The chairperson of the Lithuanian Jewish (Lithuanian) community (LŽB), lawyer F. Kukliansky visited Ukmerge. She came here to convey the hope of the Lithuanian Jewish community that the Krikštaponis monument will be removed.
The monument to the victims of the Holocaust desecrated by vandals has not been repaired in Pivonia for several months / photo of the Jewish community of Ukmergė.
First of all, the chairman of the LŽB and the chairman of the Jewish community of Ukmergė, Artūras Taicas, met with the new mayor of Ukmergė, Darius Varna, who was elected a few months ago. Until 1941, Jews were the largest ethnic community in this city. Unfortunately, during the Second World War, the Nazis and their local helpers imprisoned thousands of Jews in the ghetto, and soon killed them, but their cultural heritage can be seen in almost every corner and building of the old town of Ukmergė.
“I came to offer flexible cooperation – we would like to participate in city celebrations, invite Ukmergė to join international projects coordinated by our community in Lithuania. This would give the city the opportunity to be more visible in Europe, to present and be proud of its heritage”, said F. Kukliansky as one of the objectives of the visit.
Monument to the Jewish shooter
However, the most important issue that brought the chairwoman of the LŽB to Ukmerga has been the cause of many discussions in Lithuania and far beyond the borders of the partisan Juozas Krikštaponiis, who was one of the initiators of the massacre of Jews in Belarus. In 2021, the Government approached the municipality of Ukmergė district regarding this monument, but the leaders at that time lacked the political will to resolve this issue.
“We sincerely believed that the newly elected mayor would look differently at the legacy he received from his predecessor and would have at least some determination to remove the Krikštaponis monument from the city center. However, during the aforementioned meeting, we realized that this issue will not be resolved in the near future”, the lawyer regrets.
According to the chairman of the LŽB, the actions of J. Krikštaponis are a crime – this is proven by the certificates submitted by the Genocide and Resistance Center of the Lithuanian population. They are documents issued by a state institution, which should be equated to establishing a legal fact, so there can be no doubts about the assessment of this person’s actions. If anyone wants to deny this, they should apply for the actions of Mr. Krikštaponis to the prosecutor’s office, which has the right to file a case for the purpose of rehabilitation of a dead person. Until then, it is immoral to heroize and worship the man responsible for the murder of thousands of Jews.
The motivation, stating that Mr. Krikštaponis fought against the occupiers in the forests, is not acceptable, because a good work does not atone for the previously carried out peaceful killings of Jews, which no one forced to do.
“If the Lithuanian society thinks that the person who shot people is worthy of a monument, then I suggest that we turn to other convicted murderers and honor them as well,” the lawyer is convinced.
The cemetery of Holocaust victims is being systematically destroyed / photo of the Jewish community of Ukmergė.
Graves vandalized by vandals
Another extremely important issue that brought LŽB chairman F. Kukliansky to Ukmerga is the place of the Jewish massacre and the graves in Pivonia. Having gone to the monument in memory of the Holocaust victims together with A. Taic, she was shocked – the monument was abandoned, destroyed by vandals – defaced with the letter Z. The environment is littered, and the graves have been run over by four-wheel tracks.
“It is hard to believe that the police, with modern means of investigating crimes, cannot find out the owners of the four-wheelers that constantly destroy the eternal resting place of the murdered Jews. After all, there really aren’t many such vehicles – you can check the tire pattern. On the other hand, it is possible to check the location of the phones and thus find out their owners. There are more than one and not two ways, so the idea that this is being deliberately avoided is shocking,” thought F. Kukliansky.
11 thousand Jews were killed in Pivonia, or rather 11,000 Lithuanian citizens of Jewish origin. Their commemoration is pathetic, the monument looks very disrespectful. On behalf of the whole community, the chairperson of the LŽB once again drew the attention of the municipal leaders to the fact that it is necessary to properly commemorate the victims. Especially since the place of the Jewish massacre and the cemetery are state-protected territory.
A sign was arbitrarily attached to the memorial to the victims of the Holocaust / photo of the Jewish community of Ukmergė.
The chairmen of the Jewish communities were also surprised by the initiative of the Lithuanian Jewish Cultural Heritage Road to arbitrarily attach a sign to the monument to the victims of the Holocaust without any coordination or permission. This is arbitrariness, which was also reviewed by the Ukmergė authorities.
“I understand that the new mayor of Ukmergė, D. Varnas, cannot be held responsible for the actions of his predecessor, he simply received such a legacy. However, the way he will continue to behave will show the mayor’s moral values and attitude towards the duties defined in legal acts”, said the chairwoman of the LŽB.
“I hope that we will be able to solve the issues that are extremely important to the Jewish communities of Lithuania and Ukmergė and that we will cooperate successfully in the future,” F. Kukliansky looks to the future with hope.
