EVENTS TO MARK THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF YIVO AND THE
LITHUANIAN DAY OF HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE
September 17-24
Vilnius, Lietuva
PROGRAM
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
4:00 P.M. Presentation of the scarf donated by Kaunas ghetto and Stutthoff concentration camp prisoner Dita Šperlingienė-Zupavičienė (Pamėnkalnio street No. 12, Vilnius) .
The Holocaust exposition of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum has a new exhibit: a dark blue scarf with white dots donated by Kaunas ghetto and Stutthoff concentration camp prisoner Dita Šperlingienė-
Zupavičienė. The scarf became a symbol of perseverance for Dita and helped her survive the hardships of the concentration camp. This unique item will be presented at the Holocaust exposition along with
the moving testimony of Dita Šperlingienė-Zupavičienė herself in video format.
*Entry free
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
5:00 P.M.-7:00 P.M. Reading of Yitzhok Rudashevski's Diary (Piano.Lt concert hall, Trakų street No. 9/1).

Participating : YIVO director Jonathan Brent, ghetto prisoner and partisan Fania Brancovkskaja, Lithuanian
Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky.
Yitzhok Rudashevski was born in Vilnius in 1927. His father was a printer and his mother a seamstress. He and his family were imprisoned in the Vilnius ghetto in September of 1941, several months after the Nazi occupation had begun. The teenage, driven by a need to document the details of the tragedy which had happened to him and his people so that they wouldn't be forgotten to history, began to keep a diary in
Yiddish on the life of the Vilnius ghetto. His obvious literary talent wasn't confined to the tragic daily life of the ghetto, but also focused on the intellectual and cultural activities of Jewish youth in which he himself participated. Rudashevski's diary is full of mature insights well beyond his age in an attempt to understand the horror which had come upon him, to struggle against the spirit of death everywhere, to endure, to write and to testify. When the Nazis liquidated the ghetto in the fall of 1943, Yitzhok and his family hid, but their hiding place was discovered two weeks later. The Rudashevskis and the others hiding there were shot at
Ponar. Only Yitzhok's cousin Sara Voloshin survived. After the Nazi occupation ended, Sara returned to the hiding place and found a small notepad with two-hundred pages completely filled with writing. This was Yitzhok Rudashevski's diary.
*Free entry.
7:29 P.M. Beginning of Sabbath prayer (Vilnius Choral Synagogue, Pylimo street No. 39, Vilnius).
8:00 P.M. Concert "Jazz, the Poet and Casanova" by Vyacheslav Ganelin and Arkadijus
Gotesmanas
(Piano.Lt concert hall, Trakų street No. 9/1).
*Tickets required.. For more information about the event please see: http://www.tiketa.lt/dziazas_poetas_ir_kazanova_62491
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
11:00 A.M.-2:00 P.M Tour of Jewish Vilna (Tour begins next to the clock tower on Cathedral Square,
Šventaragio street, Vilnius).
*Participation free, requires prior registration.
10:00 A.M.-1:00 P.M. Mincha/Ma'ariv Shabbos (Vilnius Choral Synagogue, Pylimo street No. 39, Vilnius).
8:30 P.M.-10:00 P.M. Klezmatics concert (Vilnius Old Town Hall, Didžioji street No. 1, Vilnius).
Visiting Lithuania for the first time, the Klezmatics are a lauded, Graamy-award-winning collective from
New York formed in 1986. Their style of music could be called a modern interpretation of Eastern
European klezmer music, a hybrid of American and Yiddish culture. Band founders bassist Paul Morrissett and trumpet player Frank London say klezmer music is a unique sound of Eastern European Jewry which takes us to a time and place we never knew before, and that this music compels us to feel a nostalgia for

