Vilna Jewish Community

Settled from the 15th century, Vilnius became the intellectual capital of Lithuanian Jewry: the Gaon of Vilna (d. 1797) made it a byword for rigorous learning; the Romm printing house issued the standard Vilna Shas; the Strashun Library anchored public scholarship. In the 20th century the city incubated YIVO (founded 1925), the Bund, and Zionist movements alike, with a Jewish population of ~55,000 in 1931 (~28% of the city).

Between 1941 and 1944 the ghetto was liquidated and the Jews of Vilnius and its region were shot at Ponary (Paneriai) - 70,000-100,000 victims in all, the great majority Jews (USHMM; Yad Vashem: over 70,000, nearly all Jews); the FPO underground's 1943 resistance became emblematic. Postwar Soviet suppression thinned the remnant; today ~2,000 Jews, the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum, the Choral Synagogue, and the Great Synagogue excavation keep Vilna's memory in public view.