sign in sign up
<<
Home , Aleksotas, Algirdas, Brazilian nobility, Clara (rhinoceros), Courland, Deluge (history)

“Jaksonas”

From to America

Edward Jackson

edited by Anthony Cianciarulo and Irene Jackson Henry

December 2002

1 2 “Jaksonas”

From Lithuania to America

Edward Jackson

edited by Anthony Cianciarulo and Irene Jackson Henry

December 2002

3 4 INTRODUCTION the subject of memoirs arose in conversation with Tony Cianciarulo, and I gave him the draft to read. He not only read it When I came to the and learned the language, my but edited them. Later I copied some photos and added them to friends and acquaintances often asked about the circumstances of the draft and then forgot the entire thing. my arrival in this country. Occasionally I told the story to our daughter Irene, our son Ray, and many other people. But once in Marie Manson then sent us a book about her life, so I sent her the a while, questions about our life during the war would come up. draft of my memoirs, and she again encouraged me to finish Several times I had long conversations about the Civil War, them. United States history and World War II with my friend Jim Barrett, and the subject of our adventures in during the In the fall and winter of 2002-2003, our daughter Irene and her ward would come up. Once while I was a member of the husband Bill visited us, and I decided to arrange the memoirs in a Northwest Kiwanis Club, I told the story as part of a program. new format of a half-size page. Irene took the entire thing into her hands, and scanned the photos into the text. They also Later on, Marie Manson and Iris Banks were visiting us at our handled printing and binding as a booklet. cottage and the subject arose again, so we sat and reminisced about the days of our travel. Marie Manson wrote several stories I’d like to thank Tony, Irene, Bill, and all who encouraged me to of her and Elmer’s life and she suggested I should write my story write down the story of those years of turmoil and uncertainty. also. During the winter of 2000, we stayed in Daytona, in the same building with the Barretts, Cianciarulos and the Clarks. My greatest thanks go to my wife Aldona. Tony Cianciarulo was writing his memoirs, and he encouraged me to write mine. In the evenings, when our wives were playing bridge, Jim Barrett would visit me, and again we talked about World War II and the times after the war. After a while I became convinced that maybe I should write about these adventurous times.

So I started writing about war-time and our lives just prior to leaving Europe. Later, as my thoughts developed, I recalled that when I was young, I was not interested in my own ’s past. So I expanded the story to include the early years, and a bit about our life in the United States. Then, thinking about our grandchildren, I added a short history of Lithuania, where Aldona and I were born and grew up.

I wrote when I had time and eventually developed a draft. One

5 6 THE JAKSONAS FAMILY Ona (Ann - 1861-1939), who was my father’s aunt and was the only one of my great-aunts and great-uncles on my father’s side I I do not know much about the Jaksonas family and how they knew. She died when I was 16 years old. came to settle in Lithuania. The Jaksonas is not a typically , and some time in the early 20th Century, my My Father did not talk much about his Grandfather. The only father even investigated changing it to a name that would sound thing I was told is that he was originally Lutheran and was more Lithuanian. Some time ago I asked my father to document baptized and converted to the Catholic Religion on his death bed. some of the family history. He wrote from memory, and started I guess my Great-Grandmother did not want to take any chances with his Grandfather, my great-grandfather. and have her husband die as a Lutheran. My speculation is that he might have been born into the family of a soldier from the Jurgis (George) Jaksonas, my great-grandfather on my father’s Swedish Wars of the . My Great-Grandfather’s side was born in 1835 in Aleksotas, a suburb of on the ancestor could have stayed in Lithuania, married a local girl and south side of the river Nemunas and South of the Old Town. settled down in the Kaunas area.

He was a bridge keeper or bridge caretaker. Exactly what he had But the name’s origin may be even more distant than . to do is not clear. Some time ago I met a Swedish professor at Michigan State University. I mentioned to him that our name was unique for At that time, according to the City of Kaunas map dated 1929, Lithuania and could be of Swedish origin. He said that the name there was probably a wooden bridge to the city, at the location of was not Swedish since in Swedish the for “John” the the Great Church. Later, a new bridge was built and would not be “Jack.” He suggested most likely the name could it is still there today. be Scottish. I was surprised.

