From Fruma Kučinskienė's memoirs
about Natalija Fugalevičiūtė
Late in 1943 two ten-year-olds - myself and Debora Biron - were taken by a policeman through the gate of the Kaunas ghetto in the opposite direction of people returning from town. Further on, our rescuers, two Natalijas - Fugalevičiūtė and Jegorova - were waiting for us. One by one we were taken to a wooden house in Žaliakalnis. It was Natalija Fugalevičiūtė's home, where ghetto escapees had already been hidden for two years. The road seemed very long to me, and people's smiling faces and laughter were unusual and intimidating. I did not know where we were being led or what awaited us. When we stepped onto the porch, I saw my relative Rivka Shmukler-Osherovich, who had spent two years there. At the time, Gerta Bagriansky and her daughter, Rosian, were spending nights there as well. From then on, our guardians, both Natalijas, were very dear to us, and we lived like a family until they both died.
I was hidden in many places, and it was not everywhere that I felt safe; I had to live under a strange name. My dear Natalija Fugalevičiūtė (we used to call her Natashok, differently from the other Natalija, who was Pavlasha to us) understood that and made every attempt to visit me when I stayed with other people. I felt her love and care and always waited for her. On winter days I used to lean on a window-sill in the attic, guessing whether a 'friend' bird would fly over. If it did, then Natashokas would come... For many, she was like a light amidst darkness. She would always appear where it was extremely dangerous. Her unusual beauty and calmness confused even the SS officers who would appear unexpectedly. Her charm was very persuasive - she managed to convince others to shelter ghetto fugitives. However, she would accommodate them first in her own home. That was where I met Edita and Juta, the nieces of doctor F. Shvab, as well as Shulamit Gordon, Gita Judelevich, Fruma Mania Ginkienė, and other acquaintances, or people who later became friends.
Early in the summer of 1944 I was hidden in a children's home in a suburb of Kaunas. Natasha visited me there as well, and in July, when the town became empty, we took a boat along the Nemunas to Kulautuva, where Natasha's sister Lidija Golubovienė lived. Together with fifteen other people who were hiding at her home, we left for the woods and stayed there until 3 August, when there was no longer any need to hide. During Natalija Fugalevičiūtė's entire life there were many people who needed the flight of her spiritual help.
From Hands Bringing Life and Bread, Volume 2,
The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. Vilnius, 1999
