חוקרים באוניברסיטת וילנה יחד עם חוקרים ממוזיאון הגאון בווילנה פרסמו מפה מקוונת כוללת ובה כל אתרי הרצח בליטא. המפה שהותוותה בתמיכת משרד ראש הממשלה הליטאי מציינת בין השאר את דרכי הגישה לבורות הרצח ואת מבצעי הרצח. עולה בבירור כדברי החוקרים כי רצח יהודי ליטא בוצע בשיתוף פעולה מלא של שכניהם הליטאים
מתוך 'אודות הפרוייקט'
מתוך 'אודות הפרוייקט'
In 2010 we
initiated this project because
we saw the need to collect, organize and present information about the mass
murder of Jews in Lithuania in a single venue.
Previously, this information was either uncollected, divided between
different publications and archives or remained unpublished. The Holocaust Atlas
present information on a map with precise geographical coordinates and contain
historical facts about each site along with citations to aid further research.
It also includes information about monuments at massacre sites.
After having learned of the atlas, we hope
that people will see that Jews were murdered in their own neighbourhood and not
in a distant land. We hope and expect that this will serve to help open the door
for discussion, cooperation, understanding and, most importantly, for
comprehending what happened. After all, during the Holocaust, entirely innocent
people were murdered. Citizens of Lithuania, neighbours, co-workers and even
friends contributed to their deaths... Only by keeping the memory of the past
alive, including the most horrible events, can we encourage tolerance, mutual
understanding and respect, steering away from intolerance and xenophobia and
helping to cultivate the values of freedom, tolerance, respect for the
individual, human rights and cultural diversity. Our hope and desire is to
preserve living historical memory and to make it more accessible and
comprehensible.
Jews initially settled and spread throughout
ethnic Lithuanian territory between the second half of the 16th century and the
beginning of the 17th century. After
several centuries had passed, Jews had become inhabitants of almost every
Lithuanian village (shtetl)—their culture, religion, traditions
and Yiddish language had become part of Lithuanian daily life. Around 240,000
Jews lived in Lithuania between the two world wars. During World War II they
lost about 94 percent of their population, depriving the country of many of its
citizens. Currently, around 4,500 Jews live in Lithuania and the Litvak culture
and Lithuanian Jews face extinction, their experience and their history is
dying.
We believe that this project will make an
important contribution toward revealing the development of the Holocaust in
Lithuania. It will contribute to the objective elucidation and assessment of
these events and provide a principled, Western understanding of what took place.
This project is an important educational work by us, the Vilna Gaon State Jewish
Museum.
Project workers
Milda Jakulytė-Vasil, project coordinator:
Master of History and of Heritage Protection at Vilnius University, researcher
of non christian communities in Lithuania
Sebastian Pammer, project assistant: 2010/11
Gedenkdiener at the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum
Lukas Dünser: 2009/10 Gedenkdiener at the
Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, currently studying History and Law at the
University of Vienna
רשומות
