Ellen Cassedy

Ellen Cassedy is the author of We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust (University of Nebraska Press), which begins with her personal journey to the land of her Jewish forebears and expands into an account of how a country encounters its Jewish past. She serves on the board of Yiddish of Greater Washington. Visit her website at www.ellencassedy.com.

"The Highest Human Virtue": Holocaust Remembrance Day in Lithuania

Ellen Cassedy

A new exhibit helps Lithuanians explore questions of vital importance: What do we expect of ordinary people in extraordinary times? What would I have done? And what will I do? As they ponder these questions, Lithuania’s young people will have the opportunity to become a new generation of rescuers – rescuers of their nation’s memory, rescuers of moral conscience.

On Yom HaShoah, Reaching Out to “the Other”

Ellen Cassedy

On Yom HaShoah, the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, we remember the Jews killed in the Holocaust. On April 16, I will remember the six million. And I will remember the afternoon I spent recently with a group of nuns – an encounter that surprised me

Bread and Jam: A Story of Two Families for Holocaust Remembrance Day

Ellen Cassedy

During World War II in Lithuania, the penalty for hiding Jews was death. Nonetheless, Jura’s family extended a helping hand to mine.

Recently, members of our two families gathered around a dining room table in New York City. We came together to listen, to

Remembering Names in the Vilna Ghetto

Ellen Cassedy

Will a neglected building in the old Vilna ghetto become a place that helps to open minds and hearts?

A group of young Lithuanians is trying to make that happen.

One recent afternoon, a crew equipped with brooms and flashlights made its way into a derelict