March of the living 2017 — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

   The memorial service that was held at the Ponary pit in September, 2017 commemorated 74 years since the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto. Representatives of the President of Lithuania laid wreaths alongside the wreaths of Amir Maimon, the Israeli ambassador to Lithuania and the chairman of the Lithuanian Jewish community.

The official speakers talked about the horrors of the war and the bitter fate of the ancient Jewish community that had held such a venerable place in the history of Lithuania for centuries; they also spoke of the importance of learning practical and courageous lessons from that bleak age.

Ambassador Maimon declared that it was high time that numbers on the memorial plaques in about two hundred extermination sites across Lithuania be replaced by names of those who perished

In the background was Zelda Mishkovsky's song, lechol ish yesh shem (Everyone has a name) sung by Hava Alberstein. In her address, Mickey Kantor, the chairperson of the Association, noted that since racism has reared its ugly head once more in many places, we should remember that history is created by people and it is up to us to imbue history with tolerance, compassion and respect in the present so that we can bequeath a worthy history to our children and grandchildren in the future. "Haim Nahman Bialik wrote about the butcher who slaughtered as the sun shone, and I ask: Where are the birds that used to be here, in this forest, in Ponary..."