Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites

On the Piramónt / Šnipiškės cemetery debate, please see:
DH SECTION: https://defendinghistory.com/category/jewish-cemetery-piramont-snipiskes-shnipishok
BACKGROUND: https://defendinghistory.com/?p=74456
PAPER TRAIL: https://defendinghistory.com/?p=73510
OPPOSITION TO CONVENTION CENTER: https://defendinghistory.com/?p=75558


An early draft of
CULTURAL DICTIONARY OF LITHUANIAN JEWISH GRAVESTONES is posted at:
https://defendinghistory.com/the-language-of-litvak-gravestones-a-dictionary-by-dovid-katz

See the JOSEPH LEVINSON website at:
www.JosephLevinson.com

‘Respect Cemeteries’ Group That Prepared Current Seimas Exhibition Asks: What is Lithuania Choosing Today?



DOCUMENTS | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 | EARLIER OPPOSITION TO CONVENTION CENTER PROJECT | COMMENT BY ANDRIUS KULIKAUSKASSID LEIMANJULIUS NORWILLA, DOVID KATZ | 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO “COMPROMISE’ MUSEUM PROJECT” | THE USCPAHA | THE CPJCE | THE AJC | THE CER | THE GWF | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | HUMAN RIGHTS

Editor’s note: The following is an English translation of the statement posted at the 17 September 2026 opening of the Seimas exhibition “The Jewish Cemetery in Šnipiškės, Vilnius”  in the Stained Glass Gallery of the Seimas, Lithuania’s Parliament. The exhibition, running from 17 to 24 September, is being presented under the auspices of Member of Parliament Emanuelis Zingeris. (whose own statement is online). The exhibition was prepared by Artūras Imbrasas together with the association Gerbkime kapines (“Respect Cemeteries”). The creative team also included the association’s chair, Rūta Bloštein, as well as Arkadij Kurliandčik, Andrius Kulikauskas and Edmundas Kulikauskas. The original Lithuanian statement posted at the exhibition is available online. It is thr third of the exhibitions’s eighteen panels posted on the Gerbkime kapines website.  


What Is Lithuania Choosing Today?

The  Gerbkime kapines (“Respect the Cemeteries”) Association seeks to ensure that the Lithuanian state respects the Jewish faith and honors those buried here; fulfills the pledge of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to protect them; investigates and publicizes the historical facts; identifies the crimes committed by the Soviet regime; legally recognizes the entire original territory as a cemetery; safeguards its dignity and maintains it properly; allows the international Jewish community to restore the cemetery; and, in doing so, restores justice.

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Posted in Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, Politics of Memory | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on ‘Respect Cemeteries’ Group That Prepared Current Seimas Exhibition Asks: What is Lithuania Choosing Today?

Lithuania’s MP Emanuelis Zingeris Issues Major Statement on Fate of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery in Šnipiškės District of Modern Vilnius



DOCUMENTS | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 | EARLIER OPPOSITION TO CONVENTION CENTER PROJECT | COMMENT BY ANDRIUS KULIKAUSKASSID LEIMANJULIUS NORWILLA, DOVID KATZ | 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO “COMPROMISE’ MUSEUM PROJECT” | THE USCPAHA | THE CPJCE | THE AJC | THE CER | THE GWF | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | HUMAN RIGHTS

Editor’s note: The following is an English translation of the 3rd of the 18 exhibits featured in the current Seimas exhibition “The Jewish Cemetery in Šnipiškės, Vilnius”  in the Stained Glass Gallery of the Seimas, Lithuania’s Parliament (The original Lithuanian panel is online). The exhibition, running from 17 to 24 September, is being presented under the auspices of Member of Parliament Emanuelis Zingeris whose own statement appears here (Lithuanian original).The exhibition was prepared by Artūras Imbrasas together with the association Gerbkime kapines (“Respect Cemeteries”). The creative team also includesd the association’s chair, Rūta Bloštein, as well as Arkadij Kurliandčik, Andrius Kulikauskas and Edmundas Kulikauskas.


