The Commission’s joint project with Lithuania’s capital of Vilnius to fence and erect a memorial at the country’s largest Jewish cemetery, which is in the city, was marked in a ceremony in November 2004.

Participating in the ceremony with Vilnius’ mayor were Commission Members Harriet Rotter and Steven Some, who led the Commission’s contributions to the project.

More than 70,000 people were buried in the cemetery from 1830 through 1948.

In 1964, Communist authorities had tombstones removed from the cemetery for use as building material by the government. The memorial, a substantial gate for entering the cemetery, incorporates recovered tombstones.