#vilne

Jewish leaders in the Lithuanian capital are indefinitely closing the city’s sole synagogue and community center following threats sparked by an emotional debate over the country’s World War II-era history.

Community leader Faina Kukliansky told The Associated Press on Wednesday [August 7, 2019] that the community has been receiving threatening calls and letters lately.

“There is an atmosphere of tension and incitement,” Kukliansky said.

The closures come after the Vilnius municipality decided to remove a memorial plaque for a Lithuanian general killed by the Soviets and rename a street originally named after a World War II-era diplomat.

Both wartime figures are controversial, praised by some as national heroes but condemned by others as possible collaborators with Nazi occupiers. A right-wing rally is scheduled later in Vilnius on Wednesday to protest the municipality’s moves.

The dispute mirrors similar disputes across Central and Eastern Europe, where nations that lost their independence to the Soviet Union are today celebrating those who fought the Soviets as they assert their renewed national sovereignty. In some cases, those national freedom fighters had aligned with Nazi Germany against the Soviets during the war, thus becoming complicit in the destruction of Jewish communities.

The result is what Jewish scholars and communities see as a form of Holocaust revisionism.

A police spokesman, Ramunas Matonis, told the AP that no investigation has been opened into the threats because police have not received any formal request from the Jewish community.

Lithuania was traditionally tolerant of its large and influential Jewish community. Tens of thousands of Jews lived in the capital city’s Jewish quarter at the start of the Second World War, and their numbers swelled as many fled Poland after the Nazi invasion.

But Nazi persecution eventually devastated the community, with over 90 percent of all Jews killed.

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Vilne was once known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania. Now its only remaining synagogue is closed indefinitely for safety. 

“Quiet, quiet, let’s be silent, Graves are growing here. They were planted by the enemies, See their bloom appear. All the roads lead to Ponar now, There are no roads back. Papa too has vanished somewhere And with him our luck.”

The Spellbound Patch.

There is a crystal palace in Somewhere Land spellbound years ago by evil witch. One who will find a straight and proper path (planes are prohibited and specific air surrounding the palace makes flying impossible!) will claim the palace. But beware – there are three cottages in the path one must visit and say proper words to continue the journey.

Four walls, a table and a bench, T’was here my childhood years were spent; And here I dreamed my dreams alone, My song of youth, my wild oats sown, I long for home. I hear the soulful singing sounds of night. The wind like a mother holds me tight. Oh, the longing for the charm once known Fond in a mother’s humble home. It may be brick or made of stone, It may be straw or built of loam, I long for home.

With life carefree, The hours flee, I stand aside and think; Man has, I’m sure, His place, his fare, His warm bed, nothing more. My home is marred for me. My home is barred for me, I wander all about And I must do without. If I now only had my humble home.