Rescuers of Jews
Jacinavičaitė Viktorija
The Prayers of an Innocent Girl
Ada Feldstein-Levner
From Smuggled in Potato Sacks
Fifty Stories of the Hidden Children of the Kaunas Ghetto
Editors
Solomon Abramovich
and Yakov Zilberg
I was born on 13 March 1938 in Kaunas. My father, Lev Feldstein, was a young surgeon and oldest son of Tzemach Feldstein, the principal of the Hebrew School in Kaunas. My mother, Sara Aronovsky, was the youngest daughter of a very wealthy and successful businesswoman, Esther Aronovsky. We lived on Laisves Avenue, the central street of Kaunas, in my grandmother’s three-storey house and we were a happy family.
I remember a few images from my time in the ghetto, such as houses, streets, the River Neman. I know that I almost died from pneumonia. My father worked in the ghetto clinic as a surgeon.
Most probably my uncle’s mother’s eldest brother, Liolia Aronovsky, warned us about the planned ‘Children’s Action’. I was told that I was in a refuge, together with my future husband, Edik Levner, then a 6-year-old boy. After the ‘Children’s Action’ my parents decided that they needed to get me out of the ghetto. They contacted my former nanny, Victorija Jacineviciute, and she and her sister Elena agreed to save me.
My father bought a false birth certificate in the name of Rimute Kazimiera Komisaraityte, and arranged, by bribing the Germans, for my passage through Vilijampole Bridge. There he handled me over to my nanny. During the first days outside the ghetto I remember crying non-stop, but little by little I got used to being away from my parents.
My nannies had to keep me hidden and we several times in Kaunas and the villages around it. I lived for short periods of time in the city with one of nanny’s friends, Mrs Jagminiene, then in a small village, and back in Kaunas with Mrs Starkiene and her two children. My last hiding place was the hamlet of Pazaislis where we lived in a small cottage; when the front approached we went to hide in the Pazaislis Convent.
War was so near and everyone was afraid, but I was content there, the nuns would spoil me. They asked me to pray to God to save the convent from bombing. They believed that the prayer of an innocent little girl would be heard by God. The convent was indeed spared from bombing, and maybe my prayers played a part in this. The nuns wanted to baptize me but my nannies refused. War was nearly at its end and they believed my parents might return and that it would be their decision.
During the liquidation of the ghetto my parents were in hiding there but were killed along with countless others. In September 1944, when I was already 6 years old, I was enrolled in school with my false papers. I had continued to live with my dear nannies.
For a few years I waited for my parents to show up like many others. But they never did. These were the days of Stalin and I continued using my false papers although I had my real birth certificate as well. All my friends knew that I was Jewish and they called me Ada. I graduated from high school with honours in my false name, and entered Kaunas Medical Institute, from which I graduated in 1961. It was only when we came to Israel in January 1972 that I made all the legal arrangements and got my real name back.
All the time, until I married Hertz (Edik) Levner in the autumn of 1961, I had continued to live with Viktorija and Elena, who looked after our elder son Lev until we left for Israel in January 1972. My youngest son Daniel was born in Israel in 1978. I was in constant contact with my nannies all the time, writing and sending gifts. They passed away long ago.
It appeared that in the ghetto we had lived with Edik on the same street. He was born on 18 February 1938 to Meir Levner and Frida Melnikaite-Levner. After the ‘Children’s Action’ Hertz was given away to the Grigoreviches, a Polish family in Kaunas on Savanoriu Street. He was transported to them from the ghetto in a sack hidden among others containing grain, which were sent to the mill. Abribed German guard and his father were on this cart. In the mill the bag was passed to Mr Grigorevichius. Hertz became Edvardas Grigorevichius. Fortunately, his parents survived the German camps and came back for him. The Levners were in constant contact with the Grigorevich family, until they were deported to Siberia in 1947, like many others in Lithuania at that time.
For twenty-one years we lived in Netanya, Israel and were very happy there. In October 1992 we moved to live to Toronto, Canada.
Toronto, Canada 2008
First published in 2011 by Vallentine Mitchell
London, Portland, OR
Ada Feldstein-Levner
From Smuggled in Potato Sacks
Fifty Stories of the Hidden Children of the Kaunas Ghetto
Editors
Solomon Abramovich
and Yakov Zilberg
I was born on 13 March 1938 in Kaunas. My father, Lev Feldstein, was a young surgeon and oldest son of Tzemach Feldstein, the principal of the Hebrew School in Kaunas. My mother, Sara Aronovsky, was the youngest daughter of a very wealthy and successful businesswoman, Esther Aronovsky. We lived on Laisves Avenue, the central street of Kaunas, in my grandmother’s three-storey house and we were a happy family.
I remember a few images from my time in the ghetto, such as houses, streets, the River Neman. I know that I almost died from pneumonia. My father worked in the ghetto clinic as a surgeon.
Most probably my uncle’s mother’s eldest brother, Liolia Aronovsky, warned us about the planned ‘Children’s Action’. I was told that I was in a refuge, together with my future husband, Edik Levner, then a 6-year-old boy. After the ‘Children’s Action’ my parents decided that they needed to get me out of the ghetto. They contacted my former nanny, Victorija Jacineviciute, and she and her sister Elena agreed to save me.
My father bought a false birth certificate in the name of Rimute Kazimiera Komisaraityte, and arranged, by bribing the Germans, for my passage through Vilijampole Bridge. There he handled me over to my nanny. During the first days outside the ghetto I remember crying non-stop, but little by little I got used to being away from my parents.
My nannies had to keep me hidden and we several times in Kaunas and the villages around it. I lived for short periods of time in the city with one of nanny’s friends, Mrs Jagminiene, then in a small village, and back in Kaunas with Mrs Starkiene and her two children. My last hiding place was the hamlet of Pazaislis where we lived in a small cottage; when the front approached we went to hide in the Pazaislis Convent.
War was so near and everyone was afraid, but I was content there, the nuns would spoil me. They asked me to pray to God to save the convent from bombing. They believed that the prayer of an innocent little girl would be heard by God. The convent was indeed spared from bombing, and maybe my prayers played a part in this. The nuns wanted to baptize me but my nannies refused. War was nearly at its end and they believed my parents might return and that it would be their decision.
During the liquidation of the ghetto my parents were in hiding there but were killed along with countless others. In September 1944, when I was already 6 years old, I was enrolled in school with my false papers. I had continued to live with my dear nannies.
For a few years I waited for my parents to show up like many others. But they never did. These were the days of Stalin and I continued using my false papers although I had my real birth certificate as well. All my friends knew that I was Jewish and they called me Ada. I graduated from high school with honours in my false name, and entered Kaunas Medical Institute, from which I graduated in 1961. It was only when we came to Israel in January 1972 that I made all the legal arrangements and got my real name back.
All the time, until I married Hertz (Edik) Levner in the autumn of 1961, I had continued to live with Viktorija and Elena, who looked after our elder son Lev until we left for Israel in January 1972. My youngest son Daniel was born in Israel in 1978. I was in constant contact with my nannies all the time, writing and sending gifts. They passed away long ago.
It appeared that in the ghetto we had lived with Edik on the same street. He was born on 18 February 1938 to Meir Levner and Frida Melnikaite-Levner. After the ‘Children’s Action’ Hertz was given away to the Grigoreviches, a Polish family in Kaunas on Savanoriu Street. He was transported to them from the ghetto in a sack hidden among others containing grain, which were sent to the mill. Abribed German guard and his father were on this cart. In the mill the bag was passed to Mr Grigorevichius. Hertz became Edvardas Grigorevichius. Fortunately, his parents survived the German camps and came back for him. The Levners were in constant contact with the Grigorevich family, until they were deported to Siberia in 1947, like many others in Lithuania at that time.
For twenty-one years we lived in Netanya, Israel and were very happy there. In October 1992 we moved to live to Toronto, Canada.
Toronto, Canada 2008
First published in 2011 by Vallentine Mitchell
London, Portland, OR