ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

Vilnius, Lithuania – September 21, 2025: Hundreds of students, ambassadors, and Lithuanian officials took part in the annual March of the Living in Lithuania, commemorating the Holocaust of Lithuanian Jewry. The event began with a ceremony at the site of the former Vilnius Ghetto and continued with a solemn march to the mass graves of Ponary.

Before the Holocaust, Lithuania was home to approximately 200,000 Jews, with 70,000 living in the capital city of Vilnius, where the main ghetto was later established. In the summer and autumn of 1941, the Nazis and their local collaborators nearly obliterated this vibrant community in what has become known as the “Holocaust by Bullets,” when Jews across Eastern Europe were executed and buried in mass graves. More than 200 Jewish communities in Lithuania alone were destroyed.

Ponary, on the outskirts of Vilnius, became one of the most infamous symbols of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. There, 70,000 Jews were murdered and buried in mass graves. Another notorious site was the Ninth Fort near Kovno, originally built in the 19th century. Between 1941 and 1944, over 50,000 Jews — mostly from Kovno — were executed there by Nazis and Lithuanian collaborators.

Holocaust Survivor Arnold Clevs
Holocaust Survivor Arnold Clevs (credit: MOTL)
 
Among those remembering was Holocaust Survivor Arnold Cleves, who recounted how his family was captured in 1941 by Lithuanian soldiers and sent to the Ninth Fort. His mother convinced an officer that her husband had served in the Lithuanian army during World War I, and the family was temporarily released. They were later deported to a labor camp and then to Birkenau. Arnold endured the camp, a death march, and was ultimately liberated from Dachau by American forces, together with the group later known as the 131 Lithuanian Boys.

Reflecting on his return, Arnold — who also marched this year in Poland at the March of the Living — said: “To march as a Jew, as a free man, with my children and grandchildren, is the greatest victory for me.” Ahead of the march in Lithuania, he added: “The Jews contributed so much to Lithuanian culture. We were very patriotic Lithuanians, but unfortunately, we were not treated well.” Arnold urged students not to repeat history’s mistakes: “Help the State of Israel.”

Arnold Clevs, ''To march as a Jew, as a free man, with my children and grandchildren, is the greatest victory for me.”
Arnold Clevs, ''To march as a Jew, as a free man, with my children and grandchildren, is the greatest victory for me.” (credit: MOTL)
 

Michel Gourary, European Director of the March of the Living, echoed Arnold’s statement and called on students to follow in the footsteps of the Righteous Among the Nations: “While many Lithuanians collaborated and participated in the crimes against the Jews, there were also Lithuanians who chose not to remain bystanders but to act with courage. They risked everything to save Jews during the Shoah, and I call upon you today to follow their example. Choose the path of civic courage. Learn from the tragedies of the past to build a better future.”

Since its inception in 1988, the International March of the Living has become one of the world’s most prominent organizations dedicated to Holocaust education and the fight against antisemitism, hatred, and racism. Each year, it organizes commemorative marches and educational activities across Europe — in Poland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Greece, and Romania. Nearly four decades on, more than 350,000 participants, most of them students, have walked these paths of memory alongside Holocaust survivors.