Rescuers of Jews

Larionova-Gembickaitė Tatjana

TAMARA GEMBICKAITĖ-JAINSCHIG
ANA GEMBICKIENĖ
TATJANA GEMBICKAITĖ-LARIONOVA
VALENTINAS LARIONOVAS


Fira Kupritz was a widow of David Kupritz, who was killed soon after the German occupation in Lithuania, and a mother of David’s daughter Anita.
During the stay in the ghetto Fira re-established her connections with her friend, Tamara Gembickaite, whom she knew before the war. Tamara lived together with her mother Anna Gembickiene. Tamara was acquainted with Franz Jainschig, (her future husband) who was a citizen of Austria and served in Wehrmacht. Franz was placed in Kaunas and worked near the garage where cars used by the Gestapo were repaired.
Franz informed Fira about the train, in which the Germans moved Russian children-orphans to Germany. When the train was not able to follow to Germany because of the bombardments, Lithuanians could buy the children for 5 marks. Franz offered this as a possibility to transfer Anita.
On October 28, 1943, Simon Kaplan bribed one of the Lithuanian guards of the ghetto. Fira and Simon made Anita fall asleep under the influence of a sedative pill, put her in a bag and ran away from the ghetto to meet Franz, who had been waiting for them in an agreed place. Franz took Anita to the house of Anna Gembickiene. Anita stayed with the Gembickiene family until the time, when a neighbour informed Gestapo about it. Tamara Gembickaite called her sister, Tatjana Larionova, who lived in Vilnius. Her husband, Valentin Larionov, came to Kaunas by car and took the girl to their place. Thus, Anita stayed with the Larionov family until November 1944, when her mother came to pick her. With the approach of the Russians Tamara Gembickaite-Jainschig and Anna Gembickiene moved to Vienna
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