Lithuania is a place where numbers and
questions abound, playing pinball in your head.
Are the numbers real? Could 90% of a country’s Jewish population
(220,000) have been murdered? Is it possible that out of 100 synagogues in
Vilnius alone there is only one standing? Could the forest location outside the
city named Ponar truly be the place where 100,000 (70,000 Jews) were gunned
down and thrown into pits?
We saw Ponar, with its inadequate memorials, and stared into one of the infamous pits. Within the last few months, an escape tunnel built by prisoners was recently discovered, and will be the subject of a NOVA documentary in 2017. There, as
at a few other sites in Lithuania, we lit memorial candles and said Kaddish (the
prayer for the dead), but to memorialize so many others, how could we possibly get to the recognized 239 mass murder
sites to do the same? Does anyone go? And who knows how
many other unknown, undocumented places exist?
We did go to one, however, that recently the team who works with Father Patrick Desbois uncovered. A 90ish farmer told the story of his parents who took in a family of 5 as workers. Eventually the Nazis took them and another family of 5 on a neighbor’s farm to the fields and gunned them down.
We did go to one, however, that recently the team who works with Father Patrick Desbois uncovered. A 90ish farmer told the story of his parents who took in a family of 5 as workers. Eventually the Nazis took them and another family of 5 on a neighbor’s farm to the fields and gunned them down.
We trudged through the muddy field to the spot. Another Kaddish. Our
group buried a small box with notes and prayers, as well as a wooden star. Some
earth from Israel was sprinkled on top before covering up the hole. Underfoot in
the field were wild strawberries.
Nearby at another mass gravesite,
marked with a monument stone and fence, was at Anyksciai. A weathered old man
agreed to give testimony to what he knew and saw as a 9 year old. The details
are gruesome, however typical. The questioning by Father Desbois is gentle and
nonjudgemental; he does not show any facial reactions, as if hearing a
confessional. This encourages his subjects to unwind their stories as
comfortably as possible, and perhaps reveal long forgotten details. This
happened the day of our visit! The man mentioned the Jewish cemetery which neither
Father nor his team knew existed. So, we got in the bus and went there. The burial
ground was a level area on top of a very steep hill, and still had some stone
markers. One more long forgotten GPS location to add to the more than 1,900 places Father has documented.
Spending a day with Father is a rare and precious privilege. It is humbling to be in the presence of a true heroic soul. His dogged, conscientious, and relentless search for these witnesses and places comes from not only his religious devotion to an ethical "tikkun olam" (repairing the world) but as he explains, from growing up in a family where every human was important and you were expected to the right thing.
We spent an evening with him and his assistants after the long day. He told me he read Max's book! ( A Tale of Two Soldiers). This humble French priest is now not only rushing to find dwindling witnesses in eastern Europe to help document murder, but has now taken on Afghanistan. There is no accolade too lofty for this remarkable man.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hidden-holocaust-60-minutes/
IN VILNIUS
A visit to a Friday night service run by a Chabad group; our men joined the service in front. The women sat behind a screen with a small group of exuberant and noisy children playing with matchbox cars. The intention was to experience the only synagogue, but due to a mechanical problem, we were relegated to a community hall. An "incident" which later required a police presence outside occurred when a disgruntled man interrupted the service in protest for a breech of religious observance.
We were guests of another Chabad group for lunch. It was difficult to tell what their community was like, as the room had barely a minyon of older men, and family of the rabbi. The rabbi, a cousin of someone we all know in Milwaukee told us about the programs they have for schools and camps. A woman, the head of the more liberal Jewish community, Faina Kukliansky dropped in to speak to us as well. Clearly there is tension between the different factions and she was not shy about stating it there. It made us fairly uncomfortable, but it underscored the challenges in preserving the post-war Jewish community in Lithuania.
We were pleased to be visited by US Ambassador Ann Hall who was just appointed to her post. She knew sister-in-law Joan Spero when they both worked for Warren Christopher in the State Department. We also had the privelege of meeting Amir Maimon, the Israeli Ambassador.
A walk through the oldest Jewish quarter demonstrated why it is said that the Jews were never far from the shadow of a church. A community that had its roots over 500 years ago, certainly disappeared from these winding streets and almost vanished altogether. Whatever charming and picturesque presence these streets have now belies the horror they witnessed.
PARTISAN SURVIVOR: FANIA BRANCOVSKI
This barely five foot, 94 years young bundle of energy was our guide through the former Jewish Ghetto.
In many places there is still Yiddish and Hebrew signage. Fania, as a 20 year old, escaped the ghetto the day before liquidation with a girlfriend and somehow safely walked a few days to the Rudicki forest, a swamp, to meet up with other partisans. From that bunker-like base the approximately 100 partisans went on raids for food and missions to sabatoge Nazis. Her story is nothing short of amazing; she was fearless in her use of weapons and brave in the face of great danger. After the war she married a fellow partisan and remained in Vilnius as the librarian at the Yiddish library. She is constantly harassed by the press, the government, and right wing groups for "crimes."
Vilnius: once the "Jerusalem of the North." There are sprouts of new beginnings, but the weight of the past tragedies hangs heavy.
In many places there is still Yiddish and Hebrew signage. Fania, as a 20 year old, escaped the ghetto the day before liquidation with a girlfriend and somehow safely walked a few days to the Rudicki forest, a swamp, to meet up with other partisans. From that bunker-like base the approximately 100 partisans went on raids for food and missions to sabatoge Nazis. Her story is nothing short of amazing; she was fearless in her use of weapons and brave in the face of great danger. After the war she married a fellow partisan and remained in Vilnius as the librarian at the Yiddish library. She is constantly harassed by the press, the government, and right wing groups for "crimes."
Vilnius: once the "Jerusalem of the North." There are sprouts of new beginnings, but the weight of the past tragedies hangs heavy.
We wondered if the skies are always grey and menacing in Vilnius. We even had hail.
But then, a rainbow. Was this a sign?
But then, a rainbow. Was this a sign?
Next...Berlin