Redressing the Crimes of Tsarist and Soviet Rule

85 Years Since the Beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania

Today, in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, we open an exhibition of documents and images recalling a living, painful wound in Vilnius that has yet to heal. The exhibition is dedicated to the old Jewish cemetery in Šnipiškės, dating back to the Middle Ages — historic Piramónt. The fate of this place demands our ethical responsibility, political will, moral resolve and an ability to regard the history of all the peoples who built Lithuania and Vilnius as our own.

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Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Documents, History, Human Rights, It Pays to Defend History: Success Over the Years..., Lithuania, Lithuania's Jewish Community Issues, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, Politics of Memory, Vilnius | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Lithuania’s MP Emanuelis Zingeris Issues Major Statement on Fate of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery in Šnipiškės District of Modern Vilnius

Video of Seimas Opening of Historic Exhibition on Past, Present, Future of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery



DOCUMENTS | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 | EARLIER OPPOSITION TO CONVENTION CENTER PROJECT | COMMENT BY ANDRIUS KULIKAUSKAS, SID LEIMANJULIUS NORWILLA, DOVID KATZ2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO “COMPROMISE’ MUSEUM PROJECT” | THE USCPAHA | THE CPJCE | THE AJC | THE CER | THE GWF | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | HUMAN RIGHTS

English speakers please note that Rabbi Elchonon Baron’s speech begins at timecode 1:02:29. Exhibition’s 18 panels may be viewed online.

For updates see Defending History’s section on the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery.

Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, It Pays to Defend History: Success Over the Years..., Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok) | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Video of Seimas Opening of Historic Exhibition on Past, Present, Future of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

All Welcome at Seimas Exhibition on Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery; Public Opening on 17 Sept. 2026



DOCUMENTS | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 | EARLIER OPPOSITION TO CONVENTION CENTER PROJECT | COMMENT BY ANDRIUS KULIKAUSKAS, SID LEIMANJULIUS NORWILLA, DOVID KATZ2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO “COMPROMISE’ MUSEUM PROJECT” | THE USCPAHA | THE CPJCE | THE AJC | THE CER | THE GWF | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | HUMAN RIGHTS

The following press release was received today from the Vilnius office of Gerbkime kapines (Respect Cemeteries):

Visitors are warmly invited to attend the opening of the exhibition on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 1 p.m. Those wishing to attend should contact Emanuelis Zingeris’s adviser, Auksė Dransard, no later than the preceding day, providing their first and last names and date of birth so that admission to the Seimas can be arranged.

On Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, at 1 p.m., an exhibition titled “The Jewish Cemetery in Šnipiškės, Vilnius” will open in the Stained Glass Gallery of the Seimas, Lithuania’s Parliament. The exhibition is being presented under the auspices of Member of Parliament Emanuelis Zingeris. It was prepared by Artūras Imbrasas together with the association Gerbkime kapines (“Respect Cemeteries”). The creative team also includes the association’s chair, Rūta Bloštein, as well as Arkadij Kurliandčik, Andrius Kulikauskas and Edmundas Kulikauskas.

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Posted in Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Documents, It Pays to Defend History: Success Over the Years..., Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok) | Comments Off on All Welcome at Seimas Exhibition on Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery; Public Opening on 17 Sept. 2026

Please Email Lithuania’s Seimas Asking that it Recognize Vilnius’s Oldest Jewish Cemetery!



OPINION | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 | EARLIER OPPOSITION TO CONVENTION CENTER PROJECT | COMMENT BY ANDRIUS KULIKAUSKAS, SID LEIMANJULIUS NORWILLA, DOVID KATZ2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO “COMPROMISE’ MUSEUM PROJECT” | THE USCPAHA | THE CPJCE | THE AJC | THE CER | THE GWF | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | HUMAN RIGHTS

by Andrius Kulikauskas

One of the panels of the Seimas exhibition. A mechanically translated English version is available here. Photo: Andrius Kulikauskas / Gerbkime kapines.

VILNIUS—Lithuania’s Seimas (Parliament) started its Autumn session on September 10, 2026.  The Committee on Culture will continue to deliberate the future of the Soviet Sports Palace, which desecrates Vilnius’s oldest Jewish cemetery.  As Defending History readers know, this has been a longstanding issue.  Gerbkimes kapines (Respect Cemeteries) is inviting interested readers to write to ruta@kapines.com and join our international team, meet with us by zoom, and help with our activities, including our email campaigns.

