Whoever saves one life ... : the efforts to save Jews in Lithuania between 1941 and 1944

• Kuodytė, Dalia, sudarymas [com]
• Stankevičius, Rimantas, sudarymas [com]

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: 20 amžius; Žydai; Holokaustas; Karas; The Lithuanian XX c. history; Jews; The Holocaust; War.

EN[...] The subject of rescuing Jews is not new in Lithuania, this is shown by the publications and institutions mentioned above that have covered the subject. Unfortunately, the information they give is rather perfunctory, since the situation, views, imperatives and motivation of Lithuanian society at the time has not been studied much. Realising that this is an area for future investigation, we present authentic, unabridged letters from people who bore witness to these events and were participants in them. There are also articles written by emigre authors, Domas Jasaitis, Juozas Šalna (Liudvikas Šmulkštys) and others, first published in the Lithuanian emigre press. These are valuable, because as well as presenting facts we find a detailed analysis of the phenomenon in its context, without which it would be difficult to understand and make clear all the aspects under discussion. Furthermore, these publications were practically unknown to a wider circle of readers, and they are worth attention. This book consists of different parts, related to each other by theme, though they differ in their nature: articles from the emigre press, letters, reminiscences, statements, descriptions of rescues, and a separate chapter for testimonies and reminiscences by the rescued about their rescuers. We cannot say that the number of these testimonies is small because the Jews refused to testify; rather that this is the material found in Jasaitis' archive. Letters written by rescuers and witnesses constitute the greater part of the book. As has already been mentioned, with a few exceptions (for example, the text by Sofija Jasaitienė dated 1946, one of the first known on this theme), the letters were written mainly in the Seventies. In compiling the book, a territorial rather than a chronological approach was applied; therefore, the letters are classified by the region in which the event being described took place.In many cases it happens that in supplementing and making more exact the circumstances, the names of the same people are mentioned, and so some of these letters duplicate each other. At the same time, there are letters in which several different places in Lithuania are described. In such cases the most important and most accurate description was chosen, and on that basis the letter attributed to one place or another. Letters arranged in this order have no strict framework, they are not divided into sections, but appear to form a general story, which helps to create a common picture for the whole of Lithuania. This is a collection of translated letters, articles and documents, some of which have been published before in emigre newspapers or journals, and all of which were published in book form in Lithuanian in Vilnius in 2001. Explanatory footnotes have been added to the English edition to clarify issues for readers unfamiliar with Lithuanian history and culture, and to highlight the occasional discrepancies that are inevitable between different versions of the same events written by different people at different times. In order to remain faithful to the originals, names of people have been left as they first appeared, therefore creating a mixture of Lithuanian and English letters and endings. Each item has a short description, with the date and the place where it was written. In some cases it was not possible to establish the date or place of writing. Whether a document is the original, and the way it was written, is also indicated.In order to avoid duplication, only a portion of the 2001 Lithuanian edition is represented here. The texts themselves have been abridged to the minimum: the exact addresses of the authors and persons mentioned have been taken out, some personal messages that are not related to the book's subject or which repeat themselves have also been omitted.Controversial statements made by the authors of the letters have been left in, leaving space for the reader's own interpretation. Two lists are provided at the end of the book: a list of citizens of Lithuania who have been awarded the title of Righteous Gentile, and a list of the people who have been awarded the Cross for Saving People under Threat of Death, provided by the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. [...]. [Extract, p. 38-39]

• A Survivor named trauma: holocaust memory in Lithuania / Myra Sklarew. Albany : State University of New York Press, 2020. xv, 212 p.
• Democracy and Catholicism in twentieth-century Lithuania / Arūnas Streikus. Democracy, culture, Catholicism : voices from four continents. New York: Fordham university press, 2016. P. 17-28.