Following their June 22, 1941 invasion of Lithuania, German forces implemented a unique method of systematic extermination. Unlike the concentration camp model employed elsewhere, the Lithuanian operation utilized existing forest landscapes as execution grounds. The Germans commandeered local Jews from towns and villages, transporting them to nearby forests where they were forced to dig their own graves or, as in Ponary's case, utilized pre-existing pits.

The Ponary killing site, situated approximately 6 miles from central Vilnius, exemplifies the brutal efficiency of this approach. German forces appropriated eight large pits originally intended for fuel storage, each spanning 98 feet in diameter and reaching the depth of a two-story building. The site's strategic value stemmed from its railway access and natural concealment from Allied reconnaissance.

Between 1941 and 1944, these pits became mass graves for approximately 100,000 victims, including 70,000 Jews. The scale of this atrocity becomes particularly stark when considering that the death toll equals the population of a medium-sized Israeli city, all murdered within an area comparable to a shopping center parking lot.

The killing process followed a chillingly methodical pattern. After the liquidation of the Vilnius ghetto, victims arrived by train at Ponary station. In a cruel psychological manipulation, German authorities forced some Jews to write postcards describing the site as a pleasant labor camp before leading them to their execution. These messages, reaching families after their loved ones' deaths, served as a devastating form of deception.

Lithuanian collaboration proved particularly extensive. Local auxiliaries managed victim lineups at the pit edges, where German forces conducted the executions. Journalist Kazimierz Sakowicz documented not only the afternoon gunfire but also the systematic looting of victims' belongings by local residents, who established impromptu markets for stolen clothing and possessions.

As German military defeats mounted, authorities initiated "Order 1005" to eliminate evidence of their crimes. This operation forced approximately one hundred Jewish prisoners to exhume and burn corpses. Physical evidence of this gruesome task remains visible today in the form of a conveyor-like apparatus used to raise bodies from the pits.

Yet amid this darkness, research reveals that approximately ten percent of Lithuania's wartime population actively assisted Jews. Yad Vashem has recognized 900 Lithuanians as Righteous Among the Nations, the second-highest per-capita rate globally. This figure represents only those who risked their lives to save Jews, excluding thousands who provided food, medicine, or temporary shelter.

Lithuania's contemporary relationship with this history proves complex. While it stands as the only nation outside Israel to establish a formal Holocaust commemoration day (September 26, marking the Vilnius ghetto's liquidation), local attitudes remain mixed. Reports indicate that Ponary village youth have repurposed some killing site paths as bicycle tracks, while other pits serve as recreational areas, highlighting ongoing tensions between memorialization and normalization.

Today's Ponary Forest presents a deceptive tranquility. A three-story monument, augmented in 2005 with a plaque commemorating Israeli President Moshe Katsav's visit, stands amid the towering trees. The site's profound silence, broken only by visitors' footsteps, belies its horrific history. Memorial stones in Lithuanian mark various pits, while the 984-foot distance between the village and killing grounds raises enduring questions about civilian complicity and witness.

For contemporary visitors, particularly Jewish tourists to Vilnius, Ponary represents not merely a historical site but a moral imperative. Its grounds demand witness not only during formal commemoration days but as an essential testament to both humanity's capacity for evil and the critical importance of remembrance.

This sacred obligation to remember transcends traditional tourism, establishing Ponary as a crucial pilgrimage site for understanding the full scope of the Holocaust's devastation.

The post The killing fields of Ponary: Lithuania's hidden Holocaust site appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Lithuania on Thursday sent five Afghan migrants back to Belarus shortly after they had crossed the border despite the European Court of Human Rights earlier saying they should be allowed to stay. Lithuania has been pushing back migrants since early August and only a few dozen have been allowed in.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

More than 4,100 migrants from the Middle East and South Asia have entered Lithuania this year, and the European Union has accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of sending them over its borders with EU nations in retaliation for sanctions imposed by the bloc on the Minsk government.

Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite told Reuters she saw the case as "an obvious attempt to open a new route for illegal migration, by manipulating the Afghanistan events".

In 2016, following its intervention in the Syria war, Western states accused Russia of deliberately encouraging migrants to flood into Europe, fueling the rise of the far-Right and challenging the European Union. If Belarus believes it can do the same to its immediate neighbors it blames for political discontent at home, it is likely to keep doing so.

The post Lithuania expels Afghanistan migrants despite European Court stand appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The Lithuanian government has declared 2020 the "Year of the Vilna Gaon and the History of the Jews in Lithuania" in honor of the 300th anniversary of the birth of great Torah scholar Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Shlomo Zalman, better known as the Vilna Gaon.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The history of the Jews in Lithuania dates back many generations. According to a study conducted by the Hebrew University's Center for Jewish Art, there were close to 1,000 synagogues in Lithuania prior to World War II. Only about 100 of them still stand today as a testament to the Jewish history in Lithuania.

