Rescuers of Jews
Vasiliauskienė Serafina
JONAS VASILIAUSKAS
SERAFINA VASILIAUSKIENĖ
During the war, Jonas and Serafina Vasiliauskas lived in the village of Kolainiai, in the Kelmė district. Throughout the entire period of German occupation (1941-1944), four women – Rachel Kacav, Esther Krengel, Merė Blecherienė, and Basė Braudienė - hid in a bunker set up in their barn. The women were from Kelmė and had known the Vasiliauskas family for a long time. Jonas and Serafina, working as day laborers, provided food for the women, sheltered them with clothing, and asked for nothing in return. All the women successfully survived until the end of the war and maintained close ties with the Vasiliauskas family.
Other persons recognized as rescuers also contributed to the rescue of these women, including: a doctor Petras Girbudas and a priest Polikarpas Macijauskas, who organized several rescue operations in the Šiauliai area; Alfonsas Songaila; Ona, Bronislovas and Genovaitė Černiauskas; Felicijana, Petras and Felicija Klimas; Vladas and Uršulė Šleževičius.
In 1999, Jonas and Serafina Vasiliauskas were awarded the Life Saviour’s Cross.
SERAFINA VASILIAUSKIENĖ
During the war, Jonas and Serafina Vasiliauskas lived in the village of Kolainiai, in the Kelmė district. Throughout the entire period of German occupation (1941-1944), four women – Rachel Kacav, Esther Krengel, Merė Blecherienė, and Basė Braudienė - hid in a bunker set up in their barn. The women were from Kelmė and had known the Vasiliauskas family for a long time. Jonas and Serafina, working as day laborers, provided food for the women, sheltered them with clothing, and asked for nothing in return. All the women successfully survived until the end of the war and maintained close ties with the Vasiliauskas family.
Other persons recognized as rescuers also contributed to the rescue of these women, including: a doctor Petras Girbudas and a priest Polikarpas Macijauskas, who organized several rescue operations in the Šiauliai area; Alfonsas Songaila; Ona, Bronislovas and Genovaitė Černiauskas; Felicijana, Petras and Felicija Klimas; Vladas and Uršulė Šleževičius.
In 1999, Jonas and Serafina Vasiliauskas were awarded the Life Saviour’s Cross.