Rescuers of Jews
Vaitkus Jonas
During the entire period of German occupation, residents of the village of Gūrai, in the Raseiniai region – Ona and Antanas Račiūnas and their adult sons Antanas, Petras, and Vincentas – along with relatives from the same village, including Pranas Zaksas, Ona and Marijona Zaksaitės, and Jonas Vaitkus, hid and fed members of Samson Milner's family.
The Račiūnas and Zaksas families were acquainted with Samson Milner’s family even before the war. Samson Milner, a resident of Raseiniai, owned a mill and sawmill with Faivel Kagan, the brother of Samson’s wife. Many farmers in the Raseiniai area were clients of Samson Milner, so they knew him and Faivel Kagan well. Faivel Kagan was unmarried, and Samson Milner, having become a widower early in life, raised his two sons, Aron (born in 1929) and Berel (born in 1931), on his own.
When Nazi Germany occupied Lithuania, Jewish persecution began immediately, and soon reports of the first victims spread. At that time, Samson Milner approached the Račiūnas family to ask if they would help him if needed. The head of the Račiūnas family, Antanas, promised to assist Samson Milner and his sons in any way possible.
During the mass killings of Jews in Raseiniai and surrounding areas on September 28, 1941, Samson Milner, his sons, and Faivel Kagan managed to escape and sought refuge with the Račiūnas family. Initially, the fugitives decided to split up because it was too dangerous for all four to hide together. Faivel Kagan and his nephew Aron Milner stayed with the Račiūnas family. The Račiūnas household had three hiding places: in the woodshed, chicken coop, and house. The Račiūnas family were prosperous, hardworking, and kind-hearted farmers, so the Jews they sheltered did not go hungry.
Samson Milner and his younger son Berel initially hid with other acquaintances, but when danger arose, they turned to the Zaksas family, relatives of the Račiūnas family who lived nearby. The Zaksas farmstead was only 300 meters from the Račiūnas home and about a kilometer from Samson Milner's house; the families knew each other well.
Pranas Zaksas and his sisters, Ona and Marijona Zaksaitės, had lost their parents early in life. Living with them was 30-year-old Jonas Vaitkus, their half-brother. Jonas Vaitkus was the eldest in the Zaksas household and worked on the farm with Pranas, caring for their Jewish neighbors in desperate need. Pranas Zaksas and Samson Milner dug a hiding pit under a bed, which became a refuge for Samson Milner and his son Berel when dogs barked or strangers approached. In summer, the fugitives hid in a haystack shelter. The Zaksas family was poor, and the Račiūnas family helped them as much as possible. In turn, Samson Milner and his son Berel assisted the Zaksas family with seasonal farmwork.
Twice, Faivel Kagan and Aron traveled with the Račiūnas family to Kaunas to meet their relatives imprisoned in the Kaunas Ghetto. Most of their relatives perished in July 1944 during the liquidation of the ghetto, but Samson Milner's eldest brother, Shmerel Milner, managed to escape. Fleeing the Kaunas Ghetto in 1942, Shmerel Milner and other escapees found refuge in Beržtai village on the farm of Anelė Tarapinienė and her children.
As the front approached Raseiniai and the village of Gūrai, located just 2 km away, the fugitives relocated to safer territory. In the final weeks of Nazi occupation, Faivel Kagan, Samson Milner, and his sons joined other fugitives hiding at the Tarapinienė farm in Beržtai village.
All the Jews rescued by the selfless efforts of Raseiniai district farmers survived. After the war, Samson Milner, his sons, and Faivel Kagan settled in Kaunas. In 1970, Samson Milner and his sons Aron and Berel emigrated to Israel. Faivel Kagan passed away in Kaunas in 1978.
In 2006, Pranas Zaksas, Ona and Marijona Zaksaitės, and Vincentas Račiūnas were awarded the Life Saviour’s Cross. In 2007, Yad Vashem recognized Ona and Antanas Račiūnas, their sons Antanas, Vincentas, and Petras, as well as Jonas Vaitkus, Pranas Zaksas, Ona, and Marijona Zaksaitės, as Righteous Among the Nations. In 2024, during a ceremony, the Life Saviour’s Cross was also awarded to other rescuers of Samson Milner’s family, including Jonas Vaitkus, Ona and Antanas Račiūnas, and their sons Antanas and Petras.