“Telesforas had no right to be born, but he was born; he had no right to live, but he does. His parents – a Jewish woman Rūta and a Lithuanian man Pranas – dared to love one another and to have a baby during the war when Jewish women were forbidden to have children. Pranas’ love for Rūta was so strong that he tore off his girlfriend’s yellow star and married her. Rūta and Pranas were shot on the bank of the Virvyčia River in October 1944. Telesforas was rescued in Telšiai – the town of his parents’ love.”
These are the first words of the museum’s documentary Palieku tau savo vaiką (I Am Leaving You My Child, written and directed by Lilija Kopač, co-written by Danutė Selčinskaja, 2005).
This true story is told by its heroes – 91-year old Pranas’ sister Jadvyga Laucevičiūtė-Baužienė, 79-year old Rūta’s brother Jakovas Gurvičius, and Telesforas Laucevičius, the son of Rūta and Pranas, who was born during the war.
Romantic friendship between Rūta and Pranas, the residents of Telšiai, started before the war. They were meant to meet again in December 1941.
When the town of Telšiai found out about the upcoming liquidation of the Telšiai ghetto where Rūta was living, Pranas Laucevičius was alarmed, so he found her in the ghetto and took her to his home. Ona Laucevičienė welcomed the frightened girl.
Pranas hoped that a marriage would save his beloved girl. Secretly, they brought a priest to their house and got married. However, they soon realised the dangers of staying in Telšiai. After the marriage, they left the town and settled in Laižuva in the house of Pranas’ schoolfellow. There, Pranas worked as a teacher and Rūta helped him in school. Their son Telesforas was born in the autumn of 1942. Pranas asked his mother for help. Ona Laucevičienė, took her grandson, the little Telesforas, to her home in Telšiai.
Shortly after that, the “white-bands” uncovered Rūta's background. Rūta wrote a letter of farewell to her mother:
My dear beloved Mother,
When you receive this letter, I will be dead.
I have already written to you that I had lived with a certain man who loved me and whom I loved too. This man did everything for me. We have been living together for a year and now I have a little baby boy. But it’s all over now, Mother. I was caught and I believe I will have to die. But please don’t cry too much. I have been very happy with this man for the whole year and I have a son who will outlive me. Dear Mother, I can not write anything more. You can imagine what is in my heart and you will understand me. Please, remember me sometimes. I love you all and I kiss you all – most probably for the last time.
Your daughter Rūta (Ruth)
Pranas and Rūta left Laižuva. Pranas was uneasy and wrote to his sister Jadvyga:
Dear Jadvyga,
As opportunity offers I write to you through Mr. Klykunas, the head of Sodyba in Telšiai. You must have received my telegram and know that the two of us are no longer in Laižuva. I can not go into further detail in this letter. Mother will tell you everything. I will only say that I had no other choice. Don’t worry about me – I am safe with my friends. Probably, you have already contacted mother. I want to remind you one more time to do what you can to assist her. You can call her by phone and discuss everything in detail. I have no news of our mother. We left her with all our things, a pig and the baby. I think that it might be smart to send Mr. Lipskis with a pair of horses to bring her to Telšiai. (Maybe he can get the horses on the spot?) I will find an opportunity to reclaim my necessaries from Telšiai. This is all for now.
I wish you good luck in settling everything and happy holidays.
Your Pranas
P. S. Jadvyga, if the baby makes it to Telšiai alive, take care of him like he was your own.
Pranas’ friend found him a job in Kairiškės village not far from Tryškiai. Pranas began teaching again. The front line was closing in and triumph was in the air, but in Kairiškės, Germans were still digging in. Unfortunately, Rūta was recognised by a local German, a former student of Vytautas Magnus University. This time, Rūta and Pranas were in for the tragic end.
5 October 1944, Rūta and Pranas were shot on the bankn of the Virvyčia River.
It was the last day of the Nazi occupation. The next day, the Russians entered Kairiškės village.
Telesforas Laucevičius: “From the day when my father sent me in a horse carriage to Telšiai, I was surrounded by the love and care of two wonderful women – my grandmother Ona Laucevičienė and my aunt Jadvyga. In Telšiai, I spent my childhood and my youth, and when I finished school, I left for Kaunas.
At first, my grandmother only told me a few facts about my past and my parents, and later aunt Jadvyga revealed me everything about the death of my parents, and the hardships they had to endure in order to raise me and grant me education.”
