On 17-18 July, an international scientific conference was held at the Kaunas IX Fort Museum.
The two-day international conference “80 years after the destruction of the Kaunas ghetto – what do we remember, what have we learned?” was held at the Kaunas IX Fort Museum. Opening the conference, Marius Pečiulis, Director of the Kaunas IX Fort Museum, explained one of the main goals that motivated the organization of this conference – studying the history of the Kaunas ghetto and Kaunas IX Fort. At the beginning of the event, welcoming speeches were delivered by diplomats Erez Golan (Embassy of Israel) and Anja Luther (Embassy of Germany), and by Gercas Žakas, the Chairman of the Kaunas Jewish Community.
The two-day conference featured presentations by historians and lecturers from Lithuania, Israel, the United States, Poland, Germany, and Ukraine. At the end of the conference’s second day, the organisers invited the lecturers and guests to an excursion to Vilijampolė – the former ghetto area. Later, the exhibition “Kaunas Ghetto: Reality and Memory” at the Kaunas historical presidential premises. The Kaunas IX Fort Museum organised the conference with the Secretariat of the International Commission, the Israeli and German Embassies in Lithuania, and the Jewish Community of Kaunas.
The conference programme is available here.
Photos by Andrius Fioklinas:
