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Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis started his visit to Israel on 4 March by  paying tribute to the victims of the Holocaust at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem.“Shoah is the biggest tragedy of Lithuania. It is impossible to change the past and to remove this dark page of our history. But we can do everything possible to perpetuate the memory of the victims of the Holocaust for centuries and to make sure that it never happens again,” head of the Lithuanian diplomacy wrote in the guestbook at Yad Vashem.

A solemn ceremony honouring the victims was also attended by the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas (Parliament) of Lithuania Emanuelis Zingeris, Lithuanian Ambassador to Israel Darius Degutis and other members of the delegation.

Most Lithuanian Jews perished during the occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany at the hands of the Nazis and their local collaborators. The Seimas declared 2011 as the year of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania. The Government, in cooperation with the Lithuanian Jewish Community, non-governmental organizations and a wide range of foreign partners, implemented a programme of commemorative events of the Holocaust and tolerance education, which engaged many members of the Lithuanian academic community, artists and youth. Lithuanian diplomatic missions abroad and the Litvak diaspora commemorated these tragic events together throughout the world.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister visited the World Center for Holocaust Research and Holocaust History museum and met with the Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Avner Shalev to discuss the perpetuation of the memory of the Holocaust, research and education.

Ažubalis thanked the leadership and experts of Yad Vashem for their long term cooperation with Lithuanian institutions, historians and other scholars, educators and cultural workers, who are engaged in the Holocaust remembrance, research and educational programmes.

The Minister stressed that since the restoration of independence, Lithuania had dedicated specific attention to the revelation of the historical truth about the extermination of Jews, which was silenced during the years of the Soviet occupation, also to the perpetuation of the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and to teaching peaceful coexistence and tolerance to younger generations.

Ažubalis stressed the significance of the expertise of the Yad Vashem experts for the Government of Lithuania, which seeks to modernise the Paneriai memorial and has, therefore, invited Yad Vashem experts to advance the cooperation that was launched at an international seminar in May 2011.

“The Lithuanian Jewish culture, which has deep historical roots in Lithuania, has suffered hardly recoverable losses. However, joint effort of many Lithuanian institutions, foreign partners and the support of Litvaks enabled us to collect the gems of this unique Yiddish civilization, so that we could preserve them for today’s and future generations,” Ažubalis said.

On 4 March in Tel Aviv, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs had working meetings with Israeli officials. He is also meeting with members of the Association of Vilna Jews in Israel “Beit Vilna” and will open an exhibition about Lithuanian Jews.