Rescuers of Jews
Žilevičius Albinas
Stasė ŽILEVIČIŪTĖ-BRAZAUSKIENĖ
Natanas and Sima Katz and Perecas Remenas came to Telšiai from America after 50 years. Their aim was to visit Albinas Žilevičius and his sister Stasė.
The years have not rubbed those terrible days from their memory. In 1943, seven escapees from the Šiauliai Ghetto were brought to the house of the Žilevičiai. There were four children in the family, and they were trusted to take care of the disaster stricken.
A hide out was dug in the stable. Bunks were made; a table and chairs were brought here. After a while, however, Perecas Remenas' father, as if foreboding something, asked to take the furniture away. He was afraid that if the bunker was detected and the furniture was there, anyone would understand that somebody lived here. And indeed, the house of the Žilevičiai was searched, but old Žilevičius sounded very convincing when he said that the bunker was used for grain keeping.
It was no longer safe to stay with the Žilevičiai. It was then that Stasė Žilevičiūtė took everyone over to the farm where her husband-to-be was a manager. Here, in a hide out prepared in the barn, they all successfully survived to the end of the war.
Leaving Lithuania, Perecas Remenas promised to come back and said, “The Žilevičiai are true Righteous Among the Nations of the World. I pray to God that there were more people like them.”
Natanas and Sima Katz and Perecas Remenas came to Telšiai from America after 50 years. Their aim was to visit Albinas Žilevičius and his sister Stasė.
The years have not rubbed those terrible days from their memory. In 1943, seven escapees from the Šiauliai Ghetto were brought to the house of the Žilevičiai. There were four children in the family, and they were trusted to take care of the disaster stricken.
A hide out was dug in the stable. Bunks were made; a table and chairs were brought here. After a while, however, Perecas Remenas' father, as if foreboding something, asked to take the furniture away. He was afraid that if the bunker was detected and the furniture was there, anyone would understand that somebody lived here. And indeed, the house of the Žilevičiai was searched, but old Žilevičius sounded very convincing when he said that the bunker was used for grain keeping.
It was no longer safe to stay with the Žilevičiai. It was then that Stasė Žilevičiūtė took everyone over to the farm where her husband-to-be was a manager. Here, in a hide out prepared in the barn, they all successfully survived to the end of the war.
Leaving Lithuania, Perecas Remenas promised to come back and said, “The Žilevičiai are true Righteous Among the Nations of the World. I pray to God that there were more people like them.”