Vilnius

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

Posted on 18 September 2026 by Defending History

DOCUMENTS | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: SAGA OF 2015-2026 | EARLIER OPPOSITION TO CONVENTION CENTER PROJECT | COMMENT BY ANDRIUS KULIKAUSKAS, SID LEIMAN, JULIUS 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

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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.

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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

When Will ‘Made in Vilnius’ Start Reporting ‘Both Sides of the Story’?

Posted on 15 September 2026 by Defending History

MEDIA WATCH | “GOOD WILL FOUNDATION” | GWF’s CAMPAIGN AGAINST VILNIUS’S ONE RESIDENT RABBI | US & ISRAELI MEMBERS OF THE BOARD PROVIDING LEGITIMIZATION [ARCHIVED] | LITHUANIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY ISSUES | TEXTBOOK CASE OF FAILURE OF RESTITUTION FOR VALUE OF PREWAR JEWISH RELIGIOUS PROPERTIES | STOLEN ELECTION SAGA | AJC MISADVENTURES IN LITHUANIA | CHABAD IN LITHUANIA | LITVAK AFFAIRS

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OPINION

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VILNIUS—The excellent and informative web journal Made in Vilnius has once again made the serious error of presenting only one side of a controversial story. A deeply disturbing incident took place in Vilnius on Monday morning, when the city’s resident rabbi of thirty-two years was attacked and injured at the gates of its sole functioning synagogue by a security guard allegedly employed by entities funded by Lithuania’s most notorious quango, the Orwellian-named “Good Will Foundation.” It is the same quango that funds the state-supported “official Jewish community.”

A free press seeks out the opposing views of matters in conflict.

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Posted in Chabad in Vilnius, Lithuania, Lithuania: Textbook Case of East European Restitution (for Lost Jewish Assets) Abused to Dismantle a Vibrant Jewish Community, Lithuania's Jewish Community Issues, Litvak Affairs, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, Quango Called 'Good Will Foundation' (GWF): Has it Been Using Jewish Restitution Funds for Bitter, Sometimes Violent Campaign against Chabad Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky?, Vilnius | Tagged , , | Comments Off on When Will ‘Made in Vilnius’ Start Reporting ‘Both Sides of the Story’?

Lithuania’s Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky Challenges WJRO (‘World Jewish Restitution Organization’) to Stop Enabling Travesties of State Sponsored GWF (‘Good Will Foundation’)

Posted on 25 June 2026 by Defending History

OPINION | LITHUANIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY ISSUES | LITVAK AFFAIRS | TEXTBOOK CASE OF FAILURE OF RESTITUTION FOR PLUNDERED PREWAR JEWISH ASSETS | GOOD WILL FOUNDATION | STOLEN ELECTION SAGA | AJC MISADVENTURES IN LITHUANIA | CHABAD IN LITHUANIA

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VILNIUS—Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky, Chabad’s rabbi in Lithuania, who for thirty-two years has been the city’s only resident rabbi, today issued the following statement addressed to the president of the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO):

It is deeply painful that the restitution process in Lithuania has been flawed from the start.

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Posted in "Good Will Foundation" (Jewish Restitution in Lithuania), A Stolen Election and a Small Jewish Community's Protest, Chabad in Vilnius, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Quango Called 'Good Will Foundation' (GWF): Has it Been Using Jewish Restitution Funds for Bitter, Sometimes Violent Campaign against Chabad Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky?, Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky, Vilnius | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Lithuania’s Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky Challenges WJRO (‘World Jewish Restitution Organization’) to Stop Enabling Travesties of State Sponsored GWF (‘Good Will Foundation’)

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

Posted on 12 June 2026 by Defending History

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

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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

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

Posted on 21 May 2026 by Defending History

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

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DOCUMENTS

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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’

Defending History’s Rapid Response to Statement from the Seimas on Fate of Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

Posted on 13 May 2026 by Defending History

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

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The following statement was circulated to Defending History readers today in response to the statement from the Seimas, Lithuania’s parliament, on the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (Shnípishok, in the Šnipiškės district of modern Vilnius):

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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, Vilnius | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Defending History’s Rapid Response to Statement from the Seimas on Fate of Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

Welcoming New Director of Lithuania’s State Jewish Museum

Posted on 21 April 2026 by Defending History

OPINION | MUSEUMS | VILNIUS | LITVAK AFFAIRS

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OPINION

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VILNIUS—For several decades, the Defending History community has been providing commentary on Jewish and history related museums in Lithuania and the wider region, primarily in our Museums section, initiated nearly eighteen years ago. Here in Vilnius, we have endeavored to give voice to sectors of modern Jewish (and sometimes non-Jewish) life whose views have had no other channel, especially since the closure, over a decade and a half ago, of the Jewish community’s long-beloved quadrilingual Jewish newspaper, Jerusalem of Lithuania, that was home to open and vigorous debate for decades, under the inspired editorship of the late Milan Chersonski. Ultimately, it was replaced by a PR type website dedicated to one view only, that of the tiny clique in control of the tens of millions of euros in restitution funding that has excluded the interests of today’s Jewish community, and its healthy diversity of views.

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Posted in Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Museums, News & Views, Opinion, Vilnius | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Welcoming New Director of Lithuania’s State Jewish Museum

Rabbi Elchonon Baron: Yom HaShoah Letter on Planned Desecration of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery by State Authorities

Posted on 14 April 2026 by Defending History

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

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Open Letter on Yom Hashoah

by Rabbi Elchonon Baron

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When violent antisemitism is once again rearing its ugly head across Europe, in vile response to the one and only Jewish state facing attempted annihilation on multiple fronts, I am dismayed to see the official organs of the Lithuanian government again assailing the integrity of the sacred Shnipishok cemetery in Vilna, and promoting renewed desecration to the hallowed CURRENT resting place of tens of thousands of our forefathers. Articles in major Lithuanian media outlets earlier today, including those in Lrt.lt and in m.diena.lt.

Rabbi Elchonon Baron answers questions from Lithuanian media during a recent Vilnius Jewish Community protest calling for restoration of the 500 year old sacred Jewish burial site in Vilnius.

This week, I noted with satisfaction that New York City recently designated an historic Lithuanian building with protected landmark status. New York’s Lithuanian population in 1904 (near its peak) was around 15,000, or less than half a percent. Many Lithuanian landmarks there are thankfully protected and preserved, as befitting a free and democratic society. There is an online list.

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Posted in Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, Rabbi Elchonon Baron, USCPAHA (US Commission for Preservation of the American Heritage Abroad), Vilnius | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Rabbi Elchonon Baron: Yom HaShoah Letter on Planned Desecration of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery by State Authorities

DH’s Social Media Response to Petition from 53 Elites Calling for ‘Convention Center in the Middle of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery’

Posted on 6 April 2026 by Defending History

OPINION | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT: 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

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VILNIUS—The following is the text of Dovid Katz’s post on Facebook today in response to the call by 53 signatories of Lithuania’s declaration of independence for proceeding with a convention center in the heart of the Old Vilna Jewish cemetery:

https://defendinghistory.com/53-signatories-of-lithuanias-declaration-of-independence-call-on-president-and-pm-to-proceed-with-a-national-conference-center-surrounded-by-thousands-of-jewish-graves/122914
As Jewish people here in Vilnius, and around the world, were preparing for the first Passover seyder last week, certain powerful forces here arranged for a demand by 53 signatories of Lithuania’s declaration of independence to the president and prime minister to ignore protests from around the world and proceed with the erection of a national convention center in the heart of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery, where many thousands still lie buried, including some of the major Litvak scholars of the last half-millennium.

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Posted in Antisemitism & Bias, 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, Vilnius | Comments Off on DH’s Social Media Response to Petition from 53 Elites Calling for ‘Convention Center in the Middle of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery’

Ruta Bloshtein Asks: ‘Dear Mr. Yatom (Yusem): Did This Defamatory Circular Really Come from You?’