Most synagogues were destroyed during the war or when Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union. Some buildings survived only to collapse in the decades to follow.

When a research delegation of the Center for Jewish Art visited Lithuania in 1993, two years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, they found the Jewish heritage sites had grossly dilapidated. The situation was similar in all former Soviet republics, such as Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova.

Across Lithuania, only the Choral Synagogues in Vilnius and Kaunas remained open. All other Jewish sites had either been partially destroyed or were transformed into other institutions or apartment buildings.

However, the Lithuanian position towards the preservation of Jewish sites has changed in the last 30 years. Many of the former synagogues have been renovated and turned into cultural institutions. Today they are being used by the local population while maintaining their Jewish "identity."

For example, the Lithuanian government restored the oldest wooden synagogue in Lithuania, the Pakruojis synagogue, built in 1801. It survived WWII and was transformed into a cinema in 1954. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the cinema closed down, and the building was abandoned.

In 2017 the government turned the building into a local children's library, which includes an exhibition about the town's Jewish past. The interior design of the synagogue was restored using pre-WWII photographs.

The wooden synagogue in Pakruojis is just one of many examples of the local authorities' restoration work. Synagogues were renovated in towns like Kedainiai, Kalvarija, Alytus, Joniskis, Ziezmariai, and many others.

Many Lithuanians now understand that the Jewish past and culture is an integral part of their country's history, which is, sadly, not the case in Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The restoration efforts don't mean that anti-Semitism has vanished and that all the problems of the Jewish heritage preservation in Lithuania have been resolved. But if we look at them from the perspective of a historian of Jewish culture, the trend is promising and exciting.

This article was published in collaboration with the Lithuanian Embassy in Israel.

This article might include sponsored and commercial content/marketing information. Israel Hayom is not responsible for its nature or its credibility. The publication of such content or information shall not be considered a recommendation and/or an offer by Israel Hayom to purchase and/or use the services or products mentioned in this article.

The post Lithuania honors Jewish past with synagogue restoration efforts appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Only recently, Lithuania agreed to Israel's request that it not allow Hezbollah operatives to enter its borders. Three years ago, Linkevičius organized an invitation for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who at that time was also acting foreign minister – to meet with European foreign ministers, breaking a long-term impasse between Brussels and Jerusalem.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Currently, Linkevičius is dealing other problems, namely the ongoing crisis in Belarus. Speaking to Israel Hayom, Linkevičius said he believed that change in Belarus was possible, and that the EU should cut ties with the current regime in Minsk.

"People in Belarus deserve to live a normal life," he said, adding that while a flourishing democracy might be slow to arrive, it was impossible not to hold members of the recent regime responsible for events in that country.

"The least we can do – the Lithuanians, the EU, and other countries – is to say that a leadership like that is unacceptable."

When asked why the EU did not appear delighted at the news that Israel and the United Arab Emirates were normalizing relations, Linkevičius said, "It's a step in the right direction."

Generally speaking, the foreign minister said, Lithuania wanted to see dialogue between Israel and the Arab world, but right now realized that the Palestinians were not "thrilled."

Lithuania hopes that the Palestinians will understand that dialogue between Israel and the Arabs is a good thing, he added.

Linkevičius added that it was important that Israel's plans to "annex" parts of Judea and Samaria had been postponed, and that the deal between Israel and the UAE was something "very positive."

Touching on the matter of continued EU support for the Palestinians, Linkevičius said, "there is a need to find a balance in terms of providing them with aid. What is lacking, I think, is ongoing, fair, and pro-active dialogue with Israel.

"The Palestinians need to be told to start acting fairly, condemn terrorism, and not provide a haven for those who commit terrorist acts. And Israel should be told that the two-state solution is important, and annexation is not acceptable under international law. There is no black and white," he said.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Lithuanian FM: The Palestinians must condemn terrorism appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Tikhanouskaya, who has Lithuanian visa and can stay in a Baltic stay for up to a year and said on Tuesday she had fled abroad for the sake of her children, after two nights of clashes following the contested re-election of strongman President Alexander Lukashenko.

There had been concern about Tikhanouskaya's whereabouts after her campaign team said on Monday they had been unable to reach her by phone hours after she was known to have left a meeting with central election commission officials.

"She apparently faced certain pressure and did not have much choice but to leave the country," Linkevicius told a news conference.

"Apparently, the other choice was not compatible with freedom, so she needed to take the offered possibility to leave the country, and used it", said Linkevicius.

Tikhanouskaya was given a one-year visa and a place to stay in Lithuania, which is taking care of her safety, Linkevicius said.

