Antanas Sutkus Pro Memoria

Lithuanian photographer Antanas Sutkus (born 1939) learned of the mass killing of the Jews during World War II itself, from his grandparents, experiencing shame and guilt for the atrocities committed behind the Vilijampole ghetto gates and the Ninth Fort. In 1988 Sutkus began photographing the Kaunas Jews who had escaped death in concentration camps; In Memoriam presents a selection of these portraits. As far back as the 14th century, the Jews had been offered protection and support in Lithuania. Over the next 600 years they established their traditions there, with printing workshops and synagogues, libraries and gymnasiums, songs and legends. This vibrant branch of Lithuania's cultural history was violently destroyed when 200,000 Jews were murdered and thrown into pits on forest edges, quarries and death camps. This book is a tribute to these people, and an expression of attempts at understanding, penitence, purification and rebirth.