rescuers of jews
Esertas Artūras
Feiga Aleksanderytė-Koganskienė
About Balys Simanavičius and Artūras Esertas, the Rescuers of the Prisoners of the Kaunas Ghetto
In the spring of 1943, I lived in the Kaunas Ghetto. My rescuer, my sister’s husband German Artūras Esertas was an assistant director at the tannery “Lapė”, while Balys Simanavičius was the director. In order to keep in touch with the relatives and acquaintances in the ghetto, Esertas and Simanavičius took out a permit for a brigade of ghetto prisoners to work at the factory as tanners. Every day, this brigade accompanied by guards was taken to work and back to the ghetto. My brother Mordechajus Aleksanderis was a member of the brigade. Several times, I was also taken from the ghetto to the factory as an auxiliary worker. It was then that I met Balys Simanavičius.
At that time, Esertas and Simanavičius were looking for a hideout for the people taken out of the ghetto. Simanavičius took me to a place in Romainiai, which had been offered by an intermediary. The place had not been fixed up, it was not safe, and therefore I could not stay there. However, I did not return to the ghetto, but went to Artūras Esertas.
Simanavičius and Esertas equipped a hiding place in the attic of the factory. Eighteen people, my brother and his family among them, found shelter there. The rescuers saw to it that the living conditions in the hideout were as good as possible. An old factory worker brought us foodstuffs early in the morning and took out the rubbish. The people could cook hot meals, wash, and wash clothes.
As the frontline was approaching, they knew that the retreating Germans would explode the industrial buildings and their hideout would not last long.
One day, people from the city administration called Esertas at the factory and ordered him to take all the Jews working there back to the ghetto, as the brigade was being disbanded and would not be taken to the factory again. Esertas learned that the liquidation of the Kaunas Ghetto had started and advised the workers not to return to the ghetto and go wherever they could. However, Špegelis, who was the Jewish brigade leader refused flatly and forbid them to leave the factory.
Shortly after, a group of soldiers arrived at the factory. The people realised what that meant. They panicked and started running around. The worker Gordonas, looking for a place to hide, rushed to the staircase leading to the hideout in the attic. The guard noticed that and opened fire.
Hearing the shots, the people in the hideout rushed to the windows to see what was happening. The guards noticed them, turned them out of the hideout, half-naked, and drove them to the ghetto together with the workers’ brigade. Their fate did not differ from that of the other ghetto prisoners...
It is difficult to describe how Simanavičius and Esertas felt that day. They were faced with mortal danger. They knew that they would have to answer questions about who made the hideout, brought the people from the ghetto, who looked after them and so on.
As the frontline was quickly approaching Kaunas, Simanavičius and Esertas went into hiding for a short time and avoided retribution.
My brother and his family had left the hideout one day before it discovered and were saved.
About Balys Simanavičius and Artūras Esertas, the Rescuers of the Prisoners of the Kaunas Ghetto
In the spring of 1943, I lived in the Kaunas Ghetto. My rescuer, my sister’s husband German Artūras Esertas was an assistant director at the tannery “Lapė”, while Balys Simanavičius was the director. In order to keep in touch with the relatives and acquaintances in the ghetto, Esertas and Simanavičius took out a permit for a brigade of ghetto prisoners to work at the factory as tanners. Every day, this brigade accompanied by guards was taken to work and back to the ghetto. My brother Mordechajus Aleksanderis was a member of the brigade. Several times, I was also taken from the ghetto to the factory as an auxiliary worker. It was then that I met Balys Simanavičius.
At that time, Esertas and Simanavičius were looking for a hideout for the people taken out of the ghetto. Simanavičius took me to a place in Romainiai, which had been offered by an intermediary. The place had not been fixed up, it was not safe, and therefore I could not stay there. However, I did not return to the ghetto, but went to Artūras Esertas.
Simanavičius and Esertas equipped a hiding place in the attic of the factory. Eighteen people, my brother and his family among them, found shelter there. The rescuers saw to it that the living conditions in the hideout were as good as possible. An old factory worker brought us foodstuffs early in the morning and took out the rubbish. The people could cook hot meals, wash, and wash clothes.
As the frontline was approaching, they knew that the retreating Germans would explode the industrial buildings and their hideout would not last long.
One day, people from the city administration called Esertas at the factory and ordered him to take all the Jews working there back to the ghetto, as the brigade was being disbanded and would not be taken to the factory again. Esertas learned that the liquidation of the Kaunas Ghetto had started and advised the workers not to return to the ghetto and go wherever they could. However, Špegelis, who was the Jewish brigade leader refused flatly and forbid them to leave the factory.
Shortly after, a group of soldiers arrived at the factory. The people realised what that meant. They panicked and started running around. The worker Gordonas, looking for a place to hide, rushed to the staircase leading to the hideout in the attic. The guard noticed that and opened fire.
Hearing the shots, the people in the hideout rushed to the windows to see what was happening. The guards noticed them, turned them out of the hideout, half-naked, and drove them to the ghetto together with the workers’ brigade. Their fate did not differ from that of the other ghetto prisoners...
It is difficult to describe how Simanavičius and Esertas felt that day. They were faced with mortal danger. They knew that they would have to answer questions about who made the hideout, brought the people from the ghetto, who looked after them and so on.
As the frontline was quickly approaching Kaunas, Simanavičius and Esertas went into hiding for a short time and avoided retribution.
My brother and his family had left the hideout one day before it discovered and were saved.