Remarks by the Chair of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad Starlet Jones Lugo
Yom HaShoah Commemoration
Paneriai Memorial Park, Vilnius, Lithuania
April 18, 2023
Madame speaker, Chairman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community Faina Kukliansky, Your Excellencies, distinguished guests and friends: I am Starlet Jones Lugo, the Chair of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, and I am proud to be here with you here at Paneriai to honor the memory of the victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania.
Two hundred thousand Jews were murdered in Lithuania during the Holocaust, at least a third of them right here. We cannot measure the tragedy of the Holocaust, but it started right here, with the first mass murders in Lithuania.
The Holocaust destroyed millions of lives, irreplaceable lives. It also destroyed a culture – a culture we cannot replace, but which we must preserve.
The mission of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of American Heritage Abroad, which I represent, is to preserve heritage sites, so their memory is not lost, so their culture can live on.
The Holocaust was an enormous crime, and preserving the heritage of its victims is an enormous task.
But it is a necessary task. We support heritage preservation in Lithuania for the benefit of the many Americans with roots in Lithuania, for the Lithuanians living here today, and for the generations yet to come. We do it because it’s the right thing to do.
In this regard, I congratulate Lithuania on the many steps taken to recognize the horrors of the Holocaust and commend you for passage of legislation setting our procedures for compensation of victims. Those who perpetrated the Holocaust should not be honored.
It is an honor for me to stand with you here today, in memory of the innocent victims of the Holocaust. Only by preserving the legacy of victims of the Holocaust can we prevent it being repeated.
In remembering, we raise our voice for those who have no voice and seek to preserve and protect the history and legacy of their lives.
