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 RELATIONS | HUMAN 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:
Top left, Ingrida Šimonytė, former prime minister of Lithuania, current member of the Seimas, prominent member of the Conservative Party (Homeland Union—Lithuanian Christian Democrats). Her quote as it appears at the image: “…this does not mean a general consensus by far…” (“…tai nereiškia toli gražu visuotinio susitarimo…”). Back in 2021, when she was still the Prime Minister, Šimonytė cancelled the earlier incarnation of the project for a national conference center on the site. In 2022-2023, she became one of the main proponents of establishing a museum of Lithuanian Jews in the Palace in conjunction with her office’s convening of an international “Working Group“. (Of its members, only one, Professor Sid Leiman of New York, issued a historic dissenting opinion, calling for loving restoration of the cemetery, where many thousands still lie buried.)
Top right, Žygimantas Pavilionis, Member of the Seimas (Homeland Union—Lithuanian Christian Democrats), former ambassador to the US and Mexico, former chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Affairs at the Seimas, current deputy chair of the same Committee. His quote is “…Has it been approved?.. …There will be consequences…” (“…Ar suderinta?.. …Pasekmės bus!..). This refers to his questions at the May 12, 2026, session of the Seimas, during which the question of turning the Palace of Sports into a congress and conference center was deliberated. In full, his statements at the times were as follows: “Have you discussed this project with the American Jewish Community (sic), the Chairman of which has just written me that he is definitely against it? Have you discussed this project with the American Embassy in Vilnius, with the American administration, as we all know very well how sensitive this issue is to the American Jewish communities? Do you understand what effect this could have to our relationship with the Congress [of the United States], which is the only institution that defends us and has recently reinstated its military aid to us? Do you understand the effect it may have even on the America’s decision to keep its soldiers on the ground in Lithuania?” See Defending History’s take on the role of the American Jewish Committee (what Mr. Pavilionis meant) in the cemetery saga and other painful Jewish issues in Lithuania.
Left, second image is of Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky, the sole resident rabbi in Vilnius over the past thirty-two years (from the Chabad Lubavitch movement). His quote is “…the building must be demolished…” (“…pastatą reikia griauti…”). His full statement of 11 March 2026 first appeared on these pages, and his press conference of 15 May 2026 resulted in substantial Lithuanian media coverage.
The background image is a of the decrepit Soviet-built Sports Palace, in a more serious state of disrepair than it is currently. The main message of the poster, in white block capitals, is “THE NATION MUST DECIDE!” (“TURI SPRĘSTI TAUTA!”). “COME AND LET’S DEFEND IT!” (“ATEIK IR APGINKIME!”). The nationalist attachment to a hated Soviet building has seemed bizarre to many in a region where such remnants of brutal Soviet occupation are routinely despised and demolished. Moreover, similar buildings were erected all over the former Soviet bloc countries.
The protest gathering is announced for 7 PM on Wednesday 3 June 2026, at the ruin of the Sports Palace, which ground radar has shown abuts thousands of intact Jewish graves. Supporters of the restoration of the Old Jewish Cemetery, whose first burial recorded is from the fifteenth century, have called for a new and objective scientific non-intrusive ground radar investigation.
The poster was issued by the organizers of the event, Tautos Forumas (“Forum of the Nation”). Tautos Forumas is a gathering of nationalistically-minded organizations and individuals, established in 2018. In its founding declaration, Tautos Forumas raised such aims as “denouncing the ideology of Global Lithuania”, “eradicating the persecution of individuals for “politically incorrect” worldviews, and “stoping the forced spread of globalist ideologies of neomarxism and neoliberalism”. In 2020–2025, members of Tautos Forumas were active in the nationalist far-right party Nacionalinis Susivienijimas (The National Alliance). After a disagreement between two key figures in the party, Vytautas Sinica (the only Member of the Seimas of the party) and Vytautas Radžvilas (philosopher and probably the main ideologue of the party), in late 2025, Tautos Forumas took the side of Radžvilas and renewed its independent activities, while remaining part of Nacionalinis Susivienijimas.
Defending History has called for opponents of the national convention center project to observe the event in silence and with thoughts for the tens of thousands buried at the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt over nearly half a millennium. Their families purchased their plots in freehold, in perpetuity, and it is because of the Holocaust, in which over 95% of Lithuanian Jewry was massacred, that they have almost no local descendants left to defend their burial ground, which is one of Eastern Europe’s major Jewish cemeteries.
Related: Defending History’s section on the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery.