Rescuers of Jews
Mieželis Vladas
JUZEFA MIEŽELIENĖ
VLADAS MIEŽELIS
URŠULĖ LAŠIENĖ
In 1941, Josif Gilel Shulman and his wife Taibl were imprisoned in the Kaunas Ghetto. In 1942, their daughter Zisel was born. In 1944, a two-year-old girl was taken out of the Ghetto and hidden in the family of General Vladas Mieželis and Juzefa Mieželienė. As the front line approached, the Mieželis family left Lithuania, leaving the girl in the care of their housekeeper Uršulė Lašienė. Uršulė was a widow and lived with her only daughter Zita. She cared for Zisel as her own child, for her eight-year-old daughter and her landlord she explained that she had found the baby abandoned in the yard.
Taibl and Josif Shulman were murdered. Their daughter Zisele, later Zinaida Alesker, survived until the end of the war and lived with Uršulė Lašienė until 1947.
“Dears, live long and happily
I am writing to you even though it is extremely difficult and painful to write this letter. I am your sister Taibelė, I am 26 years old, and it is not destined for me to be the mother of my own child. With this letter-testament I ask you, Hasenka, to be her mother. In the ghetto I gave birth to a girl - she is now two years old - her name is Ziselė, the name of her father's dead mother. There is a birthmark on the right side of the baby's belly, the girl has grey eyes and reddish hair.
...Three months ago, in the Slobodka Ghetto, Ziselė was still with us. But in the last days it is dangerous for children to stay in the ghetto and we had to find a way to save the girl, she is our future. We learned that some Jews give their children to Christians who live outside the ghetto. God also sent me wonderful people in Aleksotas who did not hesitate to take Ziselė. They take good care of the girl; she is well provided for. They asked for nothing in return..."
Translated from Yiddish
From the letter of Taibl Shulman, written to Hase Rapport, who has been living in Israel since 1934.
From "Hands Bringing Life and Bread", Volume 1,
The State Vilna Gaon Jewish Museum. Vilnius, 1997
VLADAS MIEŽELIS
URŠULĖ LAŠIENĖ
In 1941, Josif Gilel Shulman and his wife Taibl were imprisoned in the Kaunas Ghetto. In 1942, their daughter Zisel was born. In 1944, a two-year-old girl was taken out of the Ghetto and hidden in the family of General Vladas Mieželis and Juzefa Mieželienė. As the front line approached, the Mieželis family left Lithuania, leaving the girl in the care of their housekeeper Uršulė Lašienė. Uršulė was a widow and lived with her only daughter Zita. She cared for Zisel as her own child, for her eight-year-old daughter and her landlord she explained that she had found the baby abandoned in the yard.
Taibl and Josif Shulman were murdered. Their daughter Zisele, later Zinaida Alesker, survived until the end of the war and lived with Uršulė Lašienė until 1947.
“Dears, live long and happily
I am writing to you even though it is extremely difficult and painful to write this letter. I am your sister Taibelė, I am 26 years old, and it is not destined for me to be the mother of my own child. With this letter-testament I ask you, Hasenka, to be her mother. In the ghetto I gave birth to a girl - she is now two years old - her name is Ziselė, the name of her father's dead mother. There is a birthmark on the right side of the baby's belly, the girl has grey eyes and reddish hair.
...Three months ago, in the Slobodka Ghetto, Ziselė was still with us. But in the last days it is dangerous for children to stay in the ghetto and we had to find a way to save the girl, she is our future. We learned that some Jews give their children to Christians who live outside the ghetto. God also sent me wonderful people in Aleksotas who did not hesitate to take Ziselė. They take good care of the girl; she is well provided for. They asked for nothing in return..."
Translated from Yiddish
From the letter of Taibl Shulman, written to Hase Rapport, who has been living in Israel since 1934.
From "Hands Bringing Life and Bread", Volume 1,
The State Vilna Gaon Jewish Museum. Vilnius, 1997