My grandpa was married twice. I don’t know his first wife’s name, all I know is that she gave birth to girls. I cannot recall their names either. One of them lived in Marijampole. She had two sons and two daughters. Once they came to see us in Luksiai on Pesach. Mother’s second sister lived in another town. Both of them perished with their families during the German occupation.
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Sara Ushpitsene
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There was no chance to survive in Sakiai. It was a small town and there were about three thousand Jews. All of them were shot during the first days of occupation. Berl, Beile and my cousins died. More than 60 years have passed, but I remember them as if they were alive.
My mother had a younger sister, who was born in 1900. Her name was Basha. She and Mother lived with their parents. After getting married Basha stayed with Grandmother Sheine Reizl. Basha married a local Jew, Shmulke [Shmuel] Kaganas, and bore two daughters. They also died during the first days of occupation along with other Sakiai Jews.
My mother, Dveire Plager, was born in 1896 in the same village of Plegai, where my grandparents were living. She didn’t go to school and got home education. She was taught to read and write by Grandfather. She knew Ivrit and could read prayers. Her Lithuanian was poor and she spoke no Russian at all.
My parents got married in 1919. It was one year after Grandfather’s death, so there was no feast. My parents were wed under a chuppah and had a family dinner afterwards.
My paternal grandfather, Avraam Kacharinskiy, born in the 1870s, was a butcher.
Both Grandmother and her husband were killed by the Fascists in the first days of occupation.
My father was born in Ciepliszki on 15th May 1900. He became a butcher, like his father.
The town where I was born – Luksiai – looks like any small Lithuanian town, but it seems to me to be the most beautiful one. I think it’s not only my opinion. Luksiai is a very nice town indeed. There is a large cathedral on the bank of the lake. It is nice and fancy looking. There is a gorgeous park beside the lake. We used to walk there in my childhood. The downtown is typical for towns like that – a lot of stores, groceries, mostly belonging to Jews, and a market. There were a lot of Jewish families. A large family, the Korenfields, lived on the other side of the lake. I also remember the families Gerzman, Berenstein, Gertner – they were rich people. The elderly Bernchik couple was poor; they had a spinner and span wool for a living. Finkelstein was one of the most respectable men in town. There was no synagogue and the minyan gathered in his house. My grandfather Plager and later on my father went to his house for praying. Apart from the Bernchiks there were many children in other families. Almost all of them – the spouses, children and grandchildren – were taken to Sakiai in 1941 and shot during the first days of occupation. They were buried in a common grave along with three thousand other Jews.
I have vivid memories of our house. It was a rather spacious house with the kitchen in the center. There was a huge stove in the kitchen, where Mother baked bread and challot and cooked food. There were three more rooms on the ground floor. A Lithuanian lady lived in the smallest room. She helped Mother with house chores. Her duties were mostly connected with Sabbath, as nothing could be done on Saturday. She had a lot to do – stoke the stove, turn on the light, take care of the husbandry – two cows, chicken, ducks. We had a kitchen garden, where Mother and two more helpers were working. My mother taught me since childhood. I knew how to plant, weed and harvest. All crop surpluses – potatoes and vegetables – were sold by my mother, which was pretty handy for our family budget. We also planted fresh vegetables – onion and parsley. There was a lot of milk from the two cows we had, which was enough for the family needs and for sale. There was an ice-cream café in Luksiai and the owner of the café purchased milk from us, as it was the best and the cleanest in town.
My father also worked very hard. There was a small shop by the house, where he sold meat. There was a small abattoir in the yard, where the carcasses were cut. Father needed an assistant in that hard job and he hired a lonely Jew for that. His name was Girsh. He was from Varenna. Girsh was a butcher and a teacher for us [melamed], as he was an educated and religious man. He was kind of strange like most religious Jews. I remember, right after he appeared in our house, he decided to saddle a horse. Most likely, he had never ridden a horse before. We, the kids, were standing in the yard and trying to cheer him up. He managed to sit on the horse facing the tail and ride like that in the yard, making us burst into laughter. When Girsh appeared in the house, the Lithuanian lady left our place, as Girsh couldn’t live in one house with a non-kosher woman. She kept helping mother and came over on Sabbath as usual.
Girsh was a good teacher. Jewish kids from the whole town came to him. There was a kind of cheder in our yard. Though, we had co-ed classes. Girsh was my first teacher and I often remember him with gratitude. It is his merit that I know Yiddish very well and have an idea about Ivrit, enough to know how to read prayers.
My parents were religious. Mother didn’t go outside with her head uncovered, Father also wore a cap or a kippah. Father went to the minyan every Friday, before Sabbath. Mother got ready for it – baked challot, made gefilte fish, chicken broth with kneydlakh. The mandatory Sabbath dish was chulent: meat stewed with potatoes, onion and beans. Chulent was kept in a warm stove until Saturday. Father tried inviting some of the poor Jews on Sabbath, especially those who couldn’t afford having Sabbath meals. On Pesach seder two or three poor people were sitting at our table.
