The Killing Fields of Lithuania, Paneriu

It was painfully cold under a clear blue sky this morning about 18 Km outside of Vilnius, Lithuania. Our pain soon seemed so trivial as the horrors done by Nazi and Lithuanian collaborators was peeled before our eyes in a large empty pine forest called Paneriu. The mist swirled up from the ground as if spirits were ascending, fitting as over 130,000 Jews were taken to pits here to be shot.

Our guide Rachel Konstanian-Danzig brought an amazing feel to our look at hell on earth as we saw the pits and trenches. She lost her father and most of her relatives. In fact between 90% to 95% of all of Lithuania’s Jews were murdered. That was such an unbelievable thought to comprehend in the cold dark forest. Later we went to the Jewish Tolerance Museum, an uplifting experience as it features Jewish art and culture in an amazing space, a testament and tribute to all those who died so needlessly and in a horrific abomination of human character. If Iran’s Anmadinejad needs proof of the Holocaust I suggest a cold day in the Forest of Paneriu.