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Marking the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Neris Germanas opened an exhibition of photographs “The Litvak Heritage in Belarus” at the Jewish Culture and Information Centre on 28 January. At the opening ceremony, the Foreign Vice-Minister stressed that it was necessary to make every effort to prevent the horrible tragedy of Holocaust from occurring again.

“Today we join together with the Lithuanian Holocaust Survivors and Litvaks living in Israel, the United States, Argentina, South Africa, and Australia, and in many neighbouring European countries, to remember the victims of the Holocaust,” Germanas said.

According to the Vice-Minister, the heroic deeds of the “Righteous among the Nations” set the best example to all of us. The 2013 observance by the United Nations of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust is also built around the theme “Rescue during the Holocaust: The Courage to Care”.

“We can be proud that there were 831 Righteous among the Nations from Lithuania, who were awarded the Life Saving Cross by the Presidents of Lithuania,” Germanas said.

The Vice-Minister noted that the younger generations kept the historical memory alive, helped to foster the Jewish cultural heritage not only in Lithuania, but also in neighbouring countries, and to reveal the significance of the preservation of the Jewish Culture in Europe after the devastation of the Holocaust.

The exhibition of photographs “The Litvak Heritage in Belarus” provides a spotlight on the latest research of the Jewish heritage of Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that was carried out under the Development Cooperation Programme of the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 2006, professors and students from Vilnius Academy of Arts and the Belarusian State University have been preparing an inventory of documents and buildings of former synagogues in Belarus, hoping that the rich Litvak heritage will not be forgotten. The project headed by Dr Jūratė Markevičienė, a lecturer at Vilnius Academy of Arts, was launched on the initiative of the Jewish Culture and Information Centre. The project was presented by Dr Giedrė Mickūnaitė from the Vytautas Magnus University.

The event at the Jewish Culture and Information Centre was attended by Faina Kukliansky, Deputy Chairperson of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, community members, representatives from the Lithuanian Government and governmental institutions, public organizations, foreign diplomats residing in Lithuania, and members of the academic community. The participants of the commemorative event got acquainted with the so-called “malina” shelter, i.e., the hiding place where Jews tried to save their own lives. A film about the Stutthof concentration camp was also screened.