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Posted in Andrius Kulikauskas, Andrius Kulikauskas on Vilnius's Oldest Jewish Cemetery, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Please Email Lithuania’s Seimas Asking that it Recognize Vilnius’s Oldest Jewish Cemetery!

US’s Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun, President’s Envoy on Antisemitism, Sends Powerful Letter to Lithuanian Gov. on Fate of Old Vilna Cemetery



OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 | EARLIER OPPOSITION | COMMENT BY ANDRIUS KULIKAUSKASSID LEIMANJULIUS NORWILLA, DOVID KATZ | 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” | THE USCPAHA | THE CPJCE | THE AJC | THE CER | THE GWF | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | HUMAN RIGHTS

VILNIUS—The office of Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun, the U.S. president’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, today released on X the 10 August letter sent to Lukas Alsys, Lithuania’s Minister of Culture, on the subject of the fate of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramont in Shnipishok, today the Šnipiškės district of modern Vilnius. The letter can be accessed as PDF. In the following embedding, please use the handles in the upper left-hand corner to turn pages. The embedded PDF is followed by a transcription of the letter’s text.

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Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, It Pays to Defend History: Success Over the Years..., Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Politics of Memory, United States, US State Department | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on US’s Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun, President’s Envoy on Antisemitism, Sends Powerful Letter to Lithuanian Gov. on Fate of Old Vilna Cemetery

Sariel Rosenberg, Chief Judge (Av Beis-Din) of Bnei Brak Rabbinic Court, Issues New Ruling on Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery



OPINION | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 | EARLIER OPPOSITION | COMMENT BY ANDRIUS KULIKAUSKASSID LEIMANJULIUS NORWILLA, DOVID KATZ | 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” | THE USCPAHA | THE CPJCE | THE AJC | THE CER | THE GWF | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | HUMAN RIGHTS

VILNIUS—The Hebrew rabbinic ruling signed on 4 August 2026 by Rabbi Sariel Rosenberg, Chief Rabbinic Judge (Av Beis Din) of the Beis Din Tzedek, in Bnei Brak, Israel, was released for publication today by Jewish Heritage in Lita. The release came in the form of one PDF of the original Hebrew text, alongside another of the rabbinical court’s authorized English translation. This is the rabbinical court considered the highest, or one of the highest Orthodox rabbinical courts serving the international Litvish (Lithuanian tradition) sector of modern Haredi Jewish law and practice worldwide.

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Please Email Lithuania’s PM and Vilnius Mayor to Defend Vilnius’s Oldest Jewish Cemetery



OPINION | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 | EARLIER OPPOSITION | COMMENT BY ANDRIUS KULIKAUSKAS, SID LEIMANJULIUS NORWILLA, DOVID KATZ2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” | THE USCPAHA | THE CPJCE | THE AJC | THE CER | THE GWF | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | HUMAN RIGHTS

by Andrius Kulikauskas

VILNIUS—Lithuania’s newly appointed Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius and Vilnius’s Mayor Valdas Benkunskas will be meeting in mid-August to discuss the fate of Vilnius’s oldest Jewish Cemetery and the Soviet Palace which continues to desecrate it.

LITHUANIAN TEXT

Gerbkime kapines (Respect Cemeteries), an informal fellowship led by Ruta Bloshtein, Arkadij Kurliandchik, Artūras Imbrasas, Edmundas Kulikauskas and Andrius Kulikauskas, urges defenders of the Cemetery to write emails to these officials. We include below their addresses and a sample letter.

Lithuania’s Parliament, Seimas, will in its Autumn session further deliberate a bill to revive the Soviet Palace as a convention center, desecrating the Cemetery for decades to come, now in the name of independent Lithuania, a member of the European Union and NATO.

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Posted in Andrius Kulikauskas, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Human Rights, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Please Email Lithuania’s PM and Vilnius Mayor to Defend Vilnius’s Oldest Jewish Cemetery

Session on Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Culture for Peace Conference in Washington (Boehning, Fryshman, Kaploun)



OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 | EARLIER OPPOSITION | COMMENT BY ANDRIUS KULIKAUSKASSID LEIMANJULIUS NORWILLA, DOVID KATZ | 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” | THE USCPAHA | THE CPJCE | THE AJC | THE CER | THE GWF | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | HUMAN RIGHTS

A video of the discussion on the fate of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at the 10 June 2026 Culture for Peace Conference in Washington DC follows (shared from Youtube). The full title of the conference was: “Pathways to Peace. Addressing critical challenges facing Western institutions.” A full conference program is posted on the website of the Culture for Peace Institute.