that lost world. They say the modern klezmer style is also inseparable from its American cultural hearth.
Band members say they want to be part of this living tradition and want to promote human rights and universal spiritual values as they present to audiences their creative work based on the inexhaustible depths of Yiddish culture. They will play their newest works in Vilnius which includes conceptual pieces employing images of Vilnius from the 1930s conserved in the YIVO collections.
*Tickets required. Tickets available on the internet , at Bilietų pasaulis counters located at Hyper Rimi and Maxima supermarkets and at the ticket counter at the Vilnius Old Town Hall before the concert begins.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
8:45 A.M. Placing of flowers at the memorial plaque commemoration YIVO founder and director Max
Weinreich (1894-1969) (J. Basanavičiaus street No. 16, Vilnius).
9:00 A.M.–5:00 P.M. Conference dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the founding of the YIVO institute for Jewish research
(Building III, Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, Gedimino prospect No. 53, Vilnius).
9:00 A.M.–9:30 A.M. Registration of participants (Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, Gedimino prospect
No. 53, Vilnius) .
9:30 A.M.
Conference dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the founding of the institute for Jewish research.
First session. Conference moderator: chief Lithuanian archivist Dr. R. Kraujelis. Presentations by Cecile
Kuznitz, director of Judaism Studies, Bard College (USA), "The YIVO Jewish Research Institute in
Vilnius;" Professor Abraham Lichtenbaum, exeuctive director, IWO Foundation (Argentina), "Zalman
Reizen in Buenos Aires;" Dr. Larisa Lempertienė, senior bibliographer, Bibliography and Book Research
Center, Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library, "Forming a Mosaic of the Past: Traces of the
Life of the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Surviving Documents;" Kristina Dūdaitė, senior bibliographer, Bibliography and Book Research Center, Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library,
"Browsing the Remains of the YIVO Book Collection: The Problem of Recognition;" Džiuginta
Stankevičienė, director, Document Access Department, Lithuanian Central State Archives, "YIVO
Documents at the Lithuanian Central State Archives;" Dr. Dovid Katz, independent author and researcher,
"A Tale of Unusual Luck in the Modern History of Language: Vilnius, Yiddish and YIVO (1913-1939);"
Professor Jonathan Brent, executive director, YIVO, "Establishing the Future of YIVO in the USA and
Elsewhere."
1:00 P.M.–1:15 P.M. Presentation of Jewish calendar for the year 5776 dedicated to the anniversary of
the founding of YIVO.
2:30 P.M.–5:00 P.M. Conference dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the founding of the institute for
Jewish research. Second session. Conference moderator: chief Lithuanian archivist Dr. R. Kraujelis.
Presentations by Dr. Mordehay Yushkovsky, academic director, World Jewish Congress Vilnius Yiddish

Center (Israel), "Vilnius as a Milestone of National Memory in Yiddish Literature;" Dr. Lea Garfinkel, professor of modern Yiddish literature, Bar-Ilan University (Israel), "The Dark World of Vilnius Yiddish
Today: In Heaven," Dr. Saulius Sužiedėlis, professor emeritus of history, Millersville University (USA),
"Observers and Passers-By: Lithuanian Society in View of the Death of the Litvaks;" Professor Dr. Šarūnas
Liekis, dean, Political Science and Diplomacy Faculty, Political Science Cathedral professor, Vytautas
Magnus University and director, Vilnius Yiddish Institute, "Jewish Autonomy in Lithuania and the Jewish
Communities in Poland: Parallels and Contrasts;" Dr. David A. Fishman, professor of the history of
Judaism, Jewish Theological Seminary, "YIVO 1939-1944: Death in Vilnius and Rebirth in America."
*Entry to the conference is free but requires prior registration.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
12:00 noon Event to commemorate Lithuanian Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Kaunas Ninth
Fort Museum
(Žemaičių plentas No. 73, Kaunas).
*Transportation from Vilnius to be provided., prior registration required. Departure from base of Kalinausko street in Vilnius at 10:30 A.M.
17.00 val. Presentation and Screening of The Touch of an Angel, a documentary film by Marek
Tomasz Pawłowski (2015)
(Jascha Heifetz Hall, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street No. 4, Vilnius).
The Touch of an Angel is an unusually sensitive and intriguing story of one person's survival during the
Holocaust. Polish Jew Henryk Schoenker visits sites in Poland still haunted by the specter of the war and retells in great detail the story of his family, hiding and their Herculean efforts to escape extermination.
Henryk's moving testimony serves to bring his story to life. The film makes use of archival footage and unusual cinematography.
*Entry free. Film in Polish with Lithuanian subtitles.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
10:00 A.M.-11:00 A.M. Awards ceremony for rescuers of Jews (President's Office of the Republic of
Lithuania, S. Daukanto square No. 3, Vilnius)
*Entrance by invitation only.
2:00 P.M. Commemoration of Holocaust victims at Ponar (Agrastų street No. 15, Vilnius)
*Transport from Vilnius to be provided. Prior registration required. Departure from the base of Kalinausko street in
Vilnius at 12:30 P.M.

