Advertisement
Published: August 14th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Kaunas, Lithuania: This is not the capital of Lithuania, nor a beautiful place or one with many attractions. I am here for sentimental reasons only. My grandfather was born here. My mother's father, who helped raise me and my brothers, and who was probably the best human being I ever knew.
Fortunately, when he was 2 years old, his family moved to the U.S. I say fortunately, because during World War 2, when he was a young man, Kaunas, also known as Kovno, was occupied by the Nazis, who, together with the Lithuanians, proceeded to kill almost the entire Jewish population. Kovno was once a major Jewish center, with about 1/4 of this city's pre-war population being Jewish. Fewer than 1 in 10 survived the war.
Today, we visited the Jewish ghetto, or what remains of it. Most of it was burned to the ground by the Germans before the war ended. Thousands were burned alive. Men, women, and children. Young and healthy, old and sick. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that they were Jews. An additional 10,000 were shot to death in a single day.
Anti-semitism has deep roots in this part of the world, and Lithuanians enthusiastically
killed their Jewish neighbors before, during, and after the Nazi occupation.
We also visited the Jewish cemetery, and one of the two remaining, functioning synagogues (before the war, there were at least 40). The cemetery was in a state of disrepair, and a loud group of teenagers was drinking and smoking as they walked through it. At least some of the graves had been intentionally desecrated, with the Star of David being crossed out.
It's hard to describe my emotions, but anger was probably the most prevalent, as I realized my family's lucky escape from this place, and the fact their own neighbors would have killed them as enthusiastically as the Nazis. I was also angered by the continuing disrespect, as exhibited by those teenagers, and the fact there are virtually no memorials or mention of the Jews anywhere to be found.
I have seen the same thing in other places with once thriving Jewish populations, in Poland, in Ukraine, but it was more personal for me here.
We really enjoyed our time in Riga and in Tallinn, but have found Kaunas to be a drab, grey, and depressing place. The buildings are dilapitated and unattractive, the streets have been
mostly deserted, and it rained all day. Perhaps well suited to my negative sentiments, and melancholy reflections on a tragic past.
Lithuania is now in the European Union, and there are new shopping centers, and new roads paid for with EU funds, like elsewhere in the Baltics. But these are superficial things. Have people hearts changed? Or do they cling to their old hatreds in this now ethnically homogenous corner of an increasingly diverse Europe and world? Or is hatred part of human nature? I wonder.
And, just when I was feeling quite pessimistic about human nature, we visited the Sugihara Museum, which restored my faith in human decency and the ability of one person to make a difference.
Sugihara was the Japanese consul in Kaunas during the start of the war, who issued thousands of exit visas to Polish and Lithuanian Jews, saving their lives from almost certain death. The embassy where he lived and worked has been turned into a museum. We met the director, who is one of Kaunas's few remaining Jews. He says there are about 400 left. I asked him about anti-semitism today. He said it was not too bad, and then went on to
describe several recent incidents in Lithuania. He said the Holocaust as a topic was off limits for Lithuanians. Obviously, they haven't come to terms with their complicity with the Nazi genocide. In fact, if you were to judge by the memorials, you'd know about the Soviet occupation, but would never know there was a Nazi period.
I leave this place feeling fortunate that my family left when they did, and tremendous sorrow for those who were not so lucky.
About the Kovno Ghetto:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaunas_Ghetto
About Sugihara:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiune_Sugihara
Update: After I sent this e-mail out, I got a reply from Uncle Moishe, my grandfather's younger brother. There was family of ours that stayed in Kaunas. After the war, the relatives in the U.S. got a letter from a friend detailing their fate. They were murdered by their Lithuanian neighbors for their few possessions.
Uncle Moishe also said that, after the Nazis fled and the Soviets took over Lithuania, they didn't want to punish too many people who killed Jews, for fear of angering the population.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.267s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0595s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb