PROGRAM of 2022
All events are free of charge!
The International Festival of Jewish culture “Shalom in All The World” returns to Klaipėda!
This year, the International Festival dedicated to learning about the history, culture, art, and traditions of the Jewish society will be held for the second time and is part of the program of events dedicated to the 770th anniversary of the city of Klaipėda. During the events of the Festival, the aim will be to emphasize the historical roots of the Jewish society in Mēmel, specifically the contribution of the Jewish residents to the development of the city in that time
Full of events, an enthralling and significant Festival will again invite everyone, regardless of their nationality, religion, beliefs, to meet at the concerts, talks, movie screenings, exhibitions, creative workshops, traditional Jewish dance lessons, excursions.
Youth, adults, families, regardless of age, education, interests are very welcome!
Be with us and among us!
5 p.m.
Klaipeda City Municipality I.Kant Public Library Art department
Janonio str. 9
The exhibition will run until 20th of September
The exhibition
“FOOTPRINTS OF JEWISH CULTURE”
The first exhibition in the history of Lithuanian ex-libris.
This year’s festival will open with an extraordinary exhibition of bookplates (exlibris) selected specifically for this festival. The exhibition “Footprints of Jewish Culture” will exhibit bookplates by Jewish and Lithuanian artists, created in different periods. We will see bookplates, created by different techniques, for various occasions, of famous people at the exhibition. Most of the artworks consists of bookplates from the collection of Joseph Shapira.
The exhibition “FOOTPRINTS OF JEWISH CULTURE” was selected and presented by the Šiauliai county Povilas Višinskis Public Library Book Graphics Center and Gerard Bagdonavičius ex-libris fund.
The Šiauliai county Povilas Višinskis Public Library Book Graphics Center staff will participate in the opening of the exhibition.
6 p.m.
Castle of Klaipėda
Priešpilio str. 2
The exhibition will run until 10th of November
Exhibition by litvak artist Samuel Bak
„Allegories“
The lithographs exhibition of prominent Litvak painter Samuel Bak from Vilnius Gaon Museum of Jewish History.
Exhibition by the world-renowned litvak artist Samuel Bak in Klaipėda!
For the first time the people of Klaipėda will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the world-famous artist’s litvak Samuel Bak lithograps. The black and white, color lithographs reflect all the most important symbols used in the artist’s work. The main object of S. Bak’s artworks is humanity, its past and delusions, expressed in the postmodern style of allegorical realism.
Samuel Bakas was born in Vilnius in 1933. Having loved to draw since childhood, Samuel’s talents became apparent very early. As a child he experienced the worst tragedy of his life – the Holocaust. After S. Bak’s family entered the Vilnius ghetto, where fear and despair prevailed every day, the boy did not stop drawing. In 1943 an exhibition of professional artists was held in the ghetto. The artworks of today’s world-famous artist S.Bakas were also exhibited. Samuel Bak was only 10 years old then.
Aušra Rožankevičiūtė,
Museology Specialist of the Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History,
will take part in the opening of the exhibition.
5 p.m.
I.Kant Public Library Pempininkai department
Taikos ave. 81A
Duration 91 min.
Movie
“The Testament”
2017 | Israel | director Amichai Greenberg | drama
Yoel is a leading Holocaust scholar working in a state-of-the-art research institute in Jerusalem. Yoel’s current project is getting the Austrian government to admit that a massacre of 200 Jewish forced laborers took place in the small village of Lensdorf during the waning days of the war, but his efforts are complicated because, after 21 excavations, he has not been able to locate the mass grave. In the course of his painstaking investigations, which turn up evidence of a systematic cover-up, Yoel accidentally happens upon a startling find: the face of his mother (Rivka Gur) flashes up in a restricted file, attached to a different name. Secretively pursuing this lead, he discovers that his mother not only is not the woman she’s always claimed to be, but was not even born Jewish.
for their support in organizing the screening of the film.
5.30 p.m.
