Lithuania: Gathering of Stones from Vilnius's Uzupis Cemetery Moves Forward

Vilnius, Lithuania. Uzupis cemetery. Temporary sign explaining gathered stones. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016

Vilnius, Lithuania. Uzupis cemetery. Gathered stones. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct. 2016

Vilnius, Lithuania. Uzupis cemetery. Gathered stones. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct. 2016

Lithuania: Gathering of Stones from Vilnius's Uzupis Cemetery Moves Forward

by Samuel D. Gruber

A year ago I wrote about at length about the great Uzupis Cemetery in Vilnius, founded in the 19th century and bulldozed from 1965-1968 during the Soviet occupation of Vilnius. Tens of thousands of matzevot were uprooted from the graves they marked. Many were smashed into rubble. Others were transported nearly-whole to build stairs and walls throughout the city.

Very slowly, some hundreds of these stones are being retrieved and removed to the cemetery. This process began more than a decade ago when many  stones used to construct a huge staircase  to the Trade Union headquarters were recovered and some were  used to create the monument now at the cemetery (you can see that the stones were cut for stairs). Many more remain embedded in buildings of the Soviet era. They are still there. Some have been firmly identified as matzevot. The identity of other stones, such as those used for the steps of the Reformed Evangelical Church in Pylimo Street is sometimes contested, though to my eyes at least one stone of church steps is clearly a Jewish matzevah (see photo).  The church was used as a cinema during the Soviet era, when the stairs were apparently rebuilt.  I also reported in 2011 about gravestones in a wall of a Middle School.
 

Vilnius, lithuania. Jewish gravestone used in the stairs of the Reformed Evangelical Church on Pylimo Street. Photo: Samuel D. Grbuer Oct. 2016.

Last year the mayor of Vilnius Remigijus Šimašius announced that he would address this issue. First, some signs were posted where the stones have been identified alerting the public to their history and misuse.

Vilnius, Lithuania. Sign posted by City of Vilnius in 2015 at former power substation prior to removal of gravestone fragments from outer wall. The sign - in Lithuanian and English - cites this as an example of "Soviet barbarism ... using ravaged Jewish gravestones."  Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016.

A few weeks ago (October) I saw some first progress in the retrieval of some fragments. The former electrical substation across the road from the cemetery has been stripped of the gravestone fragments that were used for exterior walls. In large part it was the international attention in the Daily Mail and other media given to the discovery of these stones that brought the the local government to quickly act. Now these fragments, and some others from around the city, have been transported to the cemetery where they are now being sorted, catalogued and where there are legible inscriptions, transcribed. A team from the University of Vilnius, including former project coordinator of MAZEVA, Ruta Anulyte, who is now a Ph.D, student in cultural heritage studies, is doing the work for the city.

Vilnius, Lithuania. Former power substation after removal of gravestone fragments from out wall. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016.

Vilnius, Lithuania. Former power substation after removal of gravestone fragments from out wall. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016.

So far, there are hundreds of fragments that have been gathered. Many of these have traces of inscriptions in several languages - but all clearly commemorate the city's Jewish dead. Hundreds more fragments have no inscriptions - but are surely gravestone fragments. No decisions have been made about how to protect and present these pieces and the thousands of similar ones still embedded in the walls and pavements of Vilnius and surrounding areas. I'll address some possible solutions in the an upcoming blogpost.

I am hopeful that Mayor Šimašius will continue the process, even though he will face some resistance from property owners. I suggest that all these gravestones be declared objects of cultural heritage and that their removal by the Soviets be recognized as both part of a process of ethnic cleansing and property theft. All identified stones should be legally recognized as stolen property and as with any other stolen property, every effort should be made to return them to their place and owner of origin. If this principle is fully recognized then financial arrangements can be more effectively discussed and arranged to assist present-day owners - who most often have nothing to do with the original theft and reuse.

Compared to the more contentious issue of the re-developed of the 1970s sports center located on the site of the even older Piramónt (Snipiskis) cemetery, this problem of gathering stones back to Uzupis should be mostly logistical - not political, economic or urbanistic. This is not about guilt - those who removed these stones in the 1960s have long been out of power, and the destruction in the cemetery was part of a wide-ranging policy of confiscation of religious and private properties.

After the electrical substation removal - which we can judge as a pilot project - the next big challenge will be the removal of an unknown number - but hundreds - of larger stones presently stored and neglected at the “Vilniaus žaluma” nursery in northeastern Vilnius. It seems likely that these stones are the bulk of the matzevot removed from the steps to the Soviet Labor Palace in 1992. Apparently only a smaller portion of the stones were incorporated into the monument built at the cemetery ten years later.

In 2015, Julius Norwilla, who has written extensively about the "lost" matzevot, suggested that instead of returning the stones to Uzupis, they should be taken to the Piramónt (Snipiskis) cemetery, and used to create a monument - that would be either an alternative to the planned convention center or at least stand in defiant opposition; a rebuke from the dead of past generations. My own thinking is that the stones should be reunited as much as possible with the bodies they were erected to remember - and thus taken to Uzupis. But this is all part of what should be an ongoing public and creative discussion. The problem is not one that stops in Vilnius. The gathering of stones continues across many borders - with few rules or even guidelines about how proceed, and with little discussion about the purposes and the effects of the action, and who should be responsible for the work and the interpretation. Really, who owns these stones? Who owns this history?

Here are images of just a few of the inscribed gathered stones. Click the picture for a bigger image.  The working team will appreciate volunteers willing to help translate and annotate longer inscriptions.

Vilnius, Lithuania. Uzupis cemetery. Gathered stones. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct. 2016

Vilnius, Lithuania. Uzupis cemetery. Gathered stones. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct. 2016

Vilnius, Lithuania. Uzupis cemetery. Gathered stones. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct. 2016

Vilnius, Lithuania. Uzupis cemetery. Gathered stone. Though the inscription is in Cyrillic letters, the deceased name - Chaim Brody - is clearly that of Jew. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct. 2016

Vilnius, Lithuania. Uzupis cemetery. Gathered stones. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct. 2016

Vilnius, Lithuania. Uzupis cemetery. This is one of the larger and more intact gathered stones. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct. 2016

Vilnius, Lithuania. Uzupis cemetery. Gathered stones. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber Oct. 2016