 


 

 

Posted in Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Human Rights, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok) | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Session on Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Culture for Peace Conference in Washington (Boehning, Fryshman, Kaploun)

Respect Cemeteries Issues Brochure for Campaign to Inspire Seimas to Respect and Preserve the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery



OPINION | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 | EARLIER OPPOSITION | 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” | THE USCPAHA | THE CPJCE | THE AJC | THE CER | THE GWF | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | HUMAN RIGHTS

VILNIUS—The Respect Cemeteries group (Gerbkime kapines), based here in the Lithuanian capital, today released its new brochure with members of the Seimas, the Lithuanian parliament, in mind. They will be voting this autumn on whether to (mis)invest substantial state assets in a national convention center or memorial complex in the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Shnípishok, today’s Šnipiškės in modern Vilnius) or, as Respect Cemeteries (and the Defending History community) hope, discard both plans in favor of the ethical solution (supported by tens of thousands internationally who have signed petitions) — restoration of the major Jewish cemetery in the historic Lithuanian lands. Thousands still lie buried there.

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Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Politics of Memory | Comments Off on Respect Cemeteries Issues Brochure for Campaign to Inspire Seimas to Respect and Preserve the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

Seimas Committee Receives ‘Truly Many Letters’ Defending Jewish Cemetery, Postpones Deliberation to Autumn Session



OPINION | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 | EARLIER OPPOSITION | 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” | THE USCPAHA | THE CPJCE | THE AJC | THE CER | THE GWF | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | HUMAN RIGHTS

by Andrius Kulikauskas

VILNIUS—On June 10, 2026, in Vilnius, Lithuania, the Seimas Committee on Culture voted unanimously to postpone until the autumn session further deliberation of the bill “On the Further Utilization of the Vilnius Concert and Sports Palace”. The Soviets built this palace in the middle of Vilnius’s oldest Jewish cemetery.

Screenshot from Seimas video. Upper left: LJC chair Faina Kukliansky, and then clockwise: committee Chair Kęstutis Vilkauskas; committee member Vytautas Grubliauskas; committee deputy chair Vytautas Juozapaitis; folk art curator Virginijus Jocys; Respect Cemeteries representative Edmundas Kulikauska; committee member Petras Dargis. Center: committee member Rima Baškienė

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Posted in Andrius Kulikauskas, Andrius Kulikauskas on Vilnius's Oldest Jewish Cemetery, Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, It Pays to Defend History: Success Over the Years..., Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok) | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Seimas Committee Receives ‘Truly Many Letters’ Defending Jewish Cemetery, Postpones Deliberation to Autumn Session

Document Discovered: Soviet Act of 22 Oct. 1940 Seizing (Stealing) the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery from Vilnius Jewish Community



DOCUMENTS | OPINION | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA OF 2015-2025 | EARLIER OPPOSITION | 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” | THE USCPAHA | THE CPJCE | THE AJC | THE CER | THE GWF | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | HUMAN RIGHTS

VILNIUS—A deeply ethical and conscientious Vilnius scholar, flabbergasted by the local “mainstream” media’s rehashing of the mantra (and sheer antisemitic nonsense) that “the Jews sold the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery to the czar in 1830” decided to look in the archives. When he succeeded to find the document, issued by Stalin’s USSR on 22 October 1940 ordering the confiscation (i.e. theft) of the Jewish cemeteries under the aegis of the Vilnius Jewish Community, he just did the right thing and released it to the public domain. That Stalinist order came very soon after the summer 1940 forcible annexation of Lithuania and its two Baltic state neighbors, into the Soviet Union.

