The Righteous Among the World Awarding Ceremony took place on 28 April 2014 in the Government Office. During the ceremony, 11 families of savers of Jews, 21 persons in all, were honoured for risking their lives to save Jews from Nazi-led genocide during WWII.

Even in the face of death one must remain human,
Algirdas Butkevičius, Prime Minister of Lithuania, said.

The prime minister said that the Righteous Among the Nations are people who have done something that has no parallel. They withstood the essential human right of the doomed – the right to live.

The head of the government emphasised in his speech the old Jewish wisdom that saving one human life equals saving the whole world. "The Righteous Among the Nations who helped to save their friends, neighbours, or even complete strangers, knew it in their hearts that they were saving the whole world. Today we pay our utmost respect to our citizens who, by risking their lives, sought to save Jews from the hands of their executioners. These courageous people saw it as their duty to witness with their lives that one must retain human values even if his life is endangered because of them", the prime minister said.

The guests at the Righteous Among the Nations award ceremony were enchanted by the violin ensemble of the M. K. Čiurlionis music school (head Artūras Šilalė, concertmaster Aleksandras Vizbaras). The young musicians gave a virtuoso performance of Gardel’s The Day I Fell in Love with You and Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No 5.

Speech of the chairwoman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community:

A year ago, HE the ambassador of the State of Israel came to Vilnius with a noble mission – to deliver Yad Vashem awards to the rescuers of Jews. This year the award ceremony takes place in the Government Office and not in the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum. I would have several observations related to that.

The fact that the awards are delivered in the Government Office by no means downplays the significance of the efforts of the museum employees in searching for Jew-rescuers and in researching their stories. It is a holy work for which we must be thankful to the museum and its employees, especially to Danutė Selčinskaja who has dedicated her life to this noble goal. Not one rescuer, no more than one killer, must fall into oblivion.

Not only the state of Israel, the Lithuanian Jewish community but the whole of the Lithuanian state pay exceptional respect to the people who were rescuing Jews. This fact is especially noteworthy at the time when the world faces threats of war, and when real dangers are re-merging for the Jews even on the Old Continent. This is the case in Western Europe from which we draw experience and learn about tolerance, democracy and equality. Anti-Semitism assumes a new form, that of the denial of Israel. It is a very dangerous phenomenon.

At present we, the Jews of Lithuania, speak of Lithuania as a country friendly to the Jews which does a lot to protect the rights of all people and ensure equality.

However, for the sake of those receiving awards today, our dear saviours, for the sake of the saved Jews and for those whom no one attempted to save, I would like to say explicitly that we, the Lithuanian Jewish community, will never put up with anti-Semitic comments, slogans, articles and manifestoes which appear in the public space from time to time and are intended to provoke animosity between the Jews and the Lithuanians and the Lithuanian state. There must be absolute intolerance in the country to denial of the Holocaust or attempts to downplay the heroism of the rescuers. People who try to do this must be identified as criminals and persecuted with punitive measures.  

On this special day, with the prime minister among us, I would like to take the opportunity and, perhaps even infringe diplomatic ethics, to tell you that I returned from Israel yesterday where heads of some European Jewish communities had met with the leaders of the state of Israel. The Lithuanian Jewish community is a member of the European and World Jewish Congress.

The Republic of Lithuania and the Lithuanian Jewish community enjoy a great reputation in Israel. General Benjamin Gets, chief of the armed forces, promised to delegate groups of Israeli army soldiers to come to Lithuania for them to meet our young people, become acquainted with the history of Lithuania and of Lithuanian Jews. In the presence of all European delegations, the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu promised to visit Lithuania. I must have exceeded my powers by inviting him but Mr Netanyahu said he descends from the Vilna Gaon family. I would like to repeatedly emphasise how important it is for the state of Israel to honour the rescuers of Jews and how important it is to us, Jews from the whole world, the state of Israel to be safe and supported by other countries, including the European Union. Dear prime minister, you will probably agree with me that inviting the prime minister of Israel, the Litvak Benjamin Netanyahu, to visit Lithuania is a good idea. I think it would be a mutually useful visit.

The Righteous Among the Nations awards were presented to their relatives by Hagit Ben-Yaakov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel and the Chancellor of the Government Alminas Mačiulis.

Speech of Hagit Ben-Yaakov, Ambassador of the State of Israel

Excellencies!

Dear Leadership of the Jewish Community!

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Dear friends and guests of honour!

Just a few hours ago we commemorated the Holocaust victims in Paneriai on the occasion of the official Israeli Remembrance day commemorating the Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes.

