Features

Lithuania - Vilnius - beautiful city of ghosts

by Mike Levy

Vilnius is a city of ghosts. That may seem surprising for a city that is full of vibrant colours - stunning Baroque churches, castles and Art Noveau buildings. The capital of Lithuania exudes youthful energy and is fully signed up to Western European cafe culture.

Its young people are warm and friendly - they are keen to engage and usually excellent in English; What to engage about? The independence of a newly democratic Lithuania? The price of beer? The best clubs in town? You will find a young person keen to engage on each and all of these topics.

They are also willing to talk about an elephant at the party - or rather two of the beasts: one is the destruction of the city's pre-war Jewish population by Nazis and their local sympathisers; the other is the brutal repression, murder and deportation of the local ethnic Lithuanians by their Soviet masters. Each side has a tragic history to recount: each side seems to deny the the importance of the events of the other: 'my tragedy is much worse than yours'.

Attempting to bridge the gap and excise the ghosts of the countless lost peoples, the city houses two very impressive museums. One is the estimable 'Museum of Genocide', a controversial name, (pictured) which attests to the brutality of Soviet power over a subjugated people. My colleague will write about this museum. I also visited the Jewish-run Museum of Tolerance (another touchy title?) which is - to be frank - pretty hard to find. It is housed in a building formerly belonging to the city's pre-war Jewish community. The exhibition, on three floors, is very well designed to show life before the Holocaust, the remnants of the city's Great Synagogue (once the largest in Europe) and stunning artwork from those working before the war and during the ghetto period (1941-44). It also tells the terrible story of the murder of the Jews, not in some far off camp in Poland, but on the doorstep in the forests of Paneriai. Jews were starved, beaten and then forced to march to the forests where waiting for them were burial pits (pictured) and men (usually locals) with loaded guns ready to murder men, women and children. 100,000 were thus killed and their bodies burnt to ash. It is a sombre and terrifying story but one you won't find in the streets of this lovely city. Only here at the museum.

The museum helps one catch a glimpse of the lost community, and there is a poignant reminder of its erstwhile vibrant culture - the building houses the former Yiddish theatre. Good work though it does, the museum does seem to fall down a touch in one vital area - there seems to be very little education work with local young people. In a small country, if history is taught at all, it will be about the awful fate of ethnic Lithuanians in the post war period. It seems that the Jewish history of this country - pre-war and during the Holocaust, is scantily understood by the country's young people. Here, the museum could play a vital role. Does it do so? Though it adequately traces the consequences of lost tolerance, the museum doesn't seem to promote the active Tolerance part (though please correct me if I am wrong). There is much to be done in teaching about the Holocaust, that what happened to its Jews is part of Lithuanian history as well as that of Europe's. The process has begun, but it is slow and piecemeal.

A visit to both museums is important to understand something of the unspoken history of this lovely ancient city with its winding lanes, stunningly beautiful churches (you will lose count) and broad cafe-filled boulevards.

It is also important to speak to local people about these terrible things - they are willing and even eager to talk, to engage, and in a small way, we as tourists have a small part to play perhaps in the removing of barriers and prejudice. Taking a short break in Vilnius is a delightful experience in so many ways - it could also be an inspiring one in which we as tourists can play a small role in excising those ghosts.

Get there: Aer Lingus opens its new London-Gatwick to Vilnius route on September 10th.

www.aerlingus.com