Rescuers of Jews
Radlinskas Jonas
Dora Reznikaitė-Lipkovičienė
Before the war my family - my parents, brothers, sisters and I - lived in the small town of Butrimonys, in the district of Alytus. I had six sisters and a brother. My parents owned a small butcher shop where they worked by themselves.
When the war broke out, all of us were turned out of our house and were forced to go into the ghetto. We had no right to walk on the streets, for the Germans could shoot us on the spot, and they would bear no responsibility. We were not treated as human beings. My father and brother were taken away to Alytus and shot dead there. Only women and children remained in the town. Later they were all shot dead in Butrimonys. My mother and four sisters were among them. Me and my sister Šifra succeeded in running away. The thing that is engraved in my memory most vividly, is the way we were herded into the town prison and the school. I stood by the window and saw ten local inhabitants with spades on their shoulders passing by. I understood that they were going to dig ditches for us. It was with great difficulty that I and my sister Šifra managed to escape from there. I hid myself in the homes of many Lithuanians. They all risked their lives; however, none of them betrayed me. We spent nearly two years with the Radlinskai family in the village of Raižiai. They are our rescuers.
The Red Army liberated me in July 1944 in the village of Raižiai in the district of Alytus.
Our entire large family perished except for my sister Šifra and myself.
Kaunas, 2001 m. kovo 19 d.
Su adata širdyje. Getų ir Koncentracijos stovyklų kalinių atsiminimai.
With a Needle in the Heart. Memoirs of Former Prisoners of Ghettos and Concetration Camps. Vilnius, 2003
Before the war my family - my parents, brothers, sisters and I - lived in the small town of Butrimonys, in the district of Alytus. I had six sisters and a brother. My parents owned a small butcher shop where they worked by themselves.
When the war broke out, all of us were turned out of our house and were forced to go into the ghetto. We had no right to walk on the streets, for the Germans could shoot us on the spot, and they would bear no responsibility. We were not treated as human beings. My father and brother were taken away to Alytus and shot dead there. Only women and children remained in the town. Later they were all shot dead in Butrimonys. My mother and four sisters were among them. Me and my sister Šifra succeeded in running away. The thing that is engraved in my memory most vividly, is the way we were herded into the town prison and the school. I stood by the window and saw ten local inhabitants with spades on their shoulders passing by. I understood that they were going to dig ditches for us. It was with great difficulty that I and my sister Šifra managed to escape from there. I hid myself in the homes of many Lithuanians. They all risked their lives; however, none of them betrayed me. We spent nearly two years with the Radlinskai family in the village of Raižiai. They are our rescuers.
The Red Army liberated me in July 1944 in the village of Raižiai in the district of Alytus.
Our entire large family perished except for my sister Šifra and myself.
Kaunas, 2001 m. kovo 19 d.
Su adata širdyje. Getų ir Koncentracijos stovyklų kalinių atsiminimai.
With a Needle in the Heart. Memoirs of Former Prisoners of Ghettos and Concetration Camps. Vilnius, 2003