Opinion
Sergey Kanovich: The dead don’t vote
The living keep silencing the dead, says Jewish-Lithuanian poet and author Sergey Kanovich. […]
Jewish
Society
Anti-refugee and far right march in Kaunas on Independence Day draws protests
An estimated 300 ultra-nationalists marched in Kaunas on Independence Day chanting anti-refugee slogans and celebrating what Jewish groups say are Nazi-collaborators who were leading Lithuanian figures in the interwar period. […]
Society
Businessman promoting Jewish memory wins Person of Tolerance award
Businessman Valdas Balčiūnas has been named the 2015 Person of Tolerance in Lithuania, the public organization “Sugihara Foundation – Diplomats for Life” told BNS on Saturday. […]
CORPORATE
Society
Vilnius should have monument to people who saved Jews, says Jewish community leader
The Lithuanian Jewish community would like to see a monument built in Vilnius to people who were saving Jews during World War Two. […]
Society
Lithuanian prosecutors ‘should look into list of Holocaust perpetrators’
The leader of the Jewish Community of Lithuania, Faina Kukliansky, says that the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre should submit the list of Holocaust perpetrators to prosecutors for scrutiny. […]
Society
Society
Author explores Holocaust in Lithuania: ‘Our own boys used to go shooting people after school’
Author Rūta Vanagaitė recently presented a book, “Our Own”, about the Holocaust in Lithuania. Although historians have been researching the topic for years, the Lithuanian society has yet to realize and acknowledge the part their compatriots, ordinary Lithuanians, played in the mass killings of Jews, Vanagaitė says. […]
Society
Foreign affairs
Dutch and Lithuanian interests deeply intertwined, says ambassador
Ludo Segers talks to the Dutch ambassador about taking over the presidency of the European council, on why David Cameron’s speech on getting a new deal for Britain with the EU was not anti-European, on how the Netherlands security interests are intrinsically intertwined with those of Lithuania and the Baltic States, and on how a new statue to be unveiled in Kaunas will commemorate an unsung Dutch hero of the Holocaust. […]
Society
Bright messages during 22nd Vilnius Menorah lighting
A large crowd gathered on Kudirkos Square to witness Rabbi Sholom B. Krinsky light the Menorah candelabra this past Thursday. With the mayor of Vilnius and the first Israeli ambassador to Lithuania, Amir Maimo, attending, this 22nd Hanukkah event in Vilnius showed that it has grown with the city. […]
Society
Hanukkah in Kaunas with Chassidic pop and traditional latkes
Residents of Kaunas and exchange students curiously glanced at a crowd, standing outside despite the cold around an imposing metal menorah next to the colourfully lit Musical Theater. Holding Bengal lights, members of the small Jewish community in Kaunas, their ethnic Lithuanian friends, and Israeli students gathered on Tuesday to celebrate the third day of Hanukkah – the festival of lights. Chassidic techno-pop music in Hebrew was blasting from loudspeakers. […]
Society
Culture
Vilnius Yiddish Reading Circle turns to Lithuanian Yiddish women educators
The Vilnius Yiddish Reading Circle, which is celebrating its seventeenth year, has been concentrating this autumn on prewar Yiddish newspapers from Vilnius and Kaunas (Vílne and Kóvne, to use their Yiddish names), trying to balance literary materials with entertaining episodes of the day and the light they shed on a now-vanished civilization that once thrived here. […]
Global LT
Litvaks’ public diplomacy is important to Lithuania, President Grybauskaitė says
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė opened the first ever Israeli Litvak Forum in Tel Aviv. In her address to Jews with roots in Lithuania and their descendants, the president emphasized their special contribution to establishing Lithuania’s ties with the world and invited them to foster what connects Lithuanian and Jewish nations, the press service of the president said. […]
Foreign affairs
President in Israel hears no criticism of Lithuanian-Jewish relations
Chief Advisor to the Lithuanian President on Foreign Policy, Renaldas Vaisbrodas, says that during her visit to Israel President Dalia Grybauskaitė has not heard any criticism about relations between the Lithuanians and the Jews. […]
Foreign affairs
President Grybauskaitė: Difficult challenges for Lithuania and Israel
President Dalia Grybauskaitė, who is in Israel on an official visit, met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. The meeting – the first between the Lithuanian president and the president of Israel, who was elected last year – focused on the most relevant issues relating to regional security and bilateral cooperation. The Israeli president, who emphasizes his Litvak roots, and Dalia Grybauskaitė also discussed measures to strengthen Israel’s ties with Lithuania, the presidential press service said. […]
Foreign affairs
President Grybauskaitė says her visit to Israel to give new momentum to relations
President Dalia Grybauskaitė is making an official visit to Israel on 19-21 October. She will be accompanied by the ministers of foreign affairs and economy as well as by Chair of the Jewish Community of Lithuania, Faina Kukliansky, the presidential press service said. […]
Culture
Vilnius Yiddish Reading Circle turning to prewar Kaunas
After a month of concentrating on prewar Yiddish newspapers from Vilnius (Yiddish Vílne), the weekly Yiddish Literary Reading Circle, now in its 17th year, turns in its next session, this coming Sunday, 18 October 2015 at 1 PM (1300) sharp, to readings from Yiddish newspapers in interwar Kaunas (Yiddish Kóvne). […]
Society