Opinion The last Jew in Zagare

The Nazis wasted little time after pushing into Lithuania in June,1941. The Jews of Zagare were herded into a ghetto. On October 2,1941,they were ordered into the main square before being taken into the woods for execution by Nazi SS killers and their Lithuanian accomplices. SS Standartenführer Karl Jäger stated in a report that day that 2,236 Jews were killed in Zagare. In 1944,the Soviets,having fought their way back,examined a mass grave and found 2,402 corpses (530 men,1,223 women,625 children,24 babies). Today,a visitor to Zagare — there are not many — is greeted by a sign pointing to woods of birch and pine: “Graves of the Victims of the Jewish Genocide.”

I recount these events for two reasons. The first is that my grandmother Pauline (“Polly”) Soloveychik was from Zagare,and so I have a natural interest in what would have befallen her had they remained. Their hypothetical European fate was to die nameless in a nameless ditch.

The second reason is that I have been pondering the Zagare-Zionism link. The resilience of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — its capacity to last through the Cold War,the post-Cold War,the digital revolution,the rise of China,the Arab Spring — is due in part to the near-perfect equivalency of moral claim to the same land.

What emerged from the Holocaust — from the agony of every little Zagare — was the success of Zionism. Through its vote of November 29,1947,calling for the establishment of two states in the Holy Land — one Jewish and one Palestinian Arab — the United Nations sought to expiate Nazi crimes by granting the Jews what Benny Morris calls “an international warrant for a small piece of earth.”

The thing is,that piece of earth was not empty. In fact,at the time of the vote,about 630,000 Jews faced about 1.3 million Palestinian Arabs in the Holy Land.

Einstein,arguing for Israel,wrote that,“In the august scale of justice,which weighs need against need,there is no doubt as to whose is more heavy.” The Arab League put the opposite case: “There can be no greater injustice and aggression than solving the problem of the Jews of Europe by another injustice” — against the Palestinian Arabs.

Solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict begins with accepting that there is no just outcome,none. Enough Jews and Arabs have died trying to prove the rightness of their cause. Imperfect compromise is the only way out of the spiral.

Carrying Zagare in my blood,aware of what centuries of Jewish precariousness have wrought,I believe the case for Israel was and remains overwhelming,but an Israel that condemns another people to permanent exile is not the one its founders imagined.

An Israeli state,a Palestinian state,economic union between them,international oversight of the holy places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem: The UN idea of 1947 is not a million miles from what any lasting peace must involve. The second stage of solving the conflict is realising there are no new ideas,none. The only option is gathering the will to reach the known trade-off.

I went to see the grave of Mendelsonai — the last Jew in Zagare. So,I thought,Zagare is finally Judenrein. In a sense the Nazis have won.

Then,nearby,I saw a European Union flag and thought,no.

Mendelsonai,in his 89 years,lived through five Lithuanias — independent,Soviet,Nazi,Soviet and independent. The last was best,a small state,secure,in NATO,tied in economic union with its neighbours,at peace even with Russia.

It’s amazing what putting the future above the past,jobs above some unattainable justice,can forge.