ESJF Country Report - Lithuania

Introduction

Country Report:

Lithuania

ESJF surveys, analysis and educational events, 2018-2020

Contents Executive Summary The Jewish History of Lithuania The ESJF Survey Results in Lithuania Restitution and Legal Ownership Education events in the pilot project Conclusion

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Executive Summary

T

his report summarises the implementation of the pilot project ‘Pilot Project: Protecting Jewish Cemeteries: A full mapping process with research and monitoring and individual costed proposals for protection’ in Lithuania, and offers a detailed analysis of its results. The pilot project ran for 18 months, between December 11th, 2018 and June 10th, 2020, co-funded by the European Commission and implemented by the European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative.

In Lithuania, the ESJF aimed to survey and catalogue ca. 100 Jewish cemeteries in the country, raising awareness about their value and vulnerability among local stakeholders, and conducting educational events for local high school students and their teachers.

The team surveyed 105 sites in total, 50% of all Lithuanian Jewish cemeteries.

The remaining ca. 100 sites in Lithuania will be surveyed in the course of the pilot project «Protecting the Jewish cemeteries of Europe: Continuation of the mapping process, stakeholders’ involvement and awareness raising», which builds on the results of the current pilot.

Of the 105 cemeteries surveyed and analysed in Lithuania, 86 (82%) are preserved and only 19 (18%) demolished. Of the preserved cemeteries, 36 are unfenced. The

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Country Report: Lithuania. ESJF surveys, analysis and educational events, 2018-2020

relatively high percentage of preserved cemeteries compares favourably to other project countries like Greece and Ukraine. Moreover, 98% of the preserved cemeteries show signs of maintenance, and many unfenced sites should be considered fully protected.

Although restitution only took place in the form of compensation measures for lost property, Jewish cemeteries are well-preserved in Lithuania. The Lithuanian state owns and grants legal protection to all Jewish cemeteries, which are otherwise managed and maintained by local authorities. This policy seems to offer a viable alternative to physical protection measures in the country. This is a result of long-term, comprehensive educational interventions, as well as legal and institutional steps, without which the policy might have been less successful. ESJF surveys identified Lithuania as a good example of state-led preservation policy, and the organisation will work towards sharing this model with other countries in future preservation work.

Education projects were heavily affected by the public safety implications of the Covid-19 crisis; to ensure the safety of all participants, all educational activities were delivered online. Lithuania was a testing ground for delivering ESJF education programs in a webinar format. Our 9 online sessions targeted students from Daugai, Varėna, Kalvarija, Druskininkai, Alytus, and Balbieriškis, as well as a nationwide selection of educators.

The Jewish Community of Lithuania (Lietuvos žydų bendruomenės) was a key partner in our surveys and education work in the country. Regional administrations met our survey team, and they delivered news about the project to individual mayors. This model was suggested by the Jewish community, and it proved to be successful and efficient in reaching local authorities. Experience in the online classroom suggests that the format has potential for reaching larger numbers than in-person training sessions, with the

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Executive Summary

added benefit that it allows for the recycling of training materials. The sole drawback of the format was that it precluded cemetery visits, a key element of the educational activities in other countries.

Having identified the exemplary elements of the protection policy in the country, especially the national registry of heritage sites and the efficiency of the existing infrastructure, further engagement throughout the remaining surveys will focus on developing a method of sharing information about this model in other project countries.

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The Jewish History of Lithuania

L

ithuania was the last pagan country in Europe, only converting to Christianity at the end of the 14th century. This was one of the reasons for the crusades launched against Lithuania and the founding of the Livonian Order. Given the early history of the country is drawn from texts written by Christian authors, it cannot all be taken at face value. However, the earliest mentions of a Jewish presence in Lithuania dates back to the 10th century.

From 1324 to 1345 King Gedeminas invited representatives of different ethnic and religious groups from a number of European cities to settle in Lithuania under his protection, granting them certain autonomous rights (such as freedom of religion, selfgovernance for cities, etc.) and also offering a number of privileges, such as temporary tax-exemption. It is assumed that the Ashkenazi were among the different groups of Jews who accepted this invitation, although they are not mentioned by name in contemporary texts. It was during this era that Gedeminas Christianised Lithuania, replacing its original Pagan religion and bringing Lithuania closer to the cultural and economic practices of the surrounding region. Autonomous city-rights (Magdeburg Law) were also granted to territories captured by the Livonic order, such as Pechenga and KlaipÄ—da. These territories belonged in part to East Prussia until 1923.

