Hello Everyone,
I wanted to let you know about an upcoming anniversary. The Vilnius Jewish
Public Library will have its tenth anniversary on December 16, 2021. I first
had the idea for the library in 2004 while living in San Diego, California. It
took seven and a half years of my life and 50,000 dollars out of my own pocket
to get things rolling.
The library opened on December 16, 2011 with the support of the Lithuanian
government. I worked closely with the Lithuanian Librarians' Association, the
Ministry of Culture and the office of the Lithuanian Chancellor. The Prime
Minister (among many others) spoke at the grand opening. It was a lot of work.
I had gathered more than 4,500 items to start the library off. I received death
threats in three languages from anti-Semites who didn't appreciated a gentile
working to found the first Jewish public library in the nation since September
1943. They also didn't appreciate in 2009 my saving the Vilna Ghetto Library
from sale and destruction.
So much has happened personally since then. I found a wife in Germany who had
already been working to promote Jewish culture through documentary films. We
met in 2010, married in 2012 in the USA, and had a son here in Germany in 2013.
His name is Glenn Jolson Brent, the Jolson from the Litvak entertainer Al
Jolson. My wife and I met because of Al Jolson, though he died decades ago. We
have visited with our son the village in Lithuania where Jolson was born.
In 2015, I was diagnosed with an incurable lung disease. I have never smoked in
my life. For now, (while I can) I help take care of the small farm we own and
the many animals we have. I can't say that life has not been interesting.
Cheers,
Wyman Brent
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity. Horace Mann
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