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Lithuanian Foreign Minister Budrys issued a message commemorating the victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania.

In a post on his social media account, Budrys said September 23 marks the liquidation of the Vilnius Ghetto in 1943, one of the darkest periods in Lithuania's history.

Budrys said that during three years of Nazi occupation, more than 190,000 Jews were killed by the Nazi regime and local collaborators, adding that fewer than 12,000 people survived the Holocaust.

Budrys said the Holocaust did not begin with bullets but with prejudice, hatred and fear, noting that indifference transformed the process into persecution, violence and mass murder.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Budrys said in his message that the memory of the communities that were destroyed was being honored, while reaffirming the commitment to combat antisemitism, preserve historical truth and defend human dignity.