Valstybinis Vilniaus Gaono Žydų Muziejus

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The Vilnius Gaon State Jewish Museum is located in the House of the Lithuanian Jewish Community

Valstybinis Vilniaus Gaono Žydų Muziejus ( VVGŽM , German  State Jewish Museum Gaon of Vilnius or Jewish Gaon-von-Vilnius Museum , Yiddish דער ווילנער גאון מלוכהשער יידישער מוזיי) is an institution that deals with the culture and tradition of the Lithuanian Jews ( Yiddish Litwaks ). It is based in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius , was founded in 1989 and runs several museums.

history

The first Jewish Museum in Vilnius was established in 1913 by a Society of Lovers of Jewish Antiquity ( Lithuanian Žydų senovės mėgėjų draugija ). Its existence was interrupted by the First World War. However, as early as 1919, the institution was revived by Salomon An-ski (1863–1920). After An-ski's death, the museum was named after him.

After the annexation of Vilnius by Poland in the same year, the Jewish Historical and Ethnographic Society ( Lithuanian Žydų istorijos ir etnografijos draugija Lietuvoje ) continued its work in the provisional capital Kaunas and founded a Jewish museum there in 1931. By the outbreak of the Second World War, the stock of the museum in Vilnius grew to around 3,000 art objects and 6,000 books, thousands of documents and photographs were also collected, as well as valuable documents. It existed until the invasion of Nazi troops in 1941. After the annexation of Lithuania in 1940 by the Soviet Union, the museum was subordinated to the People's Commissariat for Education, and in May 1941 to the Soviet-Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.

In September 1941 employees of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg began their work in Lithuania. It was a Nazi robbery organization for cultural goods of all kinds, especially books, certificates and documents. They looted the existing museums and transported the art treasures to Germany. Some Jews from Vilnius were able to hide at least some valuables in the ghetto at risk of death.

In the second half of 1944 a new Jewish Museum was founded in Vilnius, initially housed in the apartment of the museum director, the writer Schmerl (Szmerke) Kaczerginski. It became the spiritual center of the small community of Holocaust survivors, but had to close in 1949, as it was at that time that Stalinism decided to suppress Jewish culture. Stalin feared the influence of the two million Jews in his area and wanted to prevent the development of a Jewish identity in any case.

As part of perestroika , it was possible to re-establish the Jewish Museum at the end of the 1980s. The Holocaust exhibition was set up in the Green House and the building in Naugarduko gatvę 10/2 was completely renovated in 2001 by the architects Victoria Sideraitė Alon and Leonidas Merkinas (1948-2017) and adapted for exhibition and event purposes . The facility has been called the Gaon of Vilnius since 1997, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of his death.

Facilities

Green house
Center for Tolerance
Paneriai Memorial

The Vilnius Gaon State Jewish Museum consists of the following facilities:

  • The Holocaust exhibition ( Lithuanian Holokausto ekspozicija ) is located in the so-called Green House at Pamėnkalnio gatvė 12 ( ). The museum was opened in 1991 and focuses on the mass murders of the Jews of Lithuania, the Vilnius ghetto , the Ponary massacre and Lithuanian involvement, but also the rescue attempts during the Nazi occupation. In a malina , an underground hiding place, extracts from Yitskhok Rudashevski's diaries can be heard.World icon
  • The Center for Tolerance ( Lithuanian Tolerancijos centras ) with the Samuel Bak Museum in the center of Vilnius at Naugarduko gatvę 10/2 ( ), the former Jewish theater of Vilnius, opened in 2001. The theater and concert hall has been renovated. The Center for Tolerance also houses a permanent exhibition by the Lithuanian-Israeli painter Samuel Bak , which opened in autumn 2017.World icon
  • The museum in the Paneriai Memorial ( Lithuanian Panerių memorialas ), a memorial to the victims of the Ponary massacre . In the forest near Vilnius, in the town of Aukštieji Paneriai , between 1941 and 1944 over 100,000 people, mostly Jews , but also Russians , Poles and Lithuanians , were shot, buried, later exhumed and burned by German SD and SS troops .World icon
  • The Jacques Lipchitz Museum in Druskininkai ( Lithuanian Žako Lipšico memorialinis muziejus ), which showed lithographs by the Lithuanian artist, has been closed for renovation for some time.World icon
  • The building of the Jewish community of Lithuania at Pylimo gatvę 4 ( coordinates: 54 ° 41 ′ 1.7 ″  N , 25 ° 16 ′ 38.4 ″  E ) houses administrative and technical departments as well as a department commemorating people, the Jews have saved.World icon

In planning are (as of February 2019):

  • A museum of the culture and identity of Lithuanian Jews ( Lithuanian Lietuvos žydų kultūros ir tapatybės muziejus ) in the former Tarbut Jewish high school on Pylimo gatvę 4 ( ).World icon
  • A new Holocaust Museum ( Lithuanian Holokausto Lietuvoje ir Vilniaus geto memorialinis muziejus ) at Žemaitijos gatvę 4 ( ), in the building of the former pre-war public library “Meficei Haskala”.World icon

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f History of the Jewish Museum. Valstybinis Vilniaus Gaono Žydų Muziejus, November 8, 2016, accessed on February 11, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b Žydų muziejaus istorija. Valstybinis Vilniaus Gaono Žydų Muziejus, November 5, 2009, accessed February 11, 2019 (Lithuanian).
  3. ↑ a b c Shäm Philipp Sieger: Preserving the memory of what has been lost. In: Goethe-Institut Lithuania. October 2013, accessed February 9, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b Netekome architect Leonido Merkino. February 7, 2017, Retrieved February 10, 2019 (Lithuanian).
  5. ^ Samuel Bak Museum - Public's favorite in the contest "Tendencies 2018". April 10, 2018, accessed February 10, 2019 .
  6. ^ The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. In: Visit Lithuania. Retrieved February 9, 2019 .
  7. ^ Jewish Theater. Valstybinis Vilniaus Gaono Žydų Muziejus, November 6, 2014, accessed on February 10, 2019 .
  8. ^ The Museum of Samuel Bak to be opened this fall. Valstybinis Vilniaus Gaono Žydų Muziejus, February 28, 2017, accessed on February 10, 2019 .
  9. ^ Paneriai / Ponary. In: Memorial Sites Europe 1939-1945. Retrieved February 8, 2019 .
  10. ^ Jacques Lipchitz memorial museum. Valstybinis Vilniaus Gaono Žydų Muziejus, accessed on February 19, 2019 .
  11. ^ Structure and Contacts. Valstybinis Vilniaus Gaono Žydų Muziejus, accessed on February 12, 2019 .
  12. ^ Museum of Culture and Identity of Lithuanian Jews (upcoming). Valstybinis Vilniaus Gaono Žydų Muziejus, accessed on February 9, 2019 .
  13. ^ Memorial Museum of Holocaust in Lithuania and Vilna Ghetto. Valstybinis Vilniaus Gaono Žydų Muziejus, accessed on February 9, 2019 .

Web links

Commons : Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files