Знакi габрэйскай гiсторьii у Вiльнi: рэпрэзентацьii мiнулага

ENThe aim of the article is to study the contemporary meanings of Jewish Vilnia, to analyze the signs of Jewish past in the city after the Holocaust and its emotional value, including the meanings attached to those signs as well as the criteria by which such places are chosen. This is a provocative topic, because we talk about the phenomenon of a unique town in Jewish tradition, which has a mystical aura of the Lithuanian Jerusalem. However, it was very difficult even for the intellectuals of the interwar Lithuania to see its uniqueness or special features compared to other European towns important for Jewish religious, cultural or political life. It is even more complicated to represent a diverse past of the distinguished community. In today’s Vilnius a lot of attention is paid to places related to the events of the Second World War. The tendency of ‘taking’ events from other towns and concentrating them in Vilnia is observed. Dealing with various phenomena of cultural and political life of Vilnia Jewry, we face the problem of ‘shifting’ of notions, i.e., when only one part of a phenomenon, which is viewed as worthy of attention, is directly connected to the town, while other, even more important, parts have been developed in other then Vilnia social and cultural settings.