The Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History plans to set up the first Holocaust and Vilnius Ghetto museum in Lithuania at the former Vilnius Ghetto library by 2026. The goal is to attract more young people, and experts in Jewish history and the Holocaust from the United States are already being consulted about future exhibitions.
“The decision was made not to build some new, modern-looking, large building, but to make the museum where it would speak best not only through its exhibitions but also through its presence , which is within the territory of the Vilnius Ghetto. As we know the history of the Vilnius Ghetto Library with all the people who worked there (…), this is the best chosen place and it will be very convenient in terms of its location,” Simonas Strelcovas, the director of the Vilna Gaon Museum, told BNS.
“The Vilnius Ghetto Library, basically as it existed during the ghetto period, will be transformed from next year into the first museum in Lithuania on the Holocaust in Lithuania and the Vilnius Ghetto Museum,” he said.
Strelcovas hopes that many young people will visit the museum as its exhibitions will be both informative and highly emotional. Experts from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York are already being consulted on their content of future exhibitions.
In early December, the Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History signed a contract worth more than 8.5 million euros, excluding VAT, Infes, a Vilnius construction company, and the latter will start in 2024 and it is scheduled to be completed in 22 months, with the possibility of a slightly longer deadline.
Source: BNS
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