Prime Minister: Holocaust victims were a wealth of talent, wisdom and dreams that were not allowed to flourish

On 27 January, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the victims of the genocide of Jews during the Second World War are honoured. Among the millions of people killed during this period were nearly 200,000 Lithuanian Jews.

“So much talent, wisdom, knowledge, dreams and goals were laid to rest in mass graves across Lithuania. These are lives brutally cut short that should have continued, and unfulfilled potential that would have made the Lithuania of today even greater. The thousands of murdered Lithuanian Jews considered Lithuania their only home, they were our fellow citizens and neighbours, therefore it is essential that we find the humility to remember and honour these victims, and the determination and will to stand up to any manifestations of hatred when we face them today. No shadow of intolerance must darken the bright Lithuania, which has been built over centuries and continues to be built by generations of people of different cultures, nationalities and religions. May the sons and daughters of Lithuania – the saviours of Jews, the Righteous Among the Nations, who did not suppress the voice of their conscience in the face of an extraordinary tragedy – be an example to us,” said Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė.

According to the data of the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania, about 208,000 Jews lived in Lithuania before the beginning of the Holocaust.