Posted on 30 March 2026 by Defending History

OPINION | VILNIUS | LITVAK AFFAIRS | STOLEN-DEMOCRACY OFFICIAL COMMUNITY | CHABAD IN VILNIUS

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by Ruta Bloshtein

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As a member of the very small religiously observant (Orthodox) Jewish community of Vilnius, and as someone born here in Vilnius, I at times feel it important to speak out publicly on current issues of Jewish life. I am writing this open letter first and foremost to express my public question as to whether a shameful document very widely circulated for several months now, purporting to come from the office of the official Head of the “Vilnius Jewish Religious Community” was indeed written by or approved by the personage whose name appears on top: Mr. Shmuel Yatom (whom I recall previously using the spelling Yusem), the official head of this “Vilnius Religious Jewish Community” that is financed by the restitution-fueled official so-called “Jewish (Litvak) Community of Lithuania” which has done so much damage to genuine Jewish life here in Vilnius, not least by dismantling its longtime democratic structure.

Could this libelous screed really have originated from the office of Mr. Yatom (Yusem), official head of the “religious community”?

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Posted in A Stolen Election and a Small Jewish Community's Protest, Chabad in Vilnius, Lithuania, Lithuania: Textbook Case of East European Restitution (for Lost Jewish Assets) Abused to Dismantle a Vibrant Jewish Community, Lithuania's Jewish Community Issues, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Quango Called 'Good Will Foundation' (GWF): Has it Been Using Jewish Restitution Funds for Bitter, Sometimes Violent Campaign against Chabad Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky?, Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky, Ruta (Reyzke) Bloshtein, Vilnius | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Ruta Bloshtein Asks: ‘Dear Mr. Yatom (Yusem): Did This Defamatory Circular Really Come from You?’

Paupys, Paupers, and Depauperates

Posted on 25 February 2026 by Defending History

OPINION | MEMOIRS | LITVAK AFFAIRS | LITHUANIA | POLITICS OF MEMORY

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by Harry Gorfine

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Prologue

Fašistai and fashionistas

“Pakelk galva pakelk galva! Paupių piliečiai”

Emigrating from Czarist Vilna to Petticoat Lane – escaping pogroms to reside near Jack the Ripper

From the Ripper to the high seas, heading for the Land Downunder

Returning to Lita – a vicarious journey of ancestral discovery and historical revelation

What now?

Epilogue

Bibliography

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Posted in Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Memoirs, News & Views, Opinion, Politics of Memory, Vilnius | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Paupys, Paupers, and Depauperates

Rabbi Elchonon Baron Warns Lithuanian Gov. that ‘Blessings’ Will Not Come to the Country from Construction of Conference Center in Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

Posted on 23 July 2025 by Defending History

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

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Rabbi Elchonon Baron speaking to Lithuanian media at the Vilnius Jewish Community’s protest at the cemetery last year. DH Photo: William Adan Pahl.

VILNIUS—Rapidly following upon the announcement today by Lithuania’s prime minister that he is ordering revival of the project to remodel a hated Soviet ruin in the heart of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery into a new national conference center, the office of Rabbi Elchonon Baron, president of JHL (Jewish Heritage in Lita), released his letter to the prime minister in both Lithuanian and English. They appear just below in PDF format.

During a protest at the cemetery coordinated with the Vilnius Jewish Community last summer, Rabbi Baron gave a powerful interview to Lithuania media (video), which was however not included in the evening news coverage (see report). Defending History’s reaction to the prime minister’s statement appeared earlier today.

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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, Vilnius | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Rabbi Elchonon Baron Warns Lithuanian Gov. that ‘Blessings’ Will Not Come to the Country from Construction of Conference Center in Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

Lithuania’s Prime Minister Throws Out Gov’s Own ‘Working Group’ Proposals. Announces Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery will Become a National Convention Center

Posted on 23 July 2025 by Defending History

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

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VILNIUS—The following is the text of Defending History’s emailed letter to readers today concerning news of the Lithuanian prime minister’s statement announcing that the derelict Soviet building in the middle of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery, instead of being torn down to make way for the cemetery’s loving restoration would be restored and rebuilt to become Vilnius’s new national convention center. There was, for all intents and purposes, no mention of the recent “Working Group” and its non-starter recommendation for it to become a museum. The Defending History community will continue to pursue peaceful and appropriate public-discourse means to defend the dignity of the thousands of Vilna Jews buried there over half a millennium of Litvak history.
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Dear Readers

Lithuania’s Prime Minister has just announced full reversion to the convention center project in the heart of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery that would prove so damaging and tragic for Lithuania’s standing in the world. The many thousands of Vilna citizens buried there have no local descendants to defend their graves because of the Holocaust. Moreover, the unique hand of East European antisemitism is in play (and an antisemitic party lamentably forms part of the PM’s coalition). The simple tests: (a) all other hated Soviet monstrosities are (rightfully!) dismantled; and (b) this would never happen to a five hundred year old city center cemetery of the ethnic/religious majority in the country. Both EU and US congressional law clearly designate the sacrosanct rights of minority cemeteries internationally.

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Posted in 2023-2024 'Working Group' on the Future of the Old Vilna 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, Vilnius | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Lithuania’s Prime Minister Throws Out Gov’s Own ‘Working Group’ Proposals. Announces Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery will Become a National Convention Center

Vilnius Jewish Community Issues Public Statement on Sham Elections of Restitution-fueled ‘Official’ Jewish Community

Posted on 6 June 2025 by Defending History

OPINION | LITHUANIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY ISSUES | LITVAK AFFAIRS | GOOD WILL FOUNDATION | STOLEN ELECTION SAGA | AJC MISADVENTURES IN LITHUANIA

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VILNIUS—The following is an English translation of the statement posted today by the Vilnius Jewish Community (VJC) on its website and on Facebook.

Among reports and reactions: in Alfa.lt; the statement posted by Jewish Heritage Lita (JHL); Dovid Katz’s post on n Facebook and in Defending History; Defending History’s newly compiled section, Lithuania: a Textbook Case of East European Restitution for Lost Jewish Assets Abused to Dismantle and Diminish a Vibrant Jewish Community, which includes contributions over the years by Ruta Bloshtein, Alexander Chernov, Pinchos Fridberg, Simon Gurevich, Leon Kaplan, Arkady Kurliandchik, Zecharya Olickij, Josif Parasonis, the late Jacob Pilansky, among others.]

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Statement of the Vilnius Jewish Community

The Vilnius Jewish Community announces that it will not participate in the reporting and election meeting of the Lithuanian Jewish Community to be held on June 6 of this year.

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Posted in "Good Will Foundation" (Jewish Restitution in Lithuania), A Stolen Election and a Small Jewish Community's Protest, Lithuania, Lithuania: Textbook Case of East European Restitution (for Lost Jewish Assets) Abused to Dismantle a Vibrant Jewish Community, Lithuania's Jewish Community Issues, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Vilnius | Comments Off on Vilnius Jewish Community Issues Public Statement on Sham Elections of Restitution-fueled ‘Official’ Jewish Community

Rabbi Elchonon Baron and Julius Norvila Issue Appeal to Mayor of Vilnius for ‘Full Restoration’ of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

Posted on 21 May 2025 by Defending History

OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT | EARLIER OPPOSITION TO CONVENTION CENTER |  2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO THE NEW MUSEUM/MEMORIAL PROJECT | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | HUMAN RIGHTS | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS

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VILNIUS—The following public letter to the mayor of Vilnius from Rabbi Elchonon Baron appeared today on the website of Jewish Heritage in Lita (JHL):

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Honorable Valdas Benkunskas

Mayor of Vilnius

While the municipality’s initiative to mark the borders of the Šnipiškės cemetery, in the Jewish world also known as Piramont cemetery, is a positive step, it’s concerning that a significant portion of the cemetery will fall outside these newly defined boundaries.

