Winners of the Short Prose Contest awarded at the Vilnius Gaon Museum of Jewish History Culture

Four laureates were presented with awards in the library of the Museum of Lithuanian Jewish Culture and Identity.

The competition, intended for schoolchildren in grades 9-12, invited them to learn about the history of the Holocaust in Lithuania and to immortalize the courage and humanity of the rescuers of Lithuanian Jews in their work. Young writers were asked to submit works that would reveal the theme of the Holocaust.

P. Račiūnas photo/Laureate award

The evaluation committee consisted of prominent Lithuanian writers and literary scholars: Sigitas Parulskis, Ilona Ežerinytė, Aneta Anra, Doctor of Humanities Žydronė Kolevinskienė. After reaching the sketch stage, the contestants are invited to a creative workshop with the writer Ilona Ežerinyte to further improve their works.

The first place was taken by Morta Žuklytė, a student of the “Žiburio” high school in Prien, who wrote the piece “Ida”. According to the laureate, her grandmother’s Jewish friend had that name. The girl says that she was unable to ask her grandmother about Ida’s life, so she created her story using her imagination.

“Literature, writing is an important part of my life. Maybe not so much competitions that allow you to see what I’m capable of, but reading helps you understand others better”, said Morta Žuklytė after the awards.

Patricija Ruzaitė, a student of the Simon Daukantas Gymnasium in Vilnius, took the second place. She wrote the short prose work “Flame”.

The laureate admitted that the most important thing in her life is not literature, but music. Currently, she is participating in another competition – she sings in “Voice of Lithuania”. “Literature, writing refreshes my soul when I want to vent after singing,” said Patricija.

“Liepsnelė” was inspired by the film “Vilnius Ghetto” directed by Audrius Juzēnas. However, the story is a product of the author’s own imagination. She thought about the connections later, when the piece was already written.

The third place went to Laura, a pupil of Vilnius Jesuit High School Gintauta Norkūnaite. Her work is “When Angels Fall Asleep”. The author was inspired by the history of her place of residence. The nun Bertranda, acting in the story, was a real person, she lived in present-day Pavilny. Laura Gintautė also lives there.

“That made it pretty easy to describe all the action locations. It was this story, often mentioned by my parents, that inspired me to write the piece,” she says. The laureate really liked Ilona Ežerinytė’s creative writing workshop. “We really don’t learn much about it in schools. It was a new, interesting and very useful experience,” said the third place winner.

The laureates were awarded with prizes established by the Chairman of the Vilnius Jewish Community, Aleksanders Chernov. During the ceremony he spoke:

“The world has been a bit ‘crooked’ lately. He needs as many thinking people as possible. Because without them it is very easy to do whatever you want. This “what do you want” eventually turns into a lot of blood. Therefore, each of us must gradually, as much as we can, spread wisdom around us and try to teach young people to think and not allow any forces to “zombify” us. Perhaps it can turn our civilization away from the path it is unfortunately on now, and return back to where the sun shines and children grow,” Aleksandr Chernov said.

The special prize, which was established by Holocaust researcher and book author Rimantas Stankevičius, was won by Vincos Kudirkas high school student Kotryna Newcomer from Kudirka Naumieštis. Katryna’s work – “The Saved Past”.

Kotryna revealed that she wrote a speech topic about Jews in the 10th grade. According to her, the teacher then suggested writing a prose work. “Since I had read quite a few books related to the Holocaust and the saviors of the Jews, I decided,” said Kotryna.

She was greatly impressed by Australian writer Heather Morris’s novel “The Tattoo Artist of Auschwitz” and the TV series based on it. She is participating in the literary competition for the first time. “If there is another similar competition, I will try to write something and participate again. Because I really liked it,” Kotryna smiled.

Excerpts from the works of young writers were read by actress Kristina Švenčionytė during the awards. “Odilė” publishing house presented the laureates with the documentary short story “Jehudit. The world could be so beautiful.”

The works of the winners of the competition will soon be published on the website of the Vilnius Gaon Jewish History Museum.