Rescuers of Jews

Adomaitytė Marija

MARIJA ADOMAITYTĖ

         Before and during the war, Marija Adomaitytė lived in Kaunas. During the German occupation, a Kaunas resident, Stanislovas Mitkus, whom she knew, approached her asking for help to save his acquaintance, Flinkaitė, and her husband, Dovydas Joselevičius, who were imprisoned in the Kaunas ghetto.
          Stanislovas Mitkus had known Flinkaitė before the war. During the Nazi occupation, when he met Flinkaitė in the city as she was being escorted with other ghetto prisoners to forced labor, Stanislovas Mitkus offered his assistance and asked her to help him find a nurse from the Kaunas Jewish Hospital, Rita Krokaitė (Rele Krok). In 1937, Stanislovas Mitkus fell seriously ill and was admitted to the Jewish Bikur Holim Hospital in Kaunas, where he met the nurse who cared for him, Rita Krokaitė (Rele Krok). After Mitkus recovered, he did not meet Rita Krokaitė again until 1943. Following the Nazi "actions" in the Kaunas ghetto, Stanislovas and his wife Leokadija decided to find and rescue Rita Krokaitė, who had helped them greatly before the war.
         With Flinkaitė's help, Stanislovas found Rita Krokaitė in the ghetto, and in October 1943, Rita, disguised as a Lithuanian peasant woman, escaped from the ghetto and hid in Stanislovas Mitkus's home on Tilžės Street. Stanislovas and Leokadija set up hiding places in their attic and basement. R. Krokaitė hid with the Mitkus family from October 1943 until the end of the Nazi occupation. Flinkaitė also hid with the Mitkus family for some time, but since they had three small children, they could not accommodate Flinkaitė’s husband, Dovydas Joselevičius.
         At Stanislovas Mitkus’s request, Marija Adomaitytė agreed to shelter Dovydas Joselevičius and his wife. They hid in her home until the end of the Nazi occupation. The house also had tenants, but they did not betray the Jews.
          Marija Adomaitytė’s niece, Ona Griškienė, who helped her aunt with household chores, testified that Marija Adomaitytė would buy bread with her own money and carry bags of it to the Kaunas ghetto. During the Nazi occupation, doctors would also came to Marija Adomaitytė’s place: gynecologist Baruchas Voščinas and cardiologist Giršas Vitenšteinas, who would later become a professor at the Kaunas Medical Institute. When needed, Marija provided them with temporary shelter and food. These doctors were hidden by several Lithuanian families and individuals.
          After the war, the Joselevičius family maintained close ties with Marija Adomaitytė. When she fell ill, doctors Baruchas Voščinas and Giršas Vitenšteinas visited her. In 1967, when M. Adomaitytė passed away, D. Joselevičius arranged transport for her funeral and attended it with his wife and daughter. In the 1970s, the Joselevičius family and Dr. Baruchas Voščinas repatriated to Israel.

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