rescuers of jews
Buinickas Juozas
ANELĖ ANDRIUŠKEVIČIENĖ
JUOZAS ANDRIUŠKEVIČIUS
JUOZAS BUINICKAS
ADELĖ BUINICKIENĖ
In Butrimonys, alongside Lithuanians, there lived a large community of Lithuanian Jews and Tatars. For centuries, the prominent Donskis family also resided there. Some members of this family emigrated to the United States, establishing deep roots there.
Even though some Donskis family members emigrated to the U.S., the family remained substantial in Butrimonys. When Nazi Germany occupied Lithuania and the brutal persecution and killings of Jews began, the majority of the Donskis family, along with other Jewish residents of the town, were murdered during the initial wave of Jewish massacres. Among the first victims were Schmuel, the son of Icchak and Batja Donskis, and Icchak's brother Faivel.
To save his family from death, Icchak, along with his wife and sons Šepelis (Simas) and Leiba (Liova), began to hide and fight for survival. For a long time, they hid in the forests, spent nights in haystacks or in unfamiliar barns, endured hunger, and braved the deadly cold. Once, in desperation, Icchak proposed ending their suffering and collectively taking their lives. However, his son Leiba objected, and on that day, as if sent from above, people appeared who agreed to shelter them. Farmer families living in remote homesteads far from main roads, namely Juozas and Adelė Buinickis from Paliepiai village and their close neighbours Juozas and Anelė Andriuškevičius from Kružiūnai village, stepped in to provide crucial assistance to the Donskis family.
Juozas Buinickis set up a bunker in the alder grove near the Punelė river (the grove was enclosed with barbed wire, and cattle grazed there), where the Donskis family hid. Both the Buinickis and the Andriuškevičius families brought food to the Donskis in their hiding place.
From the memories of Marija Struskauskienė: “Before the war, my parents knew Donskis well and interacted with him. During the war, the Donskis hid during the day in rye stacks and haystacks. At night, they stayed in a hiding place constructed in the barn. In addition, my father had dug a bunker in the alder grove on the bank of the Punelė River, where our entire family hid during the early days of the war when Alytus was being bombed. Later, the Donskis used it as a hiding place—a secluded, safe place, surrounded by barbed wire, where no one visited or noticed <...>. When they got cold, they came inside to warm up by the stove, sometimes sleeping there. The "stove" – the top of the bread oven – were always warm and spacious. In the late evening, they would come inside to have dinner; during the day, my mother would take food to the hiding place...
The Donskis family was also saved by our close neighbour Juozas Andriuškevičius and his wife Anelė, who were deported to Siberia, and have long since passed away.”
Stasė Andriuškevičiūtė-Sasnauskienė, the daughter of Juozas and Anelė Andriuškevičius, remembers how her mother cooked, and her father carried food in the evenings to the Jews in hiding. In her words, her father, though a short man, had the courage and perseverance to help someone...
From the letter of Professor Leonidas Donskis dated January 27, 2014, to the museum:
From my father Šimas Donskis (1927–1993), I heard the story of the family's rescue during the Second World War. I know that among those who helped my father, his brother, and their saviours were the Buinickis family – who revived my completely frozen father by placing him in a warm stovepipe. At the same time, I received the news that their daughter, Mrs. Marija Struskauskienė, is alive and still living in Butrimonys. I would be very happy if she were to receive a state award for her and her family's heroic deeds. I express my deepest respect to Mrs. Marija Struskauskienė on behalf of my mother, brother, and the entire family. Their parents' memory is sacred to us, and our gratitude to them will never fade.
I do not know everyone who hid my father and his family, but I know that several families helped: Lithuanians, Poles, and Tatars from Butrimonys. I bow low to all these people.
JUOZAS ANDRIUŠKEVIČIUS
JUOZAS BUINICKAS
ADELĖ BUINICKIENĖ
In Butrimonys, alongside Lithuanians, there lived a large community of Lithuanian Jews and Tatars. For centuries, the prominent Donskis family also resided there. Some members of this family emigrated to the United States, establishing deep roots there.
Even though some Donskis family members emigrated to the U.S., the family remained substantial in Butrimonys. When Nazi Germany occupied Lithuania and the brutal persecution and killings of Jews began, the majority of the Donskis family, along with other Jewish residents of the town, were murdered during the initial wave of Jewish massacres. Among the first victims were Schmuel, the son of Icchak and Batja Donskis, and Icchak's brother Faivel.
To save his family from death, Icchak, along with his wife and sons Šepelis (Simas) and Leiba (Liova), began to hide and fight for survival. For a long time, they hid in the forests, spent nights in haystacks or in unfamiliar barns, endured hunger, and braved the deadly cold. Once, in desperation, Icchak proposed ending their suffering and collectively taking their lives. However, his son Leiba objected, and on that day, as if sent from above, people appeared who agreed to shelter them. Farmer families living in remote homesteads far from main roads, namely Juozas and Adelė Buinickis from Paliepiai village and their close neighbours Juozas and Anelė Andriuškevičius from Kružiūnai village, stepped in to provide crucial assistance to the Donskis family.
Juozas Buinickis set up a bunker in the alder grove near the Punelė river (the grove was enclosed with barbed wire, and cattle grazed there), where the Donskis family hid. Both the Buinickis and the Andriuškevičius families brought food to the Donskis in their hiding place.
From the memories of Marija Struskauskienė: “Before the war, my parents knew Donskis well and interacted with him. During the war, the Donskis hid during the day in rye stacks and haystacks. At night, they stayed in a hiding place constructed in the barn. In addition, my father had dug a bunker in the alder grove on the bank of the Punelė River, where our entire family hid during the early days of the war when Alytus was being bombed. Later, the Donskis used it as a hiding place—a secluded, safe place, surrounded by barbed wire, where no one visited or noticed <...>. When they got cold, they came inside to warm up by the stove, sometimes sleeping there. The "stove" – the top of the bread oven – were always warm and spacious. In the late evening, they would come inside to have dinner; during the day, my mother would take food to the hiding place...
The Donskis family was also saved by our close neighbour Juozas Andriuškevičius and his wife Anelė, who were deported to Siberia, and have long since passed away.”
Stasė Andriuškevičiūtė-Sasnauskienė, the daughter of Juozas and Anelė Andriuškevičius, remembers how her mother cooked, and her father carried food in the evenings to the Jews in hiding. In her words, her father, though a short man, had the courage and perseverance to help someone...
From the letter of Professor Leonidas Donskis dated January 27, 2014, to the museum:
From my father Šimas Donskis (1927–1993), I heard the story of the family's rescue during the Second World War. I know that among those who helped my father, his brother, and their saviours were the Buinickis family – who revived my completely frozen father by placing him in a warm stovepipe. At the same time, I received the news that their daughter, Mrs. Marija Struskauskienė, is alive and still living in Butrimonys. I would be very happy if she were to receive a state award for her and her family's heroic deeds. I express my deepest respect to Mrs. Marija Struskauskienė on behalf of my mother, brother, and the entire family. Their parents' memory is sacred to us, and our gratitude to them will never fade.
I do not know everyone who hid my father and his family, but I know that several families helped: Lithuanians, Poles, and Tatars from Butrimonys. I bow low to all these people.