The Vilnius municipality said that more than 1,000 tons of gravestone fragments had been brought to a special site, which has been set up for storage of monument stones featuring letters, which were used as construction blocks during the half-century Soviet rule before 1990. The gravestones were taken from the historic Olandu and Snipiskiu cemeteries that were destroyed during the Soviet era.
“The return of a huge number of gravestones to historic and sacral places shows the respect of Vilnius residents to the Jewish community and the memory of the buried people,” Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Šimašius said in a press release.
All fragments will be analyzed. The municipality has pledged to draft a project for use of the significant stones for memorials in the territories of former Jewish cemeteries on Olandų Street and in Šnipiškės next to the Sports Palace.
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