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On 20 November, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithaunia Linas Linkevičius received the world renowned painter Samuel Bak and his wife, Heidy Josee Bak. Bak currently paints and lives outside of Boston in Weston, Massachusetts. He is visiting Lithuania on the occasion of the opening of his museum. The painter, who has survived the Holocaust, donated over 50 valuable paintings to Lithuania. He was born in Vilnius in 1933.

In the meeting, the guest told Linkevičius about his relationship with Lithuania, his return and the return of his artistic works to Vilnius, also how the unexpected fate helped him escape death and later come back to Lithuania. Lithuanian diplomats, who work in Washington and New York, have contributed considerably to the establishment of the Samuel Bak Museum in Vilnius, to the promotion of Bak’s ties with Lithuania, and to the resolution of organizational issues.

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister told the guest about initiatives to search for and to preserve objects of Lithuanian Jewish heritage. He also emphasized that not only those who saved lives, but also those who saved cultural values could be called the Righteous Among the Nations.

Samuel owes his life to three noble people – the Righteous Among the Nations – Marija Mikulska, Juozas Stakauskas and Valdas Žemaitis, who had hid him for several months in the archives of the Bernardine church.