Rescuers of Jews
Žemaitaitienė (Šneiderytė) Natalija
Juozas Šneideris and Antanina Šneiderienė
Petras Žemaitaitis and Natalija Žemaitaitienė
Juozas and Antanina Šneideris were farmers and lived with their daughter Natalija and her husband Petras Žemaitaitis in their farmstead near a town of Vilkaviškis. In 1942 the Šneideris family accepted to their home Sheina Weber (later Arkin), her two younger sisters Cipora (later Frumina) and Rasha and their friend Bela Zuker (later Sisna), who escaped the Vilkaviškis ghetto on the eve of it’s liquidation on September 24, 1941.
The four of them were hiding in forests for quite a long time, stealing food from the local peasants by nights. When the youngest of girls, who was only 14 years old then, got ill, the sisters were forced to apply to someone of the locals for help. They were lucky to find it in the Šneideris house. Juozas Šneideris and his entire family were known for their liberal views. They gladly accepted the Jews thus showing their opposition to Nazism and nationalism. Šneideris and Žemaitaitis prepared a shelter in the barn’s attic – not a very warm but a safe place to stay at, where the girls were regularly provided with food, clean clothes and, once in a while, with hot water to wash themselves. More than two years, till the liberation day in August 2, 1944, the Jewish girls stayed at the Šneiderises feeling like family members and trusting their hosts in every aspect. Only after the liberation they found out that Juozas and Antanina also helped with food to their elder daughter, Adelė, who together with her husband Petras Jurevičius also hid two Jewish women in their home.
Petras Žemaitaitis and Natalija Žemaitaitienė
Juozas and Antanina Šneideris were farmers and lived with their daughter Natalija and her husband Petras Žemaitaitis in their farmstead near a town of Vilkaviškis. In 1942 the Šneideris family accepted to their home Sheina Weber (later Arkin), her two younger sisters Cipora (later Frumina) and Rasha and their friend Bela Zuker (later Sisna), who escaped the Vilkaviškis ghetto on the eve of it’s liquidation on September 24, 1941.
The four of them were hiding in forests for quite a long time, stealing food from the local peasants by nights. When the youngest of girls, who was only 14 years old then, got ill, the sisters were forced to apply to someone of the locals for help. They were lucky to find it in the Šneideris house. Juozas Šneideris and his entire family were known for their liberal views. They gladly accepted the Jews thus showing their opposition to Nazism and nationalism. Šneideris and Žemaitaitis prepared a shelter in the barn’s attic – not a very warm but a safe place to stay at, where the girls were regularly provided with food, clean clothes and, once in a while, with hot water to wash themselves. More than two years, till the liberation day in August 2, 1944, the Jewish girls stayed at the Šneiderises feeling like family members and trusting their hosts in every aspect. Only after the liberation they found out that Juozas and Antanina also helped with food to their elder daughter, Adelė, who together with her husband Petras Jurevičius also hid two Jewish women in their home.