rescued jewish children
I was born in 1928 in Kaunas. My father Izidorius Veisas was a Director of the Central Agency of the Lithuanian State Lottery. My mother Sofija Shtromaite-Veisienė had studied economics. Before the war, I was a pupil at the Sholem Aleichem gymnasium. My parents divorced in the beginning of 1938. My father left Lithuania in 1939 and spent the war years in Belgium. He died in California in 1973.
My Mother’s Commandments
My mother was operated on 16 June 1941 in the Kaunas Red Cross Hospital. During the first days of the war, my mother remained in the hospital, was weak and could not walk... On Thursday, a man bearing a white armlet appeared in the hospital, I was told to leave the ward and that my mother was under arrest. Doctor Kanauka, who had operated on my mother, did not discharge her. He stated that he was responsible for his patients and it was his duty to care for my mother until she was strong enough and mobile. In the context of those days it was an act of heroism. On Friday, I brought some clothes to my mother. The “white armlet” was flirting with the nurses, so I managed to sneak into the ward unnoticed. That was where I saw my mother for the last time, and where we had our last conversation. I remember the three commandments my mother told me:
- to live within my means and to be independent; - to live with the truth, not to lie, to be open to people; - never to take revenge...
To this day, I cannot comprehend how she could at a moment think about fundamental values, when her own life was hanging by a thread. It must have been of paramount importance for her that I should remain human. On Sunday, my mother was taken straight from the hospital ward to the Forced Labour Prison in Mickevičiaus street. I never saw her again. I do not know where she perished or where she was tortured to death without guilt. She was 35...
My Mother’s Commandments
My mother was operated on 16 June 1941 in the Kaunas Red Cross Hospital. During the first days of the war, my mother remained in the hospital, was weak and could not walk... On Thursday, a man bearing a white armlet appeared in the hospital, I was told to leave the ward and that my mother was under arrest. Doctor Kanauka, who had operated on my mother, did not discharge her. He stated that he was responsible for his patients and it was his duty to care for my mother until she was strong enough and mobile. In the context of those days it was an act of heroism. On Friday, I brought some clothes to my mother. The “white armlet” was flirting with the nurses, so I managed to sneak into the ward unnoticed. That was where I saw my mother for the last time, and where we had our last conversation. I remember the three commandments my mother told me:
- to live within my means and to be independent; - to live with the truth, not to lie, to be open to people; - never to take revenge...
To this day, I cannot comprehend how she could at a moment think about fundamental values, when her own life was hanging by a thread. It must have been of paramount importance for her that I should remain human. On Sunday, my mother was taken straight from the hospital ward to the Forced Labour Prison in Mickevičiaus street. I never saw her again. I do not know where she perished or where she was tortured to death without guilt. She was 35...