Until the Second World War, Vilnius was called one of the most significant centers of European Jewish culture and science. On the eve of the war, about 58 thousand people lived here. Jews, but only a few thousand reached the end of the Nazi occupation. The tragic death of "Jerusalem of the North" is still of interest not only to historians of the world and Lithuania, but also becomes a source of inspiration for theater artists of different generations and worldviews to reflect on this tragedy of the nation, society and humanity.
The Youth Theater, founded in the former territory of the Great Vilnius Ghetto, is consistently interested in this topic and, in cooperation with talented theater creators, constantly initiates artistic research into this cruel and dynamic era: in the last few years, such creators as the Polish theater genius Krystian Lupa have explored the Holocaust theme on the stage of the Youth Theater (the play "Austerlitz" based on W. G. Sebald) or Sergej Loznica (the play "The Erinyes" based on J. Littell's novel "The Well-wishers").
The youngest generation director Justinas Vinciūnas, who is finishing his directing studies at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater this year (course leader Gintaras Varnas), looking for a unique approach to the Holocaust and a whole range of topics related to this phenomenon, turns not to the great works of fiction, but to the authentic events of the massacre of Jews in Vilnius memories of witness Kazimierz Sakowicz, 2012 after the publication of the book "Paneriu dienorastis 1943-1944 m. form, as well as archival documents about the rescuers of Lithuanian Jews.
Polish journalist and officer K. Sakowicz was born in 1894. After graduating from high school, he studied law in Moscow. After his studies, he worked in the editorial offices of Vilnius newspapers. He had established a printing house in the house numbered 24 of A. Mickevičius street, which Sakowicz lost, together with his residence, in 1940. the Soviet nationalization, so together with his wife he moved to Panerius and thus ended up near the future site of mass murders. Here since 1941 In July, from the attic of a residential building, he had the opportunity to observe the massacres carried out by the Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators.
According to director J. Vinciūnas, K. Sakowicz's testimonies are so cruel that one has to face the limits of one's compassion while reading them. One wants to attribute the described horror to the plane of imagination, even though it is a documentary source. It is this limit of perception that is one of the essential themes of the performance. In the performance, we will try not only to feel the silence between the real experience of people and the polished sources of time, but also to dispel it.
The performance is based on archival material collected by the Vilnius Gaon Museum of Jewish History about the saviors of Lithuanian Jews.
The partner of the performance is the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater.
