Visit of the Lithuanian Defense Minister — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

The Lithuanian Minister of Defense is a Guest at Vilna House in Israel

Reporter: Ephraim Lapid, June 10, 2011

The Lithuanian Defense Minister Rasa Juknevičienė held a five-day working visit to Israel in early June 2011, during which she signed, among others, a Memorandum of Understanding for security cooperation, with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

During the visit, she was hosted at Vilna House as a guest of the Association of Jews from Vilna and Vicinity, headed by Michael Shemyavich. The Minister received an explanation of the place, took an interest in the library, and a presentation on the Holocaust period, and held a discussion with several "Litvaks” (Lithuanian Jews) who were invited to the event, including Brigadier General Res. Ephraim Lapid.

The Minister is one of five women serving as Ministers of Defense in NATO. She related that in her youth in Lithuania, during Soviet rule, they mentioned but did not learn about the Holocaust, and today the Lithuanian government is committed to perpetuating the legacy of the great Lithuanian Jewry and the memory of Holocaust victims and the Jewish partisans.

Michael Shemyavich and his deputy, Mickey Kantor, told about the many activities of the Association for Commemoration of Lithuanian Jews Massacred in the Holocaust, including an annual March of the Living held in Lithuania with the help of the authorities.

Shemyavich said: "We will not forget what the Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators did, but we welcome today’s Lithuanian government and its representatives who are working to educate the younger generation and teach it to recognize the atrocities of the Holocaust."

Michael Shemyavich, Lithuanian Ambassador and his wife, Lithuanian Defense Minister and Mickey Kantor