Thus, it is a great honour for me to represent today the State of Israel in this significant ceremony awarding 11 Lithuanian families with medals and certificates of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Heroes’ and Martyrs’ Remembrance Authority.

Dear friends!

The Yad Vashem Authority that was established in Jerusalem, was entrusted with the task of commemorating the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators through the establishment of memorial projects; gathering, researching and publishing testimony of the Holocaust; and imparting its lessons.

Another important task is the identification of the names of the people who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust and recognition of them as “Righteous Among the Nations”.

The Righteous were beacons of hope in the “black ocean” of horror and despair. By their noble and courageous deeds they saved not only persecuted Jews, but also human dignity that was utterly lost during the Holocaust. In their case, the sentence - “whoever saves one life is as though he had saved the entire world” - receives a very special meaning.

Dear friends,

I would like to use this opportunity and express my gratitude to all those who were involved in organizing and implementing this significant ceremony dedicated to the “Righteous Among the Nations” – to the Government of Lithuania, for kindly agreeing to host the ceremony at its premises, to Mrs. Faina Kukliansky, Chairperson of the Jewish Community, to Mrs. Dana Selcinskaja from the Department of the Righteous, of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum, thanks to whose efficient efforts we have all gathered here today to award 11 Lithuanian families.

I would also like to thank Ambassador Darius Degutis for his active support and cooperation in our joint projects and activities.

During the ceremony the following persons were awarded with the Righteous Among the Nations medals and diplomas:

Jonas Eimontas (1906–1967)

 Tatjana Larionova (1917–2001)

 Valentinas Larionovas (1910–1967)

 Antonina Levinienė (1901–1971)

 Justina Preišogalavičienė (? ~ 1956)

Kazimieras Preišogalavičius (? ~ 1954)

 Nikodemas Preišogalavičius (1922–1984)

 Juozas Rimša (1875–1970)

 Justina Rimšienė (1876–1957)

Jurgis Rimša (1890–1967)

 Ona Rimšienė (1906–1972)

 Kazimieras Rudėnas (1892–1960)

 Veronika Rudėnienė (1896–1979)

 Elena Starkienė (1905–1989)

 Antanas Starkus (1901–1975)

 Polina Tarasevič (1905–1943)

Jurgis Vidmantas (1900–1993)

 Konstancija Vidmantienė (1902–1987)

 Pranas Vocelka (1897–1992)

 Aleksandras Vonžodas (1907–1984)

 Malvina Vonžodienė (1910–1992)

JONAS EIMONTAS

ALEKSANDRAS VONŽODAS

MALVINA VONŽODIENĖ

Jonas Eimontas 1967	Aleksandras and Malvina Vonzodai with daugther Irena and son Gracijonas
Chava Lopianskienė and Giršas Lopianskis and their children Jakovas and Eva. In Kaunas 1948.
The Rescue Story When the war broke out, Vilijampole district in Kaunas was turned into the Jewish ghetto. The houses of Lopianskis and Lobanovskis families happened to be in the same territory. During the Big Action Chava Lopianskiene, her daughter Riva, her son Josifas with his wife Chana and daughter Raja, were killed in the 9th Fort. Meier Lobanovskis – the father of Girshas’wife Chana – was the owner of a big house, a mill and a shop in Vandziogala. He knew local citizens very well. Girshas Lopianskis, being an agronomist, maintained good business relations with the local farmers. Meier Lobanovskis and his son-in-law Girshas Lopianskis agreed with the farmer, Aleksandras Vonzodas that the latter will arrange a hiding place for the Lopianskis and Lobanovskis families. One of Meier’s good acquaintances – Jonas Eimontas – maintained the connections between the Lopianskis and Lobanovskis families, who lived in the ghetto, and Aleksandras Vonzodas, Girshas Lopianskis, his wife Chana and son Jakovas, Chana’s sister – Asne Lobanovskyte, Meier Lobanovskis’ sister – Sheine Etl Keidanskiene and her husband Osheris, ran away from the ghetto. Jonas Eimontas waited for them with a cart filled with hay and clothes for Girshas and Chana who sat on top of the cart, like coachmen, whereas others hid in the hay. Jonas Eimontas rode a bicycle some distance ahead, in order to have enough time to warn them in case of danger. The escapees succeeded to reach safely the farm of Aleksandras Vonzodas near Vandziogala, where Aleksandras and Malvina had already been waiting for them. The hiding place was made under the pigsty. It served them as a shelter during autumn and winter 1943–1944. In spring 1944 Aleksandras arranged another hiding place – in the hay-loft. In this new shelter the members of the Lopianskis, Lobanovskis and Keidanskis families, awaited for the liberation. The award to Jonas Eimontas was accepted by: his daughter Elena Bužinskienė, sons Zenonas Eimontas and Jonas Alfonsas Eimontas

