On January 27, 1945 the Red Army liberated 7,000 prisoners from the Auschwitz death camp.

In 1953 the Israeli Knesset passed a resolution according to which Nisan 27th (April according to the Jewish calendar) is commemorated annually as Yom a-Shoah – the Day of Commemoration of the Victims of Nazism and the Heroes of Resistance.

In 1990 the Lithuanian Parliament passed a decree according to which Sept. 23 is commemorated as the Day of the Victims of the Genocide of the Jews of Lithuania.

In 2005 the UN General Assembly passed a 60/7 resolution urging all the countries of the world to commemorate Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Day.

One hundred countries joined the five authors of the 60/7 resolution (Australia, Israel, Canada, Russia, USA) as co-authors. The resolution unconditionally denounces all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, persecution or violence against individuals or communities on account of their ethnic origin or religious belief, wherever these may be expressed.

The General Assembly urged UN member states to develop education programmes so that the lessons of the Holocaust – the greatest crime against humanity in history – would remain for all time in the memory of future generations, and would help to put an end to acts of genocide.

Lithuania commemorated International Holocaust Day for the first time last Jan. 27, with events organized by the Lithuanian Jewish Community and the German Embassy.

A COLD JAN. 27 MORNING

Despite -25 degree weather, the Holocaust Day commemoration started out at the Paneriai memorial, with the participation of former prisoners of ghettoes and concentration camps, WWII veterans, LJC members, and ambassadors from Poland, USA, Russia, Canada, and Belgium. First secretary Dirk Roland Haupt stood in for the German ambassador, who had been taken ill.

In his opening speech, LJC chairman Dr. Simonas Alperavičius stated that the lessons of the Holocaust – a manifestation of unprecedented evil – must not be forgotten. He reminded those in attendance that on the eve of the passing of the 60/7 resolution, the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, announced that the Holocaust was a Jewish fabrication, and that the State of Israel must be erased from the world map.

The LJC chairman emphasized that over the past years, anti-Semitic feelings have increased both in Lithuania and abroad, and that national and religious intolerance is growing. Given today's military arsenals, such attitudes are a deadly threat to all humanity. "From this day on – said S. Alperavičius, – International Holocaust Day will not only remind us of the terrible crimes which were committed, it will also demand that people resolutely oppose attempts to rekindle those or any similar crimes."

In his speech, director of the Vilnius Sholom Aleichem Jewish Secondary School, Miša Jakobas, stated: "With  all my heart, I wish that Jews would see Lithuania not only as a cemetery where their fathers and forefathers lie, not as the place of our people's great tragedy, but as a country full of tolerance, respect and love for one's neighbour, where each one of us is an equal among equals."

Chaim Burstein, chief rabbi of Lithuania and Vilnius, said kaddish, and wreaths, flowers and lit candles were placed beside the memorial to the dead.

THE DAY OF LIBERATION CAME TOO LATE

Commemoration of International Holocaust Day continued at the LJC Center, with a meeting of Jewish and Lithuanian representatives, and more than a dozen foreign ambassadors and embassy delegates.

Dirk Roland Haupt read a letter on behalf of German Ambassador Volker Heinsberg.

According to V. Heinsberg, the liberation of Auschwitz was not a day of triumph: the consolation that 7,000 had survived was outweighed by the fact of the horrible death suffered by countless numbers of people who could not be saved.

"Auschwitz, Paneriai, and all the other death and execution sites in Lithuania, Germany, Poland and elsewhere will eternally be inscribed in the history of mankind as a symbol of genocide and absolute non-respect for humanity. This barbaric crime will always be part of the history of Germany. The historical and moral responsibility for Auschwitz and Paneriai have left in us an indelible mark," – wrote V. Heinsberg.

V. Heinsberg ended his letter by urging that we continue to work every day to create a dynamically tolerant, open and enlightened society. "The memory of those who were killed, and the sorrow of those who survived the Nationalist-Socialist death camps obligates us to strive together for this common goal."

