THE ALLEY OF THE RIGHTEOUS: Juozas Rimša, Justina Rimšienė, Jurgis Rimša, Ona Rimšienė

Kaunas Ghetto inmate, Olga Gurvičiūtė (later Olga Horwitz) ended up on the list of victims of the first action, but on the way to the fort, one of the Nazi assistants sent her back home. Thus, absolutely unexpectedly, Olga escaped death, fled from the ghetto and went to Minsk. Later she returned to Kaunas again and hid with her friend Marija Zelčiūtė. Professor Antanas Starkus with his wife Elena and their two children sheltered Olga Gurvičiūtė for a rather long time. In 1943, Starkus was arrested by the Gestapo and taken to Stutthof concentration camp where he worked as a doctor and saved the lives of many inmates. Still later, sculptor Petras Rimša, who also provided shelter to Olga Gurvičiūtė, handed his ward over to his brother Juozas, who in October 1942 secretly drove Olga to his and his brother’s homestead in Naudžiai village, Vilkaviškis region, Pilviškis rural district, where he lived with his wife Justina and his other brother Jurgis and his family – wife Ona, son Aidas and later their baby girl Onutė. The Rimšas embraced Olga like a full-fledged member of their family. To the hired labourers she was introduced as the orphan Steputė whom Petras Rimša had sent to join his brothers in the village. Olga Gurvičiūtė (Horwitz) lived in the homestead of the Rimša brothers until the liberation.

 

 

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

Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History, Vilnius, 2019