The city of Vilnius (or Vilna) is rightly known as one of the most important centers of Jewish life and culture not only in Lithuania, but throughout the entire Central and Eastern European region. A large and active Jewish community has long been concentrated here, nurturing its own unique art and culture. It is no secret that one of the most prominent and authoritative Jewish thinkers of his time Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, better known as the Vilna Gaon, lived and worked in Vilnius. It is also no coincidence that it was in Vilnius in 1925 that one of the world’s most important centers for the study of Jewish culture, history, and language was founded the – YIVO Institute, which continues its work in New York to this day.

We know very well from history textbooks that the cultural and intellectual Jewish life that flourished in Vilnius was ruthlessly cut short by the outbreak of World War II in Europe. After Nazi Germany’s army occupied Lithuania, the Vilnius Ghetto was established in the city’s Old Town in early autumn of 1941. After the Jewish population was herded into it, the ghetto became a place where not only people’s freedom was confined, but their entire culture as well.

Yet it was precisely here that it unexpectedly refused to die.

Let’s imagine for a moment that in the summer of 1944, we ourselves are walking through the ruins of a Jewish ghetto that was recently razed to the ground. In this rather frightening setting, we find a crumpled and torn sheet of paper lying on the ground. Picking it up, we see various notes: “Concert. Date. Names.”

This is no ordinary sheet of paper. It is a testament to the fact that even as they stared death in the eye, the innocent people imprisoned in the Vilnius Ghetto never stopped creating and believing.

The names of famous Jewish artists and creators have been preserved on posters for cultural, sporting, and other events held in the Lithuanian Central State Archives: composer Wolf Durmashkin, poet Abraham Sutzkever, creator Shmerel Shmerke Kacherginski, and many others whose memory lives on today.

Trampled, yet alive, these posters bear witness to the immense creative and cultural energy of the Jews in the Vilnius Ghetto, which became a form of resistance to the darkness that had settled upon them.

Excerpts from H. Kruk’s diary, April 27, 1942:

“Last night, in the renovated auditorium of the former so-called Little City Hall, the premier performance of the Ghetto Theater at the Cultural Department took place. […]After the opening words by the director, Engineer Gukhman, there was a concert of the Little Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Durmashkin – a piano concerto and several dramatic performances. The performance was pure…”

August 10, 1942:

“Yesterday the third symphony concert in the ghetto took place in the auditorium of the Ghetto Theater. Once more, the same thing. The ghetto is amazing in all areas. This last concert, conducted by V. Durmashkin, proves that even in music, the ghetto is not behind. Under ghetto conditions and with the ghetto possibilities, the concert is an achievement of the highest order. One and a half hours of elevation and forgetting is a great achievement.”

Entries from H. Kruk’s diary, September 29, 1942:

“If September was a month of repeating old beloved repertoire plays, October must be a month of premieres of new things that might quickly please the theater audience.”

“First of all, a new review is being prepared, titled “You Can’t Know a Thing” – something, as we see, in harmony with our uneasy, indefinite wartime.”

“Yes, you can’t know a thing! For example, both our choirs, the Yiddish one and the Hebrew one, are secretly preparing programs with very important items: oratorios, chorales, operas, not-yet-performed folk songs – in a word, innovations. But don’t ask what or when; it can’t be divulged.”

These moments recorded in the diary tell us that the danger and uncertainty that had become part of daily life also became a source of creative inspiration for the creators and artists living in the ghetto.

Hanukkah is a Jewish festival of lights that symbolizes renewal and consecration, commemorating the Maccabees’ victory over the Syrian king who sought to exterminate the Jewish people.

Excerpts from H. Kruk’s diary, November 26, 1942:

“We have often written that the ghetto maintains traditions. Every holiday, no matter what, is enthusiastically celebrated here. Thursday, the 3rd, a big Hanukkah evening took place in the theater auditorium, arranged by the police.”

“Another Hanukkah celebration was organized here by the religious circles. According to the playbill, this is called a Hanukkah Commemoration.”