The Old Jewish Cemetery of Vilnius

According to the official website of the non-profit institution Jewish Heritage Lithuania «the cemetery of Vilna Jews in Sznipiszok operated in 1592-1831. It was closed due to the lack of new burial space, but at the beginning of the 20th century, this cemetery was still constantly visited. All famous Jews from the local community were buried in this cemetery, Vilna Gaon included. During the interwar period, Polish authorities decided to demolish this cemetery and build a sports stadium in its place, because based on the Polish law of that time, a cemetery which was not in use for more than one hundred years could be demolished. From 1935 until 1940 Vilnius local authorities and Vilnius Jewish community had a continuous discussion regarding this matter because Vilnius Jewish community thought that this is an unquestionable act and they could not let to destroy their cemetery based on Jewish religious law. The Vilna Jewish community was represented by its spiritual leader R. Chaim Ozer Grodzenski.  The Second World War and changing political situation in Vilnius stopped these discussions for a while, but after the war, the new Soviet authorities in the city continued with the previous idea to build a Sports Palace instead of the old Jewish cemetery. And Soviets did not listen to any arguments from a small Jewish community.  In 1948-1955 all tombstones were removed from the old cemetery and some of them were transferred to the new Jewish cemetery on Sudervė road in Vilnius (the mausoleum of Vilna Gaon and his family included). In 1971 the brutalist style Sports Palace was built on the previous territory of the cemetery. In 2008-2010 Sports Palace was closed due to its building`s critical condition and danger to its visitors.» There is currently a small memorial on the site of the former Jewish cemetery and the remains of the Sports Palace built in the Soviet era are abandoned. These photos were taken in April 2025 and show the small memorial and the Sports Palace.