Litvak Days in London are an annual exploration of the impact of Jewish Culture on Lithuania. This year, which marks the 13th Litvak Days event, is dedicated to the history of Lithuanian Jewish immigration to the UK.
A large part of the British Jewish community can trace its history to Eastern Europe, from which they were forced or elected to leave throughout different points in history.
By the end of the 19th century, many of Lithuania's Jews had fled Eastern Europe to escape the pogroms in the Russian Empire.
Half a century later, thousands of Jewish refugees were forced to search for a new safe home fleeing the Nazis during the Holocaust, and arrived in Britain either temporarily, enroute to the United States and elsewhere, or to settle permanently.
This noteworthy event is at the heart of the Embassy’s priority to deepen understanding and appreciation of the multicultural traditions of Lithuania, including the life and cultural legacy of the Lithuanian Jewish communities and their global reach. With this in mind, we hope to reflect on the significance of Lithuanian Jewish immigration to the UK.
The programme will feature a panel discussion with Lithuanian and British academics, and a musical programme.
Panellists■
Dr Laima Vincė Sruoginis
Dr Laima Vincė Sruoginis earned a PhD in Humanities from Vilnius University, an MFA in Writing from Columbia University, an MFA in Nonfiction from the University of New Hampshire, and a BA in English and German Literature from Rutgers University. She is the recipient of two Fulbright grants, a National Endowment for the Arts grant in Literature, a PEN Translation Fund grant, an Academy of American Poets Award, and Association of the Advancement of Baltic Studies book and dissertation awards, among other honors. Writing under the name Laima Vincė, she has published over twenty books in the United States, Europe, and the United Kingdom. Philip S. Shapiro, President of Remembering Litvaks, commented on Laima Vincė’s most recent book, Vanished Lands: Memory and Postmemory in North American Lithuanian Diaspora Literature: “Dr. Laima Vincė Sruoginis, an established author, academic, and life-long part of the North American Lithuanian diaspora, courageously faces Lithuania’s difficult historical legacy in her ground-breaking book. She researched her community’s refugee ancestors, drawing both from personal interviews and dusty academic sources, confronting uncomfortable truths.
Dr Dovilė Čypaitė-Gilė
Dr Dovilė Čypaitė-Gilė is a researcher and lector at the Faculty of History of the Vilnius University and a historian at the Museum of Culture and Identity of Lithuanian Jews. Dovilė has just defended PhD thesis on “Jewish (E)migration from Lithuania 1918-1940: Reconstruction of the Process” During the past years she was granted fellowships of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL), Tel Aviv University (IL), and Yeshiva University (USA). Her academic interests include topics such as Jewish migration from Eastern Europe; sociocultural processes related to emigration from Lithuania and studies of contemporary Jewry.
Nick Sayers
Nick Sayers Nick read history at Magdalen College, Oxford. He spent his working life as a corporate transactional lawyer and was a partner at several leading London law firms. He has a Masters in Historical Research from Birkbeck and is an Honorary Fellow of the Parkes Institute, University of Southampton. He has spent the last few years researching his Lithuanian family history and his resulting book is published this year Jews of Lithuania: Journey through the long twentieth century.
Simon Glass
Simon Glass is a filmmaker based in London. He explores his Jewish family history in BBC documentary 'The Jews of Leeds' that was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award. The film will be on show in the JW3 cinema at 4pm.
Musical Programme■
The Music Shell
This multimedia work is an homage to the vibrant cultural life of the Jewish community in Kaunas before WW2. The live performance of Rūta Vitkauskaitė's original score, historical film footage, and Aimee Birnbaum's artwork blend together to evoke the cultural and café scene of the city. The piece features interviews with members of the community by Daiva Citvarienė, curator of the Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022. The project is both a joyful recovery of a vanished world and a reminder of the Holocaust, which completely erased the flourishing Jewish community of Kaunas. It is performed by Trio Sonorité - Özlem Terkanli – clarinet, Daryl Giuliano – cello, and Jelena Makarova – piano, with appearance of singer Michael Birnbaum. On October 2021, the group had the world premiere of the first, shorter version of ‘The Music Shell’ at the Lithuanian Embassy in London as part of the ‘Litvak Days’ Conference. In September 2022, ‘The Music Shell’ toured across the Lithuania as part of Kaunas – Capital of Culture 2022, was featured on Lithuanian National Radio, Kaunas City TV, and recorded by the Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Centre for their publication.
Film Screening■
The Jews of Leeds
Filmmaker Simon Glass explores his family history and tells the story of the Yorkshire Jews in the early 20th century.
Thousands of migrants arrived by boat on the east coast of England and lived in a run-down slum area of Leeds known as the Leylands.
Simon discovers stories of hardship and anti-Semitism, but also success and progress as many Jews moved out of the Leylands to the more affluent suburbs. He also travels to eastern Europe where he makes a shocking discovery about what happened to his relatives who did not migrate to Britain.
*The screening is free, but must be booked here.
In partnership with the Embassy of Lithuania in the United Kingdom with the Lithuanian Cultural Attaché in the United Kingdom.