He married my great-grandmother, Emilija (Emily). It is not Our daughter Irene recently bought a book about the Swedish known when they got married or where and how they lived, but government recruiting Scottish mercenary soldiers to serve in my Father wrote that they had five children. The children were: their army. Considering the Swedish wars of 1655-1657, it is possible that some Scot serving in the Swedish armies could have Jurgis (George), stayed in Lithuania. There are also many records of Scottish merchants and traders in Lithuania as well. Konstantinas (my Grandfather - 1867-1919), My Grandfather Konstantinas married Elena (Helen) Juozas (Joseph), who died when he was only 27 years old, Šveikauskaite. She was born in 1868 and died in Kaunas on December 17, 1946. She is the only grandparent I knew and grew Emilija (Emily), who died in 1918, and up with. They had nine children:

7 8 Ipolitas (Hipolit), who died when he was three years of age and Elena (Helen) was born in 1899. Ona (Ann), who died when she was only two years old. She married Bronius (Brian) Kveseliavičius and passed away in 1977. She had a daughter, Juozas (Joseph), my Father, was next Kristina, who is now living in and was the only boy. He was born . in Kaunas on May 22, 1896 and passed away in Lansing, Michigan

on May 2, 1987.

Aunt Elena and Bronius at their wedding

My father Juozas Jaksonas

Janina (Johanna or Janine) was born in 1904 and died in 1979. She married Voldemaras (Woldemar) Liakauskas and had a son named Edmundas. He and his family are

now living in Šančiai.

Aunt Marija on her wedding day

Marija (Mary) was born in 1898. She was a seamstress and married late in her life to a Mr. Cimnolonskis, who was Russian. She died relatively young, in 1942. I believe she died of lung Aunt Janina and Woldemara Liakauskas cancer and I remember she was a heavy smoker.

9 10 Emilija (Emily) was born in 1905. She never married and was highly religious. She passed away in 1977. Jadvyga (Hedwig) was born in 1907 and passed away in at an unknown location or date. Ona (Ann) was born in 1906. She married a Mr. Juosapavičius and they Except for Jadvyga and the aunt and uncle who died while still were deported to together with young, I knew all my aunts on my Father’s side. their two little girls. Her husband died there while working in the forest cutting trees. Eventually aunt Ona and her daughters Jadvyga (Hedwig) and Ona (Ann) escaped Siberia and returned to Lithuania, but were arrested and sentenced to ten years in jail. My aunt Ona passed away in Kaunas in 1996 but Jadvyga and Ona are still living there.

Aunt Emilija Jaksonaitė

Aunt Ona on her wedding day 11 12 THE VENCKEVIČIUS FAMILY My mother was 15 years old, with no money and a sick mother in a strange town. Fortunately some people in were kind I know very little about my enough to take them in until my mother could get word back to great grandparents on my Lithuania and get help to go home. Soon after that event, in mother’s side. My grandfather 1916, my grandmother passed away. on my mother’s side was named Leonas (Leon) My Grandfather’s brother, my great-uncle, lived to be 105 years Venckevičius (Venckovich). old and told many stories of his youth. He was born in 1861 and died in Kaunas in 1922, a year One story I remember was about how he managed to stay away before I was born. So I did not from the Russian army “draft.” As you will see later, Lithuania know him. He was a carpenter, was under Russian occupation, and many living on and again not much was ever farm estates were serfs. Serfs were somewhat like slaves in the said about him. My mother United States; their freedom was restricted to one estate and they took care of him when he was were bought and sold. If they could raise enough money, they ill and he died of cancer at the could buy their freedom. Some stories said that some cruel age of sixty-one. landowners made their serfs climb trees and shout “Hoo, hoo,” like owls, so the landowner could “hunt” them.

