Rescuers of Jews
Alekna Povilas
POVILAS ALEKNA
PAULINA ALEKNIENĖ
Ruth Yoffe (Rūta Jofaitė) was born in 1937, in Šiauliai to the family of doctor Riva Trusfus-Yoffe and lawyer Aharon Yoffe. In the early summer of 1941, the parents sent their children, four-year-old Ruth and two-year-old Moshe, to a village with a babysitter. Riva and Aharon remained in Šiauliai to work. When the war broke out on June 22, 1941, Aharon Yoffe was immediately mobilized into the Soviet Army and Riva’s hospital was evacuated to the East of the Soviet Union. Before leaving, Riva managed to ask her sister, teacher Eta Kolodnaja, to take the children from the village to Šiauliai. So Ruta and Moshe stayed with their aunt Eta and grandmother Batya Trusfus (wife of a pharmacist in Šakyna). Soon Eta, Batya, Ruth and Moshe were imprisoned in the Šiauliai Ghetto with all town’s Jews. Ruth remembers that her aunt Eta brought her to the Ghetto secretly, attached to her body. The remaining members of the Trusfus family – Riva‘s father, two her sisters, a brother's family, a brother-in-law and all relatives – were killed. When the news of the planned action of killing children spread in the Ghetto in November 1943 (the Children's Action took place in Šiauliai Ghetto on November 5, 1943), Juozas Petrulis from Šiauliai extended his help to Riva’s family. Together with friends and like-minded people, he organized the escape and further rescue of Riva’s children, sister Eta and mother Batya from the Šiauliai Ghetto. Juozas Petrulis provided them with his home address. At the agreed time at night, they came to his house in Šiauliai, Basanavičiaus Street 39, and stayed there for several days. Soon neighbours began to suspect him of hiding the Jews, so he began to look for a new shelter for them. He transferred Eta and Moshe to the peasant Andrius Kalendra, near Kruopiai (Mažeikiai district), Batya Trusfus was taken over by Eduardas and Teresė Levinskai in Žagarė. Ruth Yoffe remained with Petrulis for some time, later he found a safer place for the girl in Liepiniai village (Kupiškis district) with Povilas and Paulina Aleknos. They kept Ruth and cared for her as their own child. In the last year of the war, Ruth Yoffe was also hidden by Eduard and Teresė Levinskai in Žagarė. Eta Kolodnaja testifies about Juozas Petrulis: “Before that we weren't even familiar; we (my mother, two [sister's] children and me) lived in his apartment in Šiauliai for a few days until we got a place to hide. Despite the danger to life, he performed a human duty. Even when my mother, eighty-year-old, had to leave her hiding place and find herself in Šiauliai again, J. Petrulis came to her whereabouts and soon found another place to hide.“ After the liberation, four surviving members of Riva Yoffe’s family went to Kazan (Russia), where Riva worked during the evacuation. Aharon Yoffe was killed in war. Riva Yoffe, Eta Kolodnaja and Ruth Yoffe settled in Kazan together after the war. Batya Trusfus died in 1945. Moshe was killed in a traffic accident at the age of 16. In 1967, Ruth Yoffe visited Lithuania for the first time after the war and after a 20-year break she met again with her rescuers Povilas and Paulina Aleknos.
PAULINA ALEKNIENĖ
Ruth Yoffe (Rūta Jofaitė) was born in 1937, in Šiauliai to the family of doctor Riva Trusfus-Yoffe and lawyer Aharon Yoffe. In the early summer of 1941, the parents sent their children, four-year-old Ruth and two-year-old Moshe, to a village with a babysitter. Riva and Aharon remained in Šiauliai to work. When the war broke out on June 22, 1941, Aharon Yoffe was immediately mobilized into the Soviet Army and Riva’s hospital was evacuated to the East of the Soviet Union. Before leaving, Riva managed to ask her sister, teacher Eta Kolodnaja, to take the children from the village to Šiauliai. So Ruta and Moshe stayed with their aunt Eta and grandmother Batya Trusfus (wife of a pharmacist in Šakyna). Soon Eta, Batya, Ruth and Moshe were imprisoned in the Šiauliai Ghetto with all town’s Jews. Ruth remembers that her aunt Eta brought her to the Ghetto secretly, attached to her body. The remaining members of the Trusfus family – Riva‘s father, two her sisters, a brother's family, a brother-in-law and all relatives – were killed. When the news of the planned action of killing children spread in the Ghetto in November 1943 (the Children's Action took place in Šiauliai Ghetto on November 5, 1943), Juozas Petrulis from Šiauliai extended his help to Riva’s family. Together with friends and like-minded people, he organized the escape and further rescue of Riva’s children, sister Eta and mother Batya from the Šiauliai Ghetto. Juozas Petrulis provided them with his home address. At the agreed time at night, they came to his house in Šiauliai, Basanavičiaus Street 39, and stayed there for several days. Soon neighbours began to suspect him of hiding the Jews, so he began to look for a new shelter for them. He transferred Eta and Moshe to the peasant Andrius Kalendra, near Kruopiai (Mažeikiai district), Batya Trusfus was taken over by Eduardas and Teresė Levinskai in Žagarė. Ruth Yoffe remained with Petrulis for some time, later he found a safer place for the girl in Liepiniai village (Kupiškis district) with Povilas and Paulina Aleknos. They kept Ruth and cared for her as their own child. In the last year of the war, Ruth Yoffe was also hidden by Eduard and Teresė Levinskai in Žagarė. Eta Kolodnaja testifies about Juozas Petrulis: “Before that we weren't even familiar; we (my mother, two [sister's] children and me) lived in his apartment in Šiauliai for a few days until we got a place to hide. Despite the danger to life, he performed a human duty. Even when my mother, eighty-year-old, had to leave her hiding place and find herself in Šiauliai again, J. Petrulis came to her whereabouts and soon found another place to hide.“ After the liberation, four surviving members of Riva Yoffe’s family went to Kazan (Russia), where Riva worked during the evacuation. Aharon Yoffe was killed in war. Riva Yoffe, Eta Kolodnaja and Ruth Yoffe settled in Kazan together after the war. Batya Trusfus died in 1945. Moshe was killed in a traffic accident at the age of 16. In 1967, Ruth Yoffe visited Lithuania for the first time after the war and after a 20-year break she met again with her rescuers Povilas and Paulina Aleknos.