Irena Veisaite Tolerance and Involvement By Yves Plasseraud if, g i BRILL RODOPI LEIDEN | BOSTON Contents Foreword ix Acknowledgements x Table of In-Text Illustrations xi Table of Other Illustrations xi I Acronyms xm Foreign Terms xiv Introduction XV 1 A Family on the Move 1 A A Promising 20th Century for the Veis Family 1 B Irena's Parents 4 C Caught in the Midst of Revolutions and War 5 D Becoming Lithuanians 10 E The Lives of Irena's Parents 16 2 A Carefree Childhood 19 A A Tightly Knit Family 20 B Journeys across a troubled Europe 23 C School Years in the Yiddish Gymnasium 25 D Anguish 27 3 The Dark Years 33 A Irena's Parents' Divorce 33 B A Failed Emigration Project 36 C Experiencing the Dictatorship of the Proletariat 39 D Difficult Soviet Times 41 E Turning the Economy and Culture into a Wasteland 42 F Changes in Irena's Personal Environment 43 4 The German Occupation of Lithuania 48 A Nazi Rule 50 B Assasinations of Irena's Uncle and Mother 50 C Living with the Yellow Star in Kaunas 55 D In the Kovno Ghetto 57 E Exterminations (Aktionen) 61 CONTENTS VI 5 Towards a Precarious Safety 65 A Escaping the Ghetto and Heading for Vilnius 65 B The Return of the Soviets: The Second Occupation 72 C Mass Deportations 75 D Irena's Second Mother is Arrested 77 6 Alone in an Unknown Environment 79 A Being Jewish in the Post-World War 11 USSR 81 B Trouble with the kg b : Suspicion of "Cosmopolitism" 83 C Moscow Lomonosov University Years 84 D The Annihilation of Soviet Jewish Memory 88 7 Getting Married in Moscow 89 A A Very Private Event 91 B Defying Moscow's Education Ministry in order to Return to Vilnius 92 C Birth of Irena's Daughter Alina, during the Khrushchev Thaw 95 D Aspirantura'Years in Leningrad: 1958-1960 99 E Teaching Freedom at the Vilnius Pedagogical Institute 101 F Visiting Her Father and the West 105 G Crucial Decisions 108 8 The World Opens Up 115 A A New Life with Grigori Kromanov 115 B Dramatic Developments n8 C Irena and the Singing Revolutions (1988...) 124 D National Independence 128 E A New National Stance Towards the Jewish Question 129 9 New Social Commitments 131 A Creation of the Open Society Fund - Lithuania (osfl) 131 B Through the Turmoil of the Nineties 133 C Irena's osf Presidency: A Force of Good 136 D A Complex Relationship with the Lithuanian Jewish Community 137 E Acting in Favour of the Jewish Community 143 F The True Meaning of the Holocaust 144 10 The Time of Recognition 145 A A Cosy and Stimulating Personal Environment 145 B An Unusual Public Figure 146 C Official Recognition 148 VII CONTENTS 11 At the Crossroad of Cultures 152 A Lithuanian 'National' Feelings 152 B The Russian Question 153 C German Culture 154 Epilogue 157 Ideas A Remaining Consistent: Adherence to a Few Basic 157 B A World of Friends 158 C A Spiritual Approach to Life 160 Chronology 182 Family Tree 190 The Litvaks 191 A Lite: A Refuge for Persecuted Jews 191 B A Society of Its Own 193 C A Clash of Worlds 194 D Litvaks and Modernity 196 a Litvak Culture and Art 196 b Spiritual Life 197 c A Dynamic Social Life 197 d Socialism as a Religion 198 Irena and Tadas, by Caroline Paliulis 200 Some of Irena's Articles and Interviews 202 Bibliography 203 Index 208 Table of In-Text Illustrations 1 Ulica Zamkowa, Grodno, Beginning of the 20th Century 2 2 The Veis family in Grodno 3 3 Jews being evacuated to Belarus 7 4 Kaunas Panorama 1925 12 5 Laisves Aleja. Kaunas, ca 1930 14 6 Sonia and Izidorius in the train in Kaunas railway station leaving for