On November 16, an exhibition dedicated to the Romanian rescuers of Jews was opened and the movie “Sisters” was screened at the Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. The event, which took place on the International Day of Tolerance, was organized in cooperation with the Romanian Embassy in Lithuania.

A number of diplomats, including the ambassador of Israel, Amir Maimon, the ambassador of Ireland, David Noonan, the ambassador of Georgia, Khatuna Salukvadze, the ambassador of Moldova, Valeriu Frija, the chair of the Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) Community, Faina Kukliansky, and other guests attended the event. There were plenty of young faces as well, since students of Naujamiesčio school, Simono Daukanto and Užupio gymnasiums came to learn about the Righteous among the Nations in Romania and Lithuania.

The first to address the audience was Markas Zingeris, the Director of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum.

“The dramatic events of the Romanian history and the fate of the Romanian Jews during the Second World War are well known to the Holocaust historians worldwide. However, not many people are aware that at the same time some Romanians were saving their Jewish neighbours. From Paris to Iași in Romania, from Iași in Romania to Kaunas in Lithuania – heroes, who rescued Jews while risking their own lives and the welfare of their families, can be found everywhere. This exhibition is yet another proof of how many heroic people there were in Europe“, Zingeris said.

Another speech was made by Dan Adrian Balanescu, the ambassador of Romania in Lithuania. According to the ambassador, anyone who will have a look at the exhibition will be convinced that the rescuers of the Jews were simple people. D. A. Balanescu also presented the priorities of the Romania‘s chairmanship over the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and gladly shared that the Alliance agreed on the working definition of anti-Semitism during its plenary sitting in Bucharest.

Meanwhile Dr. Ana Barbulescu, the chief researcher of the Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania, spoke of heroism and encountering the painful past.

“I belong to the generation which didn‘t study at school about what happened to the Jews during the Holocaust. The institute in which I am working is trying to change that. But who is a hero? I do not have a clear answer. However, I think that the condition for being a hero is to incorporate the other into one‘s happiness. Every one of us can be a hero if we have the courage to react“, Dr. Barbulescu said.

The second part of the event was dedicated to screening of the movie “Sisters“. It was introduced to the audience by Ingrida Vilkienė, the Educational Programs Coordinator of the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, and Danutė Selčinskaja, the head of the Righteous Gentiles and Commemoration Department of the museum and one of the authors of the movie. Both of them spoke of the option to choose.

The movie tells the story of intertwined destinies of two families – Jewish and Lithuanian, Pomerancai (Pomerantz) and Petrauskai, and shows original scenes from the interwar Kaunas and its musical life. Although this is not the first Lithuanian documentary about the Righteous among the Nations, the curious story of “Sisters“ touched the hearts of everyone in the audience.