rescuers of jews
Požėla Vladas
Vladas POŽĖLA
Without saying anything, Vladas Požėla, the parson of Kuziai, collects a batch of letters from the drawers of his desk and lays them on the top.
...I was denounced by my neighbours. On my birthday – that's why I have not forgotten the date – the Gestapo locked me in the Siauliai prison. The priest Vladas Požėla was prison chaplain at the time. Risking his freedom and his life, he visited people every day to collect alms, and he would take everything down to the last grain to the hungry prisoners awaiting their death. My husband, Liudvikas Aleksandravičius, an orchestra musician, was also in prison. The chaplain wanted to provide the prisoners with some kind of moral support and an opportunity for husbands and wives to see each other, so he brought a cello to the prison and organized a little orchestra. These encounters were no less important for keeping up one's spirit than bread and medicine were to the body. The priest did not bother about our nationality or religion, to him all of us were the people of one nationality – that of God's children. He was like the beam of a lighthouse for a ship sinking in the darkness of the night...”
“Dear Mr. Požėla,
I will always remember you, you are my second father.
And Lithuania is my second motherland...”
“Dear Priest,
The society of Jewish Culture of Lithuania is aware of the fact that in the years of the Nazi occupation you were rescuing our persecuted fellow-countrymen, for which you were awarded the title of the Righteous Among the Nations in Jerusalem.
We would be grateful if you could write in short about yourself and about the rescued...
The priest could only present a short list – since, when helping the weak or carrying a tiny saw to cut the prison bars in the folds of his cassock, he did not ask the names of those who he was saving. When he saw a pale girl in a prison cell, he took her in his arms and carried her from the prison, shouting in German, “Watch out – typhus!” The Germans were scared of an epidemic and cleared the widest path for him. The girl “recovered”, got married, and brought up a daughter – Regina Steponavičiūtė, a theatre director.
The chaplain went to the prison every day, and every day he carried not only consolation to the prisoners' souls, but also messages about freedom, messages from the front line, and letters which were most strictly forbidden. During the air-raid on 19 June 1944 Siauliai was showered with bombs. The prison guards were panicking and rushing about. Meanwhile, the priest was opening the doors of prison cells...
“At that moment, together with other prisoners from the same cell, I escaped the death factory. For 26 years I have been looking for the priest, eager to meet him and thank him for my saved life, for unexpected freedom, for the opportunity to enjoy the world. Thanks only to him lots of others and I have survived,”· writes Benjaminas Fuksis. When they did meet, they embraced and both broke into tears like children...
While Benjaminas Fuksis was looking for the priest in Lithuania, Vladas Požėla was trying to warm the eternal Siberian frost, alleviating the sufferings and restoring the faith of co-prisoners of the concentration camp. He was sentenced to 25 years.
At the onset of the wave of rehabilitation, the priest could have appealed for the “correction of mistakes.” He did not do that. The following document was addressed to M. Erenburg, the representative of the Siauliai branch of the Jewish Society of Lithuania:
“Having received the statement of the Jewish Cultural Society of Lithuania concerning the rehabilitation of the priest Vladas Požėla, the prosecutor's office of the Republic has checked the archived criminal case against him.
On the basis of the decree of 28 July 1989 by the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR, Vladas Požėla is rehabilitated. Enclosed you will find V. Požėla's rehabilitation certificate which we request you to hand to the rehabilitated or his next of kin.
We thank the Jewish Cultural Society of Lithuania for its assistance in the name of justice.”
In the pile of letters and documents there is another letter in which priest Vladas Požėla declines 6000 roubles which were remitted to him as a compensation for the years of imprisonment and passes this amount to the benefit of the Siauliai branch of the Jewish Cultural Society.
Given the chance, Priest Vladas Požėla, the Righteous Among the Nations, could have told us much more. His eyes would change from happy to sad – some people are rejoicing at the sunshine, for others it went out among the red walls of the Siauliai prison... However, nobody was forgotten – everybody lived in the heart and prayers of the Righteous.
From Hands Bringing Life and Bread, Volume 2,
The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. Vilnius, 1999
Biography
Vladas Požėla was born on 1 April 1913, ordained to be a priest on 22 May 1937. After graduating from the seminary on July 20 of the same year, he was appointed the vicar of the parish of Vilkija. Later he worked as a vicar in the parish of Šv. Jurgis in Šiauliai. From 1938 until 1944 he was the chaplain in the Šiauliai Secondary School of Crafts, Šiauliai Secondary School of Trade and Šiauliai gymnasium for boys. He also taught religion there. From 1942, Požėla was the chaplain of the Šiauliai penitentiary and the Surgical Department of the Šiauliai hospital. He helped the Jews imprisoned in the Šiauliai penitentiary. Požėla helped some Jewish prisoners escape to freedom. Exiled by the Soviet government in 1946. Požėla came back from the exile in 1956. Appointed the chaplain of the parish of Aukštelkė. Appointed the atlarista of the parish of Šv. Jurgis in Šiauliai in 1961–1962. Later worked as chaplain in Skirsnemunė and Pakapė. Assigned the chaplain of the parish of Kužiai in 1989, where he worked until his death on 10 April 1997.
