CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS  |  HUMAN RIGHTS  |  CEMETERIES  |  OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY  |  OPPOSITION TO CONVENTION CENTER PROJECT  |  PETITION

◊

VILNIUS—VGTU Lecturer Dr. Andrius Kulikauskas invites readers of all backgrounds to help in his new survey by answering an online questionnaire, in English (What Would Deepen Empathy for Lithuania’s Jews?) or in Lithuanian (Kas didintų atjautą Lietuvos žydams?). He is hoping for as wide a diversity of views as possible.

Our answers will help his research which he will present in Lublin, Poland on September 14, 2017.  His presentation is: How Do Things Come to Matter? Evolution of Self-Identity in the Intercultural Debate on Whether to Restore Vilnius’s Oldest Jewish Cemetery.  He will be speaking at ICPLM 2017, a conference on Culture − Cognition − Communication: (Inter)cultural perspectives on language and the mind. All are welcome to attend and participate in the discussion.

His overall thesis is that change in Lithuanian attitudes, including a greater empathy for Lithuania’s Jews, and a deeper realization of Lithuania’s loss due to the Holocaust, may require a change in self-definition, what it means to be Lithuanian, and what we mean by Lithuania. Our responses will inform his thinking and help him clarify and develop it further. The related dialogue and resulting ideas may help us imagine the restoration of Vilnius’s oldest Jewish cemetery at Piramónt as a symbol of Lithuanian empathy for Lithuania’s Jews.