The awards to Aleksandras and Malvina Vonžodai were accepted by their grandchildren:
Tautvaldė Ramuckaitė, Violeta Ramuckaitė and Rimantas Ramuckis

VALENTINAS LARIONOVAS

TATJANA LARIONOVA

Valentinas Larionovas	Tatjana Gembickaitė Larionova 1938
Tatjana and Valentinas Larionovai, Tamara Gembickaitė with rescued girl Anita Kupric on the knees and Ana Gembickienė

The Rescue Story

Fira Kupritz was a widow of David Kupritz, who was killed soon after the German occupation in Lithuania, and a mother of David’s daughter Anita.

During the stay in the ghetto Fira re-established her connections with her friend, Tamara Gembickaite, whom she knew before the war. Tamara lived together with her mother Anna Gembickiene. Tamara was acquainted with Franz Jainschig, (her future husband) who was a citizen of Austria and served in Wehrmacht. Franz was placed in Kaunas and worked near the garage where cars used by the Gestapo were repaired.

Franz informed Fira about the train, in which the Germans moved Russian children-orphans to Germany. When the train was not able to follow to Germany because of the bombardments, Lithuanians could buy the children for 5 marks. Franz offered this as a possibility to transfer Anita.

On October 28, 1943, Simon Kaplan bribed one of the Lithuanian guards of the ghetto. Fira and Simon made Anita fall asleep under the influence of a sedative pill, put her in a bag and ran away from the ghetto to meet Franz, who had been waiting for them in an agreed place. Franz took Anita to the house of Anna Gembickiene. Anita stayed with the Gembickiene family until the time, when a neighbour informed Gestapo about it. Tamara Gembickaite called her sister, Tatjana Larionova, who lived in Vilnius. Her husband, Valentin Larionov, came to Kaunas by car and took the girl to their place. Thus, Anita stayed with the Larionov family until November 1944, when her mother came to pick her. With the approach of the Russians Tamara Gembickaite-Jainschig and Anna Gembickiene moved to Vienna.

Awards to Valentina and Tatjana Larionovs were accepted by their grandchildren Valentinas Larionovas,
Edita Sabataitienė and daughter-in-law Danutė Larionovienė.

KAZIMIERAS PREIŠOGALAVIČIUS

JUSTINA PREIŠOGALAVIČIENĖ

and their son NIKODEMAS

The Rescue Story

Simon Kaplan, living in Kaunas Ghetto was involved in constructing a barbed wire fence around the ghetto, after that Simon was forced to work at a military airport near Kaunas. Later on he was dealing with the delivery of firewood from various farmers to Kaunas Ghetto.

During this period he got acquainted with the Lithuanian family of Preišogalavičius, who possessed a farm near Veršvai, 3.5 km away from Kaunas, near the Nemunas river.

When Simon informed Kazimieras Preišogalavičius about his intention to build a bunker as a hiding place for himself and other Jews, Kazimieras offered to do it on the territory of his farm. Simon was building a bunker with the help of Kazimieras’s sons Pranas and Vincas (who were about 16 and 17 years old) for almost one year. He installed electricity there and also made a tunnel, leading to the river in case of need for urgent escape.

In January 1944 Simon Kaplan received information about denunciation on their hiding place, therefore together with Fira and other Jews they moved to the house of Nikodemas Preišogalavičius, who lived in Kaunas, near the 9^th Fort. After three weeks it became clear that the information was false and they all moved back to the bunker. There were around 13 people hiding in the bunker until the end of the occupation.

Simon Kaplan, who spoke fluent Lithuanian and did not look like a Jew used to go out for food and also to do some works for the farmers in the neighbourhood, part of whom knew who he was.

Fira Kupritz, Simon Kaplan stayed by the Preišogalavičius family until the liberation in 1944.

The awards to the Preišogalavičiai family were accepted by Vanda Vedegienė,
grand-daughter of Kazimieras and Justina Preišogalavičiai

ANTONINA LEVINIENĖ

Antonina Levinienė	Picture of Georgijus Petrovas who was saved

The Rescue Story

With the beginning of the German occupation the entire Rubinshtein family – Isaak Rubinshtein, his wife Eugenija, their daughter Dina, who was born right before the war, Eugenija’s son Georgijus and Isaak’s parents – Faivush and Frida – found themselves in the Siauliai ghetto. Isaak’s parents – Faivush and Frida, as well as his daughter Dina became the victims of the Children’s Action.