Furthermore, the official statement by the Vilnius city municipality, dated May 9, 2025, stating that “…in the 19th century the cemetery was officially closed and most of the remains were reburied,” is inaccurate and confusing. To clarify the historical details:

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Posted in 2023-2024 'Working Group' on the Future of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery, 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, Rabbi Elchonon Baron, Vilnius | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Rabbi Elchonon Baron and Julius Norvila Issue Appeal to Mayor of Vilnius for ‘Full Restoration’ of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

Far Right Antisemitic Establishment & Genocide Center in Vilnius: Launching New Campaign of Defamation Against Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky (1922-2024)

Posted on 31 January 2025 by Defending History

FANIA YOCHELES BRANTSOVSKY | BLAMING THE VICTIMS | LITHUANIA | LITVAK AFFAIRS

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The following email blast with its links to online sites, forthcoming events in Vilnius, and at its end, a link to an old  and an out-of-context defamatory video extract on youtube, has been widely recirculated this week. It comes on the heels of the state Jewish museum’s ill-conceived event  legitimizing the director of the state-funded Genocide Center, an institution that champions glorification of collaborators, defamation of victims and history revisionism in the far-right spirit of East European ultranationalism. See also the shameful longtime position of the state-sponsored “Red-Brown Commission” and Defending History’s Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky Resource Page; Fania Brantsovsky section; summary of state prosecutors’ campaign of defamation; index of topics and videos posted at the time of her death, at age 102, last September, including a call for a formal state apology to her family and those of fellow Holocaust survivors who became heroes of the free world by escaping the Vilna Ghetto to join up with the anti-Nazi partisans in the forests of Lithuania. Fania’s last wish was for the “Jewish Partisan Fort” outside Vilnius to be restored and preserved for future generations. More on editor’s Facebook page (with discussion in the comments that follow).

[UPDATE OF 4 FEB. 2025: See now full translation of the text below, and further discussion on Dovid Katz’s Facebook page].

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Posted in A 21st Century Campaign Against Lithuanian Holocaust Survivors?, Antisemitism & Bias, Christian-Jewish Issues, Dr. Arūnas Bubnys and State Holocaust Revisionism in Lithuania, Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky (Fania Brancovskaja): 1922-2024, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Politics of Memory, Vilnius, Vilnius's Genocide Center and the Genocide Museum it Manages | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Far Right Antisemitic Establishment & Genocide Center in Vilnius: Launching New Campaign of Defamation Against Fania Yocheles Brantsovsky (1922-2024)

Vilnius “Jews-for-Jesus” Conference to Feature Verbickienė and Toleikis

Posted on 24 September 2024 by Defending History

OPINION | LITVAK AFFAIRS | ANTISEMITISM | VILNIUS | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS

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by Dovid Katz

VILNIUS—For centuries, missionaries have cunningly preyed on small, weak, fractured and vulnerable Jewish communities, cleverly roping in widely known and respected figures to lend a veneer of academic or intellectual legitimacy. At issue is whether the majority Christian culture is prepared to accept as equals a minority whose theology differs, without campaigns to “recruit souls” which implies the worst about the faith and people whose souls need to be “saved.” Indeed, the necessary conclusion about the inherent evil (in the case at hand historically including the charge of deicide) of the unconverted played its role in the mindset that was among the conceptual prerequisites for the Holocaust. Around 96% of Lithuania’s Jewish citizens were massacred. Some local priests risked everything to hide and rescue a Jewish neighbor. Others gave pep talks to the local shooters ensuring them that they were firing at the Devil himself. The issue is one that calls for humility, intercultural respect, and human sensitivity.

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Posted in "Jewish" Events as Cover?, Antisemitism & Bias, Christian-Jewish Issues, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Vilnius | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Vilnius “Jews-for-Jesus” Conference to Feature Verbickienė and Toleikis

English Translation of Lithuania’s TV Evening News Coverage of Recent Demonstration to Rescue the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

Posted on 11 August 2024 by Defending History

 OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT | EARLIER OPPOSITION TO CONVENTION CENTER |  2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION TO THE NEW MUSEUM/MEMORIAL PROJECT | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES | HUMAN RIGHTS | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS

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VILNIUS—The following is a full translation of the July 25th Lithuanian television evening news segment, on its flagship Panorama program, of that day’s demonstration led by the Vilnius Jewish Community against plans to permanently erase the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery by refurbishing (instead of demolishing) a hated Soviet eyesore. Demolition would make way for the respectful restoration of the most important Jewish cemetery in the Lithuanian lands of Northeastern Europe.

JUMP TO TRANSLATION. TO SCREENSHOTS.

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Posted in 2023-2024 'Working Group' on the Future of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery, Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Lithuania: Textbook Case of East European Restitution (for Lost Jewish Assets) Abused to Dismantle a Vibrant Jewish Community, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Vilnius | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on English Translation of Lithuania’s TV Evening News Coverage of Recent Demonstration to Rescue the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery

First Impressions of Vilnius’s New ‘Museum of Culture and Identity of Lithuanian Jews’

Posted on 31 July 2024 by Defending History

OPINION | MUSEUMS | ARTS | LITVAK AFFAIRS

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by Dovid Katz

The creators of Vilnius’s new Museum of Culture and Identity of Lithuanian Jews (MCILJ or for short — “Litvak Culture Museum”), which opened its doors last January, have rapidly earned their place of honor in the 700 or so years of Lithuanian Jewish history. They have achieved a notable advance in encapsulating — in broad outline — the scope, the breadth, and many of the contours of internal diversity of one of the world’s more intriguing and complex stateless cultures, right in the city that had for centuries been its symbolic capital. That heritage is part of the larger Ashkenazic heritage that is itself often undercredited and understudied internationally, particularly among modern Jews themselves, for whom the twin pillars of modern Israel and of modern forms of religion occasionally leave no room for the civilization of their own forebears. That it was largely annihilated in its homelands during the Holocaust makes such a task more daunting still.

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Posted in Arts, Dovid Katz, Leyzer Ran Section, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Museums, News & Views, Opinion, Vilnius | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on First Impressions of Vilnius’s New ‘Museum of Culture and Identity of Lithuanian Jews’

Opinion: American Jewish Committee (AJC) Needs to Look Again at its Involvement in Lithuania

Posted on 22 July 2024 by Defending History

OPINION | LITHUANIAN MISADVENTURES OF THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE (AJC) | 2023-2024 “WORKING GROUP” ON VILNA CEMETERY | LIST OF MEMBERS | MOUNTING OPPOSITION | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY AT PIRAMÓNT | EARLIER OPPOSITION TO CONVENTION CENTER | CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN RABBIS (CER) | THE “CPJCE”  | CEMETERIES & MASS GRAVES

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AJC’S Rabbi Andrew Baker sporting latest silver cross from a president of Lithuania

VILNIUS—The American Jewish Committee (AJC), founded in 1906, is one of the world’s accomplished advocacy groups for Jewish, and more broadly, minority and human rights causes, in addition to other lofty missions. Those who revere and support it now need to ask frank questions about, one is sorry to say, a disturbingly consistent infidelity to Jewish causes in one country, Lithuania. The lamentable record speaks for itself. It has for decades been represented by its  director of international Jewish affairs, Rabbi Andrew Baker, a recipient of multiple grand awards from a number of presidents of Lithuania. In the AJC’s name and with its wherewithal, he has consistently let down, first, the living small-c Jewish community of Lithuania; second, the true narrative of the Holocaust when it is under attack by the forces of Holocaust obfuscation, distortion and revisionism; and, finally, the preservation of Jewish cemeteries. We do not ascribe to him any nefarious motives or conscious malice on any of these counts. He is not the first, nor the last American Jewish organization bigwig to be mobilized (and a little intoxicated by a slew of high Lithuanian government medals) as a kind of “useful Jewish functionary” to provide Jewish cover and cred for government policies in countries where, in post-Holocaust Eastern Europe, local Jewish communities can be small, weak, and demographically challenged.

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Posted in "Good Will Foundation" (Jewish Restitution in Lithuania), 2023-2024 'Working Group' on the Future of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery, American Jewish Committee (AJC) in Lithuania, Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Lithuania: Textbook Case of East European Restitution (for Lost Jewish Assets) Abused to Dismantle a Vibrant Jewish Community, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, Vilnius | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Opinion: American Jewish Committee (AJC) Needs to Look Again at its Involvement in Lithuania