Tag Archives: JEwish genealogy for Lithuania

Come and Visit Lithuania & Latvia

Posted on 5 September 2012 by Defending History

Professional Heritage Tour Guides & Genealogists

“The Defending History team thinks that Lithuania (and neighboring EU/NATO countries) are a wonderful place to visit — safe and modern yet rarefied and special, charming Old Europe alongside every modern convenience. The debates with a few gov. agencies over history, the Holocaust, the fate of Jewish cemeteries, contemporary antisemitism and other issues mean that your visit is all the more important. It does mean that when you get here, please be sure (as indeed you would anywhere) to hear all sides of the argument, not just the lavish state-sponsored entities that specialize in  dazzling with “Jewish Hollywood PR sets” while dismissing other opinions as illegitimate. These countries, and their peoples, are absolutely delightful, warm, good-humored and welcoming. Come and visit, all the more so if your own family roots are here! See the list of shtetlakh (shtetls) in today’s Lithuania, remembering also their Yiddish names of many centuries’ standing. Also, videos from 30 years of expeditions to the last shtetl Jews in the Lithuanian lands, our Litvak resources, and a list of diverse sources.”

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OFF THE BEATEN TRACK? Unlike the many official and well-maintained Jewish tourist sites, the striking remains of the last Jewish partisan fort in the forest, where a small group of Vilna Ghetto survivors battled the Nazis is unmarked, unprotected, unfenced, and is now rapidly deteriorating due to the arrival nearby of the new German Panzer Brigade 45 that is part of NATO. Among the guides below are these specialists on the fort: Regina Kopilevich and Aušra Mikulskienė. The saga. Covered in Der Spiegel (June 2026).

SCHOLAR ON BOARD? DH can provide scholar-on-board, Vilnius-based seminars and intensive short courses (including intermediate & advanced Yiddish) for groups of between 5 and 50 people. Topics offered.  Write to us.

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TOUR GUIDES & GENEALOGISTS

  • Our tip for your consideration: “If the listed professional is not available on your travel dates, best to avoid recommendations for a semi-qualified friend. Best to go to another listed pro.”
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For Online Genealogy:

JewishGen

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

TRANSLATOR

for old family letters and memoirs in difficult Yiddish (/Hebrew) handwriting:

YEYNESN FELENDLER (at: felendlerks@gmail.com)

See also:

LITVAK LINKS PAGE; LITVAK STUDIES; MINI MUSEUM OF OLD JEWISH VILNA; MINI MUSEUM OF INTERWAR JEWISH LITHUANIA

Not for the faint-hearted:

LITVAK AFFAIRS; ALTERNATIVE TOURISM; EXOTIC TOURISM; DARK TOURISM

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