OPINION | 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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Statement by Gerbkime kapines
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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.
Seimas member Emanuelis Zingeris is curating an exhibit in Seimas, at the Vitrazo (Stained Glass) gallery, “The Vilnius Jewish Cemetery in Šnipiškės: Lithuania’s Choice Today.” The exhibit presents photos, maps, facts and thoughts about the Cemetery to make clear that thousands of remains are buried there. The Sports Palace is within the historic boundaries of the Cemetery. The Soviets terminated the Cemetery’s legal status in 1955, violating the Jewish faith and the material remains. The stated goal of the exhibit is that “ALL of the cemetery be legally registered as a CEMETERY, which will allow it to be gradually restored.”
Gerbkime kapines (Respect Cemeteries), an informal fellowship led by Ruta Bloshtein, organized this exhibit. Ruta’s brother, Artūras Imbrasas, created 18 panels, which he organized chronologically. He appeals to visual thinking to express the fundamentals. Photos show the timeless beauty of the ohels (tombstones), which we can rebuild. Maps make clear the boundaries which the Soviet Sports Palace violates. In 1996, archaeologist Robertas Žukovskis confirmed the southwestern boundary, briefly uncovering the intact remains of ten children. In 2002, during construction work along Rinktinės street and Olimpiečių street, archaeologists identified 700 remains. A cemetery is a cemetery is a cemetery. The exhibit concludes with teachings by Rabbi Elchonon Baron and Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky.
In 2018, the City of Vilnius granted legal status as a cemetery to the Jewish Cemetery in Užupis, which the Soviet regime similarly had desecrated, destroying tens of thousands of tombstones. Ruta Bloshtein, Arkadij Kurliandchik, Edmundas Kulikauskas, Andrius Kulikauskas, Arturas Imbrasas and other members of Gerbkime kapines want the City of Vilnius to likewise legally register the Jewish Cemetery in Šnipiškės as a cemetery. The exhibit in Seimas dispels the baseless rumors that “there are no remains there,” that “they have been relocated to other cemeteries,” that “Jews sold the cemetery to the Czar” and so on. Recognition of the Cemetery clarifies the absurdity of reviving the Soviet Sports Palace which desecrates the Cemetery.
Normally, Lithuania’s Genocide Center should certify that the Soviets committed crimes by liquidating the Vilnius Jewish Community, confiscating the Cemetery and then desecrating it. Andrius Kulikauskas queried the Genocide Center on May 17, but it replied on July 3 that it was not competent to make any legal judgement regarding such crimes. Kulikauskas then spoke with the Genocide Center’s General Director Arūnas Bubnys, who concurred, as a historian, that these were indeed crimes, historically speaking. He agreed that Kulikauskas resubmit his query, which he did on July 16, emphasizing that the Genocide Center’s charter declares that it is the government institution which evaluates the crimes of the Nazi and Soviet occupying regimes.
But yet again, on July 28, the Genocide Center responded that it was not competent to render judgement as to the legality of the Soviet actions.
On September 7, Gerbkime kapines members Andrius Kulikauskas, Edmundas Kulikauskas, Valdas Valiūnas, and Bill Pahl, met for one and a half hours with Arunas Bubnys, Aurelija Juodytė and Evaldas Gelumbauskas of the Genocide Center. We agreed that the Center needs to develop a bureaucratic language to certify Soviet “crimes” in the historic sense, rather than in any specifically legal sense. Bubnys noted that part of the mission of the Nuremberg trials was to develop a legal framework for addressing obvious crimes that had not been addressed before. We also recognized that, unfortunately, in Lithuania, the facts about the Cemetery are a political matter.
Clockwise from left: Edmundas Kulikauskas, Valdas Valiūnas, Bill Pahl meet with Genocide Center’s leadership: Arunas Bubnys, Evaldas Gelumbauskas Aurelija Juodytė. Gerbkime kapines photo by Andrius Kulikauskas (attendee not in photo).
The revival of the Soviet Sports Palace has many prominent supporters boldly spreading falsehoods. Practically speaking, the Genocide Center is an organ of the state, and it won’t speak the truth to counter widespread prejudices unless approached by a member of Seimas or some other government official. One such official would be the Seimas Ombudsman, who responds to complaints.
More pertinently, the Genocide Center is overseen by the Seimas Commission for the Rights and Affairs of Participants of Resistance to Occupation Regimes and Victims of Occupation, which is chaired by Darius Jakavičius, a sensitive, understanding, principled member of Seimas. The Genocide Center is also overseen by the Seimas Committee on Human Rights.
Gerbkime kapines (Respect Cemeteries) asks us to write emails to priim@lrs.lt as in the example below. We encourage you to mention something about yourself, why you care about this Cemetery, your Jewish faith and heritage, Vilnius/Vilna, Lithuania and our shared humanity. If you email a copy of your letter to ruta@kapines.com, we will be happy to post it online for all to see. Thank you for caring and defending our Cemetery!
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[sample emailed letter]
Please Recognize and Defend the Jewish Cemetery in Šnipiškės
Dear Members of Seimas,
and especially, members of the Commission for the Rights and Affairs of Participants of Resistance to Occupation Regimes and Victims of Occupation,
Please confirm that the Soviet regime committed crimes by disbanding the Vilnius Jewish Community, confiscating the Jewish Cemetery in Šnipiškės, and desecrating the Cemetery by building the Sports Palace there.
Please instruct the Genocide Center to certify these crimes and investigate them further.
Please instruct the City of Vilnius to register the Jewish Cemetery in Šnipiškės as a cemetery, just as it has registered the Jewish Cemetery in Užupis.
On September 17, 13:00, please attend the exhibit at Seimas, in the Vitrazo (Stained Glass) gallery, and take to heart the photos, maps, facts and thoughts about the Jewish Cemetery in Šnipiškės.
Please confirm that the Cemetery contains thousands of remains and counter those who spread falsehoods regarding that.
Please vote against any bill to revive the Soviet Palace. Any use of the Soviet Palace will further desecrate the Jewish Cemetery in Šnipiškės. Thank you.
[name, place, and any other pertinent information]
Lithuanian version:sio0n]
Pripažinkite ir apginkite Vilniaus žydų kapines Šnipiškėse
Gerbiami Seimo nariai,o ypač Laisvės kovų ir valstybės istorinės atminties komisijos nariai,
Prašau jūsų patvirtinti, kad sovietų valdžia nusikalto likviduodama Vilniaus žydų bendruomenę, nusavindama Vilniaus žydų kapines Šnipiškėse ir jas išniekindama, toje vietoje pastatydama Sporto rūmus.
Prašau įpareigoti Genocido centrą pažyma patvirtinti šiuos nusikaltimus ir atlikti tolesnį jų tyrimą.
Prašau įpareigoti Vilniaus miesto savivaldybę įregistruoti Šnipiškių žydų kapines kaip kapines – lygiai taip pat, kaip įregistravo Užupio žydų kapines.
Prašau rugsėjo 17 d. 13.00 val. apsilankyti Seimo Vitražo galerijoje vykstančioje parodoje ir susipažinti su nuotraukomis, žemėlapiais, faktais bei mintimis apie Vilniaus žydų kapines Šnipiškėse.
Prašau patvirtinti faktą, kad šiose kapinėse yra tūkstančiai palaikų, ir paprieštarauti netiesą skleidžiantiems šiuo klausimu.
Prašau balsuoti prieš bet kokį įstatymo projektą, kuriuo būtų siekiama atgaivinti Sporto rūmus. Bet koks šių rūmų naudojimas dar labiau išniekintų Vilnius žydų kapines Šnipiškėse.
Jums dėkoju.