Righteous Among the Nations 2025 — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

In April 2025, arrived in Israel Iga Makutėniene from Vilna, whose grandmother Sofia Binkienė and nine of her family members were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, and historian Rimantas Stankevičius, who researches the topic of Lithuanian Righteous Among the Nations.

In their honor, an evening dedicated to the Righteous Among the Nations was held at Beit Vilna, with the participation of family members of survivors who were saved by this family, members of the association, the Lithuanian Ambassador to Israel, and embassy representatives.

Iga spoke with great emotion about her family and herself, happy to hug the survivors' families. Historian Raimundas Stankevičius spoke about Ona Šimaitė and his research work. In the Hallt of Remembrance, a ceremony was held where Iga placed a plaque in memory of her grandmother, and Raimundas placed a plaque in memory of Ona Šimaitė. Singer Avital Erez, accompanied by the guitarist Ohad Horesh performed.

Later in the week, we went on a tour of Yad Vashem, where we received professional, interesting and moving guidance from Mrs. Katya Gusarov, Head of the Righteous Among the Nations Department. The tour was interesting and enriching. Iga Mackevičiūtė "visited" the tree planted in honor of her grandmother. Yaakov Weksler joined the tour. As a child, he was saved by a Polish family, studied theology, was ordained as a priest, and only later in life discovered his Jewish origins. Today, he lives in Jerusalem, works at Yad Vashem, guides students, and tells his story. Yaakov led us to the plaque in memory of his rescuers.

Later in the week, a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony was held at the Navy headquarters, to which the Lithuanian Ambassador to Israel and the guests were invited.

 https://en.vilna.co.il/adoption/naval-ceremony/memorial-day-2025/ Several days later, we went with the guests to visit the Ghetto Fighters' House museum in the north.

A few days later, we went with the guests to visit the Ghetto Fighters Museum in the north. When we arrived, we heard a brief overview of the museum's mission and activities. We then received a fascinating explanation of the camp hall, which contains models of the main extermination camps. For the soul, we viewed the charming plant exhibition consisting of photographs of fallen leaves onto which the faces of Nazi victims were projected.

The visit was important and fascinating, thus ended a week full of blessed and moving activity.