Judaic (& Yiddish) Institutions in Vilnius, Lithuania (2022)
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IN ALPHABETIC ORDER:
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Center for Studies of the Culture and History of East European Jews
Universiteto 7, Vilnius 01122
Website; Website 2
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International Yiddish Center of the World Jewish Congress
Vienuolio 4-7, Vilnius 01104, Lithuania
with additional city center premises at Gedimino 24
Tel: +3705 208-0306; Email: info@yiddishcenter.org; Facebook; Website
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Jewish Cultural and Information Center
Mesiniu 3, Vilnius Old Town
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Judaica Research Center at the National Library of Lithuania (in partnership with the Yivo Institute for Jewish Research, NY)
c/o Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, Gedimino 51, Vilnius 01504
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Jewish Studies Center at the European Humanities University (EHU)
Savičiaus St. 17, Vilnius 01127
Litvak World (/ Jerusalem of the North)
Jogailos 9 ,Vilnius 01116
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Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History
Naugarduko 10; Pamenkalnio 12; Pylimo 6; etc.
Note: In addition to its Naugarduko 10 main premises and exhibit, there are six additional sites to visit. See web page.
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Vilnius Jewish Public Library
Gedimino 24 (courtyard), Vilnius
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Vilnius University’s History Faculty Chair in Judaic Studies
Faculty of History, Vilnius University, Universiteto 3, Vilnius 01513, Lithuania
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Vilnius (and Brussels) Based Staff of the Museum of the Lost Shtetl
Dominikonų 5, Vilnius 01131, Lithuania
Tel: +370 698 44091; Email: info@lostshtetl.com; Website
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Vilnius Yiddish Institute
Daukantas Courtyard, Vilnius University, Universiteto 3, Vilnius 01513, Lithuania
Tel: +3705 268-7187; Email: info@judaicvilnius.com; Facebook; Website
UPDATE: The Vilnius Yiddish Institute (VYI) was abruptly closed down by its director in 2019, nine years after he and government officials arranged for the dismissal of Yiddish-teaching staff (for having protested in articles in the West, in English language media, the state prosecutor’s targeting of Holocaust survivors). Term-time courses were abandoned, and projects developed instead to honor Jewish notables (from Brandeis Univ. and beyond) who supported revisionist state Holocaust policies (and received high medals for these activities). But the lucrative summer course continued, via Indiana University’s Borns Jewish Studies Program, until 2018. The Vilnius Yiddish Institute website and its rich archive were taken down and replaced in 2019 by a weird and inadequate definition of Yiddish (archived), with zero explanation of what happened to the institute that thousands of people had given to over close to two decades. There is now widespread concern about the institute’s rich library and archive, donated by hundreds of generous donors over many years (including many rare volumes in Lithuanian Jewish studies, particularly primary sources on interwar Jewish Vilna) who believed they were giving to a permanent library that would be cherished in perpetuity by the recipient university institution in an EU/NATO capital city. Now one can only hope that these treasures will without delay be transferred to one of the functioning Judaica libraries in Vilnius, perhaps the National Library, where local and international readers alike can readily access these materials. Updates here. The entry remains on this page because of (a) the library wrongfully placed beyond use; (b) the “information” repeatedly given inquirers, in the classic spirit of “Soviet information” that the institute has been “deposited [‘deponuotas’] temporarily and is right now beyond use”… Transfer of the unique VYI library to an active and accessible library would solve things rapidly and gracefully, with no need for invoking a conflictual past.