Rescuers of Jews

     In August 1941, Jews from the surrounding towns were brought to Pasvalys. A ghetto was established in a fenced-off area on the right bank of the Lėvuo River. From there, the Jews were marched to the Žadeikiai Forest, where they were murdered.
     Among those brought from Vabalninkas was a young pharmacist, Ilja Govšovičius. One evening at the end of August, he broke several boards out of the wooden ghetto fence and crawled through the opening to the outside. Nearby stood a small wooden house where the Levanas family lived: Julius, his wife Elena, and their children, Genovaitė and Julius. Arriving at their yard, Govšovičius asked them to hide him somewhere. Beneath the house was a cellar where the family stored potatoes, and Elena Levanienė and her daughter Genovaitė concealed him there. The Levanas family also helped other Jews who had escaped from the ghetto by providing clothing, food, and medicine, although, sadly, most of them met a tragic fate. At that very time, the mass deportation of Jews from the ghetto to the forest, where they were murdered, had begun (most of the Jews of Pasvalys were killed on 26 August). There was constant fear that someone might discover the fugitive and search the Levanas homestead. Fortunately, no one betrayed them, and neither their neighbours nor anyone else knew or suspected anything. Govšovičius remained in hiding with the Levanas family for several days. However, the cellar was damp, and he developed a severe cough, making it increasingly dangerous to keep him there. Elena Levanienė and her daughter Genovaitė decided to seek advice from Father Kazimieras Krikščiūnas, the parish priest of Pasvalys. Unable to find the parish priest, Genovaitė told the entire story to the chaplain instead. He advised her to bring the young pharmacist to the rectory, where he could hide safely. Thus, Govšovičius arrived at the Pasvalys rectory, where Father Kazimieras Krikščiūnas hid him for about two months – first in the barn and, when the weather turned colder, in the stable. After the Germans became suspicious and came to search the premises (fortunately without success), it became too dangerous for him to remain in Pasvalys. Govšovičius asked that a message be delivered to his close acquaintance, the pharmacist Misevičius, asking him to find someone who could provide another hiding place. Although Misevičius was about eighty years old at the time, he undertook the search himself. He walked several dozen kilometres before finding Father Bronislovas Bumšas, who had been transferred to the parish of Grūžiai near Joniškėlis. Father Bronislovas Bumšas agreed to take Govšovičius in, employed him as a church caretaker, obtained documents for him, taught him the manners and customs of a Lithuanian villager, and cared for him until the end of the war. Ilja Govšovičius wrote the story of his rescue as early as 1967. It was later published in Unarmer Fighters, a book about rescuers of Jews compiled by Sofija Binkienė.