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VILNIUS: A schoolteacher here is now spearheading a movement to immortalise the friendship between Mahatma Gandhi and Jewish architect Hermann Kallenbach in stone, writes Kounteya Sinha from “The Times of India.” Vytautas Toleikis who teaches ethics has now joined hands with eminent Lithuanian sculptor Romas Kvintas to make a life size bronze statue of the two historic figures in Rusne where Kallenbach was born.

Vytautas was mesmerized by Gandhi's philosophy after watching a film on him. It was during this that he stumbled upon Kallenbach. A student of Jewish history, Vytautas went around researching Kallenbach's past and found that he was born in Lithuania - a country that was greatly inspired by Gandhi's doctrine of non-violence during their own struggle against Russian invasion and occupation.

Vytautas then decided to make this historical friendship between the two historical characters public through a statue.

Vytautas who has already prepared the sample of the statue and is now initiating talks with the local city council in Rusne for the final clearance told TOI, "We fought the Russian without arms, inspired by Gandhi's doctrine. I first became aware of Gandhi and Kallenbach's friendship while watching the Ben Kingsley starrer movie on India's father of the nation. I then stumbled upon further historical record of the two in Lithuanian writer Ieva Simonaityte's works. It is important to popularise this friendship in Lithuania."

Vytautas added, "We will require $100,000 to erect the statue of which we have assurances from local businessmen who are willing to donate atleast 50% of it."

Lithuanian sculptor Romas Kvintas told TOI, "We have finalised an initial model of the statue in plaster. The sculpture will eventually be made in bronze and will be human size. It will be ready by July 2015."

Head of the Jewish community of Lithuania and lawyer Faina Kukliansky said, "Having such a sculpture is a great idea. It has to be agreed by the local community in Rusne. There are very few places across the world where prominent Jews are commemorated.

Kallenbach was introduced to Gandhi while they were both working in South Africa and after a series of discussions they developed an intimate and long lasting friendship.

Kallenbach was born in 1871 as the third eldest out of seven children of a German-Jewish family. In 1896, he went to South Africa to join his uncles in Johannesburg, where he practiced as an architect.

See the original article here.