“Today we honor the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and express our determination to contribute to the efforts of the democratic world to prevent such a tragedy from happening again,” said the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Darius Skusevičius.
Lithuania’s Foreign Vice-Minister also reminded about those Lithuanians, who had the courage to fulfill their civic duty and save Jews during the Holocaust. The producer of documentary series about the Righteous among the Nations Dominykas Kubilius presented his project.
The Deputy Chair of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Professor Leonidas Melnikas and Professor Vytautas Landsbergis gave speeches at the event that brought together representatives from the Lithuanian Jewish Community, former prisoners of Vilnius and Kaunas ghettos, foreign diplomats who reside in Lithuania, and members of various cultural organizations.
The graphic exhibition “Journey” by the artist Taibė Chait was also opened on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The author took part in the opening ceremony. In her works of art, destinies of the Lithuanian and Jewish people are harmoniously intertwined. She calls herself a Lithuanian artist with a Jewish soul. According to T. Chait, Lithuania’s history is inseparable from the history of the nations living in this country.
In 2005, the General Assembly decided that the United Nations will designate 27 January as an annual International Day of Commemoration to honor the victims of the Holocaust.