Right after the Children’s Action Georgijus’ parents organized his escape from the ghetto with the help of Antonina Leviniene. Unknown people took Georgijus through the gates of the Frenkel factory where he had been working at that time, and the boy went to Antonina Leviniene, who lived in the very centre of Siauliai. Georgijus was already expected there and the day after Antonina took him to a small apartment near the market, where a young woman, called Jelizaveta lived. Jelizaveta was hiding Georgijus for nearly a month. From time to time Georgijus used to visit his friends – Jurgis and Elena – Antonina’s children. On December 30, 1943, Georgijus’s uncle (his father’s brother) – Ivan Petrov – came from Daugavpils. Before his arrival Antonina managed to organize a forged birth certificate for Georgijus, thanks to which he was able to live under a legal status. On the eve of the New Year Ivan Petrov took his nephew to Daugavpils, where he awaited the liberation.

After the liquidation of the Siauliai ghetto Isaak Rubinshtein and Georgijus’ mother Eugenija found themselves in Stutthof. Isaak was moved to Dachau and then – to Auschwitz, where he perished. Eugenija, who managed to run away from the column of Stuthoff’s prisoners, was hiding at Polish peasants. After the war she found her rescued son in Daugavpils.

Despite of the danger Antonina Leviniene, risking her own life and the lives of her children, took care of the boy upon herself; she organized his escape from the Siauliai ghetto, also the boy’s transfer to his uncle, Ivan Petrov, in whose house Georgijus lived until the end of the war.

JUOZAS RIMŠA

JUSTINA RIMŠIENĖ

JURGIS RIMŠA

ONA RIMŠIENĖ

Justina Rimšienė 1876–1957, Juozas Rimša 1875–1970

 Ona Rimšienė 1906–1972, Jurgis Rimša 1890–1967 

ELENA STARKIENĖ

ANTANAS STARKUS

 Elena Starkienė and Antanas Starkus with their children Kęstutis ir Valiutė (Elena). Kaunas, 1940

Picture of Prof. Antanas Starkus

The Rescue Story

When Kaunas Jews had been driven to the ghetto, Olga Gurviciute turned out to be among the victims of the First Action. She ran away from the ghetto and found herself in Minsk, but later Olga came back to Kaunas and went to her friend, Marija Zelciute, who gave her shelter. For quite a long time she had been receiving shelter and help from Professor Antanas Starkus, his wife Elena and two children. In 1943 Professor Antanas Starkus was arrested and taken to the Shtutthof concentration camp, where he saved lives of many prisoners, while working as a camp doctor.

Eventually Olga found shelter in the house of a sculptor Petras Rimsa; but it was too dangerous to stay in his small apartment in Kaunas. In October 1942 Petras’ brother Juozas Rimsa, took Olga to their house in Vilkaviskis region, Naudziai village. Two families lived in the house – Juozas Rimsa and his wife Justina and Juozas’ brother Jurgis Rimsa, his wife Ona and son Aidas. In 1944 Ona gave birth to daughter Onute.Olga was accepted as an equal member of the family. She was introduced to all the workers of the farm as an orphan Stepute, who did not have a place to live and whom sculptor Petras Rimsa sent to his brothers’ place in a village. In the house of Rimsas Olga Gurviciute awaited her liberation.

The awards of Antanas and Elena Starkai were accepted by grand-daughters Rasa Kubilienė,
Gabrielė Žaidytė and grand-grandson Andrius Kubilius

KAZIMIERAS RUDĖNAS

VERONIKA RUDĖNIENĖ

 
Rudėnai family picture

The Rescue Story

Before the war Kazimieras and Veronika Rudenas, their 6 children, the eldest of whom – Stase, lived in their farm Sermuksnyne, in the village of Snieriskes, Moletai region, near the Aisetas lake. Quite often local fishermen, who used to fish in the Aisetas lake, stayed in Kazimieras’ house for several days. Kazimieras was a member of the parochial committee in a church in Labanoras village. During the war Kazimieras and Veronika Rudenas hid two Kacerginskis brothers – Jakovas (Jankelis) and Eliezeris (Leizeris) and their cousin – Eske Streselskis in a dug-out, made in the forest. All of them survived the war.

After the war the Kacerginskis brothers moved to Utena and persuaded also Kazimieras Rudenas to move closer to the town, because the Rudenas, as big landowners, were threatened to be deported to Siberia. The Rudenas family moved to Azudvariai village near Utena, thus escaping from the exile.

