Rescuers of Jews

     After the restoration of Lithuania’s independence, in the summer of 1991, Dovydas Goldstein and his wife traveled from Los Angeles, USA, to Lithuania. Dovydas came to Eržvilkas to meet the rescuers of the Goldstein family and the relatives of those rescuers, as well as to visit the sites where the Jews of Eržvilkas were murdered in the summer of 1941. Among the victims were many of the Goldstein family’s relatives, friends, and neighbors. During the war, Dovydas, who was three years old, and his eight-year-old brother Ariel, hid together with their parents, Chaim and Menucha Goldstein. If it were not for Chaim Goldstein’s ingenuity and resourcefulness, the family’s faith in overcoming the cold, illness, and all imaginable and unimaginable hardships, as well as the help of many Lithuanian farmers, the Goldstein family would have met the same tragic fate as the other Jews of Eržvilkas.
     Before the war, Chaim Goldstein was engaged in cattle and grain trading in Eržvilkas. He knew many farmers in the area. When the Germans occupied Eržvilkas, the persecution of Jews began immediately, and soon all Jews were ordered to prepare for a three-day journey to a camp. Although they were already surrounded by policemen, Chaim Goldstein, along with his wife and children, managed to escape. Initially, they hid in the nearby forests, receiving food from farmers. As the weather grew colder, they sought refuge at farmsteads, frequently changing locations and hiding both together and separately.
     Some of the rescuers of the Goldstein family have already been awarded the Life Saviour’s Cross Award. At this ceremony, we are introducing a few more farmers from the Eržvilkas area who helped save the Goldstein family, including Simas Endrikis and his family from the village of Paupys in the Jurbarkas district.

From the memoirs of Simas and Antanina Endrikis’ daughter, Aldona Ignatavičienė:
     During the war, I was a teenager studying at the Eržvilkas secondary school, but I spent weekends and all holidays at home with my parents. I remember one late summer night; it was already dark when someone knocked several times on the window of the room where I was sleeping with my parents. A male voice spoke outside: “Antose, open the window, we need to talk.” Both of my parents approached the window and spoke for a long time. I was not allowed to ask questions, but I listened carefully and overheard bits of the conversation.
I heard the voice outside saying: “Antose, understand, we need to help these people, look at the situation they’re in now.” My mother replied, “But what if someone sees and reports us? We will be doomed too.” The voice outside reassured her: “No one will report you; there are no such malicious people around here. Besides, you live in an isolated place, surrounded by forests, far from the road. Hide them well in the hay until their father sorts things out.”
     A beautiful path led from our house, past the Juškiai linden trees, along the riverbank. Quite often, my mother would release our dog, Reksas, and tell me to stand on that path and watch carefully if anyone was approaching. If I saw anyone, I was to shout: “Mom, Reksas is loose, Reksas is unchained, watch out, he’ll attack the chickens or bite someone.” I would keep shouting until my mother appeared and told me to stop.

     When Simas Endrikis brought food to Goldstein’s wife and her sons hiding in the barn, Aldona and her mother Antanina kept watch, protecting them from prying eyes in this way. After a while, Chaim Goldstein came to the Endrikis family at night and took his wife and children to other farmers. The Goldsteins were very cautious, not wanting to endanger the families of their rescuers in the long term. Whenever they had the opportunity, they tried to change hiding places to avoid being noticed by neighbors.
     After the war, the Goldstein family emigrated to the USA and settled in Los Angeles. While living in the USA, Chaim Goldstein compiled a list of their rescuers, mentioning many names of people who helped them survive, including Simas and Antanina Endrikis from the village of Paupys in the Jurbarkas district.