Commemorating Jewish Life & Legacy at the Time of the Holocaust Remembrance Day Yom HaShoah and Remembering the 10th Anniversary of Elie Wiesel’s Passing
SHTETL SONGS: A Special Exhibition of Michael and Inna Rogatchi Collection at the Zarasai County Museum, Lithuania
Event: The Rogatchi Foundation and its co-founders artists Michael and Inna Rogatchi continue their participation in the Commemorative European Art Events 2026 series in cooperation with Lithuanian colleagues with a special exhibition at the inviting place. The exhibition commemorates Jewish life and legacy at the time of the Holocaust Remembrance Day Yom Hashoa ( April 13-14th, 20206), and remembering the 10th anniversary of Elie Wiesel’s passing ( which occurred on July 2nd, 2016).
The well-known Rogatchis’ Shtetl Songs collection uniting Michael Rogatchi’s Shtetl Songs series and Inna Rogatchi’s Shtetl Memories collection , also known as Yiddish Songs, will be displayed at the Zarasai County Museum/ Krastiecu Museum in the north-eastern Lithuania. The region is known as Little Switzerland, due to its stunningly beautiful nature and famous lake district.
The place is historically and culturally meaningful: it has been known as a town since the early 1500s, had a meaningful history throughout the time, and is the native place of Yehuda Pen, the teacher of Marc Chagall and many other Litvak stars of world modern art.
Zarasai shtetl which was quite populated, met the awful destiny of almost all shtetls all over Lithuania. On August 26th, 1941, 2 546 Jewish men, women and children who were living at the Zarasai shtetl for generations, were brutally exterminated by the Nazis and their local collaborants.
The exhibition’s dates: April 1st – May 10th, 2026.
Artworks: Michael Rogatchi’s original drawings, works on paper and exclusive authored prints reflecting on the Yiddish world are part of the artist’s oeuvre on various aspects of Jewish heritage. They contain lyrical works, homages, visualisation of psalms, personal take on Jewish music, and specific focus on shtetl culture and tradition. All those works bear the artist’s distinctive style which is fine and detailed, conveying his knowledge and homage to the rich humane tradition in a loving and masterly way.
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Inna Rogatchi’s works, mostly works in a specific mixed technique, also represents various aspects of the artist’s works on Jewish heritage, including Inna’s well-known original Songs of Our Souls series, as well as her artistic studies on shtetl culture ( Yiddish Songs) and homages.
Both artists have been reflecting on the same subject-matter and similar themes, doing it each in their own way, vision and technique. Together, those visions and series of art works have produced more colourful and muli-sided modern-time songs about shtetl that remain in our memory.
Quoting the Zarasai County Museum’s Introduction to the Shtetl Songs exhibition:
“ Shtetls, people, and their stories from the past come to life in the artworks of two artists, Inna and Michael Rogatchi.
From April 1st, 2026 the Kraštiečių Museum will host a special Shtetl Songs exhibition.
The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of the famous Lithuanian writer Grigorijus Kanovičius, and it invites you to take a look at the life of Lithuanian Jews in small towns, the shtetls, with their traditions, everyday life, relationships, and spiritual world.
The authors’ works intertwine melancholy, memory, and a sensitive narrative about the vanished world. This is an exhibition about people whose stories are still relevant today.”
As it come from a special essay analysing the Shtetl Songs and Memories collection by Inna and Michael Rogatchi:
” And today, this rare artist, Michael Rogatchi, transmits to us a special message through his art of memory and history, through the heritage received from the Jews of Lithuania but also the heritage transmitted by Grigory Kanovich, Elie Wiesel and Leonard Cohen, who all were his friends. Through Michael’s art, this message shines beyond the possible. His works from the Shtetl Stories collection transmit love and communion between those people in the past and us living today” – Dr Michael de Saint-Cheron, author of “Dancing Against Ashes” essay for the Shtetl Stories and Memories Catalogue ( 2024).