I loved Jewish holidays, which were always celebrated in our house, as well as in other families. For Pesach, my favorite, we had to get ready beforehand, right after Purim, which was the forerunner of Pesach. Mother baked a lot for Purim – traditional triangular pies with poppy seeds – hamantashen –and all kinds of rolls and cookies. She also liked making imberlach – a desert made of carrot and ginger. On Purim we were supposed to take shelakhmones to all friends, pals and relatives. All of us had fun running from house to house with trays full of deserts and comparing whose was better.
There was a fuss right after Purim – Mother took the carpets and quilts outside for cleaning and drying. Floors were waxed, curtains were changed; furniture had dressy covers. All spoke of the anticipation of the holiday. Father brought matzah. I don’t remember who baked it in our town. Sometimes, Father went to Sakiai to get matzah. We knew that there shouldn’t be a single bread crumb by the beginning of the holiday. My parents were very frugal and they figured out how much bread should be purchased so that there wouldn’t be any left before the Pesach holiday, as they respected bread. We, the children, were given presents. As a rule it was some necessary clothes or footwear. The chests with kosher Pesach dishes were taken from garrets before the holiday. The other dishes – pots and pans – were koshered in a large pot in our yard. Long before the holiday, Father made Pesach wine. It was made from raisins and honey in Lithuania.
There was a seder. Usually it was carried out by Girsh. I think my parents paid tribute to the religious man. Besides, he knew the customs and traditions best of all. Girsh was reclining at the head of the table. My father was next to him. Sometimes Mother’s sister Basha and her children came to see us from Plegai. We, the kids, looked for the afikoman, knowing that it was under Girsh’s or Father’s cushion. Those who found it got the present. In the end all of us got a present, as Father didn’t want to hurt any of us. The younger children, usually my brother Leiser, asked questions about the holiday. All of us waited with bated breath for the Prophet Elijah – Girsh opened the door and left the glass of wine for the Prophet.
There was a fuss right after Purim – Mother took the carpets and quilts outside for cleaning and drying. Floors were waxed, curtains were changed; furniture had dressy covers. All spoke of the anticipation of the holiday. Father brought matzah. I don’t remember who baked it in our town. Sometimes, Father went to Sakiai to get matzah. We knew that there shouldn’t be a single bread crumb by the beginning of the holiday. My parents were very frugal and they figured out how much bread should be purchased so that there wouldn’t be any left before the Pesach holiday, as they respected bread. We, the children, were given presents. As a rule it was some necessary clothes or footwear. The chests with kosher Pesach dishes were taken from garrets before the holiday. The other dishes – pots and pans – were koshered in a large pot in our yard. Long before the holiday, Father made Pesach wine. It was made from raisins and honey in Lithuania.
There was a seder. Usually it was carried out by Girsh. I think my parents paid tribute to the religious man. Besides, he knew the customs and traditions best of all. Girsh was reclining at the head of the table. My father was next to him. Sometimes Mother’s sister Basha and her children came to see us from Plegai. We, the kids, looked for the afikoman, knowing that it was under Girsh’s or Father’s cushion. Those who found it got the present. In the end all of us got a present, as Father didn’t want to hurt any of us. The younger children, usually my brother Leiser, asked questions about the holiday. All of us waited with bated breath for the Prophet Elijah – Girsh opened the door and left the glass of wine for the Prophet.
In summer, for Shavuot Mother cooked milk dishes – casseroles and pies with curds. Rosh Hashanah was also fun. There were a lot of tasty dishes and deserts for the New Year to be sweet. On Yom Kippur Girsh spun roosters over boys’ heads and hens over girls’ heads and read prayers. The cut bits of chicken were given to poor people.
Yom Kippur was followed by Sukkot. We ate in a sukkah – a tabernacle placed by Father by the kitchen window – for the whole period of the holiday. Mother served food straight from the kitchen, and the food was put on the table in the sukkah. Mother made a good festive dinner on Simchat Torah. On Chanukkah, the kids were looking forward to Chanukkah gelt and presents. Mother lit the channukiah and every day added another candle. The channukiah was placed on the table. The lights in Jewish houses made the town look even more beautiful. On Chanukkah we had potato fritters and potato tsimes.
When it was the time for me to study, I went to a Lithuanian lyceum. There was no other place in town, neither Jewish nor any other. Beside me, there were several more Jewish kids in our class. I was friends with both Lithuanian and Jewish kids. After school we went to the park or to the lake, which was most attractive in winter. There we skated and went tobogganing. My siblings and I had to study after school. Girsh kept teaching us religion. Daily after school we had to study Yiddish, both written and oral, as well as Jewish history. Sometimes we even cried, envying the Lithuanian kids, who had no extra load, but my father was adamant. His dream was for his kids to be true Jews.
