“Emotionally it was not easy to stay in this topic”

In commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) on May 5-6. Kaunas Fort IX Museum invites you to watch an exceptional video spectacle – the performance “Remember” created by the winner of the “Golden Stage Cross”, dancer and choreographer Erika Vizbaraitė and video artist Mariaus Paplauskas. Such an artistic decision aims to honor and remember brightly those we have lost.

New solutions

“We cannot escape from the past, no matter how painful it is, no matter how much we don’t want to remember or wish to forget everything. Unlived experience does not help us to move forward, to create the future, it closes us in the tunnels of consciousness, which is reflected when looking at Erika Vizbaraitė’s performance”, says Marius Pečiulis, director of Kaunas Fort IX Museum.

According to him, we can call every creative project, not only artistic, successful, if after seeing it you want to analyze, evaluate, find what else was hidden by the author, what you might not have been able to see at first glance, discuss it with others.

“It’s the same with traumatic historical experiences. You need to talk, because only talking can lead to healing,” the interviewer has no doubts.

According to him, the performance in various spaces of the museum was filmed in advance, and with new inspiration, commemorating the tragic events, it will be revived again in early May.

“Perhaps it used to be more common for the museum to talk about the past through static means of expression: physical infrastructure, expositions, exhibitions and as much as possible the amount of concise information presented in them. But times have changed, or rather, people have changed who have changed the times. Accordingly, museums have become dynamic institutions responding to the challenges and needs of the present time. Only static forms are no longer enough, we need a living speech, a living rendering of past events. And it was the use of artistic tools that allowed us to discover new forms of speaking both for our visitors and for us, the museum staff,” says M. Pečiulis.

Chilly skin

According to the interviewee, today, more than 80 years after the tragic process of the Holocaust, it is irrational to try to determine which specific event from the terrible chain was important or the most important.

“This is not our goal. It is important to talk about each of them. It is important to pull as many events out of oblivion as possible, because there are people behind each of them. The most important thing we lost in the Holocaust was people. Therefore, when creating projects presenting historical memory in Kaunas Fort IX Museum, we first of all aim to preserve the memory of the people themselves,” says M. Pečiulis.

At the end of last summer,[S]after receiving an invitation to organize a live performance, the idea arose to create a video project dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust victims and donate it to the museum, – says E. Vizbaraitė. – Together with the video artist Marium Paplauskas, first of all, we delved more closely into the history of Fort IX, went on excursions, read historical sources, watched documentaries, films related to the mass murders committed in this place. We also had the opportunity to be, to stay in those places, the spaces of Fort IX, the places where more than 50,000 men, women and children were brutally killed.”

According to the creator, it touched her very strongly and deeply, as if she had to witness the extremely cruel crimes of humanity once again, in the past. Emotionally, it was not easy for her to stay in this topic, realizing what horror people had to go through here.

“Even the body was affected by these spaces: the heaviness of the concrete walls inscribed with victims, the oppressive ceiling, and the cracks in the floor filled with grief flooded in. And even though we didn’t actually experience it, it gave us goosebumps just being there. I think that such experiences can be explained by the fact that we, people, are more closely related and carry all the traumatic experiences of humanity from generation to generation until we heal,” shares E. Vizbaraitė.

Young people are educated

According to her, it was really difficult, but it is very important to talk about it through artistic means: by going deeper, analyzing the events of the past, looking at it from the perspective of the present and with respect.

“I think that art has a very important voice and it is our duty and responsibility, as creators, to talk about painful topics by educating people, expressing difficult topics through various artistic means. It is important not to forget, to remember, to remind, so that one day we stop the atrocities of humanity”, – the creator is convinced.

Speaking about the meaning of the performance, the chairman of the Kaunas Jewish community, Gercas Žakas, agreed with the world-famous idea that those who are forgotten die again.

“People are gone, but history must talk about such atrocities, and the world must do everything to prevent such tragedies,” says G. Žakas.

He appreciated the fact that different artistic solutions dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust also attract the attention of the younger generation.

“In these times, which bring us a lot of sadness, darkness, and hatred, one of the strongest sources of comfort and hope, that maybe someday someone will learn the painful lessons of history, are bright young people and their teachers, who devote their time, energy, and creativity not only to achieving good academic results , but also for the education of good, sincere people, caring, tolerant, civil, individuals who are indifferent to the problems or painful experiences of the world and other members of society”, says G. Žakas.

You can find the video performance at