Rescuers of Jews
Jakienė Aldona
Ona Jakienė,
Leopoldas Jakas and Aldona Jakienė
Ona Jakienė lived in the city of Kaunas with her son, Leopoldas Jakas, and his wife, Aldona Jakienė. During the German occupation, Ona met Frida Fish (later Fisher) in the textile factory where Frida was a forced laborer. In June 1944, about a month before the Kaunas ghetto was liquidated, Ona offered to provide shelter for Frida’s eight-year-old daughter, Asia (Chasia Fišaitė). The two women planned the operation of smuggling the child out of the ghetto, and on the scheduled day, Frida put her daughter into a sack and passed her straight into the arms of Ona through an opening in the ghetto fence. Ona took Asia into her home, to the great happiness of her son and his wife, who were childless. A short time later, the Jakas family obtained papers for Asia in the name of their niece, who had died, and the Jewish child remained safely with them for 14 months, enjoying genuine warmth throughout her stay. She was reunited with her mother in 1945, after her return from the Stutthof concentration camp.
Leopoldas Jakas and Aldona Jakienė
Ona Jakienė lived in the city of Kaunas with her son, Leopoldas Jakas, and his wife, Aldona Jakienė. During the German occupation, Ona met Frida Fish (later Fisher) in the textile factory where Frida was a forced laborer. In June 1944, about a month before the Kaunas ghetto was liquidated, Ona offered to provide shelter for Frida’s eight-year-old daughter, Asia (Chasia Fišaitė). The two women planned the operation of smuggling the child out of the ghetto, and on the scheduled day, Frida put her daughter into a sack and passed her straight into the arms of Ona through an opening in the ghetto fence. Ona took Asia into her home, to the great happiness of her son and his wife, who were childless. A short time later, the Jakas family obtained papers for Asia in the name of their niece, who had died, and the Jewish child remained safely with them for 14 months, enjoying genuine warmth throughout her stay. She was reunited with her mother in 1945, after her return from the Stutthof concentration camp.