Rescuers of Jews
Pekarskienė Eugenija
Neonila Pekarskytė-Pakalniškienė remembers:
We lived in the small town of Radviliškis and knew each other well. After the wedding of my mother Eugenija Pekarskienė's brother Jurgis Šeštokas to the Jew Lėja Dulickaitė (Šeštokienė), our families became good acquaintances.
In 1941, when the German army occupied Lithuania and the persecution of Jews began, Lėja Šeštokienė came from Kaunas, tired and without her husband. My parents hid her. Such actions were very risky and required the approval of all family members. We didn't have special hiding place for L. Šeštokienė in our house; she hid in a small chamber upstairs. I took responsibility for the care of Lėja and Jurgis Šeštokas son, Anatolijus. The child was very young, born in June 1939. He stayed with us throughout the war, got used to me, and called me “mom”.
Soon, Lėja went to Kaunas and found out that her husband had returned. She didn't appear for a long time – we were afraid that she might not be alive anymore. After a while, she returned, but it was no longer safe for her in Radviliškis, so, my father took her to the village of Šeduva, to the Padgurskienė.
In a small town like Radviliškis before the war, neighbours knew almost everything about each other. It was very difficult to hide a person. During that time, hiding Jews was punishable by death, and neighbours had various views and beliefs, many of them were against Jews. Throughout the entire German occupation, solely because of the neighbours’ suspicions, Šeštokienė had to change her place of residence four times.
Our family rescued L. Šeštokienė and her son Anatolijus on the basis the principle of neighbourly love and categorically opposed the genocide carried out by the occupiers and the local Lithuanian administration. After the war, we became like relatives with the Šeštokas family, we often meet and communicate to this day.
Radviliškis, 1998
We lived in the small town of Radviliškis and knew each other well. After the wedding of my mother Eugenija Pekarskienė's brother Jurgis Šeštokas to the Jew Lėja Dulickaitė (Šeštokienė), our families became good acquaintances.
In 1941, when the German army occupied Lithuania and the persecution of Jews began, Lėja Šeštokienė came from Kaunas, tired and without her husband. My parents hid her. Such actions were very risky and required the approval of all family members. We didn't have special hiding place for L. Šeštokienė in our house; she hid in a small chamber upstairs. I took responsibility for the care of Lėja and Jurgis Šeštokas son, Anatolijus. The child was very young, born in June 1939. He stayed with us throughout the war, got used to me, and called me “mom”.
Soon, Lėja went to Kaunas and found out that her husband had returned. She didn't appear for a long time – we were afraid that she might not be alive anymore. After a while, she returned, but it was no longer safe for her in Radviliškis, so, my father took her to the village of Šeduva, to the Padgurskienė.
In a small town like Radviliškis before the war, neighbours knew almost everything about each other. It was very difficult to hide a person. During that time, hiding Jews was punishable by death, and neighbours had various views and beliefs, many of them were against Jews. Throughout the entire German occupation, solely because of the neighbours’ suspicions, Šeštokienė had to change her place of residence four times.
Our family rescued L. Šeštokienė and her son Anatolijus on the basis the principle of neighbourly love and categorically opposed the genocide carried out by the occupiers and the local Lithuanian administration. After the war, we became like relatives with the Šeštokas family, we often meet and communicate to this day.
Radviliškis, 1998