Conference Report

2017-07-11, holocaustremembrance.com

Vilnius, 22 March 2017 - Speakers at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance conference “As Mass Murder Began: Identifying and Remembering the Killing Sites of Summer-Fall 1941” stressed the importance of reflecting the full scope of experiences of those murdered during the Holocaust as well as the need for thoughtful and accurate marking, identification and commemoration of killing sites. Read more

Lithuania: a new Jewish Museum as part of controversial Sports Palace conversion?

2017-04-09, jewish-heritage-europe.eu

In the latest twist in the ongoing debate over the Old Jewish Cemetery in Vilnius, the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum said it was “perplexed” by an apparent proposal by Lithuanian officials to set up a new Jewish museum as part of the controversial planned conversion into a conference center of the abandoned Palace of Sports that stands on the site of the centuries-old graveyard. Read more

The Holocaust’s Great Escape

March 2017, smithsonianmag.com

Shortly after dawn one January day in 1944, a German military truck departed the center of Vilnius, in what is today Lithuania, and rattled southwest toward the fog-laced towns that ringed the city. Near the village of Ponar, the vehicle came to a halt, and a pale 18-year-old named Motke Zeidel, chained at the ankles, was led from the cargo hold. Read more

Unearthed: the secret Jewish tunnel out of Nazi death pit

2017-01-04, thetimes.co.uk

Overhung by pines and covered in snow, the pit in a forest in Lithuania gives few clues to its past. Despite its plain appearance, however, this spot on the edge of Vilnius, the capital, was the setting for one of the most extraordinary escape stories of the Second World War — the full history of which has been revealed by scientists and historians mapping the area with the latest technology. Read more