Section 9: LITVAK FORUM
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THE VOICE OF INTERNATIONAL LITHUANIA
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Fri, 23rd September, 2011 - Posted by - (2) Comment
Because of the Jewish Holocaust during the Second World War Lithuania lost over 90 per cent of the Jewish community. In 1994, 23 September was declared National Memorial Day for the Genocide Victims of the Lithuanian Jews to commemorate the liquidation of the Vilnius Ghetto on that day in 1943. Many events are held to commemorate 23 September in different institutions of Lithuania every year. |
I just want respect
for murdered Jews
Sergejus Kanovičius
OPINION: By Sergejus Kanovičius
Very recently I looked at the Delfi.lt webpage and could barely hold back the tears watching one of the episodes of Mission Siberia (http://tv.delfi.lt/video/ST5zL0DJ) which aired this year, an interview with Lithuanians who have lived [in Siberia] eight decades now, unable to speak Lithuanian and explaining why they who have lived their entire lives in Siberia see no sense nor opportunity to return to Lithuania…I was saddened because of the tragedy of their lives, but at the same time I was glad that they are alive and healthy.
I remember how one of my best friends, the poet Liudvikas Jakimavicius, used to tell me during long evenings at his farm about the oppressions his family experienced, how his parents shared one cattle wagon with a Jewish boy named Harry, whom everyone called Garik. How Joske who spent the years of exile together with Liudvikas’s family, always used to send packages from far-off Israel with instant coffee and other items unavailable in the dying Soviet empire.
I told Liudvikas about my almost completely butchered family. It was painful for both of us, we empathized with one another and tried to understand the other’s pain and shared our grief until his pain and heartbreak became my pain, and the suffering he and his family experienced became mine as well.
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Sat, 10th September, 2011 - Posted by - (1) Comment
While we shelled
beans with him
an interview of Myra Sklarew
By Ellen Cassedy
ellen@ellencassedy.com
Myra Sklarew is the author of numerous books of poetry, including The Witness Trees, a powerful account of how she forged – and is still forging – a connection to her Jewish heritage in Lithuania. VilNews correspondent Ellen Cassedy spoke with Sklarew in Washington, D.C.
Myra, you have visited Lithuania twelve times in 18 years. What first drew you to the land of your ancestors?
In 1993, it occurred to me that with the end of the Soviet occupation, I could walk freely. I went with no knowledge. I didn’t know a soul and didn’t know the language. I just started walking.
Let’s listen to how you put it in The Witness Trees, your book-length poem with a Yiddish translation by the noted late Yiddish poet David Wolpe (a member of your Lithuanian Jewish family who immigrated to South Africa):
I wanted to go there
by feel, to see if Lithuania would tell me
its secrets, to see if I would
recognize myself in Lithuania, to marry the myth
of who I am with the myth of place. To find more
than the signs of the dead. To find evidence
of the lives of those I have come from.
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Ieva needs information about Lithuanian Jews
Wed, 13th July, 2011 - Posted by - (3) Comment
I am Ieva – the producer of the project
“Phenomenon of Civilization: Jews, Litvakes, Lithuanian Jews”.
Letter from Ieva Sabaliauskaite, United Kingdom
Only with the awaken memory the nation can preserve its history. Our Lithuanian history has deep imprints of Jews, who made this country flourish through their sincere spirit and unique approach to religion, culture, education and economics. Now they are undeservedly out of our memories… Our project aims to enlighten today’s society about great achievements and unique culture of Jews’ in our country and in the whole world.
Since the Middle Ages the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had been a safe place for Jews from wild anti-Semitism that was burning in neighbouring countries. With granted special rights, the Litvakes – Jews of Grand Duchy of Lithuania - were allowed to reach a degree of prosperity unknown to their Polish and German co-religionists at that time. Litvakes were settled in Stetls – towns there Jews made up a significant proportion of the population. Majority of cities’ businesses and factories belonged to them. Those cities had particular coloration of Jews’ spirit, but now it’s impossible to find a single living sign of Jews apart of signs to genocides places.
