rescuers of jews
Galvonaitė Marcelė
Marcelė GALVONAITĖ
Feiga Kulbokaitė-Abramovičienė, her husband, and their newly born son found themselves behind the barbed wire. They were desperately trying to find a way out. They wanted to go to the partisans, but could not do that because of the baby. Abramovičienė suddenly remembered Marcelė Galvonaitė, with whom she had worked in the knitwear factory. Old friends of Alikas Abramovicius' parents organized their meeting with Marcelė Galvonaitė. She could not hide the boy Alikas at her place, but she found the family of Stasė and Jonas Statauskai, who lived in a village not far from Kaunas. On the agreed day the Statauskai and Marcelė Galvonaitė went to the ghetto wall to take the boy. His mother had wrapped the baby in a black overcoat, and his father, having caught a moment when the guard was looking elsewhere, carried the living bundle from the ghetto and passed it over to the baby's new guardians.
Stasė and Jonas Statauskai took little Alikas to the village. They loved the boy dearly, and brought him up like their own child. When Feiga Kulbokaitė came for her son in 1944, the Statauskai were very upset and asked her to leave the boy with them. Feiga suggested that they move to Kaunas, telling them that they were as close as real parents. However, Stasė and Jonas did not want to leave their native village. A photo of them and little Alikas was taken for remembrance, and the mother took the boy away.
Alikas Abramovičius died in Israel in 1992. His mother Feiga Kulbokaitė-Merjes often writes to Marcelė Galvonaitė's daughter. She regrets she cannot write to the relatives of Stasė and Jonas Statauskai. They did not have children.
From Hands Bringing Life and Bread, Volume 2,
The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. Vilnius, 1999
Feiga Kulbokaitė-Abramovičienė, her husband, and their newly born son found themselves behind the barbed wire. They were desperately trying to find a way out. They wanted to go to the partisans, but could not do that because of the baby. Abramovičienė suddenly remembered Marcelė Galvonaitė, with whom she had worked in the knitwear factory. Old friends of Alikas Abramovicius' parents organized their meeting with Marcelė Galvonaitė. She could not hide the boy Alikas at her place, but she found the family of Stasė and Jonas Statauskai, who lived in a village not far from Kaunas. On the agreed day the Statauskai and Marcelė Galvonaitė went to the ghetto wall to take the boy. His mother had wrapped the baby in a black overcoat, and his father, having caught a moment when the guard was looking elsewhere, carried the living bundle from the ghetto and passed it over to the baby's new guardians.
Stasė and Jonas Statauskai took little Alikas to the village. They loved the boy dearly, and brought him up like their own child. When Feiga Kulbokaitė came for her son in 1944, the Statauskai were very upset and asked her to leave the boy with them. Feiga suggested that they move to Kaunas, telling them that they were as close as real parents. However, Stasė and Jonas did not want to leave their native village. A photo of them and little Alikas was taken for remembrance, and the mother took the boy away.
Alikas Abramovičius died in Israel in 1992. His mother Feiga Kulbokaitė-Merjes often writes to Marcelė Galvonaitė's daughter. She regrets she cannot write to the relatives of Stasė and Jonas Statauskai. They did not have children.
From Hands Bringing Life and Bread, Volume 2,
The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. Vilnius, 1999