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Country Report: Lithuania. ESJF surveys, analysis and educational events, 2018-2020

The first reliable evidence of Jews in Lithuania dates to the end of the 14th century, when King Vytautas the Great bestowed city charters on the existing Jewish communities, including the city in which the king himself resided, Trakai, which became the centre for the Karaites, who were resettled there by the king after his southern campaign.

However, in 1495, King Alexander Jagellion expelled the Jews from Lithuania. This expulsion continued until 1503 and was carried out for a variety of reasons, including the king’s reticence to return their seized property. Despite the religious and proprietary tension, the 16th century was characterised by relative religious tolerance and diversity, which led to numerous Jewish conversions to Christianity, interconfessional marriage, and a widening of the areas permitted for Jewish settlement. In the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, particularly the Lithuanian regions, Jewish refugees were able to find shelter.

Within the legal structure of the commonwealth, Jews operated within their own selfgoverning structures, known as Qahals, which were overseen by “The Council of the Four Lands”. This governing body was composed of delegates from four regions of the Polish kingdom (Chernova Rus, Lesser Poland, Greater Poland, and Volyn). The council also settled disagreements between Qahals, issued edicts, and regulated both spiritual and cultural life. Failure to comply with instructions from the council could result in Herem - complete expulsion from the Jewish community. In 1623, the Lithuanians delegated a separate Lithuanian council, which regulated taxes, education, matchmaking, commerce, and rent. Both organisations were abolished in 1764 due to tax reform across the Commonwealth.

Most of the territory of contemporary Lithuania became part of the Russian Empire after the third partition of Poland in 1795. Within the empire, Lithuania fell under the “Pale of Settlement” - the areas in which Jews could legally reside.

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The Jewish History of Lithuania

The capital of Lithuania was described in Yiddish literature as the “Lithuanian Jerusalem”.

It was a centre for the Jewish religion, hosting secular scholarly pursuits, publishing, and producing iconic figures such as Vila Gaon, along with other major players in the Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment), as well as intellectuals such as S. Ansky and Uriel Weinreich. In 1925, The Jewish Research Institute (YIVO) was founded in Vilnius, which gathered a large collection of texts and audio recordings in Yiddish and developed the contemporary standard grammar of the language. Vilnius was also an important political centre of both the Russian empire and Jewish history. It was here in 1897 that the “General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia” was founded. After the war, a number of Hebrew primary schools were established in Vilnius, later joining the Central Organisation of Jewish Schools under the influence of the Bund and Poale Zion. In 1902, Vilnius hosted the first congress of the Organisation of Religious Zionists, Mizrahi.

Some of the first Russian offensives of World War I took place in Lithuania. In preparation for the offensive and after their first defeat, the Tsar’s army began to deport members of the “unreliable population”, in particular Jews, who were often accused of espionage, from areas near the front. Later in the war, as the Tsar’s army retreated, the power vacuum created by the absence of any central authority left Jews at the mercy of looting and pogroms, carried out both by the military and civilians. The German military administration stabilised Lithuania and accepted their declaration of Independence in 1918, but did not remove their administrators. After the German retreat, Lithuania was pulled back into a number of military conflicts with the red and white armies, as well as Poland. Independent Lithuania pursued a democratic policy typical of the region and period with respect to the Jewish population, in particular with regard to the provision of autonomy within the state during the period 1918-1934.

After the retreat of German forces, the Entente agreed on a temporary dividing line between Poland and Lithuania, with the goal of securing Polish control of strategic

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Country Report: Lithuania. ESJF surveys, analysis and educational events, 2018-2020

railways for military actions against the Bolsheviks. This meant that Vilnius and the surrounding area were under de facto control of Poland. The advancing Bolsheviks pledged to give control of the city to Lithuania, and in fact did so before retreating from Lithuania in 1920. Polish units occupied the city and proclaimed the Republic of Middle Lithuania. Lithuania did not recognize the annexation and continued to consider Vilnius its capital. The international community supported Poland’s position, due to the need to create a “cordon sanitaire” against the Bolsheviks. The national and ethnic composition of Vilnius was mixed. Poles and Polish speaking Jews made up the majority, which made it difficult for Lithuania to argue against the annexation on ethno-linguistic grounds. Kaunas became the temporary capital of Lithuania.