Litvakes had massively emigrated from Lithuania, and from those who stayed, only a few thousands have left. But there were over the million of them scattered throughout the world and most of them never forgot their roots. Their unique approach to life is being passed through generations, giving births to new talents and achievements. In fact, Litvakes are distinguished in the whole world in various fields. There are many Nobel Prize winners, art, music, politics, cinema and literary stars, such as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Michael Douglas and numerous other Litvakes. The name of Vilna Gaon is known to all, even to little educated Jews, as well as to other nations’ people. Litvakes are considered as the elite of Jews. What is the reason of this phenomenon? To discover that, we must take a look at a picture of Jews in general.
Astonishing facts prove their greater brilliance comparing to other nations: although Jews constitute only about 0.2% of the world’s population, they won 29% of the Nobel Prizes in literature, medicine, physics and chemistry in the second half of the 20th century. So far this century, the figure is 32%. The extraordinarily high proportion of Jews in such fields as medicine, law, finance, literature, science, creative arts and the media is as obvious as it is devastating.
Maybe Jews really are “God’s Chosen People”? Or does a distinction of Jews lie in their religious roots? Maybe Jews’ traditionally responsible approach to progeny and education is a cornerstone of their huge talent? Or could it be that those prosecutions and genocides caused exclusive development of Jews’ intellect? Or is there rather freedom and granted special rights that is a reason of Jew's great intellectual and cultural development?
Our project seeks to reveal the superiority of Jews and to bring back to our memories the forgotten Litvakes’ contribution. Our website http://litvaks-lithuanian-jewish.com . Litvakes. Lithuanian Jews.is created to collect any kind of information about Jew’s lives in Lithuania. With collected information we intent to shoot a TV documentary scrutinizing Litvakes issue in the context of all Jewish community, while capturing interpretations of various fields’ experts, as well as interviewing famous Litvakes and illustrating that with documentary material about them: their mores, religious and cultural traditions, their lives in Stetls, etc.
We are strongly motivated to awake this sleeping history realm of Jews in Lithuania, so that the memory of us becomes alive and universal, but not selective, not judging, not stereotyped. Your comprehensive contribution is invaluable to us: your ideological support, any kind of historical material you could share. We would be thankful for anything that could support this project. Please join us on http://litvaks-lithuanian-jewish.com/forum/ and on our Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/Jews.Litvakes.LithuanianJews
Phenomenon of Civilization: Jews, Litvakes, Lithuanian Jews. Be part of us! We are waiting for your suggestions and comments!…
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Lithuanian Parliament approves 120 million compensation for alienated Jewish property
Wed, 22nd June, 2011 - Posted by - (1) Comment
Lithuania's parliament (Seimas) on Tuesday approved the decision to pay 128 million litas (over 37 million euros) in the next 10 years to compensate Jewish people for their property alienated by totalitarian regimes.
82 MPs voted for the adoption of bill on Good Will Compensation for Real Estate of Jewish Religious Communities, 7 were against and 16 members of the Lithuanian parliament abstained.
The compensation will be paid in 2013-2023 and used for religious, cultural, health, sports, educational and scientific goals of Lithuanians Jews in Lithuania. A one-off sum of 3 million litas will have to be used to support people of Jewish nationality who lived in Lithuania and suffered from totalitarian regimes during the period of occupation.
Under the adopted bill, the compensation will be transferred to a special fund the governing body of which would represent the Jewish Community in Lithuania, the Religious Jewish Community of Lithuania and other Jewish religious, health, cultural and education organizations.
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Archaeological excavation of the Great Synagogue in Vilnius soon to start
Wed, 22nd June, 2011 - Posted by - (1) Comment
The Great Synagogue in Vilnius was partly destroyed by the Germans during World War II. The ruined synagogue and the whole “schulhof” complex which had grown around it were demolished by the Soviet authorities from 1955 to 1957 and were intentionally replaced by a basketball court and a kindergarten to effectively prevent any future initiatives to rebuild a cultural monument.
With a view to perpetuating the memory of the former Jewish spiritual and cultural center – the Great Synagogue of Vilnius – a historical archaeological excavation of the site has been launched. The exploration team led by archaeologist Zenonas Baubonis is ready to embark on the exploration of the site of the former Jewish house of worship at Vokiečių Street 13A. This work is expected to be completed by September so that the elementary school of Vytė Nemunėlis, which happens to be in territory of the former Synagogue, could start on time.
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Fri, 10th June, 2011 - Posted by - (0) Comment
The global organization “Summer Literary Seminars (SLS)” is coming to Lithuania this summer!
