The opening of the exhibition „If I Forget Thee...“, dedicated to the International Holocaust Memorial Day, took place at the Centre of Tolerance of Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum, on the 26th of January, 2009. This exhibition is devoted to the memory of Butrimony‘s Jewish Community and is based on Riva‘s Lozansky-Bogomolnaya remembrance and collected photos. Dalija Epšteinaitė, quondam longevous museum employee, is the author of this exhibition.
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The audience was greeted by Mr. Markas Zingeris, the Director of Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum. Dalija Epšteinaitė presented the main aspects of this exhibition and told about the tragic fate of the Butrymony‘s Jews. The doom of the Jews of this little town is a particular microcosm and a mirror of the war crimes, commited by nazis in their seixed territories. Only a few people from Butrimonys Jewish Community escaped the Holokaust. Famous Lithuanian scollar and the culutral activist, Mr. Leonidas Donskis, is the Butrimonys survivor‘s son. Mr. Donskis also shared his thoughts with the audience during this event. |
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Diplomats, residing in Lithuania, payed a lot of interest to the opening of the exhibition „If I Forget Thee...“. Together with respecatble member‘s of Lithuanian Jewish Community – Mr. Simonas Alperavičius and Ms. Maša Grodnikienė, and the historians of Lithuania – Dr. Arūnas Bubnys, the Director of the Genocide and Resistance Research department of the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania, who contributed to the historian research of this project, respectable foreighn diplomats attended the event:
The Ambassador of the United States of Ameria, Mr. John Albert Cloud, the Ambassador of United Kingdom, Mr. Simon Butt, the Ambassador of Ireland, Mr. Donal Denham, the Ambassador of the Respublic of Bulgaria, Mr. Ivan Dantchev, the Ambassador of Respublic of Hungary, Mr. Peter Noszko-Horvath, the Ambassador of Austria, Ms. Andrea Wicke, the Apostolic Nuncio, Peter Stephan Zurbrigger, the Director of the French Cultural Centre, Mr. Pascal Hanse and other respectable guests.
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Photographer P. Račiūnas |
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