In the 1930s, Jews were framed as agents operating under foreign influence by the emerging Lithuanian nationalist movement. According to the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, Lithuania was within the German sphere of interests ( in contrast with Latvia and Estonia, which were agreed to be within the Soviet sphere) which resulted in Lithuania being forced to agree to the annexation of the Klaipėda region. After this, the USSR and Baltic countries signed a mutual aid agreement and Soviet forces occupied a number of important ports in the region. The next year would be even worse, with the annexation and sovietization of the region.

Despite the policy of terror toward religious, social, and political organizations, confiscation of property, social discrimination and deportation, the Soviet occupied zone became (when it was possible to reach it) an escape route for many Jews in the region. Within the framework of the German-Soviet pact on the partition of Europe, massive population resettlement was envisioned along national lines. In particular, from the German side there were proposals for the expulsion of the Jewish population of the occupied territory of Poland and Lithuania to Birobidzhan. The Soviets ignored this proposition. The Japanese consul in Vilnius, Chiune

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The Jewish History of Lithuania

Sugihara, provided thousands of visas to Lithuanian Jews, which allowed more than 6,000 to be saved from the Holocaust and Soviet repressions.

After wartime Soviet repression, some Jews were initially hopeful that German occupation would bring with it improved conditions, but this was not to be. Attempts by the Lithuanians to organise an underground anti-soviet government, which included only one Jewish member, were put down. The territory was managed by the German Ostland Reichskommissariat. From the very first day of German occupation, mass killings of Jews began. Initially, this was restricted to those who the Germans considered a particular threat to their authority. The Nazis also organised a series of pogroms, which were framed by the Germans as revenge by the local population on their Jewish oppressors. presented by the Germans as the revenge of the local population on their Jewish oppressors. In August, the Einsaztgruppen arrived in the region. By December 1941, 136,000 Lithuanian Jews had been killed.

The first wave of massacres came after Lithuanian Jews had been moved into four ghettos in Vilnius, Kaunus, Šiauliai, and Švenčionys. Mass shootings continued, while deaths from hunger, cold, and forced labor also increased. Despite all this, cultural life in the ghetto continued. Theatres and libraries remained open, forming structures of resistance. The song, “Never Say That You Have Reached the Final Road” written in the Vilnius ghetto, became the anthem of a number of uprisings against the Nazis. It was also in Vilnius that the Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye (“United Partisan Organisation”) was formed. In response to the liquidation of the ghetto, an uprising broke out, with some of the fighters managing to escape and join partisan units.

The YIVO archives were turned into a sort of “book ghetto”. The German authorities gathered Jewish books from all across the country and sorted them, intending to send some to museums in Germany and destroy the remainder. Fortunately, under

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Country Report: Lithuania. ESJF surveys, analysis and educational events, 2018-2020

the leadership of Abraham Sutzkever and Shmerke Kaczerginski, the “paper brigade� managed to save many priceless books and artefacts. The group were able to successfully smuggle out a number of books, some of which were later destroyed under the Soviet anti-religious policies of the late 40s and 50s.

After Lithuania gained independence, public commemmorations of the Holocaust became an important element of memory politics. . In the late 1980s and early 90s, many Jewish cultural and religious institutions, museums, synagogues, yeshivas, etc, were set up with support from the government. Jewish heritage is included in the national registry of Lithuanian heritage, a pioneering step ahead of most European countries. This inclusion has led to excellent research and protection measures in the majority of Jewish heritage sites, including cemeteries, a policy worth exporting to other countries as a model of broad-coalition, top-down heritage protection.

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The ESJF Survey Results in Lithuania

I

n Lithuania, 105 Jewish cemeteries were surveyed during the project. This amounts to ca. 50% of all known Jewish cemeteries in Lithuania. The surveyed sites were located in the southern part of the country: in the counties of Alytus, Marijampolė, Vilnius, Utena, Tauragė, Kaunas, Klaipėda, and Telšiai. The remaining Jewish cemeteries will be surveyed in the course of 2020-21.

Lists Lithuania is the only country among those surveyed in which there exists a full national register of Jewish cemeteries. It is part of the Register of Cultural Values of the Republic of Lithuania, managed by the Cultural Heritage Department of the Ministry of Culture of Lithuania. This register includes 230 Jewish cemeteries, among which 201 are listed on the Register of Cultural Values website.

