Mrs Chaya Fried, a leading activist for the Save Vilna coalition, welcomed the Lithuanian government's freeze on all further development.of the ill-fated Vilnius Conference Center.
Speaking at an event in New York, she related how she had adopted a wait and see attitude, to establish whether the Lithuanian government will honor their standing, not to build on the conference center. According to Jewish law a Jewish cemetery cannot be used for any other purpose other than a resting place for the deceased. Her activism serves as a memory of the once thriving City of Vilnius, which was filled with Jewish life and bustling batei midrashim (study halls).
Mrs. Fried shared the challenge of being a torch-bearer and defender of the Snipiskes cemetery, given that many of the descendants of the buried, had been slain during the war.
Her husband Dov Fried, who is the chairman for the Save Vilna Coalition is waging a battle to defend the cemetery against desecration and to restore the desecrated tombstones.
The Lithuanian government passed a Seimas resolution on 23 September 2021, calling on local municipalities to restore Jewish cemeteries. A month earlier, the Mayor of Vilnius led his city council in a resolution, urging the government to build the conference center on the cemetery, which would be a violation of human rights and freedom o religion.
Express Your Support for the Protection and Restoration of the Snipiskes Jewish Cemetery to the Seimas Parliament
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