Before the turn of the Century, service in the Russian army was

for a term of 25 years. This was like a life sentence. But it seems that there was no real draft – “recruits” were actually kidnapped by posses running through the villages, like the British Navy press gangs. His story was that he was staying in some village, when the word spread that the Cossack raiding posse was coming. Grandfather Leonas Venckevičius He married Elena (Helen) He had no time to waste. He jumped out of bed and ran Paškauskaite, who was born in 1865. barefooted through the snow to the nearby creek, so that he would My mother told me that in 1915, she not leave his foot prints, and managed to get away. Once the and her mother were traveling in the army reached their quota the ones that got away were free until city of Pskov in what is now the the next draft. State of (the old Grand ). On the train In his later life, he lived in the St. Anthony parish house for Grandmother had a stroke. seniors, and attended mass every morning at 5:00 a.m. He would visit us on and , and have a couple shots of Grandmother Elena Venckevičiene vodka. For Lent he would eat nothing but dried beans. He

13 14 passed away attending his daily mass. One day he knelt down while attending the mass, and did not get up.

In those days I didn’t pay attention to many of his stories about serfs and oppression. Now I wish I had been more interested, but now it’s too late.

My grandparents had five children:

Stanislovas (Stan) was born in 1896. He was a surveyor and left Uncle Stanislovas in with his family Lithuania for Brazil with his Russian wife Marša (Marsha) and their five kids. He was also called “Stasys” in the family. They left in 1926 when I was three or four years old. I vaguely remember the train car, lots of goodbyes and tears, at the railroad station. My mother corresponded with them until WW II, but after the war there was no word from them. I attempted to find them through the United States Embassy in Brazil, but the attempt was unsuccessful. However, we have found entries on the Internet for people named Venckovich living in Brazil, so perhaps his children and descendants are still living in Brazil.

Stanislovas Venckevičius in Russian Army uniform, c. 1915 Marsha Venckevičiene

Aunt Veronika and their daughters Elena & Lili Uncle Henrikas Uncle Stanislovas and his family in their Henrikas (Henry) was born in 1897. He, his wife Veronika and passport photo prior to their daughters Elena and Lili lived in Vilnius. He was an going to Brazil excellent draftsman and his daughter Lili an accomplished artist. However, because of the division between Lithuania and , I did not meet my uncle Henrikas until about 1940, when Vilnius became part of Lithuania again.

15 16 MAP OF PRESENT-DAY LITHUANIA

Uncle Leonas Venckevičius Uncle Leonas and his wife Jadvyga on their wedding day

Leonas (Leon), was born in 1907. He was the youngest in the family and lived in Kaunas. He visited us often. Of all the uncles on my Mother’s side, only Uncle Leonas lived in Lithuania. He worked as an Architectural Technician, in a Military Building Division. He died in Kaunas of cancer.

My last uncle, Vytautas (Vitold), was born on an unknown date and died in 1916 in Tiskov, Russia.

The only girl in the family, Elena (Helen), was my mother. She was born on March 1, 1901 in Kaunas and passed away in Lansing, Michigan on October 3, 1991.

My mother, Elena Venckovičiutė Jaksonienė 17 18 A BRIEF HISTORY OF LITHUANIA

We endured five years of World War II plus about an additional five years of hardship after the war. Our parents had even tougher times, because they had to go through two wars, disrupting their lives twice. As you can see through this story, though, we had some very good luck throughout these times. This luck, patience, and stubborn persistence let our family get through these trials.

But in to understand the Lithuanian people, the thinking, and the trials they went through, it is important to have some idea of the history of Lithuania. Tough times and war have been a long-time part of the Lithuanian people’s lives.

The Baltic tribes (Aestoium Gentes) were first mentioned by , a Roman historian in the 2nd Century. Not much was known of the area. In 1009, German scribes referred to in the of present-day Lithuania, , plus the

Suvalki area. Map of early Baltic Tribes

No one knows where the Baltic tribes came from or why they The Žemaičiai and Aukštaičiai were unified by King settled in that particular area. The surviving Lithuanian and (1236-1263) and later became The Latvian languages are similar and very close to old Sanskrit. Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Many local place such as the come from the word “Baltas” meaning “White”. (1275-1341) and his son (1345-1377) Originally there were seven Baltic tribes: Žemaičiai (, expanded the Duchy all the way to or Lowlanders), Aukštaičiai (or Highlanders), Letgaliai (present the . Kiev was taken in day ), Kuršiai, Prusai (Prussians) and Jotvingiai. Only 1362 after Algirdas broke the the Lithuanians and Latvian tribes survived; the others probably Mongolian grip at the battle of the melted into the Lithuanians or Latvians, or like the Prussians, Blue Water in the bend of the simply faded away. (See map, next page). River.