Up until his death in 1960 Kazimieras Rudenas maintained close connections with the Kacerginskis brothers. In 1973 both brothers emigrated to Israel together with their families.

Although Jakovas and Eliezeris Kacerginskis are not alive any more, their sons Jehoshua and Shimon, who reside in Israel nowadays, managed to find the descendants of their rescuers in Utena and provided evidence to Yad Vashem about the rescue of their fathers.

The recipients of the awards to Kazimieras and Veronikos Rudėnai were their grandchildren Arvydas Rudėnas,
Gintaras Rudėnas, Jonas Araminas, Algis Araminas, Saulius Čekas

POLINA TARASEVIČ

The Rescue Story

According to the testimony of Anatolij Kasinskij (Kasryel Bernan), one night his mother, Brocha Bernan, bribed a policeman with a fine box of silver spoons and took him and his brothers Samuel and Sholem out of the ghetto. They walked towards Jašiūnai and hid in the forests near Piliakainiai, Turgeliai and Parudominis villages (about 30-40 km from Vilnius). But some of the locals gave them away. They were caught by the policemen and taken to the forest to be shot. The policemen made Anatolij’s mother and the elder brother dig a pit, but then the policeman fired a few shots in the ground and let them go. They hid in the forest for some time, but it was difficult to hide in one bunch, therefore the mother made an agreement with reliable people and decided to leave Anatolij and his younger brother in different adjacent villages. She kept her elder son Sholem with her.

Anatolij lived at Polina Tarasevich’s in Predtechenka village (now Biržiškės), Vilnius district. Polina Tarasevich’s niece Sofija Juljevna Petrovskaja (later Vasilyeva) lived with them too. She still lives there and can testify all events laid out in Anatolij’s testimony.

When Anatolij came back from the forest the next morning, he was told that Polina Tarasevich, his mother and brother were put in a carriage, tied up and taken away to be shot. A few days later, Polina Tarasevich’s relatives managed to dig her body out and rebury it in the cemetery. Anatolij knows nothing of his mother’s and his brother Sholem’s fate: neither where they were killed, nor where they were buried.

During the war both hiding brothers Kasryel and Samuel were called by different names. Kasryel was called Anatolij Kasinkij, but Samuel – Mikhail Kasinskij. Samuel survived as well. He was rescued by Ludwik and Monika Koszczyc.

The award to Polina Tarasevič was accepted by her niece Sofija Vasiljeva and
Sofija’s grandchildren – Lešekas Vasiljevas and Valentina Velavičienė

JURGIS VIDMANTAS

KONSTANCIJA VIDMANTIENĖ

 Prof. Jurgis Vidmantas and his wife Konstancija Vidmantienė
Kaunas, 1950

The Rescue Story

Before the war the Jewish family of Subotsky lived in Kaunas. The family consisted of father Issar, mother Bronia and son Emanuel. On July 3, 1941, a few days after the occupation of Kaunas by the Germans, the father was killed by local collaborators. In August the mother and the son moved to the ghetto, where they stayed until November 1943.

One day in November Bronia and her son left the territory of the ghetto, among the chain of workers, in order to find a safe hiding place for Emanuel, who did not look like a Jew and spoke fluent Lithuanian. He was given shelter by several families for short periods of time. From 27 December 1943 Emanuel Subotsky lived in Kalnenai village, Jubarkas region, he stayed there with the Shneideris family until May 1944.

In May 1944, after the quarrel with the neighbour, suspicion arose that he guessed that Emanuel was a Jew and that the Shneideris family was hiding him. Therefore, the Shneideris’ daughter accompanied Emanuel back to the ghetto. But on the way, with the help of Antanina Mazyliene, they found Emanuel’s mother Bronia, who had been staying with the Vidmantas family since April 1944. She pretended to be Vidmantas’ relative, was helping about the house and taught the German language toVidmantas’ daughter Gygaja. The family allowed Emanuel also to stay with them until a safer place was not found for him. A few days later Jurgis Vidmantas took Emanuel to Paneveziukas village, where he possessed a small farm, which he was renting out to a peasant family. Emanuel joined them as a shepherd. Emanuel stayed with this family until the liberation in August 1944 and one month more until his mother came to take him.

After the liberation Bronia and her son Emanuel lived in Vilnius and maintained close connections with their rescuers.

