Memorial Plaque Dedication - July 2012
A larger version of all the photos can be found by clicking on the photos.
On July 13, 2012 a memorial plaque remembering Zagare’s Jewish community that had existed for centuries, and its final destruction in October 1941, was unveiled in Zagare’s central square. It is memorable for several reasons, but perhaps principally because it may be the only such memorial in Lithuania that is located right in the center of a town. The dedication was attended by about 100 people including Zagare descendants from Israel, Australia, the United States, and Great Britain.
But before presenting the actual dedication ceremony a little history of how this all came about may be in order. In 1999 Joy Hall, the founder of the NGO LithuaniaLink, which focused on improving conditions in present day Zagare, arranged for a young Lithuanian in his early twenties, Valdas Balciunas, to spend a couple of weeks in Britain on an educational exchange mission. While staying at Joy’s house in Cumbria Joy gave him Rose Zwi’s Book, “Last Walk in Naryshkin Park”, to read. The book is about Rose’s family roots in Zagare and her trips to Lithuania in search of this history.
As a child Valdas knew very little about the history of Jewish Zagare although he has said that he wandered freely amongst the tombstones in the old Jewish cemeteries, not really knowing what they were or with whom they were associated, but always wondering about them. But with his reading of “Last Walk” this old world began to be revealed. Valdas was very moved by the account of the massacre of the Jews of Zagare in October 1941, and especially the role that Lithuanians played in this event. He wrote to Rose expressing his feelings and Rose wrote back saying that this was the type of response, an acknowledgement of the past, that she had been looking for but never found.
For many years Valdas thought about what kind of gesture could be made to memorialize the Jews of Zagare. In October 2010 on one of Joy’s visits to Lithuania she and Valdas talked all night about how the Jews of Zagare could be remembered. Valdas came up with the idea that a memorial plaque right in the center of town would be a fitting memorial. A number of interested people, descendants of the Jews of Zagare from around the world, proceeded to work alongside Valdas on this project that culminated in the dedication in July 2012.
Several of the Zagare descendants attended the ceremony. They came from Australia (Rose Zwi and Rod Freedman), Great Britain (Joy Hall, Raymond Woolfson and his cousin Hazel Woolfson), Israel (Sara Manobla), and the United States (Roger Cohen and Cliff Marks).
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Above
left to right:
Boris Steinas, leader of Siauliai Jewish Community, his brother, and Simon Gurevichius, Director of the Jewish Community of Lithuania. |
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| Joy Hall, Cliff
Marks, Rose Zwi |
L-R: Gill and Raymond Woolfson, |
The ceremony was opened by Zagare’s Seniune (local
administrator) Alvydas Urbonas. Sara Manobla served as master
of Ceremonies. The Speakers included Liat Wexelman (deputy
chief of mission at the Israeli Embassy to Latvia and
Lithuania), Joy Hall, Cliff Marks, Valdas Balciunas, Vidmantas
Mendelsonas (son of Zagare’s last Jew, Isaac Mendelson),
Edmundas Tiesniesis (son of Miriam Schneider of Zagare who was
saved in 1941 by local people), and Rose Zwi.
Click here to see the text of the speeches.
The plaque was unveiled by Rose and the English was read by Rod Freedman, the Lithuanian by Valdas, and the Yiddish by Yiddish scholar Dovid Katz (who had prepared the text in Yiddish). The wording of the Plaque in the three languages can be found here or here.
The ceremony ended with the saying of the Kaddish led by Dovid Katz.
Several of the descendants have produced accounts of the ceremony and surrounding events. Click here to see these accounts.
Introduction
History
Notable personalities
Memorial Plaque Dedication - July 2012
Righteous Among the Nations Award Ceremony
- March 2013
Žagarė Cemeteries
Former Jewish Buildings Today
Family Histories
General
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Copyright © 2009 Cliff Marks |