Lithuanian passport
Global LT

Benefits of Lithuanian citizenship from the South African Litvak perspective

South Africa is more Litvak than Lithuania itself,” Markas Zingeris, the Lithuanian playwright and novelist once remarked. And, as one of very few members of Lithuania’s Jewish community to remain in the country, he would know. The vast majority of Lithuanian Jews have found good reason to leave at one time or another in history, whether it was unrest in Europe between 1868 and 1914, or the economic hardship that characterised the period from Lithuania’s independence in 1918 until June 1940 when the Soviet army took control. It was during this time that thousands of Lithuanians came to South Africa in droves, in search of a more peaceful life. And it is here where many have remained. […]

Vilnius synagogue
Global LT

Lithuania: my journey of return

As a Cape Town born Jew, my life has come full circle. Although I was born after his death, my zeida, Rabbi Shimon Ze’ev Aysenberg, played an indelible influence in my life. My father, Isaac Eisenberg, born in a stable in Mogilov, Belarus, in 1922, a medical doctor and writer, spent his life interpreting his childhood memories. […]

Lithuanian passport
Global LT

Several hundred Litvaks granted Lithuanian citizenship after legal amendments

Several hundred applications for Lithuanian citizenship have already been approved since the country amended the law last June to ease the rules for descendants of Jews who left Lithuania in the interwar period to apply for a Lithuanian passport. […]

Global LT

Lithuania’s U-turn on granting citizenship to Litvaks

Some Jews in Israel and the Republic of South Africa who left Lithuania between the two world wars and their descendants have been applying to have their Lithuanian citizenship restored, but receiving a negative answer. […]

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Foreign affairs

Lithuania could open embassy in South Africa in November

Lithuanian embassy in Pretoria, the South African Republic, could be opened in November. The related draft decree was prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. […]

Nadine Gordimer
Global LT

Litvak lenses influenced sensibilities of Nobel prize winning author Nadine Gordimer

Earlier this week the media honoured Nadine Gordimer, a Nobel and Man Booker prize winning novelist with a wealth of obituaries. Gordimer died at the age of 90 on 13 July in her native South Africa. Reverent fans and curious new readers peppered social networks with quotations highlighting her defence of human rights and literary bravery in the face of censorship. […]