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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.

The document assumes special significance in the midst of current debates over the past and future of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Shnípishok, today’s Šnipiškės), referred to (accurately) as the “Old Jewish Cemetery” in item no. 2 (colored below in red for rapid locating) in the document of “transfer” of ownership. There is explicit reference to “historical monuments and remnants”. The document orders that cemeteries belonging to the Vilnius Jewish Community (administering the property of the thousands of Vilna citizens who purchased their plots freehold over the centuries) were being nationalized (i.e. pilfered) by Soviet occupation authorities. Defending History’s translation (with translator’s explanatory notes) is followed by an image of the document (also available as PDF; PDF of the copy with Soviet handwritten archival notation at bottom).

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ACT

of Transfer and Acceptance of Property

Vilnius, 22 October, 1940. The Commission of the Economy and Property Department of the Vilnius City Municipality, comprised of Vladas Motuzas, Jonas Dovoina-Silvestravičius, and Zelikas Trockis,^[1] having in mind the decree No. 422 of the People’s Commissariat of Public Utilities of the LSSR,^[2] dated 21 September of this year, and supplementing the Act of Transfer and Acceptance of Property of 30 September of this year, accepted into custody of the City Municipality from Dovidas Švallichas, supervisor of the Vilnius Jewish Community, appointed by the decree No. 50504 of the Head of the City and County of Vilnius, dated 12 September of this year, the following immovable and movable property of the Vilnius Jewish Community:

          1) Immovable property located at 5 Kirhuto St.,^[3] comprised of a land plot of approximately 12.5 ha, with buildings: a) a wooden house by the gate, where the caretaker lives, b) a brick house within the cemetery, housing an office and other facilities, along with farm buildings (a barn, stables, a cellar, and others), and c) movable property, listed in the attached inventory. The cemetery is enclosed by a wooden fence.

          2) Immovable property, located at the corner of Vilnius’ Rinktinės and Juozapavičiaus streets, marked No. 3 (the Old Jewish Cemetery), comprised of a land plot of approximately 3 ha 2552 sq. meters with historical monuments and remnants. The cemetery is enclosed by a concrete fence.

          3) Immovable property, located in the “Ąžuolynas” (Dąbowka)^[4] in the Riešė Volost,^[5] Vilnius County, comprised of a land plot of approximately 22 ha 3354 sq. meters, with a) a single-story wooden house where the caretaker lives and b) a granary and c) a well and d) movable property, listed in the attached inventory. The cemetery is enclosed by a concrete fence.

This property is registered in the Mortage Book No. 576 at the Vilnius District Court in the name of the Vilnius Jewish Community.

          Accepted by: [signatures of Motuzas, Dovoina-Silvestravičius, Trockis]

          Transferred by: [signature of Švallichas]

[hand-written by an archivist, originally in Cyrillic:]

“ЦГАЛ, ф. 401, оп. 2, д. 518, л. 20” [Russian archival notation meaning approximately: Central State Archive of Lithuania, fond 401, inventory 2, file 518, sheet (folio) 20.]

Translator’s notes:

[1] In the original document, surnames are written before names, as was the style of Soviet bureaucracy.

[2] Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.

[3] Currently: Kirkuto alėja (Kirkuto Alley) in between the Antakalnis and Rasos districts of Vilnius, site of the Old Jewish Cemetery.

[4] Both names, Lithuanian and Polish, mean “Oak Forest”.

[5] The original word is valsčius, which could also be translated as “commune” or “rural district”. The Riešė Volost was abolished in 1950, its territory now belongs to Vilnius and Nemenčinė districts.

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