Rescuers of Jews

       Farmers Jonas Valatkevičius and Domicėlė Valatkevičienė lived all their lives in the village of Benčiakiemis, Jieznas district, Prienai region. Jonas Valatkevičius, having served in the Alytus Uhlan Regiment, and Domicėlė Bernatonytė, who had completed her studies at the Kaišiadorys Girls’ Vocational School, married in 1933 at Jieznas Church. Their children were born one after another – Anelė (b. 1934), Pranas (b. 1935), Jonas (b. 1937), Vytautas (b. 1941), Danutė (b. 1944), Juozas (b. 1946). When Nazi Germany occupied Lithuania, this young farmers family took great risks by hiding Mejeris Šaduras in their homestead.
       From 1924, Mejeris Šaduras lived in Jieznas with his family – his wife Asna Tkač and their children Avram Chaim and Chaja Nechama. When the Nazis occupied Lithuania and the persecution and murder of Jews began, Mejeris Šaduras’ wife Asna and their children, like most Jews of Jieznas, were murdered in 1941. Mejeris Šaduras managed to escape. Throughout the Nazi occupation, he hid in the parishes of Aukštadvaris, Stakliškės, Užuguostis, Kalviai, Birštonas, Namajūnai, Daršūniškis, and Viliūnai. In 1992, the newspaper Gimtasis kraštas published a letter of gratitude from Mejeris Šaduras’ son Icikas Šaduras to his father’s rescuers, entitled “Thank you, good people” (January 9–15, 1992, No. 2). In it, he listed the names of several Jewish rescuers, among them Jonas Valatkevičius from Benčiakiemis, who had sheltered his father. In the article, Icikas Šaduras also quoted his father’s memories, in which he wrote that in 1941, 18 men had fled from Jieznas, but only four survived: Gordonas, Pučkarnikas, Mogilevičius, and his father, Mejeris Šaduras. Mejeris Šaduras was captured five times and escaped five times – once when being led to execution, and once from prison. He was wounded twice. At different times, other families also hid together with Mejeris Šaduras – the Kalamickas family and Šeina Berkmanaitė, who after the war married Mejeris Šaduras, with whom she had a daughter, Bliuma, and a son, Icikas.
       Many residents of the Jieznas area knew Mejeris Šaduras and his family. As remembered by Jonas and Domicėlė Valatkevičius’ eldest daughter, Anelė, Mejeris Šaduras appeared in the Benčiakiemis forest in the early autumn of 1941. At first, he was cared for by the locals while he stayed in the forest, and later supported by other residents of Benčiakiemis and the surrounding villages. When the weather got cold, Jonas and Domicėlė Valatkevičius took him into their homestead. The location was suitable for hiding – a solitary farmhouse about 1 km from Benčiakiemis village and 5 km from Jieznas and the main roads. According to the recollections of their eldest daughter Anelė, the man hidden by her parents lived in the attic (“ant aukšto”) for about a year. He was remembered as a kind, educated, and devout person. Most vividly in Anelė’s memory remained the lessons: he taught the elder Valatkevičius children, Anelė and Pranas, the Yiddish language and script, and the children even learned a little. She also remembered the man’s frequent and loud prayers.
       At different times during the war, other people were also hidden in the homestead of Jonas and Domicėlė Valatkevičius, though they did not stay long. As recalled by their daughter Anelė, a man named Joškė, who had lived in Jieznas before the war, would often come by. His two daughters were hidden by others. After staying two or three days with food and clothing supplies, Joškė would leave again – he acted almost like a messenger between those in hiding.
       Many years later, when Domicėlė Valatkevičienė’s grandchildren asked her if she had not been afraid to take such risks, Domicėlė answered very simply and as a mother: – “They were also someone’s children… If necessary, I would want someone to take care of my children too…”

       Jonas and Domicėlė Valatkevičius, who during the Nazi occupation rescued Mejeris Šaduras and other Jews of Jieznas, were awarded the Life Saviour‘s Cross award in 2025.