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Posted in Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Documents, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Politics of Memory, Vilnius | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Document Discovered: Soviet Act of 22 Oct. 1940 Seizing (Stealing) the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery from Vilnius Jewish Community

Transcript of the 12 May 2026 Seimas Debate on the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramont (Shnípishok, Šnipiškės)



DOCUMENTS | OPINION | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA OF 2015-2025 | EARLIER OPPOSITION | 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” | THE USCPAHA | THE CPJCE | THE AJC | THE CER | THE GWF | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | HUMAN RIGHTS

VILNIUSThe following is a draft English translation of the official Lithuanian transcript (which follows the English text) of the debate held on 12 May in the Seimas, Lithuania’s parliament, on the question of plans to refurbish with state funding the Soviet-era “Sports Palace” (Sporto rumai) ruin that sits in the middle of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery of Piramónt (Shnípishok, Šnipiškės), and turn it into a national convention center that would be surrounded by thousands of extant Jewish graves going back to the cemetery’s founding in the fifteenth century.

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Posted in Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok) | Comments Off on Transcript of the 12 May 2026 Seimas Debate on the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramont (Shnípishok, Šnipiškės)

Text of Rabbi Elchonon Baron’s Letter to the Chancellor of the Office of Lithuania’s President



DOCUMENTS | OPINION | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA OF 2015-2025 | EARLIER OPPOSITION | 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” | THE USCPAHA | THE CPJCETHE AJC | THE CER | THE GWF | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | HUMAN RIGHTS

VILNIUS—The office of Rabbi Elchonon Baron, president of Jewish Heritage in Lita (JHL), today released this letter to Petras Zapolskas, Chancellor of the Office of the President of the Republic of Lithuania. English text of the letter follows. For the Lithuanian text, please use the page-turning handle at upper left.

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Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Documents, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, Politics of Memory, Rabbi Elchonon Baron | Tagged , | Comments Off on Text of Rabbi Elchonon Baron’s Letter to the Chancellor of the Office of Lithuania’s President

Poster for the Macabre June 3rd Demo Planned by Ultranationalists at Vilnius’s Old Jewish Cemetery (Slated to become a National Conference Center)



OPINION | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA 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 | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONSHUMAN RIGHTS

The poster for the June 3rd 2026 demonstration at the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery calling for the building the Soviets plonked in its center to become the new national conference center

VILNIUS—The poster in question invites people to a protest action on June 3 at the Vilnius Palace of Concerts and Sports. Three prominent public figures and their quotes are depicted:

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Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Events, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, Politics of Memory | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Poster for the Macabre June 3rd Demo Planned by Ultranationalists at Vilnius’s Old Jewish Cemetery (Slated to become a National Conference Center)

Please Email Lithuania’s Seimas Committee on Culture to Defend Vilnius’s Oldest Jewish Cemetery



OPINION | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 | EARLIER OPPOSITION | 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO NEW “MUSEUM PROJECT” | THE USCPAHA | THE CPJCE | THE AJC | THE CER | THE GWF | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | HUMAN RIGHTS

by Andrius Kulikauskas

Inset from photo below by E. Kulikauskas

On March 18, 2026, twenty-three members of Lithuania’s parliament, Seimas, sponsored a bill to Promptly Renovate the Vilnius Concert and Sports Palace. On April 21, twenty-five members, representing all of Lithuania’s political parties, with the support of President Gitanas Nausėda, sponsored a revised bill On the Further Utilization of the Vilnius Concert and Sports Palace, cherishing it as a masterpiece of 20th century brutalist architecture which must be revived and exploited as a conference center and tourist site.

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Posted in Andrius Kulikauskas, Andrius Kulikauskas on Vilnius's Oldest Jewish Cemetery, Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, Politics of Memory | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Please Email Lithuania’s Seimas Committee on Culture to Defend Vilnius’s Oldest Jewish Cemetery

Updates on Effort to Save Vilnius’s Old Jewish Cemetery from Plans for a National Convention Center


[LATEST UPDATE]


OPINION | YIDDISH INSTRUMENTALIZED FOR EAST EUROPEAN STATE PR | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA 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

A Tale of Two Visions for a European Capital’s Old Jewish Cemetery

Which of these two visions  for Piramónt (Shnípishok, today’s Snipiskes on modern, beautiful Vilnius) reflects true love of modern Lithuania? The historic cemetery restored or a convention center that would haunt the capital for centuries to come? DH images by Vulovakas of Kaunas (not to scale).

