Cemetery survey complete

Jul 04, 2008
By Mike Collier

VILNIUS - Geophysicists have completed an exhaustive survey of the controversial Šnipiškės Jewish cemetery site, according to a release from the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On 3 July, Vice-Minister Jaroslavas Neverovičius received head of Israeli geophysics Arieh Klein, who informed him about the successful course of the geophysical research in the former cemetery in Šnipiškės.

The geophysical research was carried out by an Israeli company, Geotec, working with the Lithuanian Geological Survey. The research started on 25 June and was finished on 4 July. The research was financed by Lithuanian taxpayers at a cost of more than 100,000 euros.

Results of the research will be made public by Geotec after analysis in Israel.

Seeking to identify the boundaries of the cemetery in Šnipiškės as precisely as possible, the geophysical research will be complemented by archaeological digging, which will be carried out by archaeologists, invited by the Department of Cultural Heritage Protection under the Ministry of Culture. Rabbis, delegated by the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe, will supervise the digging.

It is intended that in the middle of August, Geotec will consider results of the geophysical and archaeological research and will submit their conclusions regarding the boundaries of the cemetery in Šnipiškės to Lithuanian Geological Survey, which signed an agreement with Geotec back in May on the works, as commissioned by the Government of Lithuania.