Sixty-Six Years since the Liquidation - Yad Vashem 2009
Remarks by Mickey Kantor
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Honorable Minister Yuli Edelstein, Minister of Information and Diaspora
Mr. Avner Shalev, Chairman of the Board of Yad Vashem
Mr. Darius Degutis, Ambassador of Lithuania to the State of Israel
Adv. Yosef Melamed, Chairman of the Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel
Mr. Michael Schemyavitz, Chairman of the Association of Jews from Vilna and Vicinity, in Israel
Dr. Leah Price, International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem
Holocaust Survivors, Representatives of the Next Generation, Distinguished Audience:
We are gathered here at the Yad Vashem Synagogue on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem to commemorate the memory of Lithuanian Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust.
The synagogue, where we now sit, is a monument and a witness to the countless synagogues that were the local expressions of our unique and ancient Jewish heritage - destroyed in the Holocaust.
Around us can be seen aronot kodesh (holy arks) from Rădăuți, Harlow, Bârlad and Iasi in Romania; ritual and mitzvah articles from synagogues in Poland and the Czech Republic that were damaged or destroyed in the Holocaust, and from synagogues whose communities were exterminated. Some of the religious objects were taken by the deported in an attempt to hold on to what was the most valuable, in simple hope that the life they once knew would continue: a tin tablet engraved with the Ten Commandments, a Torah scroll hidden in a barn near Lublin, Poland, another one from Transnistria whose etzei chayim (trees of life) were made from rough wood probably from broomsticks, and more.
Each item is a relic that tells the story of a community.
On June 22, 1941, the German army invaded the Soviet Union as part of Operation Barbarossa, and occupied Lithuania. Immediately after the occupation, the Germans began carrying out the "Final Solution" against Lithuanian Jews, using the "Einsatzgruppen" units and local Lithuanian gangs, who carried out mass murders.
By the end of 1941, only about 40,000 Jews remained in Lithuania and were concentrated in four ghettos: Vilna, Kovno, Siauliai, Švenčionys, and a number of labor camps. In the summer of 1944, Lithuania was liberated.
Tomorrow, September 23, 2009 will mark the 66th anniversary of the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto.
Since the beginning of the Nazi German occupation, about 200,000 Jews have been murdered within the 1940 borders of Lithuania.
We heard the Beit Vilna Choir under the musical direction of Tamara Eitzes, performing the songs - "Under the Shining Stars in the Sky" by Avraham Sutzkover, Music: Avraham Brodno.
"Ponar" written by Schmerke Kaczerginski, composed by Alexander Tamir, and the song - "Vilna Vilna;" lyrics: Eli Wolfson, music by Josef Rumshinsky.
The last letter written by David Berger from Vilna before he was murdered by the Nazis in 1941.
Vilna, March 2, 1941
Hello Elsa!
I sent a letter yesterday, and today I am sending a postcard. I want to make sure you receive my "last" letter. My letter was written when I was very upset. Today, I am calmer. However, I do not know what will be tomorrow.
Anyway, I'm ready for anything. I'm supposed to meet with you soon. And now? The worst is my inability to know when I will return and see you. Anyway, this postcard will be my goodbye to you.
Be well, Elsa, and hold on. I remember you. If something happens, I would like someone to remember that a person named David Berger once lived here. This would make it easier for me in difficult moments. I don't care so much about my family since I gave up on them a long time ago. I sent pictures for you with Leiblitz and Tova Mantock. Take it from them. Give my best to everyone coming from Vilna and special greetings to Giza. Goodbye.
A call for a Jewish uprising following the crimes of the Germans and of the local Lithuanians, led to the mobilization to rebellion of Jewish youth and the fighting in forests and ghettos. "Never Say this is the End," was written in the spring of 1943 in the forests of Vilna by a young Yiddish poet- Hirsch Glick, and soon became a partisan anthem that instilled hope in many hearts. The song symbolizes the spirit of combat, sacrifice, and the power of Jewish hope.
Dr. Leah Price of the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem spoke about "Another look at the Vilna Ghetto."
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