News

On 27 January, school communities in various Lithuanian cities and districts will mark the International Holocaust Remembrance Day: at 21 schools lessons will be given to explain the pupils about the significance of this day, as well as film reviews, discussions, exhibitions and performances will be held. On that day performances on Holocaust will be shown at the Panevėžys and Telšiai theatres and conferences for teachers will be held in Kaunas and Panevėžys. The book “The Ghetto Is In My Town” will be presented at the Jewish Community Centre in Vilnius. This book was prepared as part of the project of the Tolerance Education Centre at the Vilnius Viršuliškės secondary school.

In this book, the younger generation employs artistic means and drawings to reveal its approach to the Vilna Ghetto and the experiences of its inhabitants. 

Documentary "(Im)possible escapes: Bricha” will be screened and former ghetto prisoners will share their memories during the event.

Chairman of the Jewish Community of Lithuania Simonas Alperavičius and executive director and CEO of YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York Jonathan Brent will attend the International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorative event.

The commemorative event of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day is organised as part of the Programme for Teaching about the Crimes of Totalitarian Regimes, Prevention of Crimes against Humanity and Tolerance Education. This programme is implemented by the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania.

January 27 marks the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp 64 years ago. In 1942-1945, Nazis murdered there over 1.5 million people, mostly Jews. The United Nations designated this day as the International Day in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

On 26 January, an event “Comedian Versus Dictator” will be held at the Tolerance Centre in Vilnius during which a comedy “The Great Dictator” that was directed by Charlie Chaplin in 1940 will be screened and the travelling exhibition “Spiritual Resistance in Vilna Ghetto” will open at the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum.

For more information about the International Holocaust Remembrance Day events please visit the website of the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania: http://www.komisija.lt/en/