rescuers of jews
Vocelka Pranas
Pranas VOCELKA
The German Gerta Urchs was married to the Jew Mauša Zarchi, a citizen of Lithuania, and lived in Kaunas. She was well aware, she had experienced it in her native Düsseldorf, that by marrying a Jew she was breaking the racist laws of Germany. According to a decree, issued and published by the Nazi occupiers, all persons of Jewish nationality and of mixed families had to settle in a specially pre-arranged part of Vilijampolė, a suburb of Kaunas. Thus, little Juliana, the daughter of Gerta and Mauša, and her father found themselves behind a barbed-wire fence, while the mother and the grandmother remained in their pre-war flat in Vytauto prospektas. Gerta Zarchienė often went to the ghetto to see her little daughter, if only from a distance. As she was afraid to go alone, she was accompanied by Elena Holcmanienė, who had known the Zarchis family long ago. Once Gerta went together with Elena’s daughter Margaretė. That was after the Great Action of 28 October, in which Gerta Zarchienė’s husband perished. Margaretė remembers that the ghetto neighbour Feiga Vocelkienė, to whom little Juliana was entrusted after her father’s death, lifted the girl up in her arms so that the mother could wave at her from afar.
At that time it became quite clear that all the ghetto inhabitants were destined to die and that something had to be done without delay. Pranas Vocelka, a Czech, illegally took his wife, his three children and Juliana from the ghetto. The last was entrusted to her grandmother. At the beginning, Vocelka’s family found refuge with acquaintances. Afterwards, the Vocelkas rented a sort of flat, which could hardly be called a flat. It was a place absolutely hidden from the eyes of the police, since it had neither an entrance nor windows. It consisted of two rooms located behind the laundry of another flat; there was only one small window, facing a high blind wall, and a light had to burn inside all day long. There Vocelka settled his children, and several months later his wife, too. He did not register the children with the police, and they did not go to school. Nevertheless, the children lived almost openly, and the inhabitants of the house knew about them. The presence of his wife was known only to their nearest acquaintances. After work, Vocelka brought the basic necessities for the family, while his wife led a secret life.
Pranas Vocelka was a frequent guest at Elena Holcmanienė’s home. He was a “specialist”, who prepared fake documents for the Jews. A graphic artist by profession, he did it particularly skilfully. Maintaining contact between the rescuers and the ghetto, he helped to free many people.
After the Children’s Action in March 1944, Peisachas Joselevičius and his sister were smuggled out of the ghetto and hidden in a “malina”, as it is called. A group of typographers and other honest people, Julija Vitkauskienė, Mikas and Elena Lukauskas, Pranas Vocelka, and others, participated in this operation. It was a live network...
From Hands Bringing Life and Bread, Volume 3,
The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. Vilnius, 2005
The German Gerta Urchs was married to the Jew Mauša Zarchi, a citizen of Lithuania, and lived in Kaunas. She was well aware, she had experienced it in her native Düsseldorf, that by marrying a Jew she was breaking the racist laws of Germany. According to a decree, issued and published by the Nazi occupiers, all persons of Jewish nationality and of mixed families had to settle in a specially pre-arranged part of Vilijampolė, a suburb of Kaunas. Thus, little Juliana, the daughter of Gerta and Mauša, and her father found themselves behind a barbed-wire fence, while the mother and the grandmother remained in their pre-war flat in Vytauto prospektas. Gerta Zarchienė often went to the ghetto to see her little daughter, if only from a distance. As she was afraid to go alone, she was accompanied by Elena Holcmanienė, who had known the Zarchis family long ago. Once Gerta went together with Elena’s daughter Margaretė. That was after the Great Action of 28 October, in which Gerta Zarchienė’s husband perished. Margaretė remembers that the ghetto neighbour Feiga Vocelkienė, to whom little Juliana was entrusted after her father’s death, lifted the girl up in her arms so that the mother could wave at her from afar.
At that time it became quite clear that all the ghetto inhabitants were destined to die and that something had to be done without delay. Pranas Vocelka, a Czech, illegally took his wife, his three children and Juliana from the ghetto. The last was entrusted to her grandmother. At the beginning, Vocelka’s family found refuge with acquaintances. Afterwards, the Vocelkas rented a sort of flat, which could hardly be called a flat. It was a place absolutely hidden from the eyes of the police, since it had neither an entrance nor windows. It consisted of two rooms located behind the laundry of another flat; there was only one small window, facing a high blind wall, and a light had to burn inside all day long. There Vocelka settled his children, and several months later his wife, too. He did not register the children with the police, and they did not go to school. Nevertheless, the children lived almost openly, and the inhabitants of the house knew about them. The presence of his wife was known only to their nearest acquaintances. After work, Vocelka brought the basic necessities for the family, while his wife led a secret life.
Pranas Vocelka was a frequent guest at Elena Holcmanienė’s home. He was a “specialist”, who prepared fake documents for the Jews. A graphic artist by profession, he did it particularly skilfully. Maintaining contact between the rescuers and the ghetto, he helped to free many people.
After the Children’s Action in March 1944, Peisachas Joselevičius and his sister were smuggled out of the ghetto and hidden in a “malina”, as it is called. A group of typographers and other honest people, Julija Vitkauskienė, Mikas and Elena Lukauskas, Pranas Vocelka, and others, participated in this operation. It was a live network...
From Hands Bringing Life and Bread, Volume 3,
The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. Vilnius, 2005