Grand Duke Gediminas

19 20 . These pronouncements were not worth the value of the (present day Belarus) was totally absorbed and parchment they were written on. (present day ) went to Poland (see map, page 17). In 1375, Algirdas took Plotsk. This expansion was not The official charge of the Orders was to subdue the Prussians, checked until 1399, when the Lithuanians were defeated by the convert them to , and to bring Christianity to Pagan Tartars in the far south on the river Vorlska. Lithuania. But in reality, they also wanted to unite the two military orders and expand their territory. At the end of the 12th Century, the Crusades were coming to an end and many of the crusading knights were looking for lands and I think that was the initial German “” (expand occupation. to the East) policy. This was centuries before German unification and long before Hitler adopted the same policy. Eventually, The of Bremen, Hartwig II, launched a “continuous Prussians were Germanized and this land became a kingdom of crusade” in (present day Latvia). One military monastic Prussia. The only remaining signs of the and other Order, a Teutonic (Germanic) order known as The Order of the Baltic tribes in that area are the names of some of the villages, but Sword, settled in the area of the even these were changed when the old Prussian territory was Bay of in the 11th Century. given to the Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), now Russia. The They established the town of Soviets had no qualms about proceeding with ethnic cleansing, Riga. Soon they controlled the before the word was even invented. The disappearance of the territory of Livonia and Kurland Prussian people is illustrated by a short quote from The Ballad of (present-day Latvia). Since the Kokutis by Marcelus Martinaitis: Order ruled and owned most of “While the Owl was hooting the land, they succeeded, to and the black beetle chewed at the log house some extent, in Germanizing the and until the graves sunk in population of Latvia. and the oxen took a deep breath the first news of Troy was rounding the world “Vytis” Seal of Lithuania, with a Crusading and the radio said the old Prussians have Knight Meanwhile, the Prussians were constantly raiding their neighbors vanished from the Earth.” in Poland and . The Duke of Mozovia (present Poland) invited another Teutonic military monastic order, the Order of the While the Order of the Cross managed to subdue the Prussians, Cross, to subdue the Prussians. The Order of the Cross settled in they also continued raiding Poland, Pomerania, and Lithuania. Prussia in 1226, and soon took control of all of that area. Later they obtained a Papal Bull “Pietati Proximum” (1234 AD) Between the lands controlled by the two military monastic orders claiming Prussia as Papal territory, and a similar Imperial Decree lay Samogitia (Žemaitija) so there was a constant fight going on claiming Livonia, Samogitia and Lithuania for the Holy Roman over its control. In 1250, Lithuania defeated the Order of the Sword. This dissolved the Order and the Grand Master of the

21 22 Order became the Duke of . Members of the Order Lithuania, but they were not acceptable to the nobles. Therefore, became the German . They maintained control of the in 1392, Jogaila’s cousin Vytautas, took over as Grand Duke of local Latvian population and almost succeeded in Germanizing Lithuania. them. Vytautas was a clever politician and played politics with Samogitia (Žemaitija). This territory became a political football, and Vytautas made with the Orders and gave them Samogitia when he had to fight wars with the or Tartars. After these wars they took Samogitia back.

Invasions also came from the east. The Duchy of Muscovy, a forerunner of Russia, was expanding to the west. For several hundred years Russia was occupied by Mongolians and the Duchy of Muscovy was a weak entity.

While Lithuania and Poland struggled with the Teutonic Orders and the Duchy of Muscovy, the Danes established the town of in present day , Sweden expanded into , Estonia, and Karelia. Swedish armies also tried to expand into Russian territory.

