Rescuers of Jews
Lisauskaitė-Adomianec Sofija
On first days of the war the large Beder family together with a large group of refugees set out on foot from Kaunas to the depths of the country. During an air-raid, six-year-old Riva got lost. With other refugees the girl reached Daugpils. Sofija Adomianec found out about this helpless child. Sofija grew up among Jews, she knew Yiddish well, and soon made friends with Riva. Having arranged matters with the rector, Riva was baptized and, what was more important, issued a birth certificate testifying that she was Regina Adomianec. Riva-Regina called Sofija her mother and would not leave her for a moment.
In 1945, after demobilisation, Lazar Beder returned to Kaunas hoping to find somebody from his large family alive. The roads of search took him to Daugavpils. When he saw Riva, he recognized his little sister. How were they to live on?
When the little girl was told that her brother had turned up and that he wanted to take her back to Lithuania, she started crying, embraced Sofija, pressed herself to her and exclaimed, “Mummy, do not give me away to anyone, I will not go anywhere without you”. The girl was crying so much, it was impossible to calm her down. Her brother was crying, too. “You know, Sofija,” he finally said, “if you are mother to Rivele, be my mother as well.”
Riva has grown up and lives in the USA at present. Together with her, Lazar and their brother, who by a miracle returned from a concentration camp, Sofija Adomianec lived as their mother. In 1987, at the age of 87, she found her eternal rest in the land of America.
From Hands Bringing Life and Bread, Volume 1,
The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. Vilnius, 1997
Sofija Adomianec (Lisauskaitė) was awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations in 1987. By decision of the Yad Vashem Memorial Institute, her name is included in the list of Latvian Righteous Among the Nations.