There were no Jewish girls in my class at the lyceum. By that time there were cinemas in Sakiai and Luksiai. We went dancing and watched movies. I was totally apolitical. Of course, I knew of Zionist organizations [3] and underground Komsomol [4], but I wouldn’t join any of them.
At that time the daughters of Mother’s sister from Marijampole became members of Jewish Zionist organizations and left for Palestine to work in a kibbutz, but I didn’t find that interesting.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
Our family wasn’t used to discussing politics. Of course, we were aware of the things going on in Germany, of its intention to exterminate Jews, but we didn’t speak about it at home. I took no interest in the Soviet Union. In general, our family was absolutely apolitical, mostly for the reason of working hard.
In June 1940 the Soviet Army [5] entered Lithuanian territory as Lithuania was annexed to the USSR [6]. First, things remained unchanged. Though, there were empty shelves in the stores. Sausage, cheese and other things, which used to be abundant in capitalist Lithuania, became deficit; only two sorts of bread remain: wheat and rye, and there wasn’t enough of it. We ate what we could grow, therefore those reforms practically had no influence on us. When Father’s store was nationalized, he still was running it, but not as an owner, but as a manager. His position almost didn’t change. There were no wealthy people in our town, but well-off people were turned out of their apartments and housed in smaller places. Those people, whose lodging and bread and butter were taken away, were expecting the changes even for worse. They knew that rich people were exiled to Siberia [7] and they were ready for that morally. Unfortunately, they didn’t manage to exile anybody from Luksiai and my remaining compatriots had a much more horrible fate here: all of them were murdered by the Fascists.
In fall 1940 I left lyceum and found a job. I was a sales assistant at a small store in Luksiai. There were only three people working in it – a Lithuanian man, the former owner of the store, a Lithuanian lady and I. I was proud of making money and sharing it with my family, making a considerable contribution to our family budget.
In the night of 21st June 1941 we slept calmly. My brother Shmuel came home in the wee hours of the morning as he was at a dance club and then took a walk with his beloved. I woke up from the knocks on the window. It was Shmuel knocking on the window and crying out that the war had started. Everybody woke up and then Father was joking that drunken Shmuel appeared to see the war in his dreams. He walked outside and came back with a serious look on his face: ‘Kids, the war has begun. We have to run away immediately!’ Fascist planes were circulating over the city and dropping bombs. My parents had no doubts regarding the escape, contrary to most of the Jews who were saying that Germans were cultured and would do them no wrong.
Father horsed two carts, tied our cows to the cart, Mother packed our thing in bundles, even bed linen, and we left town. We were moving very slowly as the cows were lagging behind. There were a lot of fugitives on the road: going on bikes, carts, on foot. Many soldiers were wounded. We reached the town of Letichev, where Father’s good friend was living. When he saw us he opened the gate and came out in his yard. We had not unloaded our things yet, when the bombing started. My parents decided to move on and we headed straight for Kaunas. We were panic-stricken when we reached Kaunas. People were running on the bridge across the Neman River and local Fascists – Lithuanians – were shooting at them from both ends. Father untied the cows and Mother cried saying good-bye to them. Father told us to hurry up. We moved towards Belarus, and through panic and constant bombing, we reached Minsk. We met my cousin on our way. It was one of the daughters of my mother’s step-sister from Marijampole. She hauled a heavy bag. She didn’t want to go with us, just put her heavy suitcase on the cart and left. We even took it with us when we came back from evacuation. Mother tried hard looking for her, but couldn’t find her. She must have perished during the evacuation.
Father horsed two carts, tied our cows to the cart, Mother packed our thing in bundles, even bed linen, and we left town. We were moving very slowly as the cows were lagging behind. There were a lot of fugitives on the road: going on bikes, carts, on foot. Many soldiers were wounded. We reached the town of Letichev, where Father’s good friend was living. When he saw us he opened the gate and came out in his yard. We had not unloaded our things yet, when the bombing started. My parents decided to move on and we headed straight for Kaunas. We were panic-stricken when we reached Kaunas. People were running on the bridge across the Neman River and local Fascists – Lithuanians – were shooting at them from both ends. Father untied the cows and Mother cried saying good-bye to them. Father told us to hurry up. We moved towards Belarus, and through panic and constant bombing, we reached Minsk. We met my cousin on our way. It was one of the daughters of my mother’s step-sister from Marijampole. She hauled a heavy bag. She didn’t want to go with us, just put her heavy suitcase on the cart and left. We even took it with us when we came back from evacuation. Mother tried hard looking for her, but couldn’t find her. She must have perished during the evacuation.