Map of Europe circa 1300 Eventually, the Lithuanians managed to occupy more and more The fighting with the Orders continued for more than 150 years land adjacent to the Duchy of Muscovy. A major event occurred even after Lithuania was officially baptized in 1387 and the rulers when the Czar defeated the Swedish armies at , ending accepted the Catholic religion. continuous Swedish incursions into Russia. One of the reasons (in my opinion) for the Russian success was religion. Russians, Lithuanians realized that while they controlled vast territories and the tribes, such as Byelo (White) Russians, were baptized in they needed partners, and so in 1385, a union with Poland was 900 AD. They were of Orthodox Russian religion, while formed in the town of Kreve. Lithuanians and Polish were Roman Catholics. So the Russians had a nearby religious and secular capital in , while the In 1434, Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, was invited to Roman Catholic capital was far away, in . become the King of Poland. He married Jadvyga, who was an Austrian princess and only 14 years old, while Jogaila was in his But Lithuania had a fight on its hands both from the east and from forties. Jogaila remained the Grand Duke of Lithuania for a the west. while. Jogaila’s sons were to become the Grand of

23 24

The Battle of Žalgiris (Grunewald), 1410 (engraving from 1595) Map of Europe circa 1500

On July 10, 1410, the armies of Lithuania, Poland and some A loose between Lithuania and Poland was strange allies (Turks, Tartars and even ), met the armies established in the union of Kreve and later by Jogaila’s marriage of The Order of the Cross, and handed them a decisive defeat at with Jadvyga. However, Lithuania maintained its own army and the Battle of Žalgiris (Grunewald). The Order never recovered, laws. But Lithuania, by itself, was grossly under populated to and eventually in 1525, the Grand Master of the Order converted control vast territories in the east. This, combined with the Polish to the Lutheran religion, and became the Duke of Prussia. Later, desire to have strong allies, created the Union in 1569. after association with , their lands evolved into the The Lithuanian nobles tried to obtain the same rights as Polish . nobles, and thus the of Lithuania began.

Vytautas became “Vytautas the Great” and he reigned until his With the Union of Lublin, both states were governed by one king, death in 1430. He had no successor, so his cousin Jogaila’s son but Lithuania retained its own army, laws, , and (King of Poland), succeeded him as Grand Duke, and his brother government. The Union, called in Polish “Rzeczpopolita,” Wladislaw, became the King of Poland. When Wladislaw died in meaning “republic” or “commonwealth”, was governed by a 1444, Poland elected Jogaila’s son Kazimieras as their King in parliament of nobles. This was quite democratic, because the 1447. So Jogaila’s continued as Polish Kings until Commonwealth had a large number of nobles. The nobility 1572. From then on the Kings of Poland were elected by the included people who were landless but considered nobles, called nobles. “” (schlacta) in Polish.

25 26 1497-1499. Between 1500 and 1513, Moldova was taken by the One of the major factors causing the collapse of the Russians. Again, Russian wars continued in 1558-1568; Sweden Commonwealth was the system of government. The kings were joined the fighting and took over Estonia and Livonia. Russian elected by the nobles, and rather than being a supreme power, wars again occurred in 1577-1582 and 1610-1619; Sweden again acted more like a manager. The nobles formed the parliament got involved when in 1598, they invaded most of Europe and the and each nobleman had a power of veto on any action that the Commonwealth. They got as far south as . Sweden was king wanted to undertake. This could tie up the State, and opened trying to make the Baltic Sea a Swedish lake. up a lot of foreign intrigue, bribery and obviously corruption. An excellent description of the events of this time is found in a book called “Poland” by James A. Michener. Also, of novels by Nobel prizewinning author Henry K. Sienkiewiz beautifully describes the events of those years. The of the trilogy are, “With Fire and Sword,” - “The ” - “Fire in the Steppe.”

The battle of Polock, stopping Russian expansion in 1579.

The wars with the Russians continued in 1632-1634. Then in 1648, the Cossacks in the southern stared a rebellion under the leadership of Bogdan Chmielincki. This rebellion was almost defeated, but Chmielincki asked the Muscovites for help Map of Europe circa 1519 and with the Russian’s assistance, Poland was forced to give up