SLS Lithuania 2011 will take place in Vilnius, a welcoming European capital with a rich and diverse linguistic and literary heritage. The city has produced, or been haven and home to, some of the major figures of Lithuanian, Slavic, and Yiddish literature.
Vilnius is the perfect backdrop for a literary seminar. As a cultural crossroads over the centuries it has a rich and multi-layered past, which is reflected in the city’s varied architecture and intriguing residents. More importantly for SLS, Vilnius is not a city-museum but a city with a bright future and a rich, if at times troubled, past. From a purely practical vantage point, it's compact and walkable, and it offers all of the conveniences of a global city, albeit with its own idiosyncratic twists. An inspiration for any artist.
In addition to intensive daytime workshops taught by leading North American writers, participants in this unique two-week seminar will get a creative charge from the engagement with this refreshing and vibrant cultural milieu.
SLS offers much more than a mere change of scenery. Participants and faculty spend more time together outside of the classroom than in most summer literary programs.
In Lithuania, participants will also get to meet and socialize with fringe and mainstream artists from a different culture. And they get first-hand exposure to a lifestyle in flux -- one melding the absurdities of the Soviet past, the contradictions of the (East) European present, and the strivings of a feisty, innovative little land on the coast of the Baltic Sea.
Also, for its edition, SLS Lithuania will join in celebrations marking the centenary of the birth of the poet and 1980 Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz, who lived and studied in Vilnius before World War Two. He eventually settled in the United States and lectured at U.C. Berkeley for many years. SLS has invited faculty who were friends of this giant of twentieth century literature during his American years to join us in Vilnius.
In partnership with the Litvak Studies Institute, SLS will reprise the fascinating ‘Jewish Lithuania’ stream. The program is an intensive two-week exploration of Vilnius's (or if you prefer, Vilne's) rich Jewish past.
Summers are short in this corner of Northern Europe, which is why street life in Vilnius is lived to the hilt in August, when the days are long and the nights are short. Outdoor cafes, cozy courtyard bistros and cool cellar taprooms abound in Old Town -- prices are dramatically lower than in the big tourism hubs. And there are more winding streets, cobblestones, archways, bell towers, bridges, spires, steeples, and leafy parks with ancient oaks in Vilnius than you can aim a camera at. Come join us for the experience of a lifetime, a literary journey like no other.
Please feel free to direct any questions you may have to: info@litvakstudiesinstitute.org.
Seminars
Morning Seminars
Fiction – Joseph Kertes
Poetry – Edward Hirsch
Mixed Genre – Robin Hemley
Poetry & Translation – Kerry Shawn Keys
Afternoon Seminars
Fiction – Josip Novakovich
Poetry – Rebecca Seiferle
Laimis Briedis – “Vilnius: City of Strangers” Walking Tour
Jewish Lithuania:Litvak Experiences Option
SLS Lithuania June 31 - August 13, 2011
Click here for more information on SLS Lithuania
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What can be the specificity of the Lithuanian problem?
Tue, 3rd May, 2011 - Posted by - (1) Comment
By Yves Plasseraud, Paris
A series of painful and worrying events (Stankeras holocaust denial, Vilnius neo-nazi parade, desacration of the 9th Fort Memorial… the list is sadly long) have recently drawn the attention of Western intellectual and journalists towards what seems to be a substantial increase of antisemitism in Lithuania. The name of Lithuania, associated for centuries (during the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania particularly) with the idea of tolerance and social peace, is now more and more being seen as synonym of antisemitism, racism, xenophobia and, another field, homophobia. For many observers, Lithuania is now leading the group of “small” countries where human Rights principles appear forgotten !
There is obviously some exaggeration in this perception, but the recent evolution of Lithuania’s public opinion remains indeed worrying. What happened to this country ? Let’s first try to determine if there are specific causes in the Lithuanian case, and, in the affirmative, what is their nature.
It does not seem to be the experience of World War Two of extensive collaboration with the Nazis and participation to the Holocaust. Countries like Latvia, Moldova or Ukraine share the same terrible memories. It can hardly be the current xenophobia, it is much worse in a country like neighboring Russia. Obliteration of the Holocaust responsibilities seems more obvious in Latvia or in Moldova than in Lithuania. In these conditions, what can be the specificity of the Lithuanian problem?
