73 years since the Liquidation Beit Vilna 2016 — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

Beit Vilna was packed tonight at an event to commemorate 73 years since the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto and the extermination of the Lithuanian Jewish communities. Survivors ranging in age from 80 to 100, accompanied by their extended families as well as dozens of officers and soldiers from the naval unit of seafaring vessels, filled the house.

Michael Shemyavitz, the honorary president of the Association and Colonel Shmuel Shahak, Commander of the naval unit of seafaring vessels spoke movingly; Efrat Pinhas-Druker, a granddaughter of Hanoch Vilenchik spoke of her trip to Vilna last September and her experiences as a member of the third and fourth generations of the Holocaust. Six memorial candles were lit by survivors and their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  It was a very moving ceremony for all present.

As a finale, Haya Maor Shemyavitz told the story of the Stolpersteine (stumbling stones )created by the German architect Gunter Demnig that were embedded in the footpaths of the streets of Vilna to commemorate the Shemyavitz family (and five other families) who perished in the Holocaust; the official ceremony that took place in Vilna was brought to life in a presentation prepared by her elder daughter, Liron.

The Beit Vilna choir, in the spirit of the event, sang a medley of ghetto songs.