Rescuers of Jews

       During World War II, Jurgis and Ksavera Žilinskas adopted Rita Frank, born in 1933, saving her from death. Rita’s mother Lidija Frankienė was Jewish, and father Jonas Frankas was Lithuanian, an officer in the Lithuanian Army, and Ksavera Frankaitė-Žilinskienė’s brother.
       Ksavera Frankaitė (later Žilinskienė) was born in 1896 in Brooklyn, a suburb of New York, USA. As a child, she moved to Lithuania with her parents and settled in Panevėžys. She graduated from Panevėžys Gymnasium and the Teachers’ Seminary, and worked as a primary school teacher at Panevėžys “Saulė” and Sidabravas schools. When World War I began, Ksavera Frankaitė retreated from the front with her mother and brother. In Vitebsk she met military surgeon Jurgis Žilinskas, whom she already knew from Lithuania. They married in Minsk in 1915, and in 1916 their first daughter Vita was born. From 1919, Ksavera and Jurgis Žilinskai lived in Kaunas. In 1926, Ksavera Žilinskienė graduated from Vytautas Magnus University with a degree in dentistry and began working as a dentist in Kaunas. While studying dentistry, Ksavera became friends with her classmate Lidija Šapiraitė, who later married Ksavera’s brother, Lithuanian Army Captain Jonas Frankas. Settling in Kaunas, Ksavera Žilinskienė devoted much time to public work – she was a member of the Lithuanian Women’s Council, cared about women’s rights and education, and from 1935–1940 she was the chief leader of Lithuanian Girl Scouts.
       Medical doctor, professor, and founder of the Anatomy Department and Institute at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Jurgis Žilinskas was born in Januškoniai village, Baisiogala district. He graduated from Arensburg Gymnasium on Saaremaa Island, studied at the University of Dorpat (Tartu), earning a medical degree in 1912, and began his medical practice in Lithuania in 1913. During World War I, he served with the Russian Red Cross, was a surgeon and head of the sanitary train on the Vilnius–Šiauliai front. From 1922–1940, he worked at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas.
       When Nazi Germany occupied Lithuania, Ksavera Žilinskienė and her husband Jurgis Žilinskas lived in Vilnius, as in 1940 Professor Jurgis Žilinskas had been transferred from Kaunas to Vilnius University. Ksavera’s brother, Lithuanian Army Captain Jonas Frankas, was also transferred to Vilnius with his military unit from Šiauliai. As Soviet repression intensified and understanding that his days of freedom could soon end, Jonas Frankas asked his sister Ksavera to take care of his daughter Rita, as his wife Lidija could no longer manage. Since 1937, Lidija Frankienė had been seriously ill and partially paralyzed. In June 1941, Ksavera Žilinskienė informed Lidija, who was living in Šiauliai with Rita, that her husband, Lithuanian Army Captain Jonas Frankas, had been arrested, tortured, and imprisoned by the Soviets, and on June 14, 1941, deported to a labor camp in Norilsk, Russia. Later Captain Jonas Frankas was transferred to the Siblag camp in Kemerovo, where he was killed on December 28, 1944, at age 44 (From: Lithuanian Army Officers 1918–1953, Vol. 3, p. 119, Lithuanian National Museum, 2003). Wishing to save her daughter, Lidija Frankienė agreed that Rita be adopted by her beloved aunt Ksavera and her husband Jurgis Žilinskas. Tearfully, Rita said goodbye to her mother, not yet realizing she would only see her two or three more times. Jurgis Žilinskas’ elder brother Mykolas Žilinskas secretly transported Rita Frankaitė from Šiauliai to the Žilinskas estate in Vaiškoniai, near Kėdainiai, risking his own safety and that of his family. Mykolas Žilinskas later maintained contact with Lidija Frankienė, helping in every way and preserving the secret of Rita Frankaitė and her mother Lidija. After spending several weeks at the Žilinskas estate with the estate workers, on a cold snowy winter night Rita was transferred to her new adoptive parents Ksavera and Jurgis Žilinskas in Vilnius and became Rita Žilinskaitė. Once, when the Žilinskas were away and Rita was left with the housekeeper, a Gestapo officer knocked on the door and interrogated the girl about visitors. Rita, being clever, did not reveal that her mother’s relative had visited the day before, but after this visit the Žilinskas family decided it was safer to live at the Vaiškoniai estate, where they stayed until summer 1944.
       Jurgis Žilinskas devoted himself to Rita’s education, teaching her much and taking pride in her achievements. Yet the times were dangerous, with German officers frequently visiting to demand tribute. The visits were especially risky because from 1942 the Žilinskas were hiding Rita’s 15-year-old cousin, Lėja Rosenfeld, daughter of Liuba, Rita’s mother’s sister, who had escaped from the Kaunas ghetto. Lėja and her parents Mendel and Liuba Rosenfeld were imprisoned in the Kaunas ghetto; the parents were later separated and murdered in Stutthof and Buchenwald. This young relative had to be carefully protected, as hiding her posed a serious risk to the entire family. Jurgis Žilinskas managed to obtain new identity papers for Lėja, who became Liucija Statkevičiūtė.        Upon learning that Dr. Paturskis had been arrested and imprisoned in the Šeduva ghetto, Prof. Jurgis Žilinskas went there and tried to save his talented former student, persuading the German administration to make an exception for this highly valued doctor. Unfortunately, his efforts were unsuccessful, which deeply saddened Prof. Jurgis Žilinskas.
       In summer 1944, as the front approached Šiauliai, Jurgis and Ksavera Žilinskas, together with their adopted daughters Rita and Liucija, decided to move to the West. Initially, they considered returning if the front moved in another direction. For some time, they stayed with farmers near the Lithuanian border. As the front drew closer, the Germans confiscated their horses, leaving them without transport, forcing them to cross the border on foot with their essential belongings. Thus, Ksavera and Jurgis Žilinskas with their adopted daughters began a new life under wartime conditions in Germany. They first settled in Dresden, experienced heavy bombings, miraculously boarded the last train before the major Dresden bombing, and, together with other Lithuanian refugees, ended up in Ravensburg, later Bremerhaven, from where they sailed to the USA on the first refugee ship. They were met by their daughter Vita and her husband, diplomat Petras Vileišis. Initially, they lived with the Vileišis family in Connecticut, near Waterbury. The two orphans, Rita and Liucija, completed their studies and began new lives in America.
       Prof. Jurgis Žilinskas’ connection with his relatives remaining in Lithuania was severed for a long time. Only after the Stalinist period did he receive letters from relatives and learn of the death of his brother Mykolas Žilinskas, who was brutally killed by Soviet activists in Šeduva on January 27, 1945.
       Jurgis Žilinskas, founder of Lithuanian anatomy and anthropology, died on March 15, 1957, in Waterbury, USA. While living in exile, he had a single dream – to return to Lithuania, which he could not fulfill. However, extremely valuable memoirs Atsiminimai by Jurgis Žilinskas were published in Vilnius in 2005. In 2025, Jurgis and Ksavera Žilinskai, along with Mykolas Žilinskas, who saved Rita Frank and Liucija Rosenfeld-Bowen (Statkevičiūtė), were awarded the Life Saviour’s Cross.