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As I traced the moss-covered Hebrew letters
Sat, 9th April, 2011 - Posted by - (1) Comment
By Ellen Cassedy
The Jewish cemetery in Rokiskis, where Ellen Cassedy found the gravestone
belonging to her great-grandfather, Dovid-Mikhl Levin.
When I traveled to Rokiskis (Rakishok), the town where I trace my Jewish roots, I was seeking to imagine a way of life long gone. I filled my eyes with the fields and the sky, the brightly painted wooden houses and the muddy vegetable patches, the market square and the gracious expanse of the count’s estate.
And I visited the old Jewish cemetery on the edge of town. The grassy paths were clogged with nettles and blackberry vines. Some headstones had fallen face down into the earth, and many were too deteriorated to be readable. But it was not long before I found the gravestone inscribed with the name of my great-grandfather, Dovid-Mikhl Levin.
As I knelt down and traced the moss-covered Hebrew letters, I felt the satisfaction of offering respect to my forebears. In return, I felt a kind of blessing coming from them to me.
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The early developments of the Jewish workers’ movement*
Wed, 19th January, 2011 - Posted by - (5) Comment
A new book by the famous French-Litvak writer, Henri Minceles, has recently been published.
“Le mouvement ouvrier juif. Récit des origines (The Jewish Workers Movement. Story of the Origins)”
Éditions Syllepse, Collection Yiddishland, Paris, 2010.
| Other books by Henry Minczeles As single author or co-author |
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Legendary Litvak heroes of Africa
Tue, 18th January, 2011 - Posted by - (5) Comment
Three African Governments – Liberia, Sierra Leona and Gambia – are these days coordinating a combined honouring of twelve Litvaks who through two centuries have done outstandingly much to help their African homelands and their peoples. They release these honours publicly as a completely new stamp issue now in March 2011. The stamp issue acknowledges the extraordinary sacrifices made by Jews to the liberation of their African brethren, and these stamps recognize some of the most significant contributors to global humanity in the 20th Century. These are five of the persons being honoured:
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Helen Suzman (nee Gavronsky) was born in the South African mining town of Germiston on 7 November 1917 to Samuel and Frieda Gavronsky, both immigrants from Lithuania who had come to South Africa to escape the restrictions imposed on Jews. |
Esther Barsel (born October 17, 1924, in Raguva, Lithuania; died October 6, 2008, in Johannesburg) was a South African politician and long-standing member of the South African Communist Party (SACP). She was a member of both her local African National Congress branch and the SACP's Johannesburg Central Branch |
Yetta Barenblatt was born on 24 September 1913, in Dublin, Ireland, to Basna and Solomon Malamed of Lithuanian origin. In 1925, a friend encouraged her to come to South Africa with the promise of employment. However, due to her circumstances, further education was not possible and Barenblatt was forced to seek employment at a retail store. |
Norma Kitson was one of a generation of Jewish activists, who committed themselves to the struggle against racial tyranny in South Africa. The drive of these South African Jews was to give witness against racism and social injustice, even at great personal cost. Norma Kitson's autobiography, Where Sixpence Lives (1986), uniquely fuses the personal and the political. |
Ruth First was born on May 4, 1925 to Jewish immigrants Julius and Matilda First. Julius, a furniture manufacturer, was born in Latvia and came to South Africa in 1906. He and his wife were founder members of the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) or South African Communist Party (SACP) in 1921 . Ruth and her brother, Ronald, grew up in a household in which intense political debate between people of all races and classes was always present. |
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Holocaust in Lithuania
Fri, 7th January, 2011 - Posted by - (14) Comment
Corpses exhumed from mass graves at the Paneriai (Ponary) mass extermination site near Vilnius.
The Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Lithuania resulted in the near total destruction of Lithuanian Jews living in the Nazi-controlled Lithuanian territories. Out of approximately 208,000 to 210,000 Jews, an estimated 195,000–196,000 were murdered before the end of World War II (wider estimates are sometimes published); most between June and December 1941. The Holocaust resulted in the largest ever loss of life in so short a space of time in the History of Lithuania.
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Fri, 7th January, 2011 - Posted by - (1) Comment
Vilnius was like a Mediterranean city!
“Vilnius was like a Mediterranean city, and Lithuania before Holocaust was a society of love, full of colourful life and warm interaction between people. Imagine that here, in the street we are sitting, the windows would now be open, the mothers would be shouting to their children, and the street would be filled with joyful people discussing, singing, reading and mingling in a happy crowd of friends, colleagues and visitors.” Emmanuel Zingeris gets tears in his eyes when he tells me about pre-war Vilnius.
