The City Council of the town of Kaišiadorys has agreed to “adopt” the decaying wooden synagogue in nearby Žiežmariai and help with the restoration of the building, one of only a dozen or so surviving wooden synagogues in east-central Europe. Both towns are just off the main highway between Vilnius and Kaunas.
According to the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s web site, the Kaišiadorys City Council, along with mayor Vytenis Tomkus, met with the Lithuanian Jewish Community (LJC) chairperson Faina Kukliansky and the LJC’s heritage protection expert Martynas Užpelkis to discuss what to do with the synagogue, which is falling into ruin.
The web site reports that the LJC presented a plan for the renovation of the synagogue:
The council resolved to take on the synagogue with an exploitation agreement and to apply to EU structural funds for its renovation. After renovation and in addition to serving as commemoration of the lives of the Jews of Kaišiadorys and surrounding areas, the synagogue is to be used for the cultural needs of the people of the district.
In addition, it said, “The council invited city and regional residents to take part in a clean-up of the Žiežmariai Jewish Cemetery on August 21.” And the synagogue will be featured during the upcoming European Day of Jewish Culture, Sept. 6.
Earlier, a report on the web site said that
A series of tests, studies and research including engineering and geological, archaeological, historical, building construction, timber, chemical and painting/decoration investigations, and the drafting of a detailed plan for renovation work are planned for completion this year. Restoration work beyond that, and most importantly the positive social and economic effect accruing from that, will be part of the town’s general plan for the conservation and use of heritage sites.
Tourism and cultural use, as well as educating local people as to the value of Jewish heritage and reality of Jewish history, are among the goals of the renovation plan — as is commemoration of the destroyed Jewish community.
The web site quoted Martynas Užpelkis as saying:
Since there are no surviving Jewish communities in many of the cities and towns of Lithuania because of the Holocaust, one of the greatest challenges is to make it so that local non-Jewish residents to accept the Jewish heritage surrounding them as an important part of ‘their’ living environment, that they would recognize it and perceive the cultural, social and economic potential in it, and that they would try to make use of the opportunities it provides.
Žiežmariai is one of the Lithuanian cities which is rich in Jewish heritage sites which remain largely ‘undiscovered’ by local residents. Because of its location along the main highway between Vilnius and Kaunas and because of its urban and architectural legacy the town is already a destination for Litvak culture and history enthusiasts. It is only the rare local resident, however, who is interested in the pre-war past of the town, and local municipal institutions and business clearly have a lack of ideas on how to integrate this heritage creatively into local and regional culture, education and tourism strategies. The Nazis established a work camp inside the synagogue, from which Jews were later taken to be shot. So Žiežmariai Synagogue is a Holocaust site as well as an architectural monument.