rescuers of jews
Petrauskienė Juzefa
STASĖ JAGUTIENĖ and JUZEFA PETRAUSKIENĖ
During the war Stase Jagutiene with her little daughter Audrone moved from Vilnius to her mother’s Juzefa Petrauskiene’s farm in Kelmuciai grange Joniskis region. Stase Jagutiene’s sister, who had come to the country from Kaunas during the winter of 1943-44, told her about dreadful things ongoing in Kaunas ghetto. Thus, as spring approached, Stase Jagutiene left for Kaunas and returned with a large bundle in her hands; it was a tiny baby girl with dark curly hair and brown eyes wrapped into duvet covers. The woman told her daughter Audrone that this girl shall be her sister from then, and named the girl Ritute. Only many years later Audronė found out the real name of the rescued girl – Ilida Fridmanaitė, the daughter of doctor Fridman. The two girls became great friends; Stase’s mother Juzefa would also spend a great amount of time with Ritute-Ilida, looked after her and even wanted to baptize the child. However, Stase objected to that on the grounds that they could not impose their belief and nationality on a strange child.
Stase once again set out on a risky journey to Kaunas wanting to inform Ritute’s mother that her child was secure and taken care of. She succeeded in meeting the girl’s mother when the prisoners in the ghetto were on their way to work in the city. The brutal Children’s action during which all children in the ghetto were collected, ripped from their mothers’ hands and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp had just swept through. Stase was trying to persuade Ritute’s mother to leave the ghetto as well and to come and hide in their village but the woman refused not willing to impose greater danger on her child and her saviours. During that meeting, Ritute-Ilida’s mother handed her family photographs and contacts of their relatives in Palestine to Stase Jagutiene. After the war had ended, Stase found the girl's relatives in Palestine and started corresponding with them; from them she received a couple of parcels for Ritute. At that time, a man called Shmuel Peipert, who had devoted all of his energy and resources to the search of rescued Jewish children, turned up in Petrauskai farm. He had the only goal – to find foster parents for these orphans among the Jews, who had survived the catastrophe (unfortunately, this honourable man was shot shortly afterwards during one of his trips in search of children; his murderers remain unknown). Shmuel Peipert found a childless family of a Jewish tailor in Vilnius and the time for a difficult decision for Ritute’s saviours came. In spite of the love for Ritute, Stase Jagutiene declared that she had no right to decide a girl’s fate. Later the child’s saviours changed their place of residence and the connections between the girl’s foster family and her rescuers were broken off. Only after many years had passed, did Stase Jagutiene learn that the head of the family, who had taken Ritute, died, his wife moved to Poland and Ritute-Ilida was turned over to her relatives living in Israel.
In 2013 Audrone Jagutyte – Andrijauskiene was moved by the unexpected news she received from her daughter’s friends residing in Israel. It turned out that the three sons of Ilida Fridmanaite – Katzman lived in the USA, and Ilida Katzman with her husband died on the 8th of September 1974 in the explosion of a hijacked plane on their way from Tel-Aviv to New York.
During the war Stase Jagutiene with her little daughter Audrone moved from Vilnius to her mother’s Juzefa Petrauskiene’s farm in Kelmuciai grange Joniskis region. Stase Jagutiene’s sister, who had come to the country from Kaunas during the winter of 1943-44, told her about dreadful things ongoing in Kaunas ghetto. Thus, as spring approached, Stase Jagutiene left for Kaunas and returned with a large bundle in her hands; it was a tiny baby girl with dark curly hair and brown eyes wrapped into duvet covers. The woman told her daughter Audrone that this girl shall be her sister from then, and named the girl Ritute. Only many years later Audronė found out the real name of the rescued girl – Ilida Fridmanaitė, the daughter of doctor Fridman. The two girls became great friends; Stase’s mother Juzefa would also spend a great amount of time with Ritute-Ilida, looked after her and even wanted to baptize the child. However, Stase objected to that on the grounds that they could not impose their belief and nationality on a strange child.
Stase once again set out on a risky journey to Kaunas wanting to inform Ritute’s mother that her child was secure and taken care of. She succeeded in meeting the girl’s mother when the prisoners in the ghetto were on their way to work in the city. The brutal Children’s action during which all children in the ghetto were collected, ripped from their mothers’ hands and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp had just swept through. Stase was trying to persuade Ritute’s mother to leave the ghetto as well and to come and hide in their village but the woman refused not willing to impose greater danger on her child and her saviours. During that meeting, Ritute-Ilida’s mother handed her family photographs and contacts of their relatives in Palestine to Stase Jagutiene. After the war had ended, Stase found the girl's relatives in Palestine and started corresponding with them; from them she received a couple of parcels for Ritute. At that time, a man called Shmuel Peipert, who had devoted all of his energy and resources to the search of rescued Jewish children, turned up in Petrauskai farm. He had the only goal – to find foster parents for these orphans among the Jews, who had survived the catastrophe (unfortunately, this honourable man was shot shortly afterwards during one of his trips in search of children; his murderers remain unknown). Shmuel Peipert found a childless family of a Jewish tailor in Vilnius and the time for a difficult decision for Ritute’s saviours came. In spite of the love for Ritute, Stase Jagutiene declared that she had no right to decide a girl’s fate. Later the child’s saviours changed their place of residence and the connections between the girl’s foster family and her rescuers were broken off. Only after many years had passed, did Stase Jagutiene learn that the head of the family, who had taken Ritute, died, his wife moved to Poland and Ritute-Ilida was turned over to her relatives living in Israel.
In 2013 Audrone Jagutyte – Andrijauskiene was moved by the unexpected news she received from her daughter’s friends residing in Israel. It turned out that the three sons of Ilida Fridmanaite – Katzman lived in the USA, and Ilida Katzman with her husband died on the 8th of September 1974 in the explosion of a hijacked plane on their way from Tel-Aviv to New York.