The ESJF survey lists are based on this register.

The attitude towards Jewish cemeteries is part of a well-developed policy for the preservation of historical monuments in Lithuania. Having been incorporated into the

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Country Report: Lithuania. ESJF surveys, analysis and educational events, 2018-2020

State Register of Cultural Values, all cemeteries are protected by the state and their maintenance is financed by the state budget. The condition and maintenance of the preserved cemeteries, as well as the memorialisation of the demolished cemeteries, is much better in Lithuania than in the other countries studied in the framework of the project.

Main results Of 105 cemeteries surveyed in Lithuania, 86 (82%) are preserved and 19 (18%) are demolished.

Among the preserved cemeteries, 50 are physically protected and 36 are unfenced.

Unfenced cemeteries in Lithuania are often preserved through other means than fencing: they are maintained regularly and informational boards are placed around them.

Many have symbolic gates or minimal, metre-high fences that function as indicators of the site’s boundaries rather than physical protective measures. These interventions are successful thanks to the visibility provided by the national registry, regular maintenance and monitoring visits, and the level of awareness among the local population. This being the case, the relatively high number of unfenced cemeteries does not necessarily indicate that the sites are under threat.

Among the demolished cemeteries, 18 presumably have preserved burials on at least part of their territory, and only one was found to have been demolished and overbuilt.

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The ESJF Survey Results in Lithuania

Preserved cemeteries.

Among the 105 cemeteries surveyed, 86 are preserved. The rate of preserved cemeteries in Lithuania is comparatively high at 82%. It is higher than in Moldova (75%) and in Ukraine (65%), but lower than in Slovakia (92%).

As already mentioned, cemeteries in Lithuania are distinguished by a very high degree of care and an almost complete absence of abandoned sites.

Demolished that has not been built over 18 (17%)

Demolished and overbuilt 1 (1%)

Fenced and Protected 40 (48%)

Unfenced 36 (34%)

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Country Report: Lithuania. ESJF surveys, analysis and educational events, 2018-2020

JEWISH CEMETERIES MAINTENANCE Totally abandoned 2 (2%)

Sporadic care 38 (44%)

Well-maintained 46 (54%)

In total, 98% of the preserved cemeteries show signs of maintenance: 54% are wellkept, and 44% are being cleared from time to time (some seasonal vegetation was noticed by surveyors). Only two cemeteries were abandoned and overgrown, one of which is fenced.

This level of maintenance has nothing to do with the operation of these cemeteries (as is the case in Moldova). Among the cemeteries surveyed, only 4 remained

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The ESJF Survey Results in Lithuania

in use after WWII, and in one case, the last tombstone dates back to 1947. In small settlements, where most of the cemeteries are located, there were no Jewish communities after WWII to use and maintain the cemeteries. During the Holocaust, about 95% of Lithuanian Jewry was destroyed, and the survivors mostly emigrated. In the postwar period, Jewish communities were organised only in large cities. Cemetery maintenance is the result of the monuments preservation policy developed in Lithuania.

Fencing and protection As already mentioned, all Jewish cemeteries in the country are under the legal protection of the state. Under these conditions, physical protection is not seen as a mandatory part of cemetery conservation policy.

36 cemeteries out of 86 (42% surviving) do not have fencing.

At the same time, the unfenced cemeteries are well-maintained. Of the 36 unfenced cemeteries, almost half (17) are well-maintained, 18 have some seasonal vegetation, and only one cemetery is abandoned. Among the countries surveyed during the project, a large number of unfenced but maintained cemeteries were recorded only in Slovakia.

Still, their share is much lower: out of 77 unfenced cemeteries in the surveyed regions of Slovakia, 15 cemeteries are under constant care, and 24 have signs of maintenance, while 28 are totally abandoned.

50 cemeteries (58% of the preserved ones) are fenced. However, fencing seems to have been put in place with the symbolic function of demarcating cemetery boundaries, rather than as a physical protection measure. Of the 50 fenced sites, 23 have fencing lower than 1 metre in height. In some cases, the fencing is minimalist,

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Country Report: Lithuania. ESJF surveys, analysis and educational events, 2018-2020

like a single metal chain (Kvedarna) or a log (Valkininkai), which nevertheless serves to clearly mark the boundaries of the cemetery.

A special type of symbolic fencing which can be found in the country is the construction of a gate without any sort of fencing round the cemetery site (this can be seen in Užpaliai).

Thus, the Lithuanian system of cemetery protection involves symbolic demarcation rather than physical protection. Given the reported incidents of vandalism, this could be a cause for concern.

Demolished cemeteries The rate of demolished cemeteries in Lithuania is comparatively low at 18%. It is lower than in Moldova (25%) and in Ukraine (35%), but higher than in Slovakia (8%).

The cemeteries in Lithuania were destroyed in two stages - during World War II and under Soviet occupation in 1950s-1970s. These stages were common among Eastern Bloc countries.

However, after leaving the USSR in 1990 and joining the European Union in 2004, Lithuania developed a policy for the preservation and registration of cultural and historical monuments. This policy determined not only the protection of the preserved cemeteries, but also a special attitude towards the protection and memorialisation of the demolished ones.

First, the fact that demolished cemeteries are also included into the Register of Cultural Values ​​makes it difficult to develop their territory. The only completely overbuilt cemetery recorded in the project is the Vilnius Old Cemetery at Piramónt, on which construction

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The ESJF Survey Results in Lithuania

work was carried out in 1971 (a recent attempt to build upon a remaining undeveloped part of this cemetery resulted in litigation).

Overbuilt Jewish cemeteries account for 5% of all demolished sites, which makes a striking contrast to Greece (where 91% of demolished sites are overbuilt).

Secondly, all 19 of the demolished cemeteries bear a memorial or sign marking the site as a Jewish cemetery. One of the most popular ways to preserve the territory of a demolished cemetery is the construction of a memorial park, square, or lawn on the site with a monument dedicated to the perished Jewish community, marking the site as a cemetery.

An interesting detail - in at least two cases, such monuments indicate not only that the cemetery was Jewish, but also the year of its demolition. This shows that the highly-sensitive topic of the demolition of Jewish heritage has become ingrained in the Lithuanian public psyche as one of the crimes carried out by the Soviet regime. No such attention to detail was noted in the other surveyed regions.

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Restitution and Legal Ownership

A

ccording to the 1995 Law on the Procedure for the Restoration of the Rights of Ownership of Religious Associations to Existing Real Property (“1995 Religious Associations Law�), the Jewish religious communities, which had functioned in the Republic of Lithuania prior to July 1st, 1940, could seek restitution of religious property confiscated by the State.

However, only the Orthodox Jewish community of Lithuania was recognised as a successor of the pre-war Jewish community. The Jewish community of Lithuania, representing most of the Jewish population of Lithuania today, which is more a cultural organisation than a religious institution, could not seek restitution.

To rectify this, 21 June 21st, 2011, the Law on Good Will Compensation for the Immovable Property of Jewish Religious Communities (No XI-1470) was enacted.

With this law, it was determined that the Jewish community of Lithuania would receive a one-time payment of 128 million Lithuanian Litas over a 10-year period as compensation for the communal property that could not be restituted within the

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Country Report: Lithuania. ESJF surveys, analysis and educational events, 2018-2020

framework of the 1995 Religious Associations Law. This payment can be used only for the religious, cultural, and educational needs of Lithuanian Jews.

However the lands (including cemeteries) are not included in the compensation lists (article 1.2). All Jewish cemeteries remained state property, under the care of local councils. The state and local authorities continue to cooperate with the Jewish Community of Lithuania (Lietuvos žydų Bendruomenės), ensuring Jewish participation in the maintenance of Jewish heritage sites. This model shows that although the absence of restitution measures remains controversial, high quality protection can be offered to Jewish heritage sites through alternative measures.

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Education events in the pilot project

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t is our belief that long-term preservation begins on a local level, by encouraging locals to take an active interest in protecting their own cultural heritage. However, with two world wars, the Holocaust, and the mass migration which took place in its wake, in many of the regions surveyed there is no Jewish community to speak of.

As such, the challenge becomes engaging with local communities and changing the way they perceive Jewish cemeteries. Our aim in our educational projects is to show inhabitants that, rather than artefacts from an alien, extinct culture, these cemeteries represent a significant part of their own material heritage. By teaching young people how to engage with their local Jewish cemeteries, as well as preparing educators to integrate the topic into their curriculum, our goal was to cultivate an interest and respect for Jewish heritage in the next generation.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, ESJF’s educational work in Lithuania needed to be carried out remotely. Given 2020 has been declared the year of Lithuanian Jewish history, ESJF’s education projects are particularly relevant at the moment.

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Country Report: Lithuania. ESJF surveys, analysis and educational events, 2018-2020

Between April and May, Lithuanian educator Meilė Platūkienė held a series of webinars entitled “What the Old Jewish Cemetery Says”, in conjunction with the ESJF. Across the series, students were taught about the histories of their local Jewish communities, the value of Jewish cemeteries to their shared cultural heritage, and various methods for decoding and understanding Jewish epitaphs. 8 webinars were held in total, for students from 5 different schools.

The first took place on April 27th, when Meilė Platūkienė spoke to students from the Daugai Vladas Mironas Gymnasium (Daugai) about their local Jewish history, the place those historic Jewish communities hold in their own cultural heritage, and various methods for comprehending the inscriptions on matzevot. The students were aged between 16 and 17.

The next took place on the 30th of April, with students aged 16-17 from the Varėnos “Ažuolo” gymnasium (Varėna) learned to decipher tombstones, were taught about local Jewish history, and learned how to contextualise that history within their understanding of their country’s history as a whole.

The third of the events took place the same day with students of the Kalvarijos gymnasium (Kalvarija), with students aged 15-16. Meilė Platūkienė lectured the students on the historic Jewish communities in their region, the relevance of these communities to their own culture, and methods to decipher tombstones. Later in the same day, the lesson was repeated with a different group of students from the same school, aged 16-17.

On the 6th of May, Meilė Platūkienė spoke to students from Druskininkų Atgimimo mokykla (Druskininkai). Platūkienė taught the students to decipher the inscriptions on Jewish tombstones and the Jewish history of their region. 29 students attended, aged 15-16. Later

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Education events in the pilot project

in the same day, Platūkienė repeated the lesson for another group of 28 students from the same school, aged 15-16.

The next day, Platūkienė delivered a webinar to students from Alytaus Adolfo Ramanausko-Vanago gymnasium (Alytus). The students, aged 16-17, were taught about the historic Jewish communities of their region and methods for understanding the symbols and inscriptions on old matzevot.

For the last event in the series, Platūkienė spoke to a group of 11 students from Prienų rajono Balbieriškio pagrindinė mokykla (Balbieriškis) on May 8th. As with the previous sessions, the webinar covered the history of local Jewish communities, the manner in which that history fit into their own cultural heritage, and the techniques necessary for deciphering Jewish epitaphs. This was the youngest group Platūkienė spoke to during the series, aged 14-15.

Finally, a teacher training webinar was held on Jewish cultural heritage in Lithuania on the 26th of May 2020. The webinar, which drew attendance from over 23 cities worldwide, covered Jewish life in Lithuania prior to WWII, the preservation of Jewish cemeteries in Lithuania, synagogues in Lithuania, and ended with a question and answer session. Speakers included Meile Platukiene, Dr. Vilma Gradinskaite, and Lara Lempert.

At the conclusion of the webinar, participants were given the opportunity to discuss what they had learned.

Despite the severe limitations imposed on educational events such as this by the COVID-19 outbreak, through the efforts of ESJF Education Officer Alexandra Fishel and Meile Platukiene, ESJF was able to impart its educational message to a wide audience.

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Country Report: Lithuania. ESJF surveys, analysis and educational events, 2018-2020

Date

Location

28/04/2020

Daugai (Alytaus rajono Daugų Vlado Mirono Gymnasium)

Programme Webinar: “What the Old Jewish Cemetery Says”:

No. of Attendees 28

Jewish history of their region.

The way that history links into their heritage.

How to decipher inscriptions on Jewish tombstones.

30/04/2020

Varėna (Varėnos “Ažuolo” Gymnasium)

Webinar: “What the Old Jewish Cemetery Says”:

25

Jewish history of their region.

The way that history links into their heritage.

How to decipher inscriptions on Jewish tombstones.

30/04/2020

Kalvarija (Kalvarijos Gymnasium)

Webinar: “What the Old Jewish Cemetery Says”: Jewish history of their region.

The way that history links into their heritage.