their Honeymoon Voyage in the West 17 7 Irena with her teddy bear, Kaunas, 1930 21 8 The Stromas family in 1933 22 9 The Veisas house and the Kaunas mosque 30 10 Irena and her mother, Kaunas, 1938 31 11 Irena in 1938. Kaunas 34 12 Signing of the Hider-Stalin Pact 37 13 Memory Plaque in Kaunas 45 14 Jurgis Stromas in the 1930s 53 15 Map of the Kaunas ghetto showing the location of Irena's house 58 16 Wedding photograph of Kazimieras Ladiga and Stefanija Ladigiene in 1920 71 17 The Russian Orthodox Church on Pohulanka (now Basanavi£iaus) Street 76 18 A school photo, 1946-47 80 19 After school graduation ceremony in June 1947 80 20 Irena and Tadas in 1957 after Tadas returned from the labour camp 83 21 Irena in 1949 85 22 Group of students at Moscow University in 1951 87 23 Group of Lithuanian students at Moscow University in 1951 89 24 Irena andjasha's wedding picture 1952 91 25 Irena, AnuSka Stromaite and Aleksandras Stromas. 1951 95 26 Alina, Irena and Jasha in Valakampiai 1958 98 106 27 Irena and her father Izidorius in Los Angeles at the airport in 1968 28 Jack Brauns and Irena in Los Angeles in 1968 107 29 Grigori Kromanov in Tallinn in 1972 109 30 Irena and Alina in the 1980s 113 31 Grigori and Irena at Irena's 50th Birthday Party. Vilnius 117 32 Irena at the Pedagogical University 119 33 Aleksandras Stromas 120 34 Irena and Aleksandras Stromas in 1991 at Santara-Sviesa in AnykS£iai 133 35 Irena in Weimar in 2012 155 Table of Other Illustrations ca 162 1 LazarVeis, Irena's paternal grandfather, Bialystok, 1900 built in it looks 163 2 Izidorius Veisas family house in Kaunas, 1936 (as today) 3 Izidorius and Sonia abroad ca 1930 163 A in Kaunas 164 4 The Stromas family in 1934. birthday party 5 Sonia in BirStonas on a boat ca 1938 164 6 Juozas Strimaitis & Ona Strimaitiene, Brussels, 1938 165 and Stromaite, Berlin, 166 7 Jurgis Stromas, Eugenija Stromiene Margarita 1935 8 Irena and her classmate Lilia BokSickyte in 1948 in Vilnius 166 Genovaite and Irena Veisaite 9 Natalija Leonavaite, Jonas LapaSinskas, Sukyte (left) at Vilnius University, 1948 167 168 10 Margarita Stromaite in Kaunas ghetto, 1942 - Irena with Tomas Venclova 11 Evening at the Writers Union in the seventies 169 the sixties 12 Grigori Kromanov in Tallinn in a film editing room in early 169 at a in Tallinn 13 From left to right: Arvo Part, Irena, Grigori Kromanov reception Town Hall, ca 1975 170 14 Irena's 50th birthday party at Irena's flat 172 late 15 Irena next to Dovydas Judelevi&us at the Pedagogical University, 1970s 171 16 Irena and her students at the entrance to the Pedagogical University in the 1970s 171 17 At Irena's flat, Early 1990s 172 18 Jacov Boom, England 1990s 173 19 Irena at the Brauns in Los Angeles after Irenas' arrival at her father's house, 1968 174 20 Irena, Arvo Part, Nora Part in their house in Berlin in 1990s 174 21 Irena and Vytautas Toleikis at the Barbora award ceremony in Vilnius Town Hall in 2006 175 22 Irena and Czeslaw Milosz in Vilnius 1995 175 23 Doctor Pranas Bagdonavi£ius, Irena's rescuer during the Holocaust, in the usa in the 1980s 176 24 George Soros dedication in his book George Soros im Gesprach mit Krisztina Koenen 177 25 Queen Elizabeth 11 greeting Irena at the State dinner in Vilnius in 2006 178 26 Unveiling of statue of Romain Gaiy, Vilnius, 2009 (Photo yp) 179 27 Caroline Masiulis Paliuliene in Irena's kitchen, 2014 180 28 Irena at Bagdonaviiius flat in Vilnius, 2014 180 29 Irena's cousinValdemar Ginsburg in England in 2010 181.