Presentation of “Ponarski Diary” in Lithuania (The International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust)

Today in Lithuania, the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is celebrated. Throughout the whole day, various celebrations dedicated to the events from 70 years ago will be held.

The Jewish Community of Lithuania will present the Lithuanian edition of “Ponarski Diary”-the diary of a Polish journalist – Kazimierz Sakowicz, who during the war witnessed the massacre of Jews.

During the war, Kazimierz Sakowicz, lived in “Ponary”, and from the attic of his house, he, for several months, watched the executions. The executions of tens of thousands of people, mostly Jewish conducted by the Germans and their Lithuanian collaborators.

The first edition of Ponarski “diary” was published in 1988, later it was translated into Hebrew, German and English.

The program includes the viewing of a movie titled: “Zakładnicy. Lipiec 1941 r.”(The hostages. July 1941) by Algis Kuzmickas.

The events start at 17:00, in the building of the Jewish Community of Lithuania.

The International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust was designated by the United Nations General Assembly resolution on 1 November 2005, in order to honour the memory of the Jewish victims of the Nazi regime during the Second World War. Thereby, the Assembly rejected not-recognizing the Holocaust as the historic event.

The date of the commemoration is scheduled on 27 January – anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945 by Soviet army.

Source: http://pl.delfi.lt/aktualia/litwa/prezentacja-dziennika-ponarskiego-na-litwie.d?id=60529685

Tłumaczenie Jacek Malatyński w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Jacek Malatyński the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.