Jewish Cemetery

  • 2008-06-18
Not only Jewish leaders have condemned the construction on the site of the old Jewish cemetery in Vilnius. In March, the United States House Foreign Relations Committee passed a resolution condemning the construction. That resolution is now pending before the full Congress.
And a year ago (May 2007), a Lithuanian state-appointed commission, made up of both Lithuanian and Jewish experts (of which I was a member), unanimously urged the immediate cessation of the construction, which it determined to be on cemetery territory. The Lithuanian authorities, for whatever reason, did not implement the recommendation of their own commission.

Archeologists, cartographers and historians of the Lithuanian Institute of History have studied the matter, and have issued reports that the construction is on the cemetery's territory.
Contrary to your story, the Israeli company Geotec, which will perform geological tests at the site next week, was not selected because Jewish leaders insisted that the tests be performed by members of their faith. The company's head, Mr. Klein, was a member of the Lithuanian state-appointed commission, and was invited as such by the Lithuanian authorities to perform the study. He has extensive experience conducting geological radar studies at Jewish cemeteries and mass murder sites in Germany and Poland.

The only strange "twist" in the story, is that the study is being conducted now, nine months after the construction has been completed, rather than a year ago, before any further construction, as the commission recommended.

Presumably, this "too-little too-late" action is in response to the resolution passed by the American congressional committee.

David E. Fishman
 

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