September 23 – “Day of the Genocide of Lithuania's Jews”. These are the words that the presidium of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania used in Decree Nr. 1-730 on October 31, 1990, to define the day of the commemoration of the Jewish tragedy, and confirmed in a law the amendment and addition of commemorative days (Nr. X-797) on July 19, 2006.

It is now 17 years since the title – a unique display of lack of political, ethical, and linguistic tact – of this commemorative day continues to appear on all documents as “Day of the Genocide of Lithuania's Jews”. To whom does such a title accord responsibility, and what does it foster?

The Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania has long been replaced by the Parliament, and the Parliament has seen a variety of elected members. But the “Day of the Genocide of Lithuania's Jews” still remains on the calendar of the country's commemorative days, and obstinately denies the right of Jewish people to the two most important words: “remembrance” and “victims”. It is difficult to explain this extended period of stubbornness on the part of the lawmakers as a coincidental  oversight by the linguists who supervise the purity of the language, or as a common linguistic deafness on the part of 141 members of Parliament.

What is the meaning of the words “day of genocide”? Do they betoken sadness, and remembrance of those who were killed by the Nazis and bands of their locally organised henchmen? No – there is not even a hint of grief or commemoration. It is a singular-minded reference: “genocide day”!

Could the lawmakers possibly not understand the shame that this dreadful formulation brings to Lithuania? Its literal meaning is this: September 23 is the legal day for carrying out the genocide of the Jews! True, it does not suggest that anyone literally go and carry out genocide, but it lacks a most important factor – at the very least an indirect reference to a condemnation of genocide. Can they possibly not sense the fear in this formulation – the fear of those who violated, killed, and robbed their fellow citizens – the Jews of Lithuania – during the Second World War? Back in 1941-1945, the genocide of Lithuania's Jews was carried out every day, while now it can apparently happen only on September 23 – the “Day of the Genocide of Lithuania's Jews”. Not the day of the remembrance of the victims of the genocide of Lithuania's Jews, but the day of the genocide of Lithuania's Jews! Lithuania must be the only country with such an illustrious day on its calendar. 

Someone could object, and claim that Lithuania is the only country that commemorates a national day of remembrance of its Jewish citizens who were killed by the Nazis and their local collaborators. Each year, September 23 is marked by events of mourning in memory of the victims of the genocide of Lithuania's Jews. And that is the honest truth. 

Which is why it is even more difficult to understand why the formulation of the meaning of this day remains unchanged in law. Whose ear would be offended by the words “remembrance of the victims”, if they were to be used officially?

There is only one way to understand why these words have not been used in law for the past 17 years – and that is that there are forces in the country which would like to make the Jews forget the victims of the genocide, to erase them from historical memory. And at the same time to make the Lithuanian people forget that the genocide of the Jews was a tragedy not only for the Jews but also for all of Lithuania, and that the events connected to the genocide of the Jews are engraved for all time in the black pages of the country's history. Apparently there are forces which would like the eternal memory of 200,000 innocent victims killed in Lithuania to be burned and scattered to the wind, as were the remains of the victims at Paneriai.  

Our newspaper has written about this on more than one occasion. The last article appeared last March (see “What name shoul be given to the commemorative day?“, “J of L”, 2007, Nr. 1-2, p.6). Approximately 30 copies of that edition were given to members of Parliament, who responded to the article with silence.

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According to a long-standing tradition, each year, on or just prior to September 23, Lithuanian president Valdas Adamkus awards the Cross of Rescuers of the Dying to those who risked their and their families' lives to save Jewish people from their death during the Second World War. Each year there is also a commemoration ceremony at Paneriai, site of a Nazi death factory, where local henchmen exterminated 100,000 people - 70,000 of them simply because they were Jews.

This year, in his speech to those gathered in the presidential palace for the award ceremony, president Valdas Adamkus said that the events of the Second World War destroyed relations between nations that had developed over the centuries, and that they turned into the greatest of tragedies.

“Undoubtedly the Jews experienced the greatest and most tragic losses. It is terrible that the Jews, who gave so much to European culture, art, and economics, were massively annihilated in Nazi occupied countries. It is disappointing that there were collaborators who helped in these executions," - said president V.Adamkus. - We have no right to hide the fact that Lithuania also had Nazi collaborators who raised their hand against their fellow citizens, against people whose parents and grandparents had lived alongside Lithuanians for centuries."
 
This statement by the president was recently scientifically confirmed: a major study by reputable historians Christoph Dieckmann and Saulius Sužiedėlis, entitled “Persecution and mass killing of Lithuania's Jews in the summer and autumn of 1941”, confirmed that not only solitary renegades or social outcasts took part in the killing of Lithuania's Jews. The killers were armed, well organized, and supplied. There were not only dozens or thousands, but tens of thousands of degenerates whose level of brutality towards the Jews shocked even their Nazi bosses.

