rescuers of jews
Stankevičienė Joana
Joana STANKEVIČIENĖ
Jonas STANKEVIČIUS
The families of Visgardiskiai and Stankevičiai in Kaunas were friendly during the period of independent Lithuania, when they were establishing a joint chemistry company. Later the company was nationalized, and the paths of the two families diverged. When they met again, Germans had already occupied the country, and the Stankevičiai provided food for Gita and Tonas Visgardiskiai, by then prisoners of the ghetto. Jonas Stankevičius had to exchange various things in the village for the food.
In March 1943, Gita Visgardiskienė, who succeeded in escaping from the ghetto, visited the flat of the Stankevičiai. She begged Joana Stankevičienė to hide her daughter Henia because she had found out about the planned liquidation of children in the ghetto. The Stankevičiai discussed the matter and agreed. The plan for the girl's rescue was very carefully thought through; they decided to carry the girl from the hideout in the ghetto in a bass case, which was specially made with openings for air. Assisted by a friend who was a medical nurse, the mother induced the girl to sleep, and Stankevičius smuggled her out of the ghetto unhindered. However, he was stopped by a guard when he was crossing the Vilijampolė bridge. Fortunately, at that moment the guard was approached by a car, and a German officer asked where he could find a street he needed. Jonas Stankevičius volunteered to go with him in the car and show him the street. In this way the rescuer escaped grave danger. From the beginning Henia stayed with the Stankevičiai and everyone was told that she was an orphan relative. Henia, a brunette, looked very much like Nijolė, the daughter of the Stankevičiai. The girls were of the same age, and very soon became friends.
As the front line approached, the Stankevičiai resolved to save Henia's parents from the ghetto. They found a shelter in a village close to Zapyškis, in the Garliava district. Here Gita and Tonas Visgardiskiai met the end of the war, took their rescued daughter from the Stankevičiai, and left for the USA.
Today Henia's letters to Joana are frequent. Memory and love are alive.
From Hands Bringing Life and Bread, Volume 2,
The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. Vilnius, 1999
Jonas STANKEVIČIUS
The families of Visgardiskiai and Stankevičiai in Kaunas were friendly during the period of independent Lithuania, when they were establishing a joint chemistry company. Later the company was nationalized, and the paths of the two families diverged. When they met again, Germans had already occupied the country, and the Stankevičiai provided food for Gita and Tonas Visgardiskiai, by then prisoners of the ghetto. Jonas Stankevičius had to exchange various things in the village for the food.
In March 1943, Gita Visgardiskienė, who succeeded in escaping from the ghetto, visited the flat of the Stankevičiai. She begged Joana Stankevičienė to hide her daughter Henia because she had found out about the planned liquidation of children in the ghetto. The Stankevičiai discussed the matter and agreed. The plan for the girl's rescue was very carefully thought through; they decided to carry the girl from the hideout in the ghetto in a bass case, which was specially made with openings for air. Assisted by a friend who was a medical nurse, the mother induced the girl to sleep, and Stankevičius smuggled her out of the ghetto unhindered. However, he was stopped by a guard when he was crossing the Vilijampolė bridge. Fortunately, at that moment the guard was approached by a car, and a German officer asked where he could find a street he needed. Jonas Stankevičius volunteered to go with him in the car and show him the street. In this way the rescuer escaped grave danger. From the beginning Henia stayed with the Stankevičiai and everyone was told that she was an orphan relative. Henia, a brunette, looked very much like Nijolė, the daughter of the Stankevičiai. The girls were of the same age, and very soon became friends.
As the front line approached, the Stankevičiai resolved to save Henia's parents from the ghetto. They found a shelter in a village close to Zapyškis, in the Garliava district. Here Gita and Tonas Visgardiskiai met the end of the war, took their rescued daughter from the Stankevičiai, and left for the USA.
Today Henia's letters to Joana are frequent. Memory and love are alive.
From Hands Bringing Life and Bread, Volume 2,
The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. Vilnius, 1999