On July 9, the third commemoration event of the project “Road of Memory 1941 – 2021” in Lithuania took place in Kalvarija, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Holocaust.
The event started at the Synagogue complex in Kalvarija. Sources indicate that there were five synagogues in Kalvarija. After the artistic part of the program, the participants of the event lined up for the “Road of Memory” march on Laisvės Street, where the architecture of the buildings and the surviving photographs of the former inhabitants still remind us of the Jews who had lived there. When the participants of the march reached the memorial near Lake Orija, they listened to the reading of the names of the victims of Kalvarija, followed by a literary composition, performed by the students of Kalvarija Gymnasium.
At the Holocaust Memorial, guests were given the stage for speeches: Emanuelis Zingeris, Chairman of the International Commission, Member of the Seimas, Rennie Silva, Diplomat of the US Embassy in Lithuania, Faina Kukliansky, Chairwoman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vincas Plikaitis, Mayor of Kalvarija Municipality. In addition to representatives of the local community and municipality, the event was attended by guests from other cities: members from Vilkaviškis and Kaunas Jewish communities, teachers from Tolerance Education Centers: Ariogala (Raseiniai district), Alytus, Sasnava (Marijampolė county).
After the „Road of Memory“ event at the site of the Holocaust victims, the Kalvarija Regional Museum hosted a presentation of a book by the historian Arūnas Bubnys “The Holocaust in the Province of Lithuania in 1941”. This book is a newly published book of the International Commission, which provides encyclopedic information on the massacre of Jews in Lithuania, which began at the end of June in 1941. The book was presented by Emanuel Zingeris, Chairman of the International Commission, together with Ingrida Vilkiene, education program coordinator of the International Commission.
The “Memory Road” event in Kalvarija was organized by the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, Kalvarija Gymnasium Tolerance Education Center, “Skambėjimas“ Association, Municipal Public Library in Kalvarija, Kalvarija‘s Regional Museum and Kalvarija‘s Municipal Culture Center.
Moments from the event:
Photo by Liepa Jankauskaitė
Photo by Liepa Jankauskaitė
Photo by Arūnė Vaičiūnaitė – Levuškinienė
Photo by Liepa Jankauskaitė
Photo by Arūnė Vaičiūnaitė – Levuškinienė
Photo by Arūnė Vaičiūnaitė – Levuškinienė
Photo from Emanuel Zinger’s personal archive