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Vilnius brought exceptional fame to Jewish Lithuania
Fri, 7th January, 2011 - Posted by - (0) Comment
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Zhydu (Jewish) street |
A widespread saying had it - if one wants to do business, one has to go to Lodz, but if one wants to gain wisdom - one goes to Vilnius.
The first document mentioning Jews in Vilnius dates back to 1567. At that time Jews did not have the right to purchase houses in the city, they could only rent them. Jews gained the right to own buildings in Vilnius only in 1593. Before that, they were allowed to reside in the lands which did not belong to the magistrate, so called jurisdiks. At the end of 16th - beginning of 17th centuries they were allowed to inhabit Zhydų (Jewish), Šv. Mykolo (Saint Michael's), and Mėsinių (Butchers') streets. They could also live on Vokiečių (German) street, but the windows of their apartments could not face the street.
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Entrance to the Jewish quarter |
The Jewish quarter was formed in the Old Town. According to 1784 census there were around 5,000 Jews in Vilnius at that time; according to 1897 census Jews constituted 38.8% of town's population (64,000 Jews). After WWI their number somewhat decreased, and in 1923 only 55,000 Jews lived here (33.3% of the population), and on the eve of WWII, in 1939, Jews made up 27.9% of the population, which then was around 60,000 people.
In the 18th century the great genius Gaon of Vilna emerged. Since then Vilnius became a recognized spiritual center called Jerusalem of the North. There are several versions of the story why Vilnius was so exceptional. One of them says that there were 333 scholars in the town who knew the whole Talmud by heart.
But this is only a legend. The fact is that before the Catastrophe Vilnius indeed was the most honoured centre of Judaic culture. On the eve of WWII there were over 100 synagogues and 10 yeshivas, the most famous among them - the Ramaile yeshiva, in Vilnius. The world recognition of Vilnius is testified by the dream of the hero of the story "If I were Rotshild" by the great Yiddish writer Sholom Aleichem. The dream is to establish a huge charity organisation, which would provide work for all Jews, everyone would live in peace and study Talmud in yeshivas. And above all yeshivas there would be the chief one, "of course, in Vilnius".
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Keeping the ‘shtetl’ memories alive
Fri, 7th January, 2011 - Posted by - (0) Comment
Text: Linda Cantor (USA) http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/kupiskis/kupishok.htm
The Uzpaliai ‘shtetl’ in the 1920’s
“Shtetl” is the Yiddish word for small town, the type of community that many of our Eastern European ancestors lived in for centuries before either emigrating or being killed during the Holocaust. Under the aegis of JewishGen, Inc. and its ShtetLinks project (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/), genealogists are able to memorialize the shtetl that their families came from. For me this is a wonderful way to honor not only my grandparents who grew up in these communities but also all those who came before them. It’s a way to remember the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe that no longer exist -- the people, the culture, and the institutions.
I maintain three Shtet Links sites for the Lithuanian towns of Kupiskis, Rokiskis, and Uzpaliai. My father’s parents were born in Kupiskis and Uzpaliai and many family members lived in Rokiskis. After a visit to these towns with my father, I decided that I wanted a more permanent way of honoring my family and all their neighbors and so I started my websites. But while I maintain them, the content is a result of a huge group effort. Photos and information were shared by survivors and descendants of people from these towns. I have tried to recreate the communities that existed in the past through family stories, family photos, and archival and historical records.
There are over 400 ShtetLinks sites that cover eastern and western Europe, as well as the rest of the globe. The creators are all volunteers who are doing this as a way to commemorate their family pasts. In essence, we are writing the history of our families and their communities.…
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Did you know that the two Big Bens both are Litvaks?
Fri, 7th January, 2011 - Posted by - (4) Comment
What do Ben Bernanke, the head of the Federal Reserve leading the United States to economic recovery; one of the most-famous American singers of all time, Bob Dylan; the rocker Pink; British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas all have in common?
All these people have roots in Lithuania. As do hundreds of thousands, or perhaps even millions, of Jews around the world, whose parents were driven from our country by the Tsar’s restrictions, fellow Lithuanians withdrawn into a closed farming culture and the mass murder organized by the Nazis in World War II.
