Holocaust in Lithuania Commemorated at the Embassy in London
24th September 2015 representatives of the British, Jewish and Lithuanian communities in the United Kingdom as well as members of Parliament and foreign diplomats residing in London gathered at the Embassy to commemorate the victims of the Shoah in Lithuania.
The commemorative evening began with the traditional candle-lightening ceremony and prayers led by Rabbi Herschel Gluck. The keynote speech was delivered by the Holocaust survivor Prof Irena Veisaitė who shared her personal story of the Shoah. The evening also included Yves Plasseraud’s book launch “Irena Vėsaitė: Tolerance and Involvement” and a music performance by Ugnė Tiškutė. The opening of the dedicated exhibition “The Rescued Lithuanian Jewish Child talks about the Shoah“concluded the commemorations.
“It is our moral obligation to victims and survivors of the Holocaust to carry on the torch of remembrance of the Shoah tragedy. We lost most of our Jewish community which lived in Lithuania for centuries, a community of tremendous spiritual, cultural and intellectual magnitude”, the Lithuanian Ambassador to the UK Asta Skaisgyrytė said.
The diplomat also emphasized the fact that independent Lithuania has accepted its historical responsibility towards its Jewry and that the ongoing reconciling processes between Lithuanians and Jews will be completed.
The victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania are traditionally commemorated on the 23rd of September. On that day in 1943 the Nazis wiped out the Vilnius Ghetto – the action marked the beginning of the end of the Shoah in Lithuania. The Kaunas and Šiauliai Ghettos were liquidated in the summer of 1944.
Irena Veisaitė - Lithuanian theatre scholar, intellectual and human rights activist. After being rescued by Christian Lithuanian families and having survived the Holocaust Irena Veisaitė devoted herself to study and creative work. She has been a memorable lecturer, respected theatre critic, associate film director, and also founder and chairman of the Open Society Fund (Soros Foundation) which made an invaluable contribution to the process of democratization in Lithuania in the 90s.