“However, even in the presence of the greatest danger, there was another, true Lithuania. One that helped people in tragedy, that helped the very essence of humanitarianism. Despite the threat of ending up in a concentration camp or being sentenced to death. Unfortunately, this threat did, on more than one occasion, become a reality, and the rescuers were killed along with the Jews that they had helped.”

“Those who helped the Jews were, and always will be, considered the spokespeople of the true attitude of Lithuanians and of Lithuania regarding the tragedy of the Jews and the historical injustice of that time. Our sincere thanks to you, the rescuers of Jewish people, and of the honour of Lithuania,” - said the country's leader.

By his decree, 63 people received the Cross of Rescuers of the Dying last year; 12 of them while still alive, and the rest posthumously. The symbols of their award - the memory of their parents' honour and nobility - will be safeguarded and handed down to their descendants by their children.

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Lady Margaret Kagan (Štromaitė), a former Kaunas Ghetto prisoner, who came specially for the occasion from Great Britain, said a word of thanks to the rescuers and their descendants, on behalf of those who had been saved. She was born and grew up in Kaunas, where she attended the “Aušra” girls' gymnasium. She was saved by a Lithuanian family during the Nazi occupation.

“The destruction of the Jews was an integral part of Nazi ideology. As they say in Britain: 'The rest is history'." M.Kagan called the rescuers “shining stars, who shone even in the darkest nights of the war”.

M.Kagan described how, in 1943, Juozas Kagan, a Kaunas Ghetto prisoner, worked in a foundry, and got to know a skilled foundry worked by the name of Vytautas Rinkevičius. They set up a hideaway in the foundry attic, where Margarita, Juozas, and his mother hid for 9 months, until the Nazis were routed. V.Rinkevičius used to bring food, and information about Kaunas and world events, to the hideaway. He was assisted by his wife, Elena Rinkevičienė.

M.Kagan greeted their daughter, Vitalija Rinkevičiūtė-Čiurinskienė, who came to the presidency to accept her parents' honourable award from the president. 

Participants at the ceremony were very moved by the words of executive director of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Simon Gurevich.

“On my way here, I suddenly imagined that perhaps I would not be speaking here, perhaps I would not even be born, if not for people like yourselves, if once upon a time there had not been a neighbourly hand, your hand, extended to my grandparents and great-grandparents.”

S.Gurevich reminded those in attendance that even today there are people who deny the tragedy of the Second World War, who trample not only on the memory of the innocent people who were killed, but also on the meaning and nobleness of the heroic deeds of the Righteous among the Nations. “We must stop the denial of the truth, for a nation that has trampled on history and forgotten its lessons has no future,” - emphasised S.Gurevich.

He called the past a bridge to tomorrow, and urged that luxurious buildings not be erected on gravesites, and that houses of worship not be demolished to make way for skyscrapers.

S.Gurevich ended his speech with the following words: “Many of those who rescued the Jews have been awarded posthumously, but I am convinced that at this moment they are here, in this hall, and that they can hear our words of eternal gratitude. I do not know if there is anything more important in this world than saving a person's life. Once again, I bow deeply before you all, and may God protect and bless you and your families throughout eternity.”

In his greeting to the award recipients, director of the State Vilna Gaon Jewish Museum Markas Zingeris called the work of the rescuers of the Jews in Nazi occupied Lithuania, “a silent spiritual resistance against a mad regime”. In his opinion, too little is made of the example of the heroism of the rescuers in fostering the views of the students and the public.

M.Zingeris talked about the great work being done by the State Vilna Gaon Jewish Museum in searching for those who were rescued, and with their help, for the rescuers. The museum provides the presidency with names for the award, creates films about the rescuers and the people whom they rescued, collects rare exhibits, and organises meetings with the public.

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The commemoration ceremony in memory of the victims of the genocide of Lithuania's Jews took place on September 23. Flowers and wreaths were placed at 6 sites where executions had taken place in 1941-1943, and beside the central monument. The people who were killed were thus honoured by the Lithuanian president, prime minister, deputy mayor of Tel Aviv, Vilnius mayor, LJC chairman, foreign embassies, Jewish organizations. Candle were lit in their memory.

Speakers at the official ceremony included LJC chairman Dr. Simonas Alperavičius, deputy chairman of the Parliament Gintaras Steponavičius, Israeli ambassador to Lithuania and Latvia  Chen Ivri, Parliament member Emanuelis Zingeris, deputy mayor of Tel Aviv Nathan Wolloch, Vilnius mayor Juozas Imbrasas.

There was a reading from the recently published third book of works by Lithuanian students, entitled “My grandparents' and great-grandparents' Jewish neighbours”, the singing of the Jewish Resistance hymn “Zog nit keynmol az du geyst dem letstn veg”, and a Yizkor prayer for the dead.

Milan CHERSONSKIJ