What would Lithuania look like now as we enter the second decade of the 21st century, if almost all Lithuanian Jews had not been exterminated during the last century?
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Thu, 6th January, 2011 - Posted by - (3) Comment
The Jewish Museum in Cape Town is more Lithuanian than Lithuania itself.
It is considered that around 90% of the approximately 80,000 Jews living in South Africa are of Lithuanian descent (the so-called Litvaks), which thus constitutes the largest pocket of Litvaks in the world! You are hereby invited to learn more about this unique Jewish community that still holds Lithuania alive in their hearts, museums and synagogues.
The Jewish Museum in Cape Town offers visitors a journey back in time. Most museums do. The striking feature of this museum, however, is that the journey to the past also brings us to a completely different part of our world, from Africa's southern tip to a seemingly modest little country far to the north, to a country where around 90% of South Africa's Jewish population has its roots (there are today about 80,000 Jews in South Africa).
The museum's basement is dominated by a village environment (shtetl) from the late 1800s. A few houses are reconstructed in full scale, and you can clearly see how people lived and co-existed at the time. The village is called Riteve. It was recreated in the museum on the basis of entries made in the 1990s by a group of experts who went from South Africa to Lithuania to find traces of the family of the museum's founder, Mendel Kaplan.
The village is called Rietavas in Lithuanian. It is there to this day, less than a half hour drive from Klaipeda, at the highway direction Kaunas and Vilnius. The Kaplan family emigrated from here in the 1920s, while the village's population was still 90% Jewish. Today, no Jews live in Rietavas.
A stroll among the house-models in the Cape Town museum’s basement is like walking around in a part of Lithuania, almost more Lithuanian than Lithuania itself. This impression is becoming no less strong when I discover that the café that is a part of this comprehensive Jewish complex in Cape Town, is also named after the founder’s home town in Lithuania, and that the older part of the museum is a replica of a Vilnius synagogue. This synagogue was built in 1863, and was the first ever built in South Africa.
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OPINIONS
Have your say. Send to:
editor@VilNews.com
-
Chiune Sugihara:
The Japanese diplomat/spy who became a hero of the Holocaust
An article by Dr. Boris Bakunas, exclusively for VilNews.
Read it HERE
Comments:
__________________________
This man and his wife belong in the annals of history, not to be set aside, but to be lauded, loud and clear from every person with a heart and soul
Bernard Terway
__________________________
Sugihara deserves to be placed among the giants in Lithuanian history.
Jon Platakis
__________________________
In Japan, where he was first considered to be a traitor, he is celebrated as a hero
Daiva Repeckaite
__________________________
It is very important for Lithuanians, Israelis, the people of Japan, and people of goodwill around the world to spread their story as an example of what individuals can do to stem the hatred
Boris ...
...
Kovno Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spector (1817-1896), served as chief rabbi of Kovno, the most prominent rabbinical position at the height of 19th century Lithuanian Jewry.
Jewish postcards from the past
https://vilnews.com/?p=790
We were very impressed with the scope of the articles, photos and vast scope of coverage of all things Lithuanian
Stephanie Comfort's Jewish Postcard Collection has been featured in the online Lithuania News called the "VilNews e-magazine". The VilNews e-magazine was launched on February 15, 2011 and hopes to be one of the most comprehensive online resources for Lithuania.
We were very impressed with the scope of the articles, photos and vast scope of coverage of all things Lithuania and wish them much success.
Harley Felstein, chair and founder of the Sunflower Project in USA, hits back:
Sat, 25th August, 2012 - Comments
Zygimantas Pavilionis, Lithuanian ambassador to the U.S. (left), and Harley Felstein of the Lithuanian Heritage Project
“I have been under tremendous personal attack in certain press circles during the past month. The attack issues are mean-spirited and unwarranted”
See also:
https://vilnews.com/?p=9949
https://vilnews.com/?p=13081
My fellow colleagues of Lithuanian descent, I would like to thank you for your staunch and unwaivering support over the past 18 months. My family’s documented roots in Lithuania trace back to the 1700’s, in and around the small town of Rokishkis in northeast Lithuania. As the chair and founder of the Sunflower Project, whose mission is to bridge and reconnect the Lithuanian people with the Jewish community of Lithuanian descent, I knew from the outset that to make progress and re-connect our deep roots was going to be a tremendous challenge.
