On 15 July, events commemorating the liquidation of the Šiauliai ghetto 80 years ago took place in Šiauliai.
The commemoration began at the intersection of Ežero and Trakų streets, at the monument commemorating the gates of the Šiauliai ghetto. The participants laid remembrance little stones and candles at the memorial stone. Faina Kukliansky, Chair of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, reminded the audience that the Šiauliai ghetto was liquidated in 1944, when the Soviet army was already in Vilnius, several hundred kilometres away. The Šiauliai railway station was ruined in bomb attacks, so when the Nazis liquidated the Šiauliai ghetto, the ghetto prisoners were driven on foot to Radviliškis, from where they were transported by train to the concentration camps of Stutthof and Dachau.
Later, the commemoration event moved to the Square for the Righteous Among the Nations, where the Mayor of Šiauliai, Artūras Visockas, reminded the audience of the heroic acts of the Jewish rescuers in the Holocaust.
From the Square dedicated to the Jewish rescuers, the participants moved to the Chaim Frenkel Villa, where the main commemoration event took place. Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, who is originally from Šiauliai, addressed the audience, recalling the liquidation of the Šiauliai ghetto and the tragic fate of many of the ghetto prisoners. According to the Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, “The commemoration is a good opportunity for each of us to remember that conscience has no statute of limitations.” Diplomats from Israel, Germany, the Netherlands, and France attended the commemoration. Teachers from the Tolerance Education Centres in Radviliškis, Marijampolė, and Kalvarija, as well as representatives from the Secretariat of the International Commission, came to commemorate the liquidation of the Šiauliai Ghetto and to honor the victims.
The Jewish Community of Lithuania organised the event in cooperation with the Jewish communities of Šiauliai County and Šiauliai Region to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liquidation of the Šiauliai ghetto.
