Ceremonies and memorials — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

Members of the Association, the survivors and their extended families, undertake many activities to commemorate the heritage of the Litvaks in general and Vilna in particular and transmit it to the future generations.

Most of the second and third generations of survivors participate in the annual memorial service to mark the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto which is held at Bet Vilna on the 23^rd of September, the day on which the ghetto was liquidated. The chairperson of the Association speaks of the hundreds of years of glorious culture, the Holocaust and its dire outcome – liquidation of almost the entire community; a representative of the second generation speaks of the responsibility for transmitting the heritage that they have undertaken; six candles are lit in a special candelabra in memory of the six million who perished; the names of the survivors who passed away in the preceding year are read aloud. The service ends with a prayer for "the ascent of the soul" of those who perished and readings from the Book of Psalms, followed by a rousing rendition of The Partisans' Song  and Hatikvah  (The Hope, the Israeli national anthem).

Memorial Services for Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day)

Every year, on Holocaust Memorial Day, memorial services are held at the Kiryat Shaul cemetery alongside the monument to the martyrs of Ponary in the presence of the second and third generations of survivors, naval officers and soldiers of the Department of Seafaring Vessels, members of the Scouts' movement and Bnai Akiva (a religious youth movement) and the Lithuanian ambassador to Israel. The chairperson of the Association eulogizes the Vilna community that perished and brings up the memory of the martyrs who were murdered during the Holocaust. The names of the residents of different streets in the ghetto are read out to preserve their memory. The rabbi leads the mourners' prayers and members of the public are invited to light memorial candles and lay wreaths.                                                                                                             

Annual Memorial Services at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem

Special events to mark the annihilation of the Jewry of Vilna and the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto are held by the Association of Jews from Vilna and the Vicinity in conjunction with the Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel and the Lithuanian embassy. The assemblies include: laying wreaths in the Memorial Room and prayers; a guided tour of one of the exhibitions at the museum and an address by the chairman of Yad Vashem in the synagogue. The chairpersons of the associations of Vilna and Lithuania, a representative of the Foreign Office and the Lithuanian ambassador address the audience and a representative of Yad Vashem lectures on current research studies about the Holocaust of Vilna Jewry. Many people, including representatives of the Department of Seafaring Vessels of the Navy, ministers and public figures, attend the assemblies.

Representatives' Participation in Official Memorial Ceremonies

Members of the Association are invited to participate in the annual event entitled "Every Person has a Name" at the Knesset and to lay a memorial wreath to the martyrs of the community at the main ceremony that is held at Yad Vashem every year on Holocaust Memorial Day.

International Holocaust Day

Annual memorial services for the towns around Vilna. The communal associations of towns around Vilna hold memorial services at Bet Vilna in memory of the martyrs of Hlybokaye, Daŭhinava, Švenčionys and other towns.

Multi-generational Tours to Vilna and the Vicinity

Dozens of survivors and their extended families have taken multi-generational tours in order to confront the lost heritage of Vilna, to learn about the horrors of the Holocaust and to meet up with the Jewish community currently living in Vilna.  The tours are experiential and most moving for three, and sometimes, even four generations of families. Every year the horrifying eye-witness testimonies motivate dozens of members of the younger generations to join the activities of the Association.

The annual March of the Living to Ponary

Every year, since 2009, on Holocaust Memorial Day, heritage tours to Vilna and the vicinity and Marches of the Living to Ponary are held. Survivors and their families from Israel, Europe, U.S.A. and South America, together with ministers (Isaac (Buzi) Herzog, the late Uzi Landau, Danny Ayalon and Moshe (Bugi) Ya'alo), the chairman of the Lithuanian community and the rabbis of the community, the Israeli ambassadors to Lithuania and Latvia and the Lithuanian and Latvian ambassadors to Israel, the President of Lithuania, chairman of the Lithuanian parliament and his deputies, ministers, the mayor of Vilna, the Prime Minister of Lithuania, the Russian, French and British ambassadors, representatives from the U.S.A., teachers and pupils from the Jewish day school, Israeli students at Kovno University, representatives of the public and members of the community participate in the March of the Living and the tours.

Memorial services in Lithuania and Latvia

Every year the members of the delegations of the March of the Living hold official memorial services as well as traditional ceremonies at the Ponary monument and alongside one of the death pits during their annual visits to Vilna. Ceremonies are also held at the monument at the Ninth Fort in Kovno; at the central square and at the Polygon in Švenčionys; at the memorial site in Nimenchin; at the monument in the Kaiserwald camp; at the extermination site in Rumbola in Riga. Mayors, rabbis, communal leaders and members, representatives of the public and the Israeli embassy participate in the ceremonies which include prayers, lighting memorial candles, readings and laying memorial wreaths.