We invite you to participate in Jewish memorial day in Birzai-Birzh. A ceremony to honor savers of jews, memorial procession to Pakamponys and unveiling of a monument for victims of Holocaust.
We would like to inform you that a memorial event of Birzai (Birzh in Yiddish ) victims of the Holocaust, will take place on Sunday, 16th of June 2019.
This ceremony will be preceded by a tree planting ceremony at the site of the old Jewish Ghetto, to honor those people from the Birzai region who risked their lives to save our Jewish citizens from the most terrible tragedy of the XX century, the Holocaust.
After the tree planting ceremony, there will be a memorial procession from the site of the former Jewish Ghetto to Pakamponys forest, where the murder of Holocaust Birzai victims took place.
On the 8-8-1941 about 2400 people were shot to death in Pakamponys, 900 were children.
The initiators of the Birzai-Birzh project, Abel and Glenda Levitt, Kfar Sava, Israel, the leader of the project, Ben Rabinowitz, Cape Town, South Africa, architect, Dr. Joseph Rabie, Paris, France and our local partners will be attending the ceremony together with about 50 participants of the tour, whose roots are in Birzai and many of whom have family who lie in the mass grave, murdered by Nazis and local collaborators.
If you would like to get more information about the event,
please call tel. +37067112400 or write via e-mail info@birzaijewish.lt
PROGRAMME OF THE EVENT
16 of June 2019
At 12.30 – the ceremony of honor of Jewish savers
Planting of memorial trees for the memory of Jewish savers in the territory of former Biržai Jewish Quarter (reference address – Žemaitės str. 22, Biržai)
At 13.00 – memorial procession
Memorial procession on foot from the former territory of Biržai Jewish Ghetto (reference address – Žemaitės str. 22, Biržai) to the memorial of Holocaust victims in Pakamponys forest.
At 14.30 – unveiling ceremony of the memorial for victims of the Holocaust.
Pakamponys forest, Paežeriai village, Parovėja sub-district, Biržai district.
Organizers: Birzai Jewish Culture and History Society, Birzai District Municipality, Birzai District Museum ‘Sėla’.
Partners: Israel Embassy in Lithuania, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, International Commission for the Evaluation of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania