Historical Context

       Ada Gens-Ustjanauskas was born October 9th, 1926 to a Jewish father and a Roman-Catholic mother in a newly independent Lithuania. Ada’s father Jacob joined Lithuania’s fight for independence at 17 years old, first completing Officer’s school at Karo Mokykla in 1921, then graduating Marijampolės Rygiškių Jono Gimnazija in 1922. He was awarded both the Savanoriu and Independence medals for his efforts. Ada’s mother Elvyra Budreikaite-Gens was also involved in Lithuania’s first government. Raised in Lithuania’s interwar capital of Kaunas to two proud Lithuanians, Ada gained a strong appreciation for her country’s newfound freedom at a young age.
       In June of 1940, thirteen year old Ada watched her beloved country fall into the hands of a foreign aggressor. Her classmates at Marija Pečkauskaitė Gymnasium began to disappear, deported along with their families to Siberia. Ada’s father, then a captain in the Lithuanian army, was fired from his job and had his bank accounts frozen by the Soviet regime.
       The forced Russification of Lithuania made life more difficult for Ada, but it had no effect on the love she had for her homeland or heritage, nor would the following German occupation that began in June of 1941.
       In September of 1941, Ada’s father Jacob was appointed Chief of Police of the Vilna Ghetto by the Jewish council of elders. Jacob lived with his Jewish family members in a small apartment in the heart of the ghetto, while Ada and Elvyra lived close by in the gentile part of the city. Ada would visit the ghetto regularly, spending a majority of her time there. Despite the dangerous circumstances, Ada maintained close contact with her father, grandmother, aunt, uncle, and many of her Jewish friends in the ghetto. She became her father’s confidant in the ghetto, and along with her mother provided the moral support her father needed in the ghetto. Although Jacob Gens knew that he could trust his daughter with the information he confided in her, he also realized that if she were caught by the Nazis and tortured, fifteen year old Ada would need a cyanide pill in order to protect the ghetto.
       Ada and her mother Elvyra often heard Jacob speak of the need for a cultural life in the ghetto, Gens believed that not only would he be able to give work to artists and actors, but that the ghetto inhabitants would be given the opportunity to experience a semblance of life as it was before the Holocaust, if only for a few hours. In order for the ghetto theatre performances to be performed as professionally as those in the city of Vilnius, Ada worked as a spy. She would attend theatre performances in Vilnius such as Man under the bridge, then compose sketches of the costumes and sets, and also take notes for the ghetto theatre to review and copy, “so that… the Jewish production was not worse than the production in Vilnius.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2008). Interview with Ada Ustjanauskas (I. Navazelskis, Interviewer).
https://collections.ushmm.org/oh_findingaids/RG-50.030.0527_trs_en.pdf
       Many Jews in the Vilna Ghetto worked in shops and factories in the gentile part of the city, this gave them the opportunity to smuggle food and supplies through the ghetto gates when returning home from work. Although the gates were manned by Jewish police officers, random inspections could occur unannounced by SS-Oberscharführer Franz Murer, who was known by the Jews as the “Butcher of Vilnius.” Any Jew caught smuggling food into the ghetto could be executed immediately. In order to prevent this from happening when Murer was at the ghetto entrance, Ada and Elvyra Gens walked the street alongside the lines of returning workers, and whispered “Murer at the gate.” The workers would drop any contraband in the street and pass through the gate safely.
       On September 14th, 1943 Jacob Gens was summoned to the Gestapo and executed for aiding the Jewish partisans in the ghetto. Ada and Elvyra were told by one of Gens’s assistants to disappear, because the Germans would now be searching for them. With luck on their side, the pair made it safely to Siauliai where they were offered sanctuary with the Venclauskas family. After two years of hiding, Ada and Elvyra survived the German occupation and reunited with their surviving family members in Kaunas.
       Ada and Elvyra fled Soviet occupied Lithuania to Poland, eventually making it to Germany. Ada eventually attended the Nuremberg war trials for two days, and stated the following years later: “I saw the criminal element who ruined my life, who ruined my mother’s life, who killed my father, who killed millions of people and that was what I thought. Nothing about the Russian gulags or anything at that time. Later on we started to compare one with the other, and as I say, what’s better, to be gassed or to be frozen to death, you don’t know what’s – what’s better… I figured that justice was done and they deserved it.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2008). Interview with Ada Ustjanauskas (I. Navazelskis, Interviewer). https://collections.ushmm.org/oh_findingaids/RG-50.030.0527_trs_en.pdf
       In Germany, Ada found employment with the International Refugee Organization, where she used her fluency in seven languages to help displaced persons and their families immigrate to new countries. It was here that her work in immigration and translating began, a career that would span seven decades. She also met her future husband Antanas Ustjanauskas at this time, later moving together to Australia where they married and lived for several years. In Australia the pair were involved with many Lithuanian organizations that worked towards helping Lithuania regain independence.
       Ada, Antanas, and her mother Elvyra moved to the United States in 1953, but they would never forget their homeland of Lithuania or her citizens. After working for several years and caring for their six children, the couple had saved enough money to open a parcel agency in the city of Hartford, Connecticut. Their agency specialized in shipping packages of food and clothing to countries behind the Iron Curtain including Lithuania. Due to high demand, they opened three more locations throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts. The couple worked with the U.S. Government to resolve issues that arose from the Soviet government in distributing these parcels, using every possible opportunity to teach U.S. government officials of the value of Lithuanian democracy. Ada and Antanas also founded the Hundred Club of Connecticut in 1967. This non-profit organization pays for the funerals of fallen police officers, firefighters, and correction officers, as well as for school tuition and other expenses for their families.

       Ada and her husband Antanas also played a role in John F. Kennedy’s 1960 presidential election victory. They worked with the Democratic Party to run advertisements on the radio and in Lithuanian newspapers throughout the state of Illinois, urging Lithuanian residents to vote for Kennedy who promised to work towards independence for the Baltic States. Due to the couple’s efforts for the Democratic Party, Antanas was appointed Campaign Coordinator for the American Lithuanian Groups by John M. Bailey, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
       Ada’s career with the U.S. Government began in the 1970’s. She worked for the Office of Special Investigations (O.S.I.) and interpreted for Nazi war criminals such as Bruno Kaminskas and Feodor Fedorenko. Ada helped thousands of immigrant families file complex paperwork with USCIS and other agencies, accompanied foreign dignitaries on their visits to the United States, and traveled to multiple countries with American Presidents and Vice Presidents, including Lithuania and the Baltic States.
       In December of 1990 Ada Ustjanauskas had the honor of providing simultaneous translation for then President George H. W. Bush and Chairman of Lithuania Vytautas Landsbergis. This pivotal meeting, which was held in the Oval Office of the White House, involved Mr. Landsbergis requesting political protection from the United States during Lithuania’s quest for full fledged independence from the Soviet Union. Just over one year later, Ada accompanied Vice President Dan Quayle during his February 1992 visit to Vilnius. On this trip Vice President Quayle had several meetings with Lithuanian authorities and attended the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius. More importantly, Ada stood alongside Vice President Dan Quayle at Independence Square when he presented his eloquent speech congratulating the Lithuanian people in their long fought battle to regain their democracy. Delivering the translation of V.P. Quayle’s independence speech was the fulfillment of Ada’s lifelong dream. Half a century after her life was torn apart by the Soviet and Nazi regimes, Ada was once again standing on free Lithuanian soil, just as her parents did in 1918.
       In 1994 Lithuanian law enforcement officials visited the United States to train with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for several weeks. Their mission was to learn the latest techniques in military and FBI procedures to better protect Lithuania. Ada accompanied the Lithuanian delegation throughout the duration of their trip, acting as their official interpreter. In order to accurately interpret the procedures taught by the FBI and military officials, Mrs. Ustjanauskas was required to learn them herself, which included assembling, disassembling, and firing weapons of all sizes and calibers. Ada was in her late sixties at the time. Several months later Ada traveled to Lithuania with U.S. officials to inspect the airports, and confirm that the procedures learned in America were implemented as taught, ensuring the country’s safety.
       Ada continued her work for the U.S. Government until the age of ninety. Today, at ninety-nine years old, she has outlived both totalitarian regimes that sought to crush her democratic spirit by many decades. Ada’s life is a testament to the values that Lithuania holds dear, values that Lithuanians have shared with the American people for centuries, despite great attempts at oppression of the Lithuanian language and heritage.