Monument to righteous gentiles planned in Vilnius

Residents of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius have announced a public tender for a monument to the city’s non-Jewish residents whose bravery helped save Jews during the Second World War.

The city’s municipality and the Lithuanian Culture Ministry said the £220,000 project on Ona Šimaitė Street would be “guided by principles of historical justice” for honouring, commemorating and recalling at a national and international level Lithuanian residents who saved Jews during the Nazi occupation.

They added that it would create “a respectful and socially-effective solution in continuance of traditions of respecting the Jewish people, for representing appropriately the content and foundation of the site commemorating Righteous Gentiles, and for contributing to the education of the general public”.

Submissions are invited by 15 October.