Linkevicius continued, "Together with the lawyer, she (Tikhanouskaya) visited the electoral committee to submit a complaint about counts of the votes and she stayed for a very long time, a lawyer left the building but she stayed longer and it lasted around seven hours totally, so we didn't know where she is and what she was doing and then I informed that I cannot reach her and I cannot find her. So all night was kind of tension, then I understand that she had not that many options, just to leave the country. She has our national visa and it was her decision to leave to Lithuania, so the authorities didn't prevent this from happening and in the night time, already in the morning hours, she arrived in Lithuania. She is in Lithuania and she is safe."

Both she and the Belarusian authorities said she had not been forced to leave.

At least one person died as police clashed with protesters on Monday after the opposition accused Lukashenko of rigging the vote amid widespread criticism from Western leaders.

The post Belarusian opposition leader flees abroad after bloody clashes appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The memorial museum in Lithuania's former capital recounts the story of Chiune Sugihara, who was a vice-consul diplomat based at the Japanese Consulate in Kaunas during 1939-1940. Its small collection is housed in the villa that once served as the consulate.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The brake the coronavirus pandemic slammed on international travel has put the small museum, like other cultural institutions and tourist destinations around the world, under intense economic pressure.

"Tickets sales are our main income resource. Japanese used to make up 85% of the visitors. Now, the visitors from Japan are gone, so is our income," museum director Ramunas Janulaitis said.

However, people from Gifu Prefecture on the Japanese island of Honshu, where Sugihara was born, raised some 30,000 euros (about $35,600) to help the museum survive the pandemic.

"We expect to raise another 40,000 (euros) in the autumn" Japanese Ambassador Shiro Yamasaki said.

Both the Soviet Union and Germany occupied Lithuania during the war. The Soviets annexed the Baltic nation, which became independent in 1990.

During his time at the consulate in Kaunas, Sugihara issued transit visas to Japan to nearly 6,000 Jewish refugees, mainly from neighboring Poland. The 10-day visas which he supplied without the approval of Japan's Foreign Ministry, enabled the refugees to escape and survive the Holocaust.

Sugihara was reassigned elsewhere in Europe, and when he returned to Japan in 1947, he was fired. He died in 1986.

Created in 1999, the museum honoring his courageous actions exhibits the life and work of Sugihara, The villa was decorated to recreate what it looked like during his time serving there. The names of Jews to whom he is known to have granted visas also are displayed.

The government in Lithuania, the southernmost Baltic country that once was the home to a large Jewish community, has declared 2020 as "the year of Chiune Sugihara."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Japanese funds save Lithuanian museum dedicated to diplomat who saved Jews appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The Vilna Gaon was born on April 23, 1720, in the village of Selz in modern-day Belarus. When he was living, Vilnius, known as the "Jerusalem of Lithuania" was anything but Lithuanian, and home mostly to Poles and Jews. The Holocaust changed that forever.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Although the now-independent Lithuania is home to only a tiny Jewish population, the locals try to remember the rabbi, who helped make their capital famous throughout the Jewish world. One of the streets in the old city of Vilnius has been renamed after the rabbi. In 1997, a statue of him was erected in what used to be the city's Jewish quarter.

The Vilna Gaon lived near the city's great synagogue, which was later badly damaged in World War II and completely destroyed by the Soviets. Still, much of the area remains as it was during his life. The nation's Jewish museum is named after the Vilna Gaon, and another site in Vilnius linked to the rabbi is the Widow and Brothers Romm print shop, which published the first version of the Talmud with the Gaon's commentary.

Ironically, the first version of the statue to commemorate the great scholar portrayed him without any head covering, an error that was later fixed. Although there are many images of the rabbi, no one knows what he really looked like, as all 11 "portraits" were painted long after his death.

The 300th anniversary of the Gaon's birth inspired decision-makers to step up their efforts to commemorate his life. The Lithuanian Parliament declared 2020 the Year of the Vilna Gaon and the Year of Jewish History. But even before 2020, Lithuanian authorities sought to have the Gaon's manuscripts included in UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme. The Lithuanian Central Bank issued a special commemorative coin to mark the celebrations of his birth and legacy.

The celebration scheduled originally included nearly 70 separate events, but coronavirus upended everything. An international conference on Jewish study and intellectualism in Lithuania from the 18th to 20th centuries has been postponed until October, and possibly to next year.

The Vilna Gaon himself would probably wonder, and maybe be dismayed, if he knew the honors being heaped upon him in his homeland, which since his lifetime has been nearly emptied of its Jewish population. He was noted for scholarship and modesty, so much so that he consistently refused an official position with the local rabbinate, as the job would have disrupted his studies. His sons said he never slept more than two hours a day, divided into four half-hour parts. It's hard to imagine him making time for the "nonsense" of national honors.

The unusual interest in the great scholar's life seems quite appropriate to Lithuanian Ambassador to Israel Lina Antanavičienė.

"The Jews were an inseparable part of society in Lithuania from the days of the great duchy in the 14th century," Antanavičienė said.