The trains heading for the East were at Minsk railway station. We left the cart with the horses and took the locomotive train which was packed with people. There were a lot of Jews from Lithuania, Poland and Belarus. Fortunately, my mother took food, rusks and some fats with her and we weren’t starving. We traveled for two weeks and reached Cheboksary in the Urals [about 600 km from Moscow]. Many Jews got off the train here and we decided to do the same. We were given a warm welcome. At first, we were at the evacuation point, where we had a chance to take a shower. Then we were housed with local Russians. The six of us lived in one small room and were very happy for it. The hosts were very hospitable. They treated us to cabbage pies. In a couple of days my brothers went to work at a dairy farm. Father also found a job, only Mother and I stayed at home. While it was warm, my brothers slept in a hay stack. We weren’t starving as my mother had some flour in stock. Besides, my brothers started getting rations. When it started getting cold in the fall, we realized that we wouldn’t survive the cold Ural winter without warm things. One of Father’s young friends, an intelligent Jew from Minsk, talked Father into leaving his job. In the fall of 1941 we took the train to Tashkent [today capital of Uzbekistan] – fugitives went there because of the warm climate, abundant fruit and vegetables.
We were sent to Bukhara from Tashkent, wherefrom we went to the small Kirmenekh station. The conditions there were terrible. The locals didn’t have a better life than us. We slept on the floor. We were happy to have our own linen, which Mother took from home. Mother managed to take a lot of necessary things with us. We had threads and needles. Once some evacuees came to us: a man and a woman, who looked like intelligentsia. They had coats without buttons, which were in high demand. Mother took the buttons from her reserves and sewed them on their coats. Father and my brothers found a job. I also had a job as a cashier at a barbers’ shop. I learnt how to do hair cuts and shaving. I worked there until 1943. Then I left for the factory, where we made ropes. We were given food cards there [8], with the help of which we could get more bread.
Father was drafted into the labor army [9]. He worked at a military plant in the Ural. In 1943 Shmuel was drafted into the army. He was sick for a while. He was to be hospitalized for a couple of weeks with dysentery. He lost a lot of weight and was pretty feeble, but he still went to the military enlistment office. He was drafted into the 16th Lithuanian division [10]. Shortly after that, Shmuel was sent to the front, but Father was sent home. Meishe was no good for military service as he was of a very short height since childhood. All of us worked, but Mother. She took care of the household. Of course, we soon ran out of flour and food taken from home, but Mother knew how to use them economically. I cannot say that we had lavish food, but we didn’t starve.
My brother Shmuel wrote letters from the front. We were looking forward to every letter. Shmuel took part in the battles for the liberation of Lithuania. He was in Luksiai, saw our house and wrote in detail what he knew about perished Jews. We got his last letter in October 1944. He wrote about severe battles, about deaths of thousands of people. He said he was missing us a lot. Shmuel said that he wanted to live. It was his last letter. Mother cried and cried waiting for his letter and looking out for the mailman, who wouldn’t stop by our house.
Leiser was also in the army. When Shmuel was drafted into the army, he constantly paid visits to the military enlistment office, asking to draft him as well. He was not in action anyway, by the time he was drafted, the war was over. Leiser was sent to Korea, then he served in Manchuria. He became a career officer.
Leiser was also in the army. When Shmuel was drafted into the army, he constantly paid visits to the military enlistment office, asking to draft him as well. He was not in action anyway, by the time he was drafted, the war was over. Leiser was sent to Korea, then he served in Manchuria. He became a career officer.
We celebrated the victory day [11] in Uzbekistan. People were laughing and crying at the same time. Every family had someone who perished during the war. We felt sad as well, as we understood that Shmuel was dead. We decided to come back to Lithuania. We had to receive the invitation letter and tickets. Only in November 1945 did we come back to our native town. We were given a very warm welcome. A Lithuanian family lived in our house. They left our house right away and then our neighbors started bringing in our furniture. The neighbors told us about things that happened during the occupation, about those Jews who were taken to Sakiai and shot. There were traitors among Lithuanians. One person, whom I knew, gave away Jews and took part in mass executions of Jews. People said that after the war he started seeing apparitions of those who perished because of him. He used to know them very well in peace times and even loved some of them. That man ran amok. When Luksiai was liberated, he was arrested and convicted. I don’t know what happened to him.
I found a job right away. At that time literate workers, fluent in Russian, were in need. I was in charge of the army provision warehouse, where there were both groceries and primary goods. At that time there was a regulation for all peasants to submit vegetables, meat and other products to that warehouse and I was supposed to receive those goods from them and then distribute them to the military units.
We lived comfortably. I got a good ration at the warehouse. Father and Meishe also worked. They became translators from Russian into Lithuanian for the KGB [12] in Luksiai.