Seimas, commemorating the Memorial Day of the Genocide of the Jews of Lithuania and the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania, expressing sincere respect to the victims of the Holocaust, intends to adopt a dedicated resolution on Thursday. Its project was registered by Seimas member Emanuelis Zingeris.
It is proposed to the Seimas to call on the country's municipalities to memorialize all the places of mass killings of Jews, to organize the old Jewish cemeteries, to install appropriate references to them and information boards, to "remove monuments to persons about whom there is sufficient documented material that they personally participated in the Holocaust (regardless of their merits and activities opposing the Soviet occupation)".
The Seimas intends to emphasize that it is necessary to continue the search for the identity of the Jews who died during the Holocaust, so that the places of the massacres can be commemorated with the names and surnames of the victims.
The parliamentarians invite the country's municipalities to name city streets, squares and schools after the Righteous Among the Nations.
Vilnius city municipality is proposed to name the city's public space after Čiunė Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat who 81 years ago issued the so-called Japanese transit visas to Jews fleeing the adversities of the war and thereby saved more than 6000 lives.
Vilnius city municipality calls for the implementation of a memorial project giving meaning to the efforts of the Righteous Among the Nations.
The Vilnius Gaon Museum of Jewish History is proposed to establish a supervisory board for the Paneriai Memorial, which would take care of establishing a permanent exhibition on the subject of the Holocaust.
It is proposed in the draft resolution Ministry of Culture together with the Vilniaus Gaon Museum of Jewish History and in cooperation with Poland The Ministry of Culture and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews to create a memorial exhibition for the museum of the Stutthof concentration camp dedicated to the memory of the Jews of the Kaunas Jewish ghetto and its surroundings who were deported and killed by the Nazis.
It is also proposed to the Ministry of Culture, together with the Vilnius Gaon Museum of Jewish History and in cooperation with the Estonian Ministry of Culture and the Tallinn Jewish Museum, to create a memorial exhibition for the Kloog concentration camp museum dedicated to the memory of the Jews of the Vilnius Jewish ghetto and its surroundings who were deported and murdered by the Nazis.
The Seimas intends to appeal to Lithuanian residents with a request to send copies of archival photos related to Jews who lived in the neighborhood to the Vilnius Gaon Jewish History Museum, which could prepare a permanent exhibition about the history of Lithuanian Jewish life.
The Ministry of the Interior is requested to consider the possibility of restoring the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania to all persons and their descendants who had the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania before 1940. June 15.
The draft resolution also talks about the content of the curriculum.
The Seimas, (…..) “opposes the inclusion in educational programs of participants of the anti-Soviet resistance, who collaborated with the Nazi occupation regime and even participated in the genocide of fellow Jews; obliges the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports to revise the content of educational programs by expanding the teaching of Jewish culture and the history of the Holocaust".
The Seimas intends to call for visits to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum during teacher seminars in Jerusalem and other programs to seek a more unified understanding of history between Lithuanians and Jews, both in terms of the contribution of Lithuanian Jews to Lithuanian heritage, and in understanding the scale of the Holocaust in Lithuania carried out by the Nazis and their local collaborators.
The author of the draft resolution calls on the Institute of Lithuanian History, the Genocide and Resistance Research Center of the Lithuanian Population and the community of historians to make efforts to open the pages of the history of the life of Lithuanian Jews unknown to the public.
"Effective means of preventing and combating anti-Semitism are more active education and awareness-raising activities about the Holocaust, ensuring the security of Jewish communities and gathering places, and regular monitoring of hate crimes against Jews," the draft document says.
It is proposed to the Seimas to oblige the Government to implement the Washington principles signed in 1998 regarding art values confiscated by the Nazis and to draft a law on the restitution of works of art stolen by the Nazis, as well as to create a private property restitution and/or compensation mechanism for those persons who, regardless of their citizenship, could prove or regain the Lithuanian citizenship they had only after 2001 or for those who never regained their citizenship.
The Seimas intends to call on the Government to raise the issue in the international community regarding the return to Lithuania of Judaic values stolen from Lithuania over the centuries.
It is planned to ask the Lithuanian Prosecutor's Office to start an international investigation into the confiscation of the Jewish People's Bank.
The draft resolution refers to the successful archaeological research of the complex of the Vilnius Great Synagogue (Vokeiečių St. 13A, Vilnius), during which the Bima was discovered - an important central part of the synagogue, from which the Torah is read and services are conducted.
"The former Vilnius Great Synagogue, which was one of the largest Jewish religious institutions in Eastern Europe, is an important cultural heritage value, famous as an important Jewish spiritual and educational center, which gave Vilnius the North Jerusalem name," the draft document says.
With this document, the Government, Vilnius City Municipality, Lithuanian and foreign Jewish communities are invited to start discussions not only about the proper inheritance of the Vilnius Great Synagogue, but also about its possible reconstruction.
The draft resolution requests the Government to increase funding for the Heritage Management program, which would allow more funds to be allocated to the management of Lithuanian Jewish heritage.
Jadvyga Bieliavska (ELTA)
Photo: Valdas Kopūstas, BNS 
Photo: Valdas Kopūstas, BNS 
Photo: Valdas Kopūstas, BNS 
Photo: Vilnius Old Town Renewal Agency 
Archaeologist Jon Seligman at the research site of the Great Vilnius Synagogue. Photo by Vaidotas Beniushis (BNS). 
Until now, parts of the interior of the famous synagogue remain hidden deep underground 