American ambassador Stephen Mull read out a letter from president George Bush to the participants at the International Holocaust Day commemoration, in which it is stated:

"The Holocaust will always remind us of the basic principle that it is necessary to oppose evil wherever it may appear. The liberation of Auschwitz on Jan. 27, 1945 revealed to the world the horror of the Holocaust, and how a conscious evil destroyed millions of innocent victims.

I thank all those who commemorate this day, for your efforts to hand down the memories and lessons of the Holocaust to future generations. By understanding and respecting every person's rights and dignity, we can create a better world for people everywhere."

Those in attendance listened closely to what former Vilna Ghetto prisoner Chasia Spanerflig had to say. She experienced the horrors of the Ghetto from when it was set up on Sept. 6, 1941 to its very last day – Sept. 23, 1943, and survived by joining the partisans who fought against the Nazis. Listeners were deeply moved by her account of the tragic fate of the children of the Vilna Ghetto, their death, and the death of her own family. It felt as if it had happened just recently, not 62 years ago. Ch. Spanerflig's simple account in her native Yiddish tongue was understood by many without the aid of a translator, and affected all who were gathered in the hall.

A concert in memory of the victims of the Catastrophe was performed by the "Jerusalem of Lithuania" trio, and soloist Rafailas Karpis.

NO DRAWS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST EVIL

An event organized for the evening of Jan. 27 clearly demonstrated the most important goal and meaning of International Holocaust Day: students from the J.Miltinis Secondary School in Panevėžys performed a literary-dramatic composition based on Icchokas Meras' novel entitled "Stalemate" ?????? , at the overflowing Jascha Heifetz Hall. The event was initiated by chairman of the Panevėžys Jewish Community, Genadijus Kofmanas, and the composition was produced and directed by Julius Tamošiūnas and Ramutė Matusevičiūtė, who treated the famous novel with great sensitivity, whilst adapting it maximally to the capabilities of a student performance. They were not aiming for "self-expression", as often happens in today's professional theater, but wanted to reveal the main idea behind the novel in the form of a staged adaptation. The production made good use of two major visual components – a chess board, through which Isaac Lipman (Mindaugas Gervickas) enters into a psychological struggle against the powers of evil as impersonated by Adolf Schoger (Tadas Kaminskas), and the monotonous movement of columns of ghetto prisoners, which creates a tragic leitmotif in the action.

Deeply moving lyrical scenes were performed by Kristina Jasikonytė, Austina Žiogelytė, Gedailė Balčiūnaitė, Dovilė Ylaitė, Tadas Keršys, Minvydas Baltušis, Aurimas Marcinkevičius, Laura Taparavičiūtė. The role of  Abraham Lipman was played by Dainius Melinskas.

The amateur student actors made up for their lack of professionalism by their dedicated love for the theater, regardless of whether they held a principal role, or simply moved in the row of prisoners. The actions of the personalities were logical and justified, and the student actors sincerely and honestly endeavoured to understand the conditions of life as these affected their heroes; they empathized with them, and in their own way understood and loved those people whose portraits they were creating on stage.

The production left an impression of a serious cultural event. It was apparently not for nothing that the great Lithuanian director Juozas Miltinis dedicated his creative life to the small provincial town of Panevėžys, where he established a wonderful theater, a true island of Freedom and Creativity in a sea of evil and coercion. And it is not by chance that this wonderful, dynamic and sincere young people's production of "Stalemate"  was born in the school which is named in his honour.

One would like to think that participation by students in this kind of production is a form of prevention against such social epidemics as xenophobia, anti-Semitism, national and religious discord.

The students and their heads were greeted with a standing ovation; many had tears in their eyes. It is in the name of such moments of connection between audience and actor, in the name of such moments of mutual understanding between people of diverse ages, nationalities, political and religious affiliations, that theater, music, art – all that is beautiful on this Earth – exist.

Milan CHERSONSKIJ.

Lietuvos žydų bendruomenės laikraštis “Lietuvos Jeruzalė” 2006.