7:00 P.M. Concert "Scream of Silence: Music for the Destroyed Synagogues of Vilnius" (Church of St.
Catherine, Vilniaus street No. 30, Vilnius).
"Scream of Silence" is large musical work written in the form of resisim (Hebrew for shards). It is mainly a requiem for the destroyed synagogues of Vilnius but also urges us to celebrate values we sometimes lose sight of during times of trouble and hardship. Performers : the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra of the
City of Vilnius Municipality, artistic director and conductor Donatas Katkus; the Brevis chamber choir, led by Gintautas Venislovas; the actor Michailas Jevdokimovas; and conductor Giedrė Šlekytė. Composer and musician Vyacheslav Ganelin also participating.
*Tickets required. For more information and tickets, please see: http://www.bilietai.lt/lt/event/26894
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
7:00 P.M. International concert "Breaking the Silence" (Vilnius Church of St. Francis of Assisi (Church of the Bernardines) , Maironio street No. 10-22, Vilnius).
Program: Three premieres in Lithuania: Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905-1963), Concerto funebre altui and string orchestra; Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942), five works for strings; and Arvo Pärt (born 1935), Stabat
Mater for choir and stringed instruments.
Performers: Vilnius City Municipality Choir Jauna muzika, artistic director and conductor Vaclovas Augustinas, Austrian-Bulgarian string orchestra ,Camerata
Orphica Les Orphéïstes,
Razvan Hamza (alto), conductor Amaury du Closel.
*Entry free.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
7:.00 P.M. Music and poetry installation "Subačiaus Street: the Ghetto" (based on poetry by V.
Jasiukaitytė)
(Subačiaus street Nos. 47 and 49, Vilnius).
Performers: Rimvydas Vilkaitis and Dalia Michelevičiūtė. Algimantas Pociūnas, director.
There are many places in Vilnius which bring the Holocaust to mind. One of them is Subačiaus street. This presentation combines the spoken word, music and images. Actors will read works by the poet Vidmantė
Jasiukaitytė and testimonies by Jews who hid from death. Passages of the musical work "Balsai iš po žemių" ["Voices from under the Ground"] by Žeraldas Povilaitis will play and building walls will become screens for archival images and videos. The intention is to surround visitors with an atmosphere of the lifeand-death struggle to survive.
*Entrance free.

EVENTS TO MARK LITHUANIAN HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY IN THE CITIES OF
ŠIAULIAI AND PANEVĖŽYS
ŠIAULIAI
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
11:00 A.M.-11:30 A.M. Wreath-laying ceremony at the gate of the Šiauliai ghetto. Kaddish. (Corner of
Ežero/Trakų streets, Šiauliai).
Participating: Šiauliai Jewish Community chairman Josifas Buršteinas, representatives of the City of
Šiauliai.
12:00 noon-1:30 P.M. Event to commemorate Holocaust victims in the Luponiai Forest (Kužiai aldermanship, Šiauliai).
Participating: Šiauliai Jewish Community chairman Josifas Buršteinas, public figures.
2:00 P.M.–2:30 P.M. Unveiling of memorial sign to commemorate Jews who lived in the town of
Gruzdžiai (Nepriklausomybės aikštė [Independence Square], Gruzdžiai, Šiauliai region.)
*For further information on the events in Šiauliai, please contact: agavasiauliai@takas.lt
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
10:00 A.M. Commemoration of the Holocaust victims of Žagarė (Žagarė, Lithuania)
*For further information on the events in Šiauliai, please contact: agavasiauliai@takas.lt
PANEVEŽYS
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
2:00 P.M.
Exhibit "Anne Frank: The Story Today" (Saulėtekis Pre-Gymnasium, Statybininkų street No. 24,
Panevėžys)
The story of the life of Anne Frank is the basis of the exhibit. It uses pre-war, Nazi dictatorship and postwar events to show the plight of the family. Includes photos from the Frank family photo album and other materials.
* For further information about events in the city of Panevėžys, please call 845435295 or 861120882
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22

