Rescuers of Jews
Bagurskienė Marijona
JUOZAPAS BAGURSKAS
MARIJONA BAGURSKIENĖ
BRONISLAVA DANĖ NASICKIENĖ (BAGURSKAITĖ)
ŠVAIKAUSKIENĖ ALDONA (BAGURSKAITĖ)
Maxim Broer was born on 1 January 1941. His mother Roza (Reizel) Ring came from Pabradė, where her parents owned a shop. Maxim's father Šlomas (Šleimė) Broer was born in Šiauliai. Maxim’s parents met and married in Kaunas, both working as tailors. In the summer of 1941, Maksim's elder brother Ilya visited his grandparents Leizer and Beila in Pabradė. During the first days of the war, neighbours searched grandfather Leizer's house, probably looking for jewels. When they found nothing, they set the house on fire. Maxim's grandparents and his brother Ilya were burnt alive. In the Kaunas Ghetto, the Broer family lived in a small house with several other families. Maxim's father worked at the Aleksotas airfield, and his mother worked at the “Silva” sock factory. There she met a woman who agreed to take in a Jewish boy. She did not ask for money or any other goods but had only one condition: the boy must not be circumcised. A guard at the ghetto fence was bribed, and then three-year-old Maxim Broer was taken out of the ghetto in a potato sack and handed over to his rescuers, the Bagurskas family. The family of Juozapas and Marijona Bagurskas lived near Kaunas, in the village of Mikalinava, with a farm and a small shop. They had three children: two daughters, Danutė and Aldutė, and a son, Vytautas, who was disabled. The Bagurskas treated Maxim in the same way as their own children. Maksimas spoke only Yiddish, but soon learned Lithuanian. However, he was still hidden from strangers all the time, he was baptized and named Albinas Bagurskas.
From Maxim Broer's memories: The attitude of all family members towards me in the Bagurskas family was exceptional, and I felt it very well. I had a special bond with their daughter Danutė. Perhaps because she was closer to my age. One incident stands out in my memory:
The Bagurskas' house stood about 200 meters away from the match factory. Before retreating from the Kaunas region, the Germans blew up the factory at night. A huge flame shot up against the backdrop of absolute darkness. There was no light in that area. The Bagurskas had a large garden, in the middle of which was a hiding place where the family hid during bombings. It was the same that time - after the explosion, the whole family ran into the hiding place. I was afraid (I was 4-5 years old) to run into the garden and afraid to return home. They called me to come, but I was afraid to run. Danutė ran out of the hiding place through all those explosions, picked me up and ran with me to the hiding place, crying and hugging me tightly. I will never forget that.
Maxim Broer's father managed to escape from the ghetto to join the partisan unit, where he fought until the liberation of Kaunas from the Nazis. Mother survived in the Stutthof concentration camp.
Maxim Broer graduated from Kaunas Polytechnic Institute and has been living in Israel with his family since 1972.
MARIJONA BAGURSKIENĖ
BRONISLAVA DANĖ NASICKIENĖ (BAGURSKAITĖ)
ŠVAIKAUSKIENĖ ALDONA (BAGURSKAITĖ)
Maxim Broer was born on 1 January 1941. His mother Roza (Reizel) Ring came from Pabradė, where her parents owned a shop. Maxim's father Šlomas (Šleimė) Broer was born in Šiauliai. Maxim’s parents met and married in Kaunas, both working as tailors. In the summer of 1941, Maksim's elder brother Ilya visited his grandparents Leizer and Beila in Pabradė. During the first days of the war, neighbours searched grandfather Leizer's house, probably looking for jewels. When they found nothing, they set the house on fire. Maxim's grandparents and his brother Ilya were burnt alive. In the Kaunas Ghetto, the Broer family lived in a small house with several other families. Maxim's father worked at the Aleksotas airfield, and his mother worked at the “Silva” sock factory. There she met a woman who agreed to take in a Jewish boy. She did not ask for money or any other goods but had only one condition: the boy must not be circumcised. A guard at the ghetto fence was bribed, and then three-year-old Maxim Broer was taken out of the ghetto in a potato sack and handed over to his rescuers, the Bagurskas family. The family of Juozapas and Marijona Bagurskas lived near Kaunas, in the village of Mikalinava, with a farm and a small shop. They had three children: two daughters, Danutė and Aldutė, and a son, Vytautas, who was disabled. The Bagurskas treated Maxim in the same way as their own children. Maksimas spoke only Yiddish, but soon learned Lithuanian. However, he was still hidden from strangers all the time, he was baptized and named Albinas Bagurskas.
From Maxim Broer's memories: The attitude of all family members towards me in the Bagurskas family was exceptional, and I felt it very well. I had a special bond with their daughter Danutė. Perhaps because she was closer to my age. One incident stands out in my memory:
The Bagurskas' house stood about 200 meters away from the match factory. Before retreating from the Kaunas region, the Germans blew up the factory at night. A huge flame shot up against the backdrop of absolute darkness. There was no light in that area. The Bagurskas had a large garden, in the middle of which was a hiding place where the family hid during bombings. It was the same that time - after the explosion, the whole family ran into the hiding place. I was afraid (I was 4-5 years old) to run into the garden and afraid to return home. They called me to come, but I was afraid to run. Danutė ran out of the hiding place through all those explosions, picked me up and ran with me to the hiding place, crying and hugging me tightly. I will never forget that.
Maxim Broer's father managed to escape from the ghetto to join the partisan unit, where he fought until the liberation of Kaunas from the Nazis. Mother survived in the Stutthof concentration camp.
Maxim Broer graduated from Kaunas Polytechnic Institute and has been living in Israel with his family since 1972.