Monument for Gandhi and his Litvak friend unveiled in west Lithuania

The bronze monument was designed by sculptor Romualdas Kvintas and sponsored by private donations.

Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius, who took part in the ceremony, said the monument celebrated a friendship between two individuals as well as two nations – Lithuania and India – and the achievements of Lithuania’s Jewish, Litvak, community.

Kallenbach, who came from Rusnė, met Gandhi in South Africa in the early 1900s. The two became close friends and the Jewish architect financially supported the Indian leader’s ideas of peaceful resistance.

Mahatma Gandhi’s great grandson Tushar Gandhi, who came to Lithuania for the ceremony, told BNS that peaceful resistance was an important idea shared by both India and Lithuania.

“This philosophy unites us, irrespective of whether Lithuania learned it from Gandhi or not,” he said.