I.Kant Public Library Pempininkai department
Taikos ave. 81A
Duration 96 min.
Movie
“Apples from the Desert”
2014 | Israel, Poland | director Arik Lubetzki, Matti Harari | romantic comedy
„Apples from the Desert“ is a timeless and moving tale of tradition versus modernity. Rebecca Avranel is an only child, living a cloistered existence with her strictly religious Sephardic parents in Jerusalem. Unhappy with the restrictive traditions of home and community, she secretly breaks taboos, joining a dance class where she meets secular kibbutznik Dooby. But following her dreams wreaks havoc when her father reveals other plans for her…
for their support in organizing the screening of the film.
5 p.m.
Ethnocultural Centre of Klaipėda City Municipality
Daržų str. 10
Duration 1 h. 15 min.
Concert
„The Evening Song“
The songs created in Polish shtetls.
We will have a unique opportunity to hear Jewish songs, created in the Polish shtetls. The concert joins vivid, expressive tunes with stirring melancholic songs created by Mordecai Gebirtig (1877-1942) and other folk composers. Songs will be performed in the three languages: Yiddish, Hebrew, Ladino (Ladino-language spoken by Sephardic Jews).
The Concert will be performed by Urszula Makosz, Paweł Pierzchała, Michał Półtorak (Poland)
7.30 p.m.
Start
Galinio pylimo str.
Duration 1 h. 30 min.
Sound walk in the footsteps of the disappeared synagogues of Klaipėda
„NON- EXISTING BOOK“
Rochus Aust & his Ensemble „RE-LOAD FUTURA“ will take you on a sound-walk through Klaipeda on a trail sketched in the „NON- EXISTING BOOK“. Don’t be afraid: as long as the group of detecting musicians is with you, you can’t get lost. (Anyway the group will circle the same streets round by round: stay if you got lost: the group will soon come back.)
On this phantastic journey through Klaipeda the fix points are the Coordinates of the lost synagogues of the town. Here the group will find the old, older and even oldest sound heritage of the times of the synagogues – before and after their existence.
appear – walk – dig – believe – disappear!
The sound performance will be by:
Rochus Aust, detector-trumpet
Fosco Perinti, voice & detector-trombone
Florian Zwissler, synthesizer & detector-trombone
Verena Barié, detector-flutes
The walking route:
Start point 7.30 p.m.
Location (1) of the first Memel synagogue and ritual bath
Coordinates: 55.705149, 21.137904
Object address: Intersection of Sinagogų and Galinio pylimo st., Klaipeda
STORY I · library of the not existing book
if you are not looking for it, it will never appear (7 min.)
walk (10-15min.) to Location (2) of the German Jewish Synagogue
Coordinates: 55.708596, 21.138771
Object address: Grįžgatvio street 4, Klaipeda, Lithuania
STORY II · dig-out & ear-in
if you find objects, let them disappear (7 min.)
walk (10-15min.) to Location (3) of Litvak synagogue
Coordinates: 55.706556, 21.1356
Object address: Daržų street 9, Klaipeda, Lithuania
STORY III · the endless circling
if you disappear yourself, try circling (7 min.)
walk (10-15min.) to Location (1)
start again
5 p.m.
Ieva Simonaityte Public Library
Herkaus Manto str. 25
Duration 1 h. 30 min.
Lecture/discussion
„REDISCOVERIES OF JEWISH WOMEN WRITERS“
Lecture/discussion about Jewish woman writers. We will have a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the extraordinary Jewish writers, thinkers, philosophers and activists like: Dvora Baron, Kadia Molodowski (a famous poet who wrote in Yiddish and Hebrew, Yiddish language teacher), Irena Klepfisz (born in Warsaw ghetto in 1941, queer activist), Khana Levin (one of the most famous poets who wrote in Yiddish language) and others.
Among the main key concepts that are relevant to all the sessions are: women’s history and Jewish history (her-stories), Jewish women’s voices in 20th century literature, women’s Jewish literature from various parts of the world, the intertwinement of politics and private life, happiness and struggle through songs, poetry, short stories, novels and intellectual debates.
The Author and presenter of the lecture is Doctor habilitat Urszula Chowaniec (Sweden)
We will communicate in English during the lecture with the help of an interpreter.
7 p.m.
Ieva Simonaityte Public Library
Herkaus Manto str. 25
Duration 1 h. 30 min.
Disscusion
„How did I become a writer? My personal trip to Lithuania“
In the lecture Iddo Gefen will explain how the writing of his book „Jerusalem Beach“ came about following a personal journey to Lithuania. Iddo followed in the footsteps of the diary of his grandfather Abba Gefen, a Holocaust survivor from Lithuania. Tracing those footsteps brought Iddo to Lithuania. The journey following his grandfather taught Iddo an important lesson about stories in his family’s mythology and led him in many ways to writing in general. In the lecture I.Geffen will talk about fiction writing from a personal experience, about contemporary literature in Israel, and how the place from which our roots come , makes us who we are.
The Author and presenter of the lecture is writer, researcher Iddo Gefen (Israel)
More about writer Iddo Gefen>
The discussion is with moderator Ruta Jurkuvienė. She is a poet, psychologist.
We will communicate in English during the lcture with the help of an interpreter.
3 val. p.m.
Ieva Simonaityte Public Library
Herkaus Manto str. 25
Duration 1 h. 30 min.
Discussion
About stories and the brain
From fairy tales to Netflix, humans have always loved a good story. What is the neural basis behind the human love for stories, and how does this mechanism make us care about fictional characters like Harry Potter? A talk about the connection between the brain and storytelling, and how studying this connection helped in the writing of the book „Jerusalem Beach.“
In the conversation Iddo will also talk about the connection between the brain and dyslexia both as a researcher, and as a writer with dyslexia himself. Also Iddo will talk about the strategies and tools that helped him deal with such difficulties.
The Author and presenter of the lecture is writer, researcher Iddo Gefen (Israel)
More about writer Iddo Gefen>
The discussion Moderator is Ona Bajorinienė. Neuroeducator. organizer of socio-cultural projects.
We will communicate in English during the lecture with the help of an interpreter.
11 a.m.
Start at City Hall
Danės str. 17
Duration 1 h. 30 min.
Tour and delicious Jewish beigels!
“Jews in the 19th and 20th centuries in Klaipėda”
During the excursion, we will travel around Klaipėda (historical Memel) not the usual route – around the old town, but we will rediscover the new town of Klaipėda and the stories and places related to Jews in it.
Do you know which famous Klaipėda businessmen of Jewish nationality who was given a State award by the former President of Lithuania A. Smetona? Or maybe you heard who founded the „Žalioji vaistinė“ or financed the construction of the beautiful red brick building where the “Navalis” hotel is located?
During the tour you will learn where Jews celebrated their holidays, where they studied and gathered for lectures by world-famous lecturers, you will learn what the organization Bar Kochba was and even you will taste the famous Jewish bagels!
Julius Ludwig Wiener (1795-1862), Leon Scheinhaus (1865–1935 m.), Isaak Rülf (1831-1902 m.), Nathan Naftal (1887- 1945 m.), Leopold Alexander -these are only a few names, but at the same time they are also interesting stories that go beyond Klaipėda’s notoriety.
We will start the tour at the city hall (Danės st. 17), in the history of which we can also find Jewish footprints.
See you on 1st of October at 11 o’clock!
Tour guide Laurencija Budrytė-Ausiejienė
Tourist route developer and Lecturer at Klaipeda State University of Applied Sciences.
The group size is 30 people.
Application required – filled must be sent to laurencija.budryte@gmail.com
Application form>
p.m.
Klaipėda Yard of Art
Bažnyčių str. 4
Duration 1 h. 30 min.