Without saying anything, Vladas Požėla, the parson of Kuziai, collects a batch of letters from the drawers of his desk and lays them on the top.
...I was denounced by my neighbours. On my birthday – that's why I have not forgotten the date – the Gestapo locked me in the Siauliai prison. The priest Vladas Požėla was prison chaplain at the time. Risking his freedom and his life, he visited people every day to collect alms, and he would take everything down to the last grain to the hungry prisoners awaiting their death. My husband, Liudvikas Aleksandravičius, an orchestra musician, was also in prison. The chaplain wanted to provide the prisoners with some kind of moral support and an opportunity for husbands and wives to see each other, so he brought a cello to the prison and organized a little orchestra. These encounters were no less important for keeping up one's spirit than bread and medicine were to the body. The priest did not bother about our nationality or religion, to him all of us were the people of one nationality – that of God's children. He was like the beam of a lighthouse for a ship sinking in the darkness of the night...”
“Dear Mr. Požėla,
I will always remember you, you are my second father.
And Lithuania is my second motherland...”
“Dear Priest,
The society of Jewish Culture of Lithuania is aware of the fact that in the years of the Nazi occupation you were rescuing our persecuted fellow-countrymen, for which you were awarded the title of the Righteous Among the Nations in Jerusalem.
We would be grateful if you could write in short about yourself and about the rescued...
The priest could only present a short list – since, when helping the weak or carrying a tiny saw to cut the prison bars in the folds of his cassock, he did not ask the names of those who he was saving. When he saw a pale girl in a prison cell, he took her in his arms and carried her from the prison, shouting in German, “Watch out – typhus!” The Germans were scared of an epidemic and cleared the widest path for him. The girl “recovered”, got married, and brought up a daughter – Regina Steponavičiūtė, a theatre director.
The chaplain went to the prison every day, and every day he carried not only consolation to the prisoners' souls, but also messages about freedom, messages from the front line, and letters which were most strictly forbidden. During the air-raid on 19 June 1944 Siauliai was showered with bombs. The prison guards were panicking and rushing about. Meanwhile, the priest was opening the doors of prison cells...
“At that moment, together with other prisoners from the same cell, I escaped the death factory. For 26 years I have been looking for the priest, eager to meet him and thank him for my saved life, for unexpected freedom, for the opportunity to enjoy the world. Thanks only to him lots of others and I have survived,”· writes Benjaminas Fuksis. When they did meet, they embraced and both broke into tears like children...
While Benjaminas Fuksis was looking for the priest in Lithuania, Vladas Požėla was trying to warm the eternal Siberian frost, alleviating the sufferings and restoring the faith of co-prisoners of the concentration camp. He was sentenced to 25 years.
At the onset of the wave of rehabilitation, the priest could have appealed for the “correction of mistakes.” He did not do that. The following document was addressed to M. Erenburg, the representative of the Siauliai branch of the Jewish Society of Lithuania:
“Having received the statement of the Jewish Cultural Society of Lithuania concerning the rehabilitation of the priest Vladas Požėla, the prosecutor's office of the Republic has checked the archived criminal case against him.
On the basis of the decree of 28 July 1989 by the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR, Vladas Požėla is rehabilitated. Enclosed you will find V. Požėla's rehabilitation certificate which we request you to hand to the rehabilitated or his next of kin.
We thank the Jewish Cultural Society of Lithuania for its assistance in the name of justice.”
In the pile of letters and documents there is another letter in which priest Vladas Požėla declines 6000 roubles which were remitted to him as a compensation for the years of imprisonment and passes this amount to the benefit of the Siauliai branch of the Jewish Cultural Society.
Given the chance, Priest Vladas Požėla, the Righteous Among the Nations, could have told us much more. His eyes would change from happy to sad – some people are rejoicing at the sunshine, for others it went out among the red walls of the Siauliai prison... However, nobody was forgotten – everybody lived in the heart and prayers of the Righteous.
From Hands Bringing Life and Bread, Volume 2,
The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. Vilnius, 1999
Biography
Vladas Požėla was born on 1 April 1913, ordained to be a priest on 22 May 1937. After graduating from the seminary on July 20 of the same year, he was appointed the vicar of the parish of Vilkija. Later he worked as a vicar in the parish of Šv. Jurgis in Šiauliai. From 1938 until 1944 he was the chaplain in the Šiauliai Secondary School of Crafts, Šiauliai Secondary School of Trade and Šiauliai gymnasium for boys. He also taught religion there. From 1942, Požėla was the chaplain of the Šiauliai penitentiary and the Surgical Department of the Šiauliai hospital. He helped the Jews imprisoned in the Šiauliai penitentiary. Požėla helped some Jewish prisoners escape to freedom. Exiled by the Soviet government in 1946. Požėla came back from the exile in 1956. Appointed the chaplain of the parish of Aukštelkė. Appointed the atlarista of the parish of Šv. Jurgis in Šiauliai in 1961–1962. Later worked as chaplain in Skirsnemunė and Pakapė. Assigned the chaplain of the parish of Kužiai in 1989, where he worked until his death on 10 April 1997.