Ongoing wars were also a considerable problem. After the defeat Kiev in the Treaty of Olivia in 1660. of the Teutonic Orders, there was continuous expansion of the Duchy of Muscovy. The wars with Muscovy were fought in The Ottoman Turks also constantly attacked Poland and 27 28 Lithuania. They attacked the of in 1672 and resistance as the Commonwealth was too weak. The first took the of Kamaniets, but were stopped in Hungary by partition was in 1772 with most of Lithuania, Eastern Poland and Jan Sobieski of Poland. The also Ukraine being occupied by Russia. Russia’s occupation and attached Europe, gaining control of Serbia, Albania, Slovenia and control of Lithuania would continue into the twentieth century. Bosnia. In 1683, an Ottoman army of 200,000 besieged Western Poland went to and Southern Poland (Galicia) for two months. Jan Sobieski, by then King of the Polish- was taken by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Other partitions and Lithuanian Commonwealth, came to the rescue and defeated the boundary adjustments followed. Ottomans, stopping the Turks from further encroachment into Europe. The occupation brought unsuccessful revolts in 1794, 1831 and 1863; many people lost their lives. Notable leaders of the revolts, All the Swedish, Tartar, Turkish and Russian invasions weakened such as Koscuscio and Pulaski found their way to the United the Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth to the point of States. helplessness. Beside the many invasions, there were constant uprisings in the Ukraine and other areas.

Napoleon’s army retreating through the Vilnius City Hall Square, 1812.

In 1812, Napoleon marched through Lithuania and Poland on his way to Moscow. There still remains today a hill on the south side of the river from Šančiai, (a suburb of Kaunas) called Napoleon

Map of Europe circa 1713 Hill. Napoleon watched from this hill, as his armies crossed the river Nemunas into Russia. Napoleon and his army also passed As the Commonwealth continued to weaken, the stronger through Lithuania in their famous and tragic retreat from surrounding neighbors decided to partition it. There was no 29 30 Moscow;. During 2001 and 2002, a large mass grave of with Lithuania and occupied most of Eastern Lithuania including Napoleon’s soldiers was discovered in Vilnius. There may have the capital, Vilnius. The war went on until the European Nations been 40,000 French soldiers who died in Vilnius from disease, stopped the conflict and drew a demarcation line. starvation and extreme cold during the retreat. Thus Vilnius, the historic capital of Lithuania, remained in There was no end to the wars with German and French Poland until 1940. During this period of Lithuania’s occupations plus a lot of other turmoil. The wars and occupations independence the capital of Lithuania was in Kaunas. continued into the twentieth century with World Wars One and Two. What the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth accomplished through the centuries was to stop German expansion to Eastern In 1917, some Europe and prevent the , Tartars, and Turks from Lithuanians saw a expansion to . Lithuania lasted for over 536 chance to reestablish years until its first partition, regained independence from 1918 to independence and on 1940, was occupied by the USSR from 1940-1941, by Nazi February 16, 1918, an Germany from 1941-1944, and again by the USSR from 1944- official Declaration of 1992. With the collapse of the USSR, Lithuania is again an Independence was independent country, about to become a member of NATO, and signed and later will join the European Union in 2004. approved by the Versailles peace treaty. At the same time, Poland also was trying to regain its independence.

The Lithuanian Declaration of Independence, 1918

Polish leaders had a grand vision of restoring the boundaries of the former Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, which included Lithuania and the large territory of the Ukraine. They fought many battles with the newly created . Eventually, they won most of the western Ukraine, and signed a peace treaty with the USSR. They also signed a peace treaty with Lithuania, but under a pretext of “rebel” General Zelegowski they started war

31 32 Klaipeda, and there was no need for the new port.

Lithuania was occupied by Russia since the partition of the From 1920 to 1940, Father worked for the Lithuanian Railroad in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772. When WW I broke the Right of Way Division as property land surveyor. Later, the out in 1914, my father was 18 years old. He was drafted in 1915 railroad office was reorganized and became a part of the into the Russian army. He served in an air reconnaissance unit Transportation Ministry which included the highways and which was stationed in what is the City of Daugavpils, in present railroads. There, he was Chief Surveyor from 1940 to 1944. His day Latvia. This was close to the northeast corner of Lithuania. work involved surveying properties to be purchased for right of way in construction of railroads and highways. Sometime in 1917, German armies broke through the Russian defenses in Prussia and captured most of Lithuania and Latvia. Somehow, my father was also captured and became a German prisoner of war. He was in a prisoner of war camp until 1919 where he starved with minimal food until finally he was able to return to Kaunas. Once, he managed to escape with two other men, but was recaptured within a short period of time. My father didn’t talk much about his stay in the prisoner of war camp and at that time I was not that interested in his stories.