” In the words of great Elie Wiesel, who was my dear teacher, mentor and friend, and whom Inna and Michael also knew well and closely for many years, “There is no greater peace than a broken heart » . There is no artworks greater than those which make us hear the Song of our Souls and this Cry of Heaven by Inna Rogatchi” – Dr Michael de Saint-Cheron, Hearing the Songs of Our Souls essay. Shtetl Stories and Memories art catalogue. Lithuania, 2024.
Inna and Michael Rogatchi and the Rogatchi Foundation would like to dedicate this exhibition to the 10th anniversary of the passing of their dear friend Elie Wiesel. The date of Elie Wiesel’s passing is July 2nd, 2016. This year, various commemorative events marking this important date are conducted world-wide.
Collection: Michael Rogatchi’s part of the Shtetl Songs collection consist of 15 works, his Shtetl Stories series, and Inna Rogatchi’s part of the joint collection those 15 works consist of 10 works from her various series. Together, those 25 works form a special Shtetl Songs collection of the both artists.
Michael Rogatchi Shtetl Stories collection in the Grigory Kanovich Public Jonava Library, Lithuania. © The Rogatchi Foundation.
Inna and Michael Rogatchi and their The Rogatchi Foundation has donated this specially produced and unique collection to the Grigory Kanovich Public Library in Jonava in 2024, marking the 95th anniversary of the outstanding Jewish writer, whom with Inna and Michael Rogatchi were friends for several decades.
In Autumn 2024, the exhibition of the donated collection was inaugurated in Jonava Library at the special event which was part of the official program of the European Days of Jewish Culture 2024.
Inna Rogatchi Shtetl Memories collection at the Grigory Kanovich Public Jonava Library, Lithuania. © The Rogatchi Foundation
In the words of the Grigory Kanovich Public Library in Jonava Skirmute Gajauskaite, “ We are proud that from now on, the Jonava Grigory Kanovich Public Library will be known as the place where you can see the works of Michael and Inna Rogatchi, which are included in prestigious public art collections in Finland, Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom, France, the United States and Israel.”
In the Autumn 2025, September – October 2025, the exhibition was shown at the Audiovisual Art Centre in Alytus, Lithuania, as part of the official program of the European Days of Jewish culture 2025.
Catalogue: In conjunction with the inauguration exhibition of the donated Shtetl Songs collection to the Grigory Kanovich Public Jonava Library, the organisers in cooperation with The Rogatchi Foundation have published The Lithuanian – English Edition I of the full catalogue of the collection ( 2024).
The following year, The Rogatchi Foundation has published the updated English Edition II of the fully illustrated catalogue ( 2025), which has become the product of the Foundation special international campaign in support of commemorative culture of the European Art Commemorative Initiative.
The Exhibition Venue:
The venue for the Michael and Inna Rogatchi Shtetl Songs exhibition ( April 1 – May 10th, 2026 ) is the Zarasai County Museum, Lithuania. The museum is a well-maintained centre of arts and culture in the north-eastern part of Lithuania, at the centre of its beautiful lake region known as Little Switzerland.
The museum is a well-maintained and thoughtful, caring arts and culture institution, which regularly holds interesting exhibitions and projects, many of which are providing historical perspectives on culture and humanity development, also contributing to the ongoing commemoration process. The museum also creates and carries on various educational events.
“Although the themes of the cycles that we are seeing in this collection are different, and the artists’ techniques are also different, due to their unique style, I do see unity in them. Michael and Inna’s works are sensitive improvisations on the theme of the shtetl. Sadness, the dominant note of melancholy and the continuity of traditions are transferred to their work. This collection of works by Inna and Michael is a reminder of Jewishness, since neither the shtetls, nor the Jews have been left in them. That world and its spirit disappeared, but one can see it in the works of Michael and Inna” – Scenographer, graphic artist, photographer Aleksandra Jacovskyte, Vilnius.
Shtetl Songs exhibition of the works by Michael and Inna Rogatchi in celebration of the Holocaust Remembrance Day Yom HaShoah 2026 and the 10th anniversary of Elie Wiesel’s passing – April 1st – May 10th, 2026.
The Zarasai County Museum
D. Bukonto g. 1, Zarasai, Lithuania