Rescuers of Jews
Puišys Jonas
JONAS PUIŠYS
After the restoration of Lithuania’s independence in the summer of 1991, David Goldstein and his wife traveled from Los Angeles, USA, to Lithuania. David visited Eržvilkas to meet the rescuers of the Goldstein family, their relatives, and to pay respects at the sites where the Jewish community of Eržvilkas, including many of the Goldstein family’s relatives, friends, and neighbors, were murdered during the summer of 1941. Together with their parents, Chaim and Menucha Goldstein, the children – three-year-old Dovydas and eight-year-old Ariel – hid throughout the war. Were it not for Chaim Goldstein’s resourcefulness, ingenuity, the family’s unwavering faith in their survival despite enduring cold, illness, and countless hardships, and the help of numerous Lithuanian farmers, the Goldstein family would have met the same tragic fate as the rest of the Eržvilkas Jewish community.
Before the war, Chaim Goldstein traded cattle and grain in Eržvilkas and was well acquainted with many local farmers. When the Germans occupied Eržvilkas, persecution of Jews began immediately, and soon all Jews were ordered to prepare for a three-day journey to a camp. Although surrounded by police, Chaim Goldstein managed to escape with his wife and children. Initially, they hid in nearby forests, relying on farmers for food. As winter set in, they sought shelter on farms, frequently changing locations and hiding both as a family and separately.
While some of the Goldstein family’s rescuers were honored earlier with the Life Saviour’s Cross Award, during the 2024 ceremony, additional farmers from the Eržvilkas area who aided the Goldsteins were recognized, including Jonas and Antanina Puišiai, who lived with their three children in the village of Rudžiai in the Jurbarkas district.
From a letter dated 1994-06-26 by Jonas and Antanina Puišiai’s son, Jonas Puišys, to attorney Judelis Ronderis:
We have learned that you are gathering information about the hiding of Jews during the war. This letter comes from the family of Jonas Puišys’s son. My father has passed away, but my mother is still alive, and she is 96 years old. During the war, when my parents were hiding Jews, I was 5 or 6 years old. It was the Goldstein family from Eržvilkas: a father, mother, and two boys. My parents had made a hiding place under the hay where they stayed. I slept in the same bed in the house with the older boy, and my parents told the neighbors he was my mother’s sister’s son. My mother carried food to them in a bucket to avoid raising suspicion. I cannot say how long they stayed with us because they would leave and return as it was unsafe to remain in one place for too long. One day, they left and never returned, but we know they survived.
After the war, the Goldsteins emigrated to the United States and settled in Los Angeles. While living in the U.S., Chaim Goldstein compiled a list of his rescuers, including many individuals who helped the family survive. Among them were Jonas and Antanina Puišiai, who lived in Rudžiai village, near Pašaltuonys in the Jurbarkas district. Judelis Ronderis, a Kaunas Jewish community member, assistant to the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum, and attorney, worked for many years to locate the Goldsteins’ rescuers and their descendants, many of whom still live in their native areas.