Almost all Jews in Lithuania were exterminated in the Holocaust. It sounds correct, but I tend to say it differently: the Jewish part of Lithuanian society was exterminated during the Holocaust. It seems the same, but there’s an essential difference which demonstrates one’s attitude towards the country and its past. In the first case it is admitted that, besides Lithuanians, Jews lived in this land, who did not survive. Their history ended, while ours, so far, continues. Two separate paths. In the second case, we say that Jews, while different from Lithuanians, are part of that same Lithuania, like an arm and a leg; while separate, still part of the same body. While Jews lived in a rather closed community, their centuries of proximate existence and work made them part of Lithuania. It seems like the simple truth, but it’s so hard to accept it. Because then there will come a time to explain what madness possessed Lithuania that one of her arms cut off the other and pulled the gold rings from its cold, dead fingers.
R. Bogdanas.
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