"The Jewish community made an important contribution to the rise of Lithuania, its history, culture, and science. We see the 300th anniversary of the Gaon's birth an opportunity to promote knowledge of the history of Jews in our country, and improve and preserve their legacy and invest more in keeping that legacy alive. In the broader sense, this is an opportunity for the Lithuanian people and for the entire world to learn more about the achievements of Jews who were born in our country and lived and created for our country, and to be proud of them," the ambassador said.

The Lithuanians' desire to show pride in a spiritual authority who was active in their capital city is worthy of praise, but it is a challenge. The Vilna Gaon's work, his thinking, rulings, and innovations to the Talmud and the Kabbala are not immediately comprehensible to anyone who is not familiar with Jewish texts, and virtually inaccessible to anyone who does not read Hebrew. And without the content, the Vilna Gaon could be reduced to a folkloric figure, as happened with Judah Loew ben Bezalel of Prague, whom residents and visitors associate with the famous legend of the Golom.

The organizers of the year of events honoring the Vilna Gaon will try to bridge knowledge gaps with an exhibition titled "The Years of Eliyahu," which is scheduled to open in October at the National Library of Lithuania and will focus on the rabbi's enormous influence on Judaism. State authorities plan to borrow the famous notebook from the Gaon's own synagogue, which is currently preserved at the Yiddish Scientific Institute in New York, for the exhibit.

The Lithuanian national broadcast company is making a special effort to bring the Vilna Gaon's work to the general public. A special radio program devoted to the Gaon shared some of his pearls of wisdom with listeners, and stressed his critical approach as well as his broad familiarity with general subjects like mathematics and astronomy. The Gaon wrote a book on the sciences, and was also knowledgeable about engineering, biology, geography, linguistics, and music.

The broadcast underscored the Gaon's importance as a spiritual authority not only to the Jewish people, and shared a piece of his practical advice: "Today, this teaching from the Vilna Gaon is important to us. If a person desires to understand something, he must follow three rules: to look at what he is shown, to hear what he is told, and to feel all this in his heart."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories! 

Ambassador Antanaviciene agreed that the legacy of the Vilna Gaon includes universal messages.

"The Vilna Gaon's philosophy is as relevant in the changing world of today as it was in the 18th century. Living in a community, while developing independent thought and aspiring to make positive changes in society – that teaches us an important lesson about the development of modern democracy in Lithuania," she said.

The post A Jew, a Lithuanian, a genius appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The tree, which takes its basic forest green hue from hundreds of pairs of scissors, includes a number of objects that definitely shouldn't be taken on planes!

 Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

A close look reveals at least one chef's knife with its blade encased in a plastic sheath; several box cutters; a number of colored lighters; Swiss army knives, and a few aerosol canisters.

News reports about the tree added that Vilnius airport security personnel confiscate several handguns a day.

The post Lithuania airport erects Christmas tree made out of confiscated no-fly items appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The book has been adapted into a play, and was to debut this month despite the fear of protests.

A source close to the production told Israel Hayom that "the very announcement on this play caused heavy criticism ... we have been pressured by many people to scrap the entire project because it might come off as defamatory against Lithuania."

Ruta Vanagaite, the author of the book, told Israel Hayom: "Personally, I am not concerned, but you can feel the tension in the air. Locals have told me to expect widespread protests."

The post Play on Lithuanian WWII-era collaborators sparks controversy appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Community leader Faina Kukliansky told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the community has been receiving threatening calls and letters lately.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

"There is an atmosphere of tension and incitement," Kukliansky said.

The closures come after the Vilnius municipality decided to remove a memorial plaque for a Lithuanian general killed by the Soviets and rename a street originally named after a World War II-era diplomat.

Both wartime figures are controversial, praised by some as national heroes but condemned by others as possible collaborators with Nazi occupiers. A right-wing rally is scheduled later in Vilnius on Wednesday to protest the municipality's moves.

The dispute mirrors similar disputes across Central and Eastern Europe, where nations that lost their independence to the Soviet Union are today celebrating those who fought the Soviets as they assert their renewed national sovereignty. In some cases, those national freedom fighters had aligned with Nazi Germany against the Soviets during the war, thus becoming complicit in the destruction of Jewish communities.

The result is what Jewish scholars and communities see as a form of Holocaust revisionism.

A police spokesman, Ramunas Matonis, told the AP that no investigation has been opened into the threats because police have not received any formal request from the Jewish community.

Lithuania was traditionally tolerant of its large and influential Jewish community. Tens of thousands of Jews lived in the capital city's Jewish quarter at the start of the Second World War, and their numbers swelled as many fled Poland after the Nazi invasion.

But Nazi persecution eventually devastated the community, with over 90% of all Jews killed.

The post Lithuanian Jewish sites shut after threats amid WWII debate appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.