How to decipher inscriptions on Jewish tombstones.

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27

Education events in the pilot project

Date

Location

30/04/2020

Kalvarija (Kalvarijos Gymnasium)

Programme Webinar: “What the Old Jewish Cemetery Says”:

No. of Attendees 15

J ewish history of their region. he way that history links T into their heritage.

How to decipher inscriptions on Jewish tombstones.

06/05/2020

Druskininkai (Druskininkų Atgimimo Mokykla)

Webinar: “What the Old Jewish Cemetery Says”:

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J ewish history of their region. he way that history links T into their heritage.

How to decipher inscriptions on Jewish tombstones.

06/05/2020

Druskininkai (Druskininkų Atgimimo Mokykla)

Webinar: “What the Old Jewish Cemetery Says”:

28

J ewish history of their region. he way that history links T into their heritage.

How to decipher inscriptions on Jewish tombstones.

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Country Report: Lithuania. ESJF surveys, analysis and educational events, 2018-2020

Date

Location

07/05/2020

Alytus (Alytaus Adolfo Ramanausko-Vanago)

Programme Webinar: “What the Old Jewish Cemetery Says”:

No. of Attendees 26

Jewish history of their region.

The way that history links into their heritage.

How to decipher inscriptions on Jewish tombstones.

08/05/2020

Balbieriškis (Prienų rajono Balbieriškio pagrindinė mokykla)

Webinar: “What the Old Jewish Cemetery Says”: Jewish history of their region.

The way that history links into their heritage.

How to decipher inscriptions on Jewish tombstones.

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11

Education events in the pilot project

Date

Location

Programme

No. of Attendees

26/05/2020

Country-wide

Webinar: Teacher training.

Meile Platukiene, Dr. Vilma Gradinskaite, and Lara Lempert spoke to educators from across Lithuania, including but not limited to: Alytus, Kaunas, Kretinga, Lazdijai, Prienai, and Vilnius on the following topics:

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J ewish life in Lithuania prior to WWII. he preservation of JewT ish cemeteries in Lithuania. ynagogues in LithuaS nia.

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Conclusion

T

he pilot project succeeded in surveying over 100 Jewish cemeteries in Lithuania.

Experience in the particular challenges and characteristics of survey work in Lithuania will be used in the second pilot project in 2020-21, during which the remaining sites will be surveyed in order to produce a comprehensive survey of all Jewish cemeteries in the country. We uploaded aerial photographs and GPS coordinates, as well as detailed information about the surveyed sites, to the project database.

As we identified Lithuania as a good example of state-led conservation policy, which has led to a comprehensive documentation of Jewish cemeteries, and reliable maintenance practices, the ESJF surveys do not fill a research gap like they did in Slovakia, Moldova, and Ukraine. Instead, the surveys allowed us to document alternative protection models, and gain an understanding of the valorisation of Jewish heritage by regional and national authorities. The next stage of surveys will focus on synthesising these results and sharing good practices in other project countries. We expect further collaboration to stem from the pilot project long after its conclusion.

The ESJF contributed to raised awareness among high school students and teachers through education events that brought the Jewish cemetery to the classroom, and fostered a broader understanding of the Jewish history and heritage of Lithuania than

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Country Report: Moldova. ESJF surveys, analysis and educational events, 2018-2020

the information available in the regular curriculum, which tends to focus on the tragedy of the Holocaust. Lithuania was the first country in which the organisation piloted online education tools: these webinars attracted a considerable audience, and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The materials produced for these events can be recycled for future seminars in Lithuania and beyond, providing lasting project results.

In the future, once the coronavirus pandemic is over, it might be worth experimenting with hybrid events partially conducted in a webinar format, but combined with in-person cemetery visits.

The network of teachers we built will continue to benefit from the resources produced over the course of the project, including our manual, “Jewish Cemeteries in the Classroom - an ESJF Guide�, which we produced based on experience from these educational events.

Overall, our findings from the pilot project suggest a comparatively milder threat to Jewish cemeteries in Lithuania than in the other project countries, as well as a broader awareness about Jewish history. Still, this awareness is centred more around the Holocaust and Lithuania’s Jewish past than its living, shared heritage. Preservation efforts and educational initiatives should focus on this aspect, in accordance with the principles of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018.

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www.esjf-surveys.org INFO@ESJF-CEMETERIES.ORG