OPINION | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGE OF 2015-2025 | EARLIER OPPOSITION | 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” | USCPAHA (UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICA’S HERITAGE ABROAD) | THE CPJCE (COMMITTEE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF JEWISH CEMETERIES IN EUROPE) | THE AJC (AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE) | THE CER (CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN RABBIS) | THE GWF (GOOD WILL FOUNDATION) | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | HUMAN RIGHTS
VILNIUS—Today’s mainstream media reports in Lrt.lt and in m.diena.lt, among others, reported on yet another “agreement” about the fate of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt in the historic Shnípishok district (today’s thriving Šnipiškės), this time between the president’s office and the municipality and the allegedly “rigged election” leader of the state-sponsored, restitution-fueled ersatz official Jewish community. Aside from a brief oblique mention at the end of the m.diena.lt report, there were no mentions of the vast international (and local bona fide Jewish and rabbinic) opposition to the half-millennium old cemetery being turned into anything other than a cemetery.
Many thousands still lie buried on all sides of the ruin of the Soviet sports palace (proven years ago by ground radar). None of this would be happening if this were a sacred cemetery where thousands of scholars of the majority ethnicity and religion were there buried. A cemetery is a cemetery is a cemetery, not a dance hall or convention center or memorial museum.
Hopefully, local media will one day begin including The Second Side of the Story, which at the amount includes not only major international opposition to the desecration of the hallowed cemetery, but major statements from recent months by Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky (resident Vilnius rabbi for 32 years), and Rabbi Elchonon Baron, president of Jewish Heritage in Lita.
Previous aborted “agreements” that desecrate the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery yet again include the 2015 visit by the “grave-trading” CPJCE of London and the 2109 “day of shame” when some sellouts tried to give control over a new convention center project in the heart of the cemetery to the state’s ethically challenged property bank (Turto bankas).
Defending History’s simple stance is that of equal respect for minority cemeteries as per resolutions of both the European Union and the United States Congress. A cemetery is not a convention center, memorial museum or other venue with seating for thousands.
A cemetery is a cemetery is a cemetery.
