THE ALLEY OF THE RIGHTEOUS: onas Poniškaitis, Ona Poniškaitienė, Antanas Pranciškus Poniškaitis

 

 

Izaokas Glikas

 

In winter 1942, Izaokas Glikas and Malke Glik were sheltered by Ona and Jonas Poniškaitis who had seven children of their own and lived in Žalvėderiai village, Šakiai region. The Poniškaitis and the Gliks did not know each other from before the war. It was the Dubininkas, the neighbours of the Poniškaitis, who took Malke Glik and Izaokas to the Poniškaitis. Although they had a swarm of children of their own, they could not refuse to help the people in the rat trap. Other members of the Glik family would also come to the Poniškaitis’ place. When somebody from the Poniškaitis family spotted a stranger coming, they would hide the Glik children in a boxroom or a barn. In summer 1942, Fr Antanas Skeltys, who was the brother of Ona Poniškaitienė, decided to help his sister and took the little Izaokas to the Salesian monastery in Vytėnai.

 

 

From: Whosoever saves a single life, saves an entire universe

Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History, Vilnius, 2019