He had many pictures from his time in the army. Many pictures were taken from planes flying reconnaissance missions over the front lines. Other pictures showed events such as the hanging of spies. Unfortunately, all the pictures remained in Vilnius when we left for Kaunas.

When Father returned to Lithuania in 1919, he enrolled in a Surveying Institute in Kaunas. After completing his training, he worked first with surveying crews around the little fishing port of Šventoji. At that time, the port city of Klaipeda, and the land between Lithuania and the river Nemunas, was within the kingdom of Prussia. After WW I, the territory was entrusted to the allies and had a small French army garrison stationed there. Lithuania therefore had no port, and the survey of Šventoji’s fishing port was necessary in order to develop a new port for Lithuania. In 1923, Lithuanians staged a revolt and took over

33 34 LIFE IN ŠANČIAI We had, as I remember, an apartment on the first floor, consisting of one room and My parents married in 1921, and they lived in a suburb of Kaunas a kitchen. The owner lived on the other named Šančiai. I was born on February 13, 1923. It is from side of the house. The house was built of Šančiai that I have my first memories of my surroundings. logs, with no siding, like most Lithuanian houses of the 19th Century. My sister Irena (Irene) was born on July 28, 1926. In our garden at Šančiai, L to R: Mother, my sister Irena in the pram, an unknown friend, and me, 6, 1927 There was no running water, inside plumbing, or electricity. We had to go to the communal water well through the fence lined narrow paths, and pull the pail with water from the well, fill our pails and carry the water about half a block back to the house.

There was, as I recall, a storage My mother, me, Aunt Elena, and Cousin Kristina (May 1926) building nearby where there was a We lived in a house owned by box of all sorts of carpentry tools. Mr. and Mrs. Chvedukas. The These tools were my Grandfather house was located on the Leonas Venckevičius’ on my Kranto II Gatvė (Shore II Mother’s side, because he was a Street). These streets ran north carpenter. There also was coal fired and south, between Vokiečiụ forging equipment and an anvil. Our Gatvė (German Street) and landlord was an iron worker, making Kranto Alėja (Shore decorative grilles and other things. Boulevard), running close to At one time I recall an old body of a the river Nemunas. At that city bus was on the property so the time, the streets were actually kids played with the steering wheel unpaved one lane roads lined pretending to drive the bus, as kids with fences on both sides. normally would play. There were wood plank walks in some areas, but otherwise there usually was a sea of mud Me, about age five after a rainfall. Me, about two years old

35 36 The school was one block from the main street in Šančiai (Juozapavičiaus Prospectas), and it was no more than three blocks away from where we lived. The building was a wooden log structure with four classrooms separated by an assembly room in the middle. (See the photo below)

Me, mother’s friend, Irena, and Mother, n the garden at Šančiai, 1930

Because I was born in February I could not start school in 1929, since I was not quite 7 years old. I had to wait a year and start Primary School No. 25, 3rd grade graduation school in the fall of 1930 at the age of 7½. We had one teacher for all subjects. I learned Lithuanian quickly, Of course, my mother had already taught me to read, write and which brings up a serious question regarding the current policy of , but only in Polish. Many people in Lithuania spoke Polish “bilingual” education. As you can see from my experience, at that time and still do. Since the Lublin Union, in 1569, the young children have the ability to learn new languages easily and nobles of the Grand Duchy aspired to be on a par with the Polish quickly, therefore the “bilingual education” theory of teaching nobles. Lithuanian names were made to sound Polish. Also, the kids only in their original language does not help them learn the was not a written language until 1537, when quickly. the first book was published in Lithuanian. In addition, at the time of Lithuania’s conversion to Christianity, the priests were The only different person teaching us was a priest, who would Polish. All these factors amounted to the Polonization of teach the Catholic religion to everybody. However, parents had a Lithuanians. choice and could choose a pastor or a rabbi teacher who would come to school at appointed times for Protestant or Jewish religious instruction. Alternatively, parents could choose not to 37 38 teach any religion to their kids.

All the other kids were taught by a priest who dressed in a black cassock which was an impressive sight for us. The priest taught the catechism and prayers. The kids knew that he was close to God, and maybe he even had a direct line to God. When the priest said “Thou shall not kill or steal,” the words really had a meaning. We didn’t have the Ten Commandments hanging on the school wall, but we had to memorize them.

