rescuers of jews

Elena UMBRASIENĖ and her sons Algirdas Jokūbas and Stasys Valentinas Ona NAVIKIENĖ, Antanas NAVIKAS During the entire occupation period the citizen of Kaunas Klemesas Kaušinis was taking care of the family of engineer Yosef Yudelevitch, involving in the rescue process all his sisters and friends, residing in various regions of Lithuania. At the beginning he himself accepted the wife of Isak Yudelevitch – Raya. Later, when it became dangerous to hide Raya in Kaunas, he made the necessary arrangements with his sister Elena Umbrasienė, who lived in Molėtai region, in the village of Keršeniškės. Klemensas took Raya to this village together with his own sons and presented her as their baby-sitter. In autumn 1942 he transferred Raya and his sons to his second sister – Ona Navikienė, who lived in Utenos region, village Ažuožerių. Both sisters were aware of the fact that Raya was a Jew, but nevertheless, in spite of all the danger, both of them continued helping her. Later on, when there was a need to find another hiding place for Raya’s husband – Isak, Klemensas turned to his sister Elena once again and this time Isak was taken to the same village where Raya used to live in Elena’s house before. Isak was hiding there from the mid summer 1943 until the end of the year. Despite all the measures taken, Isak was noticed by a servant. The hosts of the house got frightened that the girl might disclose him, so they started looking for another hiding place. This time Isak was taken to the Vitkauskas family, who lived on Birutės island. Very many hardships were still awaiting Isak Yudelevitch, but with the help of such noble people as Elena Umbrasienė her sons Algirdas Jokūbas and Stasys Valentinas, Ona Navikienė, Antanas Navikas and Klemensas Kaušinis, Raya and Isak Yudelevitch managed to survive.