The highs and lows of 600 years in Lithuania

MOIRA SCHNEIDER

About 150 years later, his counterpart, Alexander, expelled the Jews from his country, confiscating most of their property. But it took a mere eight years for Alexander, then the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, to invite them to return.

Then in 1648, mass murders of Jews took place during the Cossack rebellion in the country.

The highs and lows of a rich and chequered 600-year history are depicted in the current exhibition at the South African Jewish Museum in Cape Town, titled “One Century of Seven: Lietuva. Lite. Lita”. The exhibition, which runs until mid-July, is billed as a unique look at the life and destiny of Jews in Lithuania.

The exhibition’s timeline spans the centuries, including the Holocaust, until 1995, when Lithuanian President Algirdas Brazauskas apologised to the Jewish nation for the Lithuanians who participated in mass murders.

Opening the exhibition last Thursday, Sigutė Jakštonyté, Lithuanian ambassador to South Africa, said that coexistence of nations had been the hallmark of her country.

“We are proud of our country’s multinational history, and appreciate the cultural contributions of different nations that regard Lithuania as their home,” she said. She noted that the relationship between Lithuanians and Jews stretched back more than 700 years, and had experienced “joyful and very painful moments”.

“We have to remember all of them, and learn from them. The 20th century brought great pain and suffering to the Jewish community in Lithuania, and nothing can make us forget the innocent victims of the Holocaust.

“We must also remember that hundreds of Lithuanians risked their lives to save the Jews,” she said. She spoke of 898 of her countrymen recognised as Righteous Among the Nations for their efforts in this regard.

The ambassador said that the Lithuanian parliament, acknowledging the Jewish contribution to Lithuanian society for 700 years, had proclaimed the year 2020 as “The year of the Vilna Gaon and history of Lithuanian Jews”.

“The year 2020 marks the 300-year anniversary [of the birth] of [Talmudic sage] Vilna Gaon. He was the great Lithuanian rabbi, one of the most prominent Jewish spiritual leaders, who helped Vilnius become the centre of Jewish intellectual, cultural, and political life,” Jakštonyté said.

To mark the anniversary, Lithuanian authorities have compiled a programme to be showcased in Lithuania and worldwide. All the events will be dedicated to preserving Jewish heritage, history, and culture in Lithuania. The current exhibition could be an introduction to the celebrations, the ambassador said.

“This unique project [the exhibition] unites people and countries, builds bridges between the past and the future, and shows that the historical multinational community of our country is being treasured and cherished,” Jakštonyté said.

Museum director Gavin Morris didn’t mince his words. “One would have to wear very heavily rose-tinted glasses to say that Jewish life in Lithuania was a bed of roses. Over those centuries, our ancestors experienced expulsions, pogroms, poverty, and all manner of tragic events.

“But equally, they experienced self-government, the use of their own language, and the opportunity to further enrich their culture and learning,” Morris said. “Vilna, once known as the Jerusalem of the north, became a centre for global Jewish learning.”

The Holocaust brought an end to this long history. “A small Jewish community lives on in Lithuania, but much of the traditions and character of the Litvak community died with its members at the hands of the Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators in Ponary forest, and in other places in Lithuania.

“The involvement of the local population in the destruction of Lithuanian Jewry is a defining factor of the Holocaust in Lithuania,” he said.

Describing our shared history with the Lithuanian people as “complex”, Morris praised the Lithuanian government’s moves to acknowledge the Litvak contribution to the country’s heritage as “admirable”.

In addition to the Year of the Vilna Gaon, a museum dedicated to Jewish life in the shtetl is being built in Shaduva.

“Exhibitions such as this, developed by the Lithuanian Jewish community and sponsored by the Lithuanian government, are further examples of Lithuanian society acknowledging our shared history,” he said. “These overtures towards acknowledging our shared past should be praised and supported.”