12:00 noon Event to mark Lithuanian Holocaust Remembrance Day (next to the Sad Jewish Mother statue on Atminties square, Vasario 16-s street, Panevėžys).
Participating: Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman, public figures, city representatives.
12:30 P.M. Holocaust victim commemoration at Jewish mass murder site in Kurganava Forest.
1:00 P.M. Holocaust victim commemoration at Holocaust memorial site in Žalioji Forest.
2:00 P.M. Exhibit of photographs to mark Lithuanian Holocaust Remembrance Day (The Margarita
Rimkevičaitė Technical School, Panevėžys).
3:30 P.M. Screening of Holocaust film (the first in a series of films about the Holocaust received from Yad
Vashem) (Ramygalos street No. 18, Panevėžys).
* For further information about events in the city of Panevėžys, please call 845435295 or 861120882
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
2:00 P.M.
Educational lecture for students from Panevėžys primary and secondary schools: "To Mark the
Jewish Tragedy of the Holocaust in the Panevėžys District."
Presenter:
Panavėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman. Participating:
Panevėžys city school students and teachers.
* For further information about events in the city of Panevėžys, please call 845435295 or 861120882
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
9:30 A.M.-3:30 P.M.
Seminar/event "Save the Švėkšna Synagogue" (Liepų a. No. 24, Švėkšna).
Presentations: "Special Features of Jewish Life: Holidays and Kosher Food" by Elijas Danas Pyragas
(Klaipėda, Lithuania); "Teaching Jewish Youth: History of a Fragment of the Panevėžys Yeshiva," delivered via skype, Gennady Kofman (Panevėžys); "The Effect of the Soviet Regime on the Development of
Lithuanian-Jewish Relations after Lithuanian Independence," Justas Stončius (Palanga, Lithuania); "Talking of the Land by the Sea: What Does the Lithuanian Context Provide?," Vytautas Toleikis (Vilnius);
"Traditional Judaism and Customs," Gercas Žakas (Kaunas); "The Kaunas Jewish Community, "Ieva
Černevičiūtė (Kaunas); "The Architecture of the Brick Synagogues of Lithuania," Marija Rupeikienė
(Kaunas).
3:30 P.M.-4:45 P.M. Tour of the town of Švėkšna. Visiting the Synagogue. Monika Žąsytienė (Švėkšna).
* For more information about the seminar, please contact Monika Žąsytienė, 865757152, monika.zasytiene@gmail.com
* For further information about events in the city of Panevėžys, please call 845435295 or 861120882

ORGANIZERS
Lithuanian Jewish Community
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
PARTNERS
World Jewish Congress International Yiddish CenterVilnius
Council of Senior Lithuanian Archivists
Lithuanian Central State Archives
Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library
Panevėžys Jewish Community
Šiauliai Jewish Community
Kaunas Jewish Community
Municipality of the City of Vilnius
Municipality of the City of Šiauliai
Municipality of the City of Panevėžys
SUPPORTERS
Goodwill Fund
World Jewish Congress
FELLOW ORGANIZERS AND PARTICIPANTS
Embassy of the Republic of Poland to Lithuania
Embassy of the United States to Lithuania
Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania
Lithuanian National Defense Ministry
Lithuanian Foreign Ministry
International Commission for Assessing the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in
Lithuania
St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra
Pax et Bonum
Forum Voix Etouffées
PRO S studio