Christmas, about 1930. L to R: Aunt Ona, Grandmother Jaksonienė, Aunt Emilija.

My First Communion with a cousin, 1931 Once in a while my Uncle Leon would come for a visit with his motorcycle. I ’t know if the motorcycle was his or if it was his At one point, probably when I was work transportation, but it was an American made “Indian” in the second grade, around 1932, motorcycle and it was all red. The motorcycle had a passenger someone built a two story sidecar, and occasionally Uncle Leon drove me to school with the apartment building about a block motorcycle. This usually created much excitement. away from the house where we lived (on Vokiečiụ Gatvė). My I used to run errands by going to the neighborhood store which parents rented an apartment in this was sort of a hole in the wall. The storekeeper kept a credit book new building. The apartment had and just wrote in the amount for purchases (this was the two rooms plus a kitchen. At that forerunner of charge cards) and I assume that my parents must time it was quite up to date. It had have trusted the store keeper and he trusted them. electricity, kitchen cabinets, running water and an inside toilet. Often, I would spend the weekend at my Grandmother Jaksoniene’s. She and Aunt Emilija lived on Kranto IV Gatvė (Shore IV Street), which was not very far from us. I enjoyed these visits, and always had a good time, being the only boy in My sister Irena’s First Communion, June 19, 1936 the family, and therefore was treated like a prince.

39 40 We visited them often. There, the apartment owner was also Russian and had a son, Fred. He and I became friends. He was a good swimmer and often went to the river for a swim. I also remember his mother shouting to him “Freddy, if you drown, don’t come home, because I will beat the hell out of you.” When we moved to Vilnius, our contacts diminished, and eventually broke off totally. Mr. Jankovičius was studying for his architectural registration exams, but I don’t know if he ever became an architect.

With a suit and a portfolio, ready to start the school year.

Paul Jankovičius was killed in under unknown circumstances.

The family about 1930. L to R: Aunt Marija, Irena, Grandmother Jaksonienė, me, mother, One year during the war, and before Christmas, he went to the Aunt Ona, and her husband Mr. Juozapavicius. woods to cut down a . He never returned and I do

Also, the Jankovičius family lived close to us. They had a son not know if they ever found him. Most likely he ran into some (Paul) and a daughter. Mr. Jankovičius was Russian, and he Russian partisans operating north of Kaunas who did not want to worked as an architectural draftsman. Mrs. Jankovičius, I be discovered. Mr. Jankovičius, his wife and daughter (who believe, was of Tatar descent, and definitely had oriental features. married a German soldier) moved to Germany and eventually to Paul was my childhood friend and we spent a Toronto, Ontario. lot of time playing together.

Occasionally I stayed overnight in their house. Many times I remember my father walking me home in the relatively dark streets, with only an occasional street light hardly visible. The Jankovičius family later moved to Žalakalnis, a suburb on the north hills. Me, aged about 12 41 42 MOVE TO DOWNTOWN that door looked almost ancient, was about 7" to 8" long and was very heavy. Our apartment was in the attic with two rooms In 1933 we moved again, this time to downtown Kaunas. The facing Kėstučio Gatvė and the kitchen overlooked the courtyard. building we moved to was located at the corner of Kėstučio The entry to the apartment was via stairs starting at the tunnel to and Maironio Streets (see map of Kaunas, pg. 29). The the courtyard. The stairs went directly to the third floor with no apartment building was owned by my Father’s Aunt Ann (Teta stops at other apartments until you reached our apartment. The Ona Jaksonaitė Burbina). Her husband, Mr. Burba, had been a apartment had a living room, bedroom and a kitchen. “Bajoras” or a large landowner. Other relatives lived in the building. On the Maironio Street side lived my Aunt Helen, her husband Bronius Kveselevičius and

their only daughter Kristina (now Petniūnienė). On the second floor of the same side lived my Aunt Marija. On the second floor

of our side in one room lived my Grandmother Helen and Aunt Emilija. Also, on the second floor lived a bachelor by the name of

Antanas (Anthony) Petrulis. He was a family friend and often hung out with us. He would often eat dinners with us. He

worked as a storage part keeper in the airplane shop at the airport.

We also had a cat called