Life Should Be Transparent by Aurimas Svedas and Irena Veisaite (Central European University Press, £23)

Subtitled Conversations about Lithuania and Europe in the Twentieth Century and Today, this volume introduces us to the life and work of Irena Veisaite, an academic, theatre critic and long-time chair of the Open Lithuania Fund board.

The 13 conversations between Veisaite and Lithuanian historian Aurimas Svedas are far-reaching and memorable, covering Veisaite’s rich and varied life, taking in the horrific events of the Holocaust, which brought about the end of the Lithuanian Jewish world. We also meet an array of cultural figures and experience fragments of theatre performances that moved her.

Most of Veisaite’s family, including her mother, grandparents and most of her parents’ generation, perished in the Shoah along with numerous friends and acquaintances, Veisaite herself was rescued and looked after by two different families who risked their own lives to save her. In particular, she is indebted to her “second mother”, Stefanija Paliulyte-Ladigiene. Remarkably free of bitterness, Veisaite realised that “if I wanted to go on living, I had to learn to love and to forgive, even if that is sometimes very difficult.” She has retained a deep love for Lithuania, and especially the city of Vilnius — the “Jerusalem of Lithuania”. Having lived under Soviet rule in Lithuania, Veisaite recalls the Soviets as “very very bad. Different from the Nazis, but not better”.

Irena Veisaite earned a doctorate in Leningrad in 1963 on the poetry of Heinrich Heine, of whom she says: “I was interestedin Heine because he was a Jewish writer with a unique fate — he became part of the German literary canon and was as beloved as he was hated.” She lectured at the teachers’ college in Vilnius from 1953 to 1997 and was also head of the Thomas Mann Cultural Centre in Nida, Lithuania. In 2012, she was awarded the Goethe Medal for her contribution to the cultural exchange between Germany and Lithuania.

Veisaite and Svedas have a close bond and the experience of recording Veisaite’s memories prompts them to explore in detail the nature of memory itself — “What, how and why do we remember? What is the meaning of our experiences? How can history help us to live in the present and create the future?” At 92, Irena Veisaite is able to supply plenty of raw material for this discussion.

Sipora Levy is a freelance reviewer