Comics Workshop for teens
„Stories of the Jews of Memel: talking images“
The participants of the Comics workshop will not only get to know the history of the Jews of Mēmel, but will also try to convey it in the form of a comic. Together with the historian, tour guide Laurencija Budryte-Ausiejiene, we will travel through the paths of Jewish history in Memel.With the comics artist Migle Anušauskaitė, we will learn the “language” of comics and how to create a visual story. The knowledge and skills acquired during several meetings we will use to tell the stories of the young Jews of Mēmelis in the form of a comic.
Leader of a Comics workshop is Migle Anušauskaitė.
Miglė is a comics author, Judaic researcher, Yiddish translator. She draws comics about literature, science, and history, and has published several highly rated graphic novels.
She worked at the Judaica Research Center of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania and actively participates in the dissemination of Jewish heritage
Tour guide Laurencija Budrytė-Ausiejienė
5 p.m.
I.Kant Public Library Pempininkai department
Taikos ave. 81A
Duration 1 h.
Lecture/discussion
„The Jewish Historical and Literary Society and its central figure, Leon Scheinhaus“
April 26th, 1896 The Society of Jewish History and Literature was founded in Klaipėda (Verein für jüdische Geschichte und Literatur). The Society’s activities eventually became noticeable in Berlin by Unions of German Jewish Historical and Literary Societies in 1893(Verband der Vereine für jüdische Geschichte und Literatur in Deutschland).
The network and influence of the activities of the Society of Jewish History and Literature, which operated in Klaipėda, grew thanks to one of the founders of this society- Leon Scheinhaus (Leon Scheinhaus, 1865–1935), a merchant, writer, philanthropist and active public figure. His authority in intellectual circles and financial standing made it possible to organize lectures in Klaipėda, to which relevant and popular lecturers of that time were invited (prof. Heinrich Loewe, David Wolffsohn). In this way, Klaipėda was formed not only as one of the many commercial centers of Germany, but also as a noticeable center of cultural life.
The Author and presenter of the lecture is lecturer of Institute of Baltic Region History and Archaeology Doctor Hektoras Vitkus.
2 p.m.
Ethnocultural Centre of Klaipėda City Municipality
Daržų str. 10
Lecture duration 1 h.
Lecture and lessons of traditional Jewish dances
„History of Jewish costume“
The history of the Jews as a People of the Book cannot be understood only as a study of archival documents or as a tradition of text comprehension practices. Like all other cultures, Jewish society, through its rich history, stretching back over three millennia, can also be examined in everyday culture, e.g. in the culinary, musical culture, costume wearing traditions.
The lecture introduces the variety of traditional clothing of Jews, how Jewish wardrobe traditions have changed throughout history. A time when Jews lived in the midst of non-Jewish cultures, how were the Jewish dress codes imposed from the outside and how were they dealt with, and whether the traditional costume survives in these times of globalization.
After the lecture, we will have a unique opportunity to get to know the traditional dances of the Jewish people and modern Israeli dances, and we will even learn to dance them ourselves!
The Author and presenter of the lecture is lecturer Algis Davidavičius of Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius, of Vytautas Magnus University.
The Head of the ensemble “Simcha” of the Sholom Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius Natalja Rapoport will conduct the educational activity “Jewish folk dances.”
The ensemble of the children’s and youth folklore ensemble “Alkiukai” of Klaipėda City Municipality’s Ethnoculture Center will participate.
The Head is Elena Šalkauskienė.
5 p.m.
Klaipeda St. Francis of Assisi Church
Savanorių str. 4
Duration 1 val.
Concert
„The Golden Jerusalem“
These beautiful songs, full of sensitive emotions will be performed at this concert -about the holy city Jerusalem, about faith and hope, wisdom and infinite love for Mother. The songs will be performed in Hebrew and Yiddish.
The Concert will be performed by artists well known and loved by Klaipėda residents: Olga Šardt-Žorova, Saulius Šaučiulis, RimaTamo.
Link>
The sound director of the Concert is L.Urbikas.
