In the Tolerance Center opened more than ten years ago the Presidents viewed an exposition of the cultural heritage and contemporary art of Lithuanian Jews and got acquainted with educational activities of the Center - various educational programmes, conferences and cultural events revealing the values of historic truth, freedom of thought and human rights, as well as respect for other cultures and traditions.

Following the visit to the Tolerance Center, the Lithuanian and Israeli Presidents attended the ceremony of honoring the victims of the Holocaust at the Paneriai Memorial.

"We are standing on the land where the blood of thousands of innocent people was spilled. Most probably, the right thing to do would be to stand in silence, because it is hard to find the words that describe the evil of the Holocaust.

One hundred thousand people, mostly Jews, were mass murdered here during World War II. All of them had names, families, home, and occupation. They were our friends and neighbors who lived and worked in Lithuania and for Lithuania," President Dalia Grybauskaitė said.

She has noted that time will never fill the painful void that opened up in our hearts after we lost the hardworking and creative community who had built the Jerusalem of the North.

"Remembering the past, let's build our future. We must remember and honor those who perished. We must also remember those who in the face of the horrors of the Holocaust carried hope and light - the Righteous among the Nations who risking their lives saved hundreds of Jews. Eternal respect for them," the President emphasized.

More than 830 Lithuanians who rescued Jews have been recognized Righteous among the Nations.

The Israeli President recited Kaddish, the Jewish prayer, in memory of the dead.

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