rescuers of jews
Laucevičiūtė-Baužienė Jadvyga
Jadvyga LAUCEVIČIŪTĖ-BAUŽIENĖ
An excerpt from a school composition by Eglė Delkutė, the final-year student at a secondary school in Telšiai. In April 1996, this composition was given the highest award in the first stage of an international competition of compositions on the theme of struggle against anti-Semitism and racism.
“The ghetto on the shore of Mastis Lake is no longer here, there remained only a meadow soaking in the tears of the Jews, their endless suffering and blood, and pain frozen in the stone which marks the boundaries of the ghetto. Here, among many others, Ruth Gurvitch was also waiting for her death and escape, but her road of suffering was much longer than that of 500 young girls shot in Viešvėnai by executioners on Christmas Eve. Ruth finds shelter in the home of the Laucevičiai. She is hoping and waiting, surrounded by sincere care of kind-hearted people. It is her 20th spring ... And with it, love knocks at her heart. Pranas Laucevičius’ heart starts beating in the same rhythm. He makes up his mind to take one further step. Hoping that Ruth will be saved if she changes her surname, he offers her his heart and hand. Meanwhile, days, weeks, months stricken with anxiety are passing by. Occupation lasts, Ruth becomes a mother. Sad news reaches Pranas: the Germans are already aware of Ruth’s nationality. Pranas and Ruth are in hiding, while Jadvyga, Pranas’ sister, takes care of little Telesforas. From time to time mother and father visit their son, but these moments of happiness are short and very infrequent. There are many angry people around... Finally the front line rolls by Telšiai, but there is no news of Ruth and Pranas. Jadvyga, having left the little boy in his grandmother’s care, with a rucksack on her back sets off to look for her relatives. She did not have to look for them long ... Everybody in the area knows about the horrid tragedy... Ruth and Pranas were shot on the last day of the German occupation. All warmth of her heart Jadvyga gave to Telesforas, the fruit of Ruth and Pranas’ big love and suffering, the continuation of their life. Telesforas, an engineer at the “Ekranas” plant in Panevėžys, has brought up a beautiful family of his own. Wisdom, goodness and intellectuality shine from kind-hearted Jadvyga. In her thoughts she constantly returns to the past, recalls those frightful times, because memory knows no prescription...”
From Hands Bringing Life and Bread, Volume 1,
The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. Vilnius, 1997
“The ghetto on the shore of Mastis Lake is no longer here, there remained only a meadow soaking in the tears of the Jews, their endless suffering and blood, and pain frozen in the stone which marks the boundaries of the ghetto. Here, among many others, Ruth Gurvitch was also waiting for her death and escape, but her road of suffering was much longer than that of 500 young girls shot in Viešvėnai by executioners on Christmas Eve. Ruth finds shelter in the home of the Laucevičiai. She is hoping and waiting, surrounded by sincere care of kind-hearted people. It is her 20th spring ... And with it, love knocks at her heart. Pranas Laucevičius’ heart starts beating in the same rhythm. He makes up his mind to take one further step. Hoping that Ruth will be saved if she changes her surname, he offers her his heart and hand. Meanwhile, days, weeks, months stricken with anxiety are passing by. Occupation lasts, Ruth becomes a mother. Sad news reaches Pranas: the Germans are already aware of Ruth’s nationality. Pranas and Ruth are in hiding, while Jadvyga, Pranas’ sister, takes care of little Telesforas. From time to time mother and father visit their son, but these moments of happiness are short and very infrequent. There are many angry people around... Finally the front line rolls by Telšiai, but there is no news of Ruth and Pranas. Jadvyga, having left the little boy in his grandmother’s care, with a rucksack on her back sets off to look for her relatives. She did not have to look for them long ... Everybody in the area knows about the horrid tragedy... Ruth and Pranas were shot on the last day of the German occupation. All warmth of her heart Jadvyga gave to Telesforas, the fruit of Ruth and Pranas’ big love and suffering, the continuation of their life. Telesforas, an engineer at the “Ekranas” plant in Panevėžys, has brought up a beautiful family of his own. Wisdom, goodness and intellectuality shine from kind-hearted Jadvyga. In her thoughts she constantly returns to the past, recalls those frightful times, because memory knows no prescription...”
From Hands Bringing Life and Bread, Volume 1,
The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. Vilnius, 1997