rescued jewish children
Danutė Pomerancaitė-Mazurkevich
Aušra Petrauskaitė tells about the appearance of Danutė Pomerancaitė in their family
She would rush to our house and I would always request to meet her too. I felt as if a part of my body was torn away from me. Danutė felt likewise. Sometimes, they would bring her to our house at night. Then we would gladly spread our bedding on the ground and sleep together, and everyone would be happy.
While in Australia, I found out all of a sudden that Danutė had left Lithuania! How come?! We did not even say good-bye to each other?! I visited all the embassies – Italian, French, British – trying to find a way to “trick” the Soviet government and come back to Lithuania via Italy and not via Singapore.
Eventually, I was successful. The Italians were the least disciplined: they did not require anything and did not ask any questions. Most often, they were not to be found in their work places altogether. Having lunch or something like that all the time. Thus, I managed to get a permit.
I called our mission and told them I wanted to return via Rome instead of Singapore. They asked what I was going to do there. I said that it was just out of pure curiosity and that I wanted to take a different route and visit Rome. Then they inquired how long I was going to stay there. I said I would just switch planes. I managed to convince them, but in fact, Danutė and Jurijus were already waiting for me there – Jura in the airport and Danutė at home. I can’t tell you how happy I was at that moment. It did not matter at all that the Italians had confused the months, that the dates were all wrong and that I was accused of fraud or something like that. I did not care and I spent five days in Italy with Danutė! Our reunion and those five days in Italy were so extraordinary that when the gates closed behind my back in the airport and I realised that I was in the Soviet Union again and would never see her again, I felt like I had outrun death itself.
She would rush to our house and I would always request to meet her too. I felt as if a part of my body was torn away from me. Danutė felt likewise. Sometimes, they would bring her to our house at night. Then we would gladly spread our bedding on the ground and sleep together, and everyone would be happy.
While in Australia, I found out all of a sudden that Danutė had left Lithuania! How come?! We did not even say good-bye to each other?! I visited all the embassies – Italian, French, British – trying to find a way to “trick” the Soviet government and come back to Lithuania via Italy and not via Singapore.
Eventually, I was successful. The Italians were the least disciplined: they did not require anything and did not ask any questions. Most often, they were not to be found in their work places altogether. Having lunch or something like that all the time. Thus, I managed to get a permit.
I called our mission and told them I wanted to return via Rome instead of Singapore. They asked what I was going to do there. I said that it was just out of pure curiosity and that I wanted to take a different route and visit Rome. Then they inquired how long I was going to stay there. I said I would just switch planes. I managed to convince them, but in fact, Danutė and Jurijus were already waiting for me there – Jura in the airport and Danutė at home. I can’t tell you how happy I was at that moment. It did not matter at all that the Italians had confused the months, that the dates were all wrong and that I was accused of fraud or something like that. I did not care and I spent five days in Italy with Danutė! Our reunion and those five days in Italy were so extraordinary that when the gates closed behind my back in the airport and I realised that I was in the Soviet Union again and would never see her again, I felt like I had outrun death itself.