May 12th Seimas statement and responses by DH (May 13) and state restitution sponsored official LJC (May 22nd):

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Posted in Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Human Rights, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion | Comments Off on Updates on Effort to Save Vilnius’s Old Jewish Cemetery from Plans for a National Convention Center

Sadness and Shock, as Famed Opera Singer ‘Sings in Yiddish’ at Free Concert to Promote Vilnius ‘Convention Center in the Jewish Cemetery’ Project



OPINION | YIDDISH INSTRUMENTALIZED FOR EAST EUROPEAN STATE PROLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA 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

OPINION

VILNIUS—There was sadness and shock in the international Litvak community this week as news spread that famed Lithuanian mezzo-soprano Judita Leitaitė, a professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, was featured in the program of the free 18 May 2026 concert arranged to promote the project to situate a new national convention center in a Soviet ruin that lies in the middle of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery where many thousands still lie buried. The Soviets pillaged all the stones, but left untouched the graves that were not under the building of the “Sporto Rumai” building.

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Posted in "Jewish" Events as Cover?, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Dovid Katz, Dovid Katz on the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Music, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, Politics of Memory, Yiddish Affairs | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Sadness and Shock, as Famed Opera Singer ‘Sings in Yiddish’ at Free Concert to Promote Vilnius ‘Convention Center in the Jewish Cemetery’ Project

Translation of Speech by MP & Former Vilnius Mayor Artūras Zuokas at Concert Supporting ‘Convention Center in Old Jewish Cemetery’



OPINION | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA 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

DOCUMENTS

The following is Defending History’s translation of the transcript of the speech made by member of parliament and  former mayor of Vilnius Artūras Zuokas at the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences on 18 May 2026 (souvenir program). The original Lithuanian speech is available on youtube (courtesy of Willian Adan Pahl). The Defending History community continues to hope that the late London rabbi the former mayor invokes was himself deeply deceived by others in the name-out-of-Orwell “CPJCE” (Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe), a group exposed inter alia by Wikileaks for receiving secret payments for “supervising” the destruction of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery, currently via plans for establishment of a convention center in a Soviet ruin where thousands would cheer, clap, drink and flush lavatories surrounded by thousands of Jewish graves, including some of the greatest Lithuanian rabbis of the last half millennium. See one of the historic complaints to the UK Charity Commission.  The long-term damage caused by foreign Jewish groups who in effect “sell permissions” to destroy Jewish cemeteries becomes obvious from this citation at this rally all these years later. For the actual international rabbinic consensus see here and here. There is widespread agreement, moreover, that the “convention center in the cemetery” would not be happening if it were a five hundred year old cemetery of the majority ethnicity and religion.

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Posted in Christian-Jewish Issues, CPJCE (London), Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, Politics of Memory, Vilnius | Tagged | Comments Off on Translation of Speech by MP & Former Vilnius Mayor Artūras Zuokas at Concert Supporting ‘Convention Center in Old Jewish Cemetery’

Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky and DH Editor Dovid Katz at BNS Press Conference: Calling on Lithuania to Preserve Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery and Cancel ‘Convention Center in the Cemetery’ Project



OPINION | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: THE SAGA 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

Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky (r.) and Dovid Katz. Photo: Lukas Balandis / BNS

VILNIUS—At a BNS (Baltic News Service) press conference today called by Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky, Vilnius’s one resident rabbi over the last 32 years, he was joined by Defending History editor Dovid Katz, former professor of Yiddish language, literature and culture at Vilnius University. Both pleaded with the Lithuanian government to preserve the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (Shnípishok, modern Vilnius’s Šnipiškės section), where many thousands still lie buried. The oldest recorded stone was from 1487. They called on the government to abandon plans for a convention center and or museum/memorial complex, now planned for a dilapidated Soviet-era building (“Sporto rumai”) on the site.

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Posted in Chabad in Vilnius, Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Dovid Katz, Has Lithuanian Quango ('Good Will Foundation') Been Using Jewish Restitution Funds for Bitter and Sometimes Violent Campaign against Chabad Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky?, Human Rights, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, Politics of Memory, Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky | Comments Off on Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky and DH Editor Dovid Katz at BNS Press Conference: Calling on Lithuania to Preserve Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery and Cancel ‘Convention Center in the Cemetery’ Project