As you may be aware, I have been under tremendous personal attack in certain press circles during the past month. The attack issues are mean-spirited and unwarranted. The allegations have included that I have no connection to Lithuania (false), that I don’t know anything about Jewish cemeteries and their maintenance (despite my having worked in the funeral industry and in Jewish cemetery management for over 40 years professionally) or that somehow I am a “agent” of the Lithuanian government (absurdly false) as I am an independent volunteer who has been made aware of a need, and with others of like mind, am seeking to create an atmosphere of positive change.
Read more…...
By reading Israeli newspapers one can hear more sobering voices. I say, It is time to heal the wounds and start living in peace again, as we have done for hundreds of years
Vytautas Sliupas
By Vytautas Sliupas, California
“The Times of Israel”, March 11, 2012, carries a news article “Nazi hunter leads criticism of Lieberman for cordially hosting Lithuanian FM”. But not everyone was happy about this warm reception Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman gave his Lithuanian Counterpart. About a dozen demonstrators were carrying signs disapproving Foreign Minister’s Audronius Azubalis visit. Protest was co-organized by Efraim Zuroff, a well known Lithuania baiter.
Efraim Zuroff
The article further quotes: ”The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, however, seems unfazed by these accusations”.
My Kudos to both Foreign Ministers for trying to normalize the strained relations and to remove the mutual distrust.
There are Jewish voices that are more conciliatory and thoughtful. In the Comments column:
Arik Elman
Mr. Arik Elman writes “both the Nazi and Communist totalitarian regimes should be considered to be the main disasters of the 20th century. My family lost relatives to both and I really fail to see a problem to that statement... Why is that Mr. Zuroff is so fixated on a tiny Lithuania instead of looking to the West?”
Meir Rhodes
Mr. Meir Rhodes writes: ...”both stalin and hitler were anti-Semitic monsters... stalin was preparing to deport and destroy the Jews in 1953...”
Zalman Lachman
Mr. Zalman Lachman writes: ... “The argument who was worse, Hitler or Stalin, is just silly... While everyone is busy arguing about last generations haters, there is a fellow in Persia preparing to kill us all right now... Let’s face the present... Efraim, how about we make an effort... and let the Lithuanians deal with their own history”.
Daniel Teeboom
Mr. Daniel Teeboom writes: ... “Efraim Zuroff... I think it is a mistake to allow events from 70 years ago determine who should be our friends and who should not... So really, why care about Baltic deflections and demand so much from prospective friends?”
By reading Israeli newspapers one can hear more sobering voices. I say, It is time to heal the wounds and start living in peace again, as we have done for hundreds of years.
Vytautas Sliupas
California...
Lithuanian Jewish CommunityLietuvos Žydų Bendruomenė
LJC Chairman Dr. Simonas Alperavičius
The Lithuanian Jewish Community (LJC) is an organisation offering a wide range of cultural, communal and social services from kindergarten through to senior level. Dr. Simonas Alperavičius has been the leader of the organisation since 1992. Along with the two functioning houses of worship, this is where you can meet the genuine Jewish locals and read the country’s only Jewish newspaper, Jerusalem of Lithuania, available in English, Yiddish, Lithuanian and Russian. The building also houses a youth club, Jewish Student Union, Union of Former Ghetto and Concentration Camp Inmates and the Union of WWII Jewish Veterans.
The LJC Chariman, Simonas Alperavičius, was born 11 October 1928 in Vilnius. In 1933, his family moved to Kaunas, where he completed six grades at the Kaunas Sholom Aleichem Jewish gymnasium. At the outbreak of World War II, he and his parents escaped to Russia.
In 1944, Alperavičius returned to Vilnius, where he graduated from the city‘s 4th Gymnasium in 1947. In 1947-1952, Alperavičius studied law at Vilnius University and graduated magna cum laude.
Alperavičius spent a period working in the Klaipėdas regional Ministry of Justice, and in 1961-1988 he taught at the Ministry of the Interior.
In 1989, he became executive director of the Jewish Community of Lithuania and in 1992 he was elected chairman. In 2006, he was elected chairman of the Jewish Community of Vilnius. He currently leads the Religious Jewish Communities of Vilnius and Lithuania. Alperavičius helped organize the first and second World Litvak Congresses.
