Rescuers of Jews

     After Nazi Germany occupied Lithuania and the persecution of the Jews began, the residents of Telšiai, Jonas and Vladislava Vaicekauskas, together with their daughter Janina Visockienė and her husband Vladas Visockis, helped rescue the Jewish women Eta Blankienė, her daughter Chana Blankaitė, Roza Gurvičienė, Roza's mother Volpertienė, and Ela Šapirienė.
     On 31 August 1941, Eta Blankienė and her daughter Chana escaped from the very edge of the execution pit during the liquidation of the Geruliai Jewish camp. They hoped to find refuge in the Telšiai Ghetto. Upon learning that Eta and her daughter had reached the ghetto, Vladislava Vaicekauskienė sent them food and promised that she would obtain permission to take them into her home as workers as soon as possible.
     The two families had known one another for many years and were close friends. Eta Blankienė's daughter, Sonė Blankaitė, was the best friend of the Vaicekauskas family's daughter, Janina Vaicekauskaitė-Visockienė. Shortly before the outbreak of the war, Sonė and her fiancé managed to flee to the Soviet Union.
     The Vaicekauskas family succeeded in obtaining permission to take the two Jewish women for farm work. Vladas Visockis brought Eta Blankienė and Chana to their home, where they were housed in the attic and never left the house.
     Janina Vaicekauskaitė-Visockienė recalled: They stayed with us until 24 December 1941, when the Telšiai Ghetto was liquidated. That day, the Germans came to take them away. My husband told me to hide them in the attic, and I did. Meanwhile, he kept the Germans occupied by offering them vodka so that they would stop searching for Blankienė and her daughter Chana. After they had enjoyed their drinks, they searched the house but, finding no one, left.
     Some time later, someone reported the family for hiding Jews, making it no longer safe to shelter Eta Blankienė and her daughter in their home. Vladislava Vaicekauskienė turned for help to Father Kazimieras Prialgauskas, then a professor at the Telšiai Seminary. He found the two women a hiding place with an elderly, impoverished religious woman Julelė (her surname is unknown). As Julelė had no means of feeding the fugitives, Vladislava continued to prepare food for them, while Janina and Vladas Visockis delivered it to them every evening.
     From the memoirs of Janina Vaicekauskaitė-Visockienė: Malicious people reported Julelė for hiding Jews. All of us were in mortal danger. Father Prialgauskas found another hiding place, and once again my husband Jonas and I carried the food prepared by my mother. During the night, Father Prialgauskas and my mother would escort them from one hiding place to another.
     In 1943, Godelis, a farmer known to both families, transported Eta Blankienė and Chana Blankaitė to the Šiauliai Ghetto. In Šiauliai, they were cared for by the Venclauskas family. After Eta Blankienė died, Chana remained in Žemaičių Naumiestis together with Gražbylė Venclauskaitė from the autumn of 1943 until the end of the war. After Sonė Hesienė (née Blankaitė) returned to Lithuania following the war, Chana went to live with her sister in Kaunas. Later, Chana Blankaitė-Restienė emigrated to Israel.
     The Vaicekauskas and Visockis families remained in contact with Chana. In 1993, Chana Restienė visited Lithuania with her son and spent a month staying with Janina Visockienė.
     From the memoirs of Janina Vaicekauskaitė-Visockienė: In 1942, Roza Gurvičienė (née Volpertaitė; she died after the war) found refuge with us. Her son, Jaša Gurvičius, often came at night to visit his mother, and sometimes I would accompany Mrs Gurvičienė arm in arm to meet Jaša. On several occasions, Gurvičienė was also visited by her elderly mother, Volpertienė. Ela Šapirienė also found temporary shelter with our family. During those terrible times, unfortunate people often knocked on our door. We helped everyone we could. My mother and Father Prialgauskas searched for places where those in need could hide.
     There were moments when our lives and the lives of those we sheltered hung by a thread.<...> Another terrifying incident involved Roza Gurvičienė. As she was walking from the hallway into the room, the wife of the head of the Arbeitsamt [German: Employment Office] happened to see her through the open front door. She used to buy milk from us, and the Arbeitsamt was located directly opposite our windows. Fortunately, she was a local Russian woman, and we managed to buy her silence.<...>
     So there was hardship and there was fear, but in the end everything turned out well. We never received, nor asked for, any reward. However, when we were deported to Siberia, Jaša Gurvičius helped us, and he called my daughter his sister.
     In 1995, the Yad Vashem Memorial Institute recognized Vladislava and Jonas Vaicekauskas and their daughter, Janina Vaicekauskaitė-Visockienė, as Righteous Among the Nations. In the same year, Janina Vaicekauskaitė-Visockienė was awarded the Life Saving Cross. During the 2026 award ceremony, the Life Saving Cross was also awarded to the other members of the family – Vladislava Vaicekauskienė, Jonas Vaicekauskas, and Vladas Visockis.