Rescuers of Jews
Kondeliauskas (Kondelevskis) Kazys (Kazimieras)
SALOMĖJA KONDELIAUSKIENĖ (KONDELEVSKIENĖ)
Kazimieras and Salomėja Kondelevskis, a Polish Catholic family, sheltered and saved a Jewish family – Sara and Benjamin Mowszenzon and their son Liova – on their farm in the village of Yliškės, Zarasai district, on the shore of Lake Drūkšiai during the Nazi occupation.
Kazimieras and Salomėja had six children: two daughters, Janina and Renia, died in infancy. During the war, their surviving children, Janas (born 1927), Zdislavas (born 1933), Zygmuntas Stanislavas, and Henrikas (born 1942), lived with them. The Kondelevskis were farmers, they sold their apples in Poland and fish in Daugavpils and Riga.
From Salomėja Kondelevskienė's memories, recorded by her granddaughter Inga Kondelevskytė-Kavaliauskienė:
A special bunker (a dugout) was prepared behind the house for hiding. Nazi soldiers often visited the farm and roamed freely around the property and house. The family experienced frequent moments of terror because of it. On one occasion, when the Nazis appeared in Yliškės, the hidden Jewish boy fell ill and was brought into the warm house, where he shared a bed with Henrikas Kondelevskis, who was of a similar age. When the Nazis unexpectedly entered the same room where the children were sleeping behind a curtain, Salomėja suffered a fit of fear, as the risk of them discovering the hidden Jewish boy was immense.
After the war, the rescued Jewish family left Yliškės, eventually emigrating from Lithuania. By 1958, the Mowszenzon family had settled in Israel. A few years later, they began searching for their saviors, Kazimieras and Salomėja Kondelevskis. Through acquaintances, they located Salomėja Kondelevskienė and started corresponding with her. After Salomėja's death, they continued writing to her son Henrikas. Sara Mowszenzon and her son Liova wrote letters describing their life in Israel, sharing the joy of Liova’s children and granddaughter born there.
Following Lithuania's restoration of independence, Henrikas Kondelevskis and Liova Mowszenzon met for the first time in Riga. Around 2006, Liova Mowszenzon, along with his wife Bela, their children, and granddaughter, visited Lithuania. Three generations of the Jewish family returned to Lithuania to reconnect with the Kondelevski family and visit the places where Sara, Benjamin, and their young son Liova had been saved. The guests from Israel, along with Henrikas Kondelevskis, visited Yliškės, the farm where they had hidden, and Molėtai, where Henrikas's family lived at the time. They also visited Vilnius to meet Henrikas’s daughter, Inga Kondelevskytė-Kavaliauskienė.
Several letters and postcards have survived, reflecting the close bond and mutual respect between the families, as well as Sara Mowszenzon’s emotional memories of the Nazi occupation.
In the village of Yliškės, the house where the Mowszenzon family was hidden during the war still stands. It is now home to Teresa Kondelevska, the granddaughter of Salomėja and Kazimieras Kondelevskis, and has become a gathering place for the Kondelevski family.