Writer Grigory Kanovich – first Chairman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community
Grigory Kanovich is one of the most re-known contemporary Jewish writers novelist, play and script writers. Grigory Kanovich was born in traditional Jewish family on 18th of June 1929 in Jonava (Yonava), Lithuania. His family escaped the WWII and spent evacuation in Kazahstan and Ural. In 1945 his family returned to Vilnius where he took Slavistic studies at Vilnius State University which he graduated in 1953....
Jewish culture returns to VilniusWyman Brent, book collector, Professor Dovid Katz, director of the Litvak Studies Institute, Dr. Simonas Alperavičius, head of the Jewish Community of Lithuania, Emmanuel Zingeris, Member of Seimas (Parliament), Žibartas Jackūnas, Vilnius City Councillor.
Many of us had a certain feeling of participating in writing a new chapter of history when we met this early June day two weeks ago. Vilnius, which for hundreds of years had been one of the world's most important centres of Jewish culture and learning, was, as we know virtually wiped out from the Jewish world map during the Holocaust, but as we meet here - individuals from many countries, nationalities and cultures - this early summer day to celebrate that an American Baptist has collected more than 5000 books for what eventually will become a Jewish library of 200,000 titles, the feeling of a new dawn is clearly present....
World famous LitvaksMany famous Jewish people lived and created in Lithuania. It was not for nothing that Vilnius was called "Jerusalem of the North" - as the wealth of its sages and of its religious scholarship competed with that of Jerusalem. The Jews made a large cultural and economic contribution, to both the Jewish people and to Lithuanians....
Congratulations on the VilNews debut in this new, expanded format. It looks very good indeed, is highly informative, and I wish you much success with it. The sheer amount of effort and dedication that must have gone into getting this undertaking off the ground is quite awe-inspiring. You are doing an important, noble thing for the beautiful country you love. It is indeed an exceptionally interesting, genuinely fascinating country, with a turbulent past and difficult present -- a place that, despite (and in part, due to) the many still-unresolved issues of history, never is not-interesting, where "the past is not dead. It isn't even past," to quote Faulkner -- and as someone who also has been held under its thrall for many years, I share your desire to see as many people as possible the world over to discover it, come visit -- and fall in love with it, too, and keep coming back. My very best wishes to VilNews.
Mikhail Iossel, Professor, Montreal, Canada
"Legendary Litvak heroes of Africa"
Eugene Rangayah:
I am not sure about the source of the information entitled Jews in South Africa. Especially with regards to point 3, which clearly, in my opinion, is aimed at marginalising the involvement of Muslims in the anti-apartheid struggle... Read more...
Grant:
Further to my comment above, one also has to acknowledge that Jews were regarded as White in Apartheid South Africa and enjoyed the benefits afforded to them as White South Africans. Some chose to oppose it, who have been duly honoured, and some chose to ride the wave of these benefits. Read more...
I appreciate that White South Africans, who chose to join the struggle had everything to lose. That is not what I dispute about the article. The article, in my opinion, does a direct comparison between Muslim and Jewish participation in the anti-apartheid movement, resulting in the Muslim involvement being marginalised. Why does it not measure Hindu, Buddhist or Christian involvement? I do not think that this forum, should be used as an instrument to spruce up anyone's involvement in the anti-apartheid movement at the expense of others. If the intention was to highlight the contribution of the Jewish community, then that's fine, as it is the Litvak forum, but definitely not at the expense of the Muslims or any other religious sect. Read more...
Correct – Jews were regarded as white in South Africa and did enjoy all the privileges. What made their sacrifices even more remarkable was that they put themselves at risk and all the privileges at risk to fight a fight where they were not victims themselves. Read more...
We were very impressed with the scope of the articles, photos and vast scope of coverage of all things Lithuania
Stephanie Comfort's Jewish Postcard Collection has been featured in the premier launch of the online Lithuania News called the "VilNews e-magazine". The VilNews e-magazine was just launched on February 15, 2011 and hopes to be one of the most comprehensive online resources for Lithuania. We were very impressed with the scope of the articles, photos and vast scope of coverage of all things Lithuania and wish them much success.
JEWISH POSTCARD COLLECTION
http://jewishpostcardcollection.com/
VilNews e-magazine is published in Vilnius, Lithuania. Editor-in-Chief: Mr. Aage Myhre. Inquires to the editors: editor@VilNews.com.
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