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Inside the Exhibition
A Journey Through the Life, Faith, and Loss of a Lost Jewish World
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The Gallery of Dreams and Reality is dedicated to the younger generation of Shtetl inhabitants—young men and women who had aspirations for their future. This gallery explores the different paths taken by the Jews of Šeduva in the 1920s and 1930s. Some chose to emigrate despite uncertainty, hardship and antisemitism, while others pursue education and a life in Lithuania. Almost all of them dreamed of a prosperous and secure life with their loved ones.
Step into a vanished world — a lost civilisation of shtetls brought to life at The Lost Shtetl Museum in Šeduva.
Visitors are invited to begin their visit with a short introductory film that tells the story of the Shtetls. For more than 600 years, Shtetls flourished in the lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth—present-day Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine. Millions of Jews lived there, speaking Yiddish, practicing Judaism, and preserving their unique cultural traditions.
One might say that a Civilization of Shtetls thrived across the vast lands of Central and Eastern Europe. At the same time, Shtetl inhabitants shared public spaces, marketplaces, and streets with local Christian and Orthodox communities, coexisting for centuries.
The central gallery in the museum is called Marketplace, as the marketplace was the heart of the shtetl and the center of everyday life for both Jews and Lithuanians. It was a space where interactions between different communities took place daily. The Marketplace gallery explores various trades and crafts practiced in Šeduva, delves into hobbies and leisure activities, and examines economic relations and prevailing ideologies of the time.
From the Marketplace, visitors can move in three directions, following the footsteps of the Šeduva Jewish community through their dreams and hopes, religious life, and the tragic events of the Second World War that led to the destruction of the community and the Holocaust of Lithuanian Jews.
The gallery dedicated to the People of the Book resembles a small-scale replica of a synagogue—the central building for religious Jews. Salvaged details and elements from actual synagogues decorate the space. This gallery illustrates how Judaism was practiced in the Shtetls, from family homes to community gatherings. The upper gallery offers a view from above and invites visitors to discover how religious Jewish women practiced their faith. It is also where models of Šeduva’s synagogues are exhibited.
The Holocaust Gallery begins with the historical context of the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe, the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, and the subsequent confrontation between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. These events brought suffering, death, and destruction to Lithuania and the various ethnic and religious communities that lived there. The exhibition reveals how the Jewish community of Šeduva was destroyed by the Nazis and local collaborators. However, even in the darkest times, there were individuals who risked their lives to protect persecuted Jews—these heroes are honored as the Righteous Among the Nations.
CAUTION: This section of the exhibition contains sensitive and difficult historical content.
The final part of the exhibition is dedicated to the memory of the Šeduva Shtetl and hundreds of other Shtetls that once flourished in Lithuania. With the destruction of the local Jewish population, the rich Shtetl culture ceased to exist. However, survivors and those who emigrated before the Holocaust preserved its memory. Their descendants, scattered across the world, contributed personal stories and cherished artifacts to the museum.
Visitors are invited to conclude their experience by walking through the Faces and Voices of the Shtetl installation. Despite the horrors, this section celebrates life and honors the people who lived, loved, and laughed in Šeduva. Generations of Šeduva Jews find their final resting place just outside the museum—at the Old Jewish Cemetery of Šeduva, where life meets eternity.
