Lithuanian rescuers - Miriam Javnaitė-Voronova's survival story
During World War II, Miriam Javnaitė-Voronova survived the Holocaust thanks to many Lithuanians who, risking their own lives and the lives of their loved ones, hid, fed, and cared for persecuted Jews.
"I am one of the few surviving Jews, because we were all condemned to death by the Hitlerites. Closed in the ghetto, in concentration camps, in prisons, hungry, humiliated and trampled like the most despicable creatures on this earth, we did not even have the right to enjoy the sun, although we never blocked it from anyone. Day and night we had to work at the Šiauliai airfield, the Paventiai sugar factory, the Gaudučiai peat bog, the Daugėliai brickyard, on the road section, etc. For this we received heavy beatings and almost nothing to eat. Those horrific images, those nine circles of Dante's hell that we passed through, have not faded from our memory even today.
On the path of my suffering, I met many noble Lithuanians who hid me, clothed me, fed me and supported me morally, risking their own lives and the lives of their families. I would like the names and surnames of all of them, so dear to me, to be immortalized. The pastor of Kužiai (then the chaplain of Šiauliai prison) Požėla Vladas, who helped me and my friend Malinker Zelda escape from the prison where we were sentenced to death; Petrašiūnas, a baker who was in prison because he brought too much bread into the ghetto. He, at the request of the chaplain, saved Zelda; I cannot speak without emotion about the Venclauskas family, who did so much to save as many of our compatriots as possible. In addition, they hid and raised a girl, Chana Blank, who now lives in Israel. In conclusion, I want to say a big thank you to the sons and daughters of Lithuania, who covered our lives with their chests. I am happy to have witnessed the rebirth of Lithuania, thanks to which even a small Jewish nation can be reborn. I wish that the rebirth will grow and strengthen in friendship with the Jewish people.
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Venclauskiai House-Museum
Venclauskių House-Museum is an exclusive residential house of interwar historicist architecture located in the city of Šiauliai. The building, nicknamed the White House, was built in 1926. in the former Šiauliai suburb lands for the family of Kazimieros and Stanislavas Venclauskiu. Kazimieras and Stanislava Venclauskiai - actors of the Lithuanian national movement and the restoration of the Lithuanian state, also famous as guardians of many strays and orphans.
During World War II, Stanislava Venclauskienė and her daughters Danuta and Gražbyle became famous as saviors of Jews. Despite the fact that the German commandant's office was located in their house during the war, they helped the Jews imprisoned in the Šiauliai ghetto and hid them at home. Danutė Venclauskaitė had permission to enter the Šiauliai ghetto, visiting there secretly bringing food and medicine. All three women have received the title of Righteous Among the Nations and have been awarded the Cross for the Rescue of the Perishing.
in 1991 Gražbylė and Danutė Venclauskaitė donated the family home to the "Aušros" museum in Šiauliai. In the building in 2019 after the reconstruction, the Venclauskių House-Museum was established. The permanent exposition of the museum tells the story of the Venclauski family, and the rooms in the basement are devoted to the themes of the Holocaust and the rescue of Jews.
Righteous Among the Nations Square (Monument)
On October 22, 2021, the Righteous Among the Nations Square was opened in Šiauliai, at the intersection of Ežeros and Vilniaus Streets. This is the first monument to the Righteous Among the Nations in Lithuania. The author of the monument is designer Adas Toleikis, originally from Šiauliai, and the initiator is the chairman of the Šiauliai County Jewish Community, Sania Kerbelis.
The created monument “Union” features the names of the Righteous Among the Nations of the Šiauliai County, immortalizing 148 rescuers of Jews, and artistic accents mark the locations of the gates of the Šiauliai ghettos. Two ghettos were established in the city of Šiauliai: in the so-called Kaukaza quarter and in the Ežero–Trakų g. quarter. Physically strong and fit persons were sent to the first ghetto, and specialists (doctors, mechanics, and others) to the second. The ghetto in Šiauliai was established in the summer of 1941 by order of the military commandant of the city of Šiauliai, and was liquidated in 1944, when Nazi Germany retreated and the remaining Jews were transported to the Stutthof and Dachau concentration camps. More than 5,950 Jews were imprisoned in the ghettos. During the interwar period, about 6,500–8,000 Jews lived in Šiauliai, some of whom voluntarily fled to the depths of Russia, and after the Holocaust, only about 350–500 residents of Jewish origin remained.
Kužių Švč. Mergelės Marijos Gimimo bažnyčia
Darnių proporcijų medinė vienanavė bažnyčia stovi Kužių miestelio centre.
Kužių bažnyčia yra viena nedaugelio šventovių Lietuvoje, kurios taip smarkiai nukentėtų nuo abiejų pasaulinių karų. Mat 1873 m. statyta medinė bažnyčia sudegė per Pirmąjį pasaulinį karą, judant frontui, tad jos vietoje Klebono Adolfo Kleibos rūpesčiu 1920 m. buvo pastatyta laikina.
1929–1932 m. pastatyta nauja masyvi gelžbetoninė bažnyčia. 1944 m. bažnyčia vėl buvo sugriauta praūžusio fronto. Apie 1965 m. buvo išsprogdintos likusios bažnyčios sienos.
2013 m. Kužių bažnyčios 360 metų jubiliejaus proga prie sugriautos bažnyčios mūro liekanų buvo atidengta atminimo lenta, primenanti, jog išlikusios mūro struktūros – 1944 m. per karą sugriautos bažnyčios fragmentai.
