Programme: songs by Alexander Olshanetsky, Avraham Brudna, Hirsh Glik, Alexander Volkoviski and Naomi Shemer with texts by Wolfson, Shmerke Kacherginski and Abraham Sutzkever. Excerpts from “The Last Days of the Jerusalem of Lithuania: Chronicles from the Vilna Ghetto and the Camps, 1939-1944” by Herman Kruk and “Notes: Chronicles of the Vilna Ghetto 1941-1944” by Grigorijus Šuras. Poems by Rikle Glezer, Abraham Sutzkever, Violeta Palčinskaitė and Tomas Venclova, excerpts of stories “A Dream of Jerusalem Lost” and “Gypsy Menakhem” by  Grigory Kanovich. The opening word is an extract from the introduction by H.Levicka to the publication “Songs never silenced”.

23 September

9.00 a.m.  Procession (prayerful procession) from the square of the victims of the Ghetto to the Paneriai Memorial Museum.

Organizers: the St. Francis of Assisi (Bernardines) Parish.

At 9.00 a.m., the prayerful procession would move from Subačius Street, where a labour camp was established for some Jews after the destruction of the Vilna Ghetto, to the Rūdininkai square, the former gates of the Ghetto. From there, participants of the procession will go by bus or with their own transport down the new Paneriai road and will turn into the old road, along which the condemned Ghetto prisoners were forced to walk. Participants will walk this authentic 4 kilometres long road of passion when praying. They will reach the Paneriai Memorial Museum at 2.00 p.m., where they will participate in the ceremony honouring the victims of the Holocaust. Franciscan brother J.Sasnauskas OFM will give a speech on behalf of the Catholic Community.

11.00 a.m. The unveiling of a memorial plaque to scholar Zalmen Reyzen (Basanavičius St. 17). Speech: the Mayor of Vilnius.

Author: Mindaugas Šnipas.  Organizers: the Jewish Communities of Vilnius and Lithuania.

Scholar and writer Zalmen Reyzen was editor of the Vilnius Jewish daily ‘Vilner Tog’ and his philological work ‘Biographical Dictionary of Yiddish Literature and Press’ is still highly valued by scholars. Zalmen Reyzen was one of the founders and principal figures in YIVO (Yiddish Scientific Institute). For many years he was Chairman of the Yiddish Pen Club. Zalmen Reyzen experienced many difficulties, because ‘Vilner Tog’ openly criticized the national policy of the then administration that discriminated against the Jews, Lithuanians and Belarusians. He bitterly opposed the infamous Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact. For that reason the NKVD arrested and executed him in early September.

14.00. p.m. The ceremony honouring the Holocaust victims at the Paneriai Memorial Museum.

 Speeches:

Speaker of the Seimas (Parliament) of the Republic of Lithuania Irena Degutienė (translation into English).

Minister of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania Arūnas Gelūnas

Israeli Government’s official representative, Industry, Trade and Labour Minister of Israel Shalom Simhon

Mayor of Vilnius Artūras Zuokas

Representative from the Lithuanian Jewish Community

Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas (Parliament) of the Republic of Lithuania, Chairman of the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania Emanuelis Zingeris

Priest, Franciscan brother Julius Sasnauskas OFM.

Prayer.

Chief Rabbi of Lithuania and Vilnius Chaim Burstein.

The lighting of a symbolic menorah.

At the initiative of the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, pupils from Vilnius secondary schools will use stones to create a shape of ‘menorah’. Israeli Folklore Ensemble Anachnu-Kan and pupils from Vilnius Sholom Aleichem secondary school will sing “Shtiler, shtiler” (Quiet, Quiet) and the hymn that was sung in the Vilna Ghetto “Zog nit kein mol” (Never Say).

17.00 p.m. Audio-visual installation “Flashes from the Past” at the square of the victims of the Ghetto. Sponsor: the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, Public Institution “Jewish Culture and Information Centre”.

18.00 p.m. Concert “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” at the Vilnius City Hall. Organizers: Public Institution “Pax et Bonum”.

Performers: French Ensemble Voix Étouffées, Vilnius Municipal Choir “Young music”.

Programme: Fratres by Arvo Pärt, Psalm 23 by Alexander von Zemlinsky, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 Adagio (arr. Arnold Schoenberg), “Prie mėlynos gėlės“(By the Blue Flower) by Osvaldas Balakauskas. Conductors: Amaury du Closel (France) and Vaclovas Augustinas. Duration: 1 hour.

The initiator of this project is composer and conductor Amaury du Closel. In 2005, he published a book on European composers, who were deported, killed or exiled by the Nazis from 1933 to 1945. Currently, Amaury du Closel is artistic director of the festival of the Silenced Voices (Voix Etouffées) Forum in Paris, dedicated to composers who were persecuted in the Third Reich.  In 2009, he was awarded the Golden Star for a tour of Europe of the Silenced Voices from 2008 to 2009. The Concert “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” commemorates those European composers who were victims of totalitarian regimes.

19.30 p.m. “Shining of the Souls” theatralized concert at the Tolerance Centre of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. Organizers:  Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum.

During the concert, poems by Yiddish literature classic Abraham Sutzkever will be read in Yiddish, Lithuanian and English. Sacred and secular Klezmer music will be enhanced by the active usage of multimedia tools. Participants: famous professional music performers. Composer Anatolijus Šenderovas is director and scriptwriter of the project.

Street will be named after Juozas Rutkauskas in Vilnius

21 September 2011

The memory of Juozas Rutkauskas, the Righteous among the Nations, will be perpetuated in Vilnius.  Street will be named after Juozas Rutkauskas in Viršuliškės eldership, Vilnius. Today, the Vilnius City Council approved this decision.

“J.Rutkauskas rescued about 150 Jews. A memorial plaque commemorating J.Rutkauskas was unveiled at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. Therefore, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Holocaust, the city of Vilnius has decided to honour this prominent Vilniusite,” said the Mayor of Vilnius Artūras Zuokas.

Juozas Rutkauskas hid Jews in his apartment in Vilnius, later helped them to leave the country with new documents. J.Rutkauskas himself was shot for helping the Jews. In 1996, he was recognized by Yad Vashem as the Righteous among the Nations.