News

On 23 March, the events of the Year of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania and joint projects on the perpetuation of remembrance of Holocaust that are implemented with foreign partners were presented at the Seimas (Parliament) of Lithuania. The event, which was opened by the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas (Parliament) Emanuelis Zingeris, was attended by Chancellor of the Prime Minister Deividas Matulionis, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Asta Skaisgirytė Liauškienė, representative from the Lithuanian Jewish community Faina Kukliansky, foreign ambassadors who reside in Lithuania, representatives from non-governmental organizations that contribute to the fostering of remembrance of Holocaust victims, fight against all forms of anti-Semitism and promote tolerance through education.

Vice-Minister A.Skaisgirytė Liauškienė thanked Austrian, German and the U.S. Ambassadors to Lithuania for their sincere assistance in contributing to the perpetuation of Holocaust remembrance in Lithuania, the implementation of  youth education programmes, preservation and promotion of Litvak cultural heritage.

The Vice-Minister reviewed the input of the Lithuanian diplomatic service into the implementation of the Government’s programme and planned activities, and invited all the participants to closely cooperate in promoting tolerance, combating anti-Semitism and all forms of xenophobia, which were condemned by political leaders and the civil society in Lithuania.

E.Zingeris stressed the necessity to name every Holocaust victim in Lithuania, and was glad that this work had been gaining acceleration in Lithuania with the help of Holocaust research institutes around the world. According to E.Zingeris, the highest respect for the remembrance of the victims is demonstrated when the country’s political leaders and society condemn anti-Semitism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance in public discourse.

The event was also attended by the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Audronius Ažubalis on Combating Anti-Semitism, Director of International Jewish Affairs of the U.S. American Jewish Committee Andrew Baker.

Rabbi A.Baker believes that it is necessary to create conditions for the resumption of the activities of the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Soviet and the Nazi Regimes in Lithuania and to compensate for the real estate of the Jewish community, to implement education projects and to put in order the mass murder sites so that they would properly reflect the tragic history of the Lithuanian Jewry.

Lithuania’s Seimas (Parliament) has declared 2011 as the Year of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania.