News

On 28-30 May in Jerusalem, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Neris Germanas is attending the 4th International Conference of the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism. At the conference, the Vice-Minister presented the Holocaust memory projects in Lithuania. At the Global Forum, politicians, parliamentarians, diplomats, representatives of international organisations, academic community and experts from non-governmental organisations of Israel, the United States, the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and many other European, Asian and African countries are exploring manifestations of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, various forms of racial, ethnic, and religious discrimination, and the maintenance of the continuity of Jewish tradition in today’s world.

The participants of the conference will deliberate and formulate concrete action plans on law, legislation and enforcement in the combat of anti-Semitism, and discuss opportunities for strengthening interfaith dialogue.

At the event, Germanas shared Lithuania’s experience of filling in the blank spaces in the historic memory, presented educational programmes to instill the memory of the Holocaust in Lithuania and the decision of the Lithuanian Government about compensations to the Jews, victims of the Nazi regime and Soviet occupation, as well as the compensation for the real estate of Lithuanian religious communities.

“We cannot change the past, but we have to learn lessons from history,” Germanas said at the opening of the Forum on 28 May.

When urging to make joint efforts to find an answer to the question why anti-Semitism still existed in the 21st century, the Vice-Minister Deputy Minister pointed out: “All people of good will have an obligation to strive to make the future better, to move away from the darkness and walk toward a brighter light.

During the visit to Israel, the Lithuanian Foreign Vice-Minister will also visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and pay tribute to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, meet with Israel’s Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Israeli politicians, and leaders of Jewish organizations to discuss important bilateral and international issues.