Jewish Cemetery in Vilnius: An Update

Awhile back I wrote a diary about a Jewish cemetary in Vilnius, Lithuania, that was threatened with destruction due to development. It proved a controversial diary and I have gotten any emails and comments over the months about this cemetery. The comments seemed to break down into two categories:

1. Non-Jewish Lithuanians (some who lived in Vilnius) who claimed there WAS no Jewish cemetery there, that it had been destroyed by the Soviets, and that the story was in fact a lie.

2. Jews NOT from Lithuania who insist the story is true.

I have been on and off trying to follow up this story to find out the truth.

Choral synagogue in Vilnius

An old photo of the Jewish quarter.

There once was a thriving and highly respected Jewish population in Lithuania. Vilnius was called the "Jerusalem of Europe" by Napoleon, so great was the fame of its Jewish scholars. One of the greatest Orthodox Jewish sages, Elijah ben Solomon (called the Vilna Gaon) came from Vilnius and had a profound effect on yeshiva teaching. There even seems to be a modern Lithuanian museum dedicated to the Vilna Gaon.

Now there are only about 4000 Jews left in Lithuania.

In March, 2007, through an Israeli news agency, I heard a story that the Jewish cemetery in Vilnius was being threatened. I wrote about this and received comments from both America and Lithuania.

I was never able to contact any Jewish organization in Vilnius to get a first hand account from a Jewish point of view. But, I finally was able to get what I consider a reliable second hand version.

I have been interested in Jewish genealogy since around 2003, and have written extensively about my own experiences discovering my Latvian Jewish roots. It finally occurred to me that Jewish Genealogical organizations often are very up to date on the state of Jewish cemeteries and synagogues in the regions where they are focused on. So I contacted the Litvak Special Interest Group of the Jewishgen.org website.

The person I talked to from this organization was very familiar with the issue. He had talked with the head of the Jewish community in Vilnius and that gentleman agreed with what I have heard from non-Jewish Lithuanian sources: There is no old Jewish cemetery in Vilnius because it was destroyed by the Soviets. In essence this (if I have found the right photos):

(The old cemetery)

Was turned into this:

(the ugly Soviet era Sports Palace in Vilnius).

I want to emphasize that I have not been able to confirm this directly with Jews in Lithuania. My original Israeli source is generally accurate, but I also have some faith that the person from the Jewish genealogical organization would be up on this issue.

If anyone has further information, please let me know. I do my best to keep everything I post accurate.

For those who want to know why this is of importance, please see my diary on my own geneaology and note the quote from a friend: "Destroy someone's Heritage and you can do whatever you want with them."

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