Paneriai Memorial to host ceremony for Holocaust victims

LRT reported that a ceremony honouring the victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania will be held at the Paneriai Memorial on Wednesday, marking 85 years since the genocide of Jews in Lithuania began.

September 23 is observed in Lithuania as the Day of Remembrance of the Genocide of the Jews of Lithuania. The date is linked to the liquidation of the Vilnius Ghetto, which was completely destroyed on September 23, 1943.

The Jewish community existed in Lithuania for almost seven decades and was an integral part of the country’s development, culture, science and public life. During the interwar period, it had equal rights, while Jewish schools, cultural and public organisations and a press operated in the country.

The genocide of Jews in Lithuania began in 1941 after Nazi Germany occupied the country. According to research by the International Commission, around 200,000 of the approximately 220,000 Jews living in the territory of present-day Lithuania before the war were killed during the Holocaust.

Most of Lithuania’s Jews were murdered in Paneriai near Vilnius, in Šiauliai and in the Alytus region.