Lithuanian town marks 75th anniversary of massacre of Jews

Lithuania’s president has joined hundreds of people marking the 75th anniversary of the massacre of about 2,000 Jews by Nazi occupiers and their Lithuanian collaborators in the town of Moletai.

It was the first such high-profile event commemorating the massacre, which President Dalia Grybauskaite said shows the Baltic country is becoming more «open and tolerant.»

More than 90 percent of Lithuania’s 240,000 Jews were killed during World War II. The role of local units is sensitive in Lithuania, which mainly views itself as a victim of Nazi and Soviet occupations.

Milda Kuodyte, a 23-year-old student attending Monday’s event, said Lithuania’s Holocaust history is still a painful history, but «this march is the best proof of a major shift in society.»