On behalf of Jurgis and Konstancija Vidmantai – daughter Gygaja Žekienė and son Vidimantas Žekas

PRANAS VOCELKA

 Picture of Pranas Vocelka

Julijana Zarchi

The Rescue Story

When it became quite clear that all the Kaunas ghetto inhabitants were destined to die and that something had to be done without delay, Pranas Vocelka, a Czech, managed to take from ghetto his wife Feiga and 3 children Maria, Zofia and Juozas, and a small girl Juliana Zarchi. The last was entrusted to her grandmother. At the beginning, Vocelka’s family found refuge with acquaintances. Afterwards, the Vocelkas rented a flat, which could hardly be called a flat. It was a place absolutely hidden from the eyes of the police, since it had neither an entrance nor windows. It consisted of two rooms located behind the laundry of another flat; there was only one small window, facing a high blind wall, and a light had to burn inside all day long. There Vocelka settled his children, and several months later his wife, too. He did not register the children with the police, and they did not go to school.

Pranas Vocelka maintained close touch with the Kaunas Ghetto prisoners and the rescuers of Jews. He was a frequent guest at Elena Holcmanienė’s home. Pranas Vocelka was a “specialist”, who prepared fake documents for the Jews. He did it particularly skilfully and helped to rescue many people among them there were Rozalija Osipavičienė (Chaitinaitė) and her daughter Zofija (now Karkazienė).

After the Children’s Action in March 1944, Pesach Joselevich and his sister Chana were smuggled out of the ghetto. A group of typographers Pranas Vocelka, Julija Vitkauskienė, Mikas Lukauskas, his wife Elena and other honest people participated in this rescue operation.

On behalf of Pranas Vocelka the award was handed to his son Juozas Vocelka,
and his grandchildren Kristina and Edvardas

Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Neris Germanas took part in this year’s
Righteous Among the Nations award ceremony.

"Today we see people in the Government Palace whose deeds and choices in life witness how important it is to guard ceaselessly and implement the basic values of humanity", vice-minister Neris Germanas said. He greeted the relatives of those who were honoured for being rescuers of Jews, thanked the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum for their hard work over many years in gathering testimonies of saved Jews and other historical research. He also delivered to Danutė Selčinskaja, head of the Righteous Gentiles and Commemoration Unit, a memento from Linas Linkevičius, minister of foreign affairs of Lithuania.

Rasa Kubilienė, grand-daughter of Antanas and Elena Starkai, shared her mother Elena Starkutė-Žaidienė’s memories of the family’s help to Jews during the war, the arrest of prof. Antanas Starkus and his deportation to the Stutthof concentration camp with the participants of the ceremony.

Prof. Antanas Starkus


 

Kaunas, autumn of 1941. Lithuania is occupied by the Germans, the occupiers establish ghettoes and forcefully move Jewish families to live there. Sad, overwhelmed people slog along the streets. They have six-pointed yellow stars sewn onto their clothes, and occasionally they secretly try to sell something to get some money. (When the war was over and one of the “sellers” returned home, my mom returned things she had purchased and explained that they do not belong to them because she purchased them only because such a form of giving allowed those people to save some dignity.

October 1941. It’s more or less peaceful at home. The family have dinner. Our parents Elena Starkienė and Antanas Starkus introduce us to a guest we have never seen before – Monika (her real name was Olga Gurvičiūtė) and told us she was going to live with us, but we cannot speak about that to anyone. It shall be our family secret. If we had guests Monika would retreat to the room behind the kitchen and stay there until we announced that only the family was there. She lived with us until 16 March 1943.

In spite of the fact that we had a female Jew hiding in our home, my father behaved bravely. He would write out sick certificates for young people of conscription age and helped them evade the draft to the occupying army, he forewarned students to leave the auditorium if they were under threat of arrest, and took part in underground publishing activity. In public they did not refrain from expressing their disgust with the behaviour of the Germans who had the reputation of a people of culture. Life went on – mom worked as a teacher, father worked at the university, my brother and I went to school.

When the universities of Vilnius and Kaunas were closed on 16 March 1943, the Gestapo arrested forty-six prominent Lithuanian intellectuals, my father among them. They were declared ‘hostages’, responsible for the fact that young people avoided voluntary draft in their hundreds of thousands. As soon as next day the prisoners were deported to the Stutthof labour camp near Danzig. And even there my father, working 16 hours a day under terrible conditions at the prisoners’ hospital, tried to save his friends of different nationalities who were consumed by illness. Under threat of hanging or being torn apart by trained dogs he would throw some medicine or food over the fence to female Jews imprisoned behind electric barbed-wire fences. He once shared with me: “If I couldn’t help those doomed, I would have had no reason to live”.

In the meantime, my mother, my brother and I were hiding Ada Feldšteinaitė, a child of 3-4 years old.

Today we have organisations and individuals working to make sure the historic truth doesn’t fade; they collect the facts and evidence of horrible Nazi crimes and genocide.

On behalf of my family, all honoured and awarded Righteous who cannot be present at this solemn ceremony, I pay my utmost respect to long-term employees of the Vilna Gaon Museum Ms Viktorija Sakaitė, Ms Danutė Selčinskaja, Mr Markas Zingeris, whose dedication and persistent work enabled us today to honour the Righteous Among the Nations. I would like to thank the associates of the Yad Vashem institute and all participants of this project. May you and followers of your noble mission enjoy success in all of your endeavours.

Alexandre Kaplan came from Paris to honour the saviours of his sister Anita Kupric and his father Simon Kaplan.

Alexandre Kaplan’s speech.

 Ladies in Gentlemen,
My name is Alexandre Kaplan,

I live in Paris for about 50 years now but I was born in Kaunas. My family lived in Lithuania for several hundreds of years. I’m very happy to be here to commemorate the memory of those who risked their lives to save others.

Before WW2 my mother Fira lived quietly in Kaunas with her husband David Kuprytz.

Kuprytz family owned a big house & two cinemas in Kaunas: Metropolitenas & Triumf. ira & David lived at71 Laisvės alėja, in their apartment above Metropolitenas which became today « Kauno valstybinis dramos teatras ».

For hundreds of years Lithuania was the cradle of Jewish culture. Over 200 thousand Jews lived there together with their Lithuanian neighbours.

My father Simon Kaplan (born in Kedainiai in 1922) said to me: I never felt any anti-Semitism in Lithuania before 1935 since Antonas Smetona was the President.

So what has happened?

Sunday June 22^nd 1941: The beginning of the Barbarossa Plan: German invasion of the Soviet Union. Permission to kill Jews arrived to Lithuania with Nazis.

On Monday, June 25^rd 1941 Nazi’s army arrive to Kaunas capital of Lithuania

On Wednesday June 25^th to 29^th The Kaunas pogrom. Walter Stahlecker the chief of the Einsatzgruppe A arrived in Kaunas on the morning of June 25 and held agitation speeches in the city to instigate the murder of Jews, initially in the former State Security Department building, but officials there refused to take any action. He later succeeded in convincing Algirdas Klimaitis (chief of the pro Nazi paramilitary group of about 600 men) to start the pogrom. Stahlecker reports 5000 Jews were killed: 3800 in Kaunas & another 1200 around Kaunas.

July the 2^nd 1941: Arrival to Kaunas of the Einsatzkommando 3 of the Einsatzgruppe A with their chief killer SS-Standartenführer Karl Jäger.

July the 4^th: David Kuprytz is killed at the 7^th Fort with 462 other Jews.

July 31^st is born my sister Anita daughter of Fira & David.

December 1^st: after he has killed 133 346 Jews in 5 moths Karl Jäger reports to Berlin:

“Today, it is possible for me to say that the EK3 reached the target, he solved the Jewish problem in Lithuania. There are no more Jews in the area, except the Jewish workers assigned to special tasks, either:

Schaulen approx. 4500

Kauen 15000

Vilna 15000

I intended to liquidate the Jewish workers and their families, but the civil administration (the Reichskommissar) and the Wehrmacht were extremely hostile to the plan, whereby: It is forbidden to shoot the Jews and their families!

Our goal to rid Lithuania of these Jews could be achieved through the implementation of several waves of commandos made ​​from selected men and placed under the command of SS-men Obersturmführer Hamann; He has fully adhered to the objectives and secured the cooperation of Lithuanian patriots and competent civil authorities”.

In these circumstances 5 non Jews families risked their life to help my family:

Gembicki, Larionov, Jainschig, Preisegolavicius & Kairiukstis.

We will never forget them!

 Picture of Alexandre Kaplan with the Larionov family

Julijana Zarchi  

Speech of Julijana Zarchi, who was rescued by Pranas Vocelka during the war:

 Dear ladies and gentlemen, 

I am glad we have a chance to honour the memory of the people who did not abandon their moral convictions during the darkest period of the 20^th century and put their lives at risk to save people.

Europe suffered the worst Nazi regime which created a perfect death machine. This death machine employed industrial means to obliterate the whole of the European Jewry in a short period of time. Two-thirds of German society supported Hitler; 95 per cent of Lithuanian Jews were murdered. But there were some people who, in spite of threats to their and their family’s lives, tried to help the doomed.

One such person was Pranas (Franc) Vocelka. He saved not only me but also many other people. Helena Holzman wrote about him in her book This Child Must Live, Edwin Geist, a German half-Jew, a composer expelled from Berlin, mentioned him in his diary For Lyda.

I express my most sincere gratitude to Ms Hagit ben Yakov, Ambassador of the State of Israel, to Yad Vashem, the institute commemorating martyrs and heroes, Mr Darius Degutis, Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to Israel, Ms Danutė Selčinskaja head of Righteous Gentiles and Commemoration Unit of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum, for honouring Pranas Vocelka with the title of Righteous Among the Nations.

It is easier to live when you know that people with clear moral guidance such as Pranas Vocelka have always been around, although they were not many in number.

 Markas Zingeris

Speech of Markas Zingeris, director of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum:

 Dear relatives of rescuers,

Your Excellency Ms Hagit ben Yaakov,

Your Excellencies,

Dear participants of the March of the Living,

Members and guests of the Jewish Community

Your Excellencies,

Families of the Righteous among the Nations,

Honored Guests,

Participants of the March of the Living,

Members of Lithuania‘s Jewish Community

If you allow me I‘ll summarise here what I‘ve said in Lithuanian.

We, at the State Jewish History Museum of Lithuania, have an opportunity to observe hundreds of lives, which have been passing before hundreds of years last century, during a time of Peace and a Time of War.

This is works of art, related to some personality, household silverware of Jewish families, while the warmth of the hostess‘ heart evaporated great many years ago. Also witness‘ statements to horrifying and inconceivable crimes, narrations about unforgettable moments in persons‘ life.

But nothing touches us more than episodes of human solidarity and decisions to host, the neighbours or strangers, who are being hunted down by Nazis and their local collaborators, at a peril to ones and his family‘s life and well being.

Lithuania is a country where Jewish communities and individuals where annihilated mostly at the location, in the neighbourhoods of their towns and villages. This was mainly done by SS and the so called Lithauische Hilfspolizei.

At the same time the Lithuanian Righteous Gentiles have taken an action – some individually, some collectively, some saving a Jewish child, lost or smuggled in the words of one memoir, a potatoes sack from the ghetto. The punishment was severe for the whole family –shootings, deportations, confiscations.

For some, like Ona Šimaitė or Sofija Binkienė, Righteous Among the Nations in Lithuania it was a principle struggle against the barbarity of Nazism and degradation of humanity, for some, and mostly, it was a Law of their Heart. In my view, these people saved the Honour of Lithuania during the War. It is a shame that no school in Lithuania bears their names yet, although a street in Vilnius was named recently by the name of Ona Šimaitė, a librarian of Vilnius University, a fighter against Nazism and a Righteous Among the Nations.

For a long row of years museum is collecting and saving for the present and future generations the stories of people who extended their hand and provided warmth and shelter to their Jewish neighbours or Jewish strangers, putting their own lives and those of their family in extreme danger, but saving the faith in humanity for the persecuted and for us today.

We live in uneasy times and their example serves us well.

Today we‘ve presented for the award 11 families.

I‘m proud and happy Museum is continuing on its mission together with Lithuanian Government, with the State of Israel, with Lithuanian Jewish Community.

Thank you for your attention.

The Righteous Among the Nations award ceremony was attended by guests from Israel, participants of the March of the Living, among whom Sergei Korablikov-Kovarski, doctor and poet. Sergei was born in the Vilnius ghetto in December 1942; he was rescued by kind-hearted women – the Righteous Among the Nations Fetinija and Jevdokija Korablikovas. Sergei greeted the awarded Righteous Among the Nations and their relatives and gave an especially valuable and beautiful gift to the students of Vilnius St Cristopher gymnasium – a painting by the Lithuanian artist Leonardas Gutauskas, which accompanied Sergei on all the main journeys of his life. This painting depicts a small street in Vilnius old town with a passer by receding into the distance. To Sergei this remote figure is associated with the unknown priest, the Rescuer who saw him, a baby back then, being put into a basket and lowered through the Jewish hospital window down to the street where his rescuer, Fetinija Korablikova, was waiting for him. The priest, who just happened to be walking by, saw this and blessed little Sergei; and this, Sergei believes, was the providential sign in the story of his survival.

This meaningful gift of doctor Sergei Korablikov-Kovarski was accepted by the students of Vilnius St Cristopher gymnasium and director of the gymnasium Aldona Grušnienė.

Organisers of the event:

THE EMBASSY OF ISRAEL

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

THE VILNA GAON JEWISH STATE MUSEUM

JEWISH COMMUNITY OF LITHUANIA

Pictures by Paulius Račiūnas
Editor Danutė Selčinskaja