Rescuers of Jews

Leonardas JANKOVSKIS Bronislava JANKOVSKIENĖ jų dukra GALINA JANKOVSKYTĖ The Feler and the Shapiro families were lucky, because their former neighbour Gaspar Gaidamovitch helped them escape the ghetto and let them hide at his farm. He would bring them food and water. He kept it secret. The Shapiro family was killed in the last month of the war. During the war the Shapiro family had been hiding at various ghettos and shelters. They were together with the Feler family and just after the Feler family left and hid somewhere else, the place was bombed by the Germans. That is when the Shapiro family was killed. The Feler family – Joshua-Nahum Feler, born 1890, his wife Miriam, born 1892, daughter Judith, born 1918 and daughter Dvora (now Yoetz) born 1920 by chance ran into the Jankowski family, whom they did not know before the war. They asked to stay for the night and the Jankowski let them hide at their place until the war was over, although the house was very small; so they dug a hole and that is where they hid. Galina, the saviours’ daughter, would guide them dearly. One day, outside she noticed the police coming, so she quickly entered the house and informed the Feler family about the danger. But there was not enough time to hide in the hole, so they climbed on top of the Russian stove in the house. Lucky enough the police who were searching the house, did not trace them. Some time later there followed another search. Dvora Feler and her sister Judith hid in the basement while the parents were at the farm. This time too, thanks to the Jankowski family, they were saved. In 1959 the Felers left for Israel and contact with the Jankowski family was interrupted. Dvora has been searching for them for a long time and finally she managed to trace them. Now they are in touch on a regular basis.