Marius Janukonis
Head of the Lithuanian Delegation to the IHRA
Member country since: 2002
Remembrance Days: 27 January (International Holocaust Remembrance Day), 23 September (National Holocaust Remembrance Day)
Ambassador Marius Janukonis (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) – Head of the Lithuanian Delegation to the IHRA
Rimantas Jokimaitis (Ministry of Science and Education) – Education Working Group
Faina Kukliansky (Lithuanian Jewish Community) – Academic Working Group
Vida Montvydaite (Department of National Minorities) – Academic Working Group
Ronaldas Racinskas (International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania) – Education Working Group
Kamile Rupeikaite (Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center) – Museums and Memorials Working Group
Ingrida Vilkiene (International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania) – Education Working Group
Lithuania has made teaching about the Holocaust obligatory in schools, and more than 130 Tolerance Education Centers have been set up in secondary schools. In addition, courses in Holocaust Studies are offered at five Lithuanian universities and 23 September is commemorated annually at the killing site at Paneriai. The Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania declared 2011 the ‘Year of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust’, and 2013 was declared the ‘Year of Remembrance for the Victims of the Vilnius Ghetto’. In 2010, the criminal code was amended with a new article, making it a criminal offence to condone, trivialize, or deny crimes of genocide or crimes against humanity.