Friday,
October 5
Hidden away on a hillside lane in the
city, the Holocaust Museum is a small and quiet walk through the journey
Lithuania’s Jewish community took from its height as “The Jerusalem of the North”
to almost total destruction. Vilnius, in
particular, was a center of Jewish culture, the Yiddish language, scholarship
and religious activity; prior to World War I, its Jews numbered 100,000 of the
city’s total population of 240,000. The museum chronicles deportations,
confinement to ghettos in Vilnius and other cities, removal to the Paneriai
killing site, and the ultimate liquidation of the ghettos. The museum placed considerable emphasis on
the struggle to maintain health, education, faith, language, welfare, morale
and culturally important practices within the confines and repression of the
ghettos. The fact that, in many cases, the
Jews’ fates were sealed and their lives ended at the hands of their fellow
Lithuanians who collaborated with the Nazis was not glossed over; this reality cannot
be easy for present-day Lithuanians to ponder…
From the museum, we drove out of town to
Paneriai, where an estimated 100,000 were executed and buried in the huge pits
into which they fell when shot. Several
of the pits are visible, their bases now outlined with concrete and marked with
memorial inscriptions. There is a small
museum on site where we found the video interviews, filmed on site with
survivors and witnesses, to be moving beyond words. As we left, a delegation bearing Israeli flags,
flowers, and wreaths arrived for a
ceremony at one of the monuments at the site.
Here, as at Lopuchowo near Bialystok, the peaceful forest setting belies
the horror that took place under the tall pines.
A bit farther out of Vilnius is the town
of Trakai, whose position between two lakes makes it a popular summertime
destination. The town’s year ‘round appeal
for many visitors – ourselves among them – extends far beyond aquatic
recreation. Its massive 15th-century
red brick castle has been beautifully restored and its setting, on an island in
Lake Galve, is the definition of picture perfect. The halls and galleries of the castle contain
a variety of historical, archeological and art exhibits, but the complex of
towers, moat, courtyards and bridges would be enough of a draw on its own. Outside the castle, ever-hopeful captains of
small craft tried to entice sightseers into taking cruises on the lake; despite
assurances that blankets were available, they had few takers on this chilly
day.
We did enjoy a few short intervals of
sunshine today, allowing the fall foliage to really shine, but for the most
part, clouds ruled the day. Again.
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