A non profit organisation aimed at preserving and spreading knowledge on the cultural heritage of Lithuanian Jews

1. Litvak World
Learn. Remember. Share. Create

2. IT IS ALL ABOUT PROMOTING REAL LIFE EXAMPLES OF
TOLERANCE

3. Yiddishland
 At the beginning of the 20th century the
Jewish population here reached 7 million
people, 95% of whom were speaking
Yiddish
 The names of the small towns (shtetls) in
Yiddish sounded like: Vilna, Kovno, Shavli,
Ponevezh, Yanishok, Telz, Plungian, Kelm,
Shedova

4. The Holocaust
During the Holocaust (Shoah) over
90% of the local Jews were
annihilated

5. Forgetting destroys the history, remembering
creates the future
 during the Soviet times, Jewish topics had to be
avoided, it was dangerous to learn Hebrew
 50 years after WWII, we did not know the word
“Holocaust”
 Those, who survived, did not speak about pre-war
Jewish life and the Holocaust in their families
 Today Holocaust has such a strong emotional impact
on people’s minds, that the Jewish life before it often
remains unattended.

6. We can’t let Litvaks’ culture melt with the time
 The revival of the Lithuanian Jewish culture
and preservation of the heritage will pay a
great respect and honor in the memory of
those who perished
 It will reveal an extremely rich Litvak culture for
us, living today
 It will play a significant educational role for
the younger generations

7. Historians, journalists, public figures acknowledge:
 that we still know very little about the
tremendous cultural contribution that Jews
had once made to the East European
culture
 the value of the high level of tolerance and a
unique co-existence of nations in the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania, which we should learn
and follow

8. Where one can find information about Litvaks’
heritage today?
 The massive amount of materials related to the
Litvaks’ heritage remains tucked away in public and
personal archives
 An abundance of websites, yet the majority of them
is in Lithuanian, covering only some particular issues
 Materials are mostly in Lithuania, remaining
inaccessible for most people from other countries

9. What we find in the local archives

10. Looking for information in the old newspapers

11. Our main idea in creating www.litvakworld.com
Bringing the hidden to the surface:
taking history from drawers and personal
archives to the virtual world of Litvaks

12. Our aims
• revive the history of Litvaks and reinstate it
into the history of Lithuania
• revitalize the ties between Litvaks and
Lithuania
• serve educational purposes for people all
over the world
• promote the ideas of tolerant societies

13. Our objectives
• to spread knowledge about Litvaks’ history and
cultural heritage
• to reveal and share real family stories
• to support scholars, volunteers, organizations who
make efforts to shed light on unexplored areas of the
heritage of Lithuanian Jews
• to install signs related to the Litvaks’ history in Lithuanian
towns and countryside
• to film Holocaust witnesses’ interviews
• to translate the documents and other information that
we have here in Lithuania into English

14. Jerusalem of the North
Our organization is called “Jerusalem of the North”. It is
a non-profit organization established in 2011 on the
initiative of companies and private individuals
Founders:
Antanas Guoga
Aleksandr Černov
Anna Avidan
Aleksandr Soloveičik
Jonas Garbaravičius
Asia Fuondation, “LAWIN”
UAB “IDW Baldeta Project Development”
UAB “JeruLita”
UAB “Kenova Group”
UAB “Publicum”
AB “Šiaulių bankas”
UAB “Vičiūnai Group”

15. Board members
Aleksandr
Černov
President of
Lithuanian
Chess
Federation
Anna
Avidan
Managing
director
Rolandas
Valiūnas
Managing
partner of
LAWIN
Law firm
Ričardas
Jarmalavičius
Chairman of
the Board of
Publicum
Group
Antanas
Zabulis
Chairman
of the
Board

16. The collected information you can find on the map
Search by categories Search in virtual map
Press EXPLORE
HISTORY
option in
menu panel

17. Find objects by place, period, category or type
Find objects by place, period, category or type
Press the icons on the map
Select object from the list

18. Litvak shtetls

19. Litvak cemeteries

20. Litvak synagogues

21. Partnership with the United States Holocaust
Museum
 The Litvak
World website has
been incorporated
in WorldCat and in
the USHMM Library’s
catalog
 The databases on
Litvak history can
be accessed
through our web
portal

22. Our video projects: interviews with Holocaust witnesses
Josif
Levinson
Emilija
Brajinskienė
Judita
Rozina
Josif
Bondar
Maria
Bondar
Stanislovas
Rubinovas
Irena
Veisaitė
Rachel
Kostanian
Antanas
Urba

23. Publishing virtual exhibitions of Litvak artists’ works

24. Arranging virtual exhibitions of modern Litvak artists from
Lithuania: Solomon Teitelbaum

25. Arranging virtual exhibitions of modern Litvak artists from
other countries: Saadia Bahat

26. Partnership with the Vilna Gaon Jewish State
museum
We have installed an audio visual
exhibition

27. Published book “The Shtetl of Musnik”
We have supported the
publishing of the book “The
Shtetl of Musnik. The Story of
the Zilber Family” by Dov
Barry Sidelsky, translated
from English to Lithuanian.
The story tells about a
lawyer from Lithuania who
was Nelson Mandela’s
spiritual mentor during all his
life.

28. Published book “Lithuania: the promised land”
We have supported the
publishing of the book
“Lithuania: the promised
land” by Vilius
Kavaliauskas. We are
planning on translating
the book into English.

29. Current projects: “Smuggled in Potato Sacks”
We have agreed upon the
copyright with the authors of
the book “Smuggled in Potato
Sacks” for translating it into
Lithuanian. The book tells the
stories of 50 Jewish kids who
were rescued from the Kovno
ghetto by Lithuanian families.
The book will be also gifted to
the Lithuanian schools.

30. Our Facebook page: stay in touch with us
www.facebook.com/litvakworld

31. Our new projects for development
• To create an educational resource - Litvak history
in cartoon animation
• To publish an art album on Litvak art works
from private collections
• To arrange translations from Yiddish of a special
fund of saved Jewish books and documents
still remaining untouched since the World War II

32. Supporting initiatives of our friends
LITVAK COMMUNITIES MEMORY GARDEN – Jakov Bunka fund

33. We kindly invite Litvaks from all over the world
 to visit our website, to investigate and share the history of
the shtetls
 to join us building a global Litvak community, sharing
ideas, questions, contacts, information
 support our investigations and restoration projects
 help us with the fundraising ideas

34. We would appreciate help in
 finding relevant information related to the history
of Lithuanian Jews (articles, documents, pictures,
family stories, etc.)
 raising funds for translations and publishing
articles and books on Litvaks’ heritage
 funding the rewards of experts who explore the
history of Lithuanian Jews and help to maintain
high authenticity of the virtual museum’s content
 raising funds for the restoration of Jewish cultural
objects

35. Would appreciate any kind of Your support
Antanas Zabulis
Chairman of the Board
antanas@litvakworld.com
Anna Avidan
Managing director
anna@litvakworld.com