Genocide Memorial in Paneriai, 23 September 2009
Dear Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
No words can define the suffering, the pain and the loss incurred during the Holocaust. Any attempts to give an explanation of the horrendous events or to understate the tragedy of the Holocaust by claiming that this is not the only black page in the history of the humanity would be immoral.
The Holocaust, the tragedy, breaks the shell of false human pride and unveils the core of our sinful nature not for us to lose hope but rather to cherish each other, for us to hear the harmony of differences. Every attempt by man to act as the Creator capable of re-designing the world ends in a tragedy of the humankind.
The Holocaust is the tragedy and pain shared between Jewish people and all of us, which is particularly evident in Lithuania since we lost the absolute majority of Lithuanian sons and daughters of the Jewish origin as well as a significant part of our state’s cultural and social identity.
What can we do today? First and foremost, we must accept the past as it is, without vanishing it; then remember it and continuously remind of it to prevent the history from ever repeating itself. We must admit that hatred, irrespective of the justifying theories, always leads to a deadlock.
There is no future without the past. It is therefore symbolic that we are thinking and talking about the future of Lithuanian Jews here, in Paneriai. We create a new life by recalling the tragedy.
The question of who is to blame is irrelevant today. It’s much more important to look into each other’s eyes and thank for being together. We are the children of one Creator whatever the language we pray to him and whatever the name we call him.
May the blessing of peaceful light be on those lying here. They will always remain in our thoughts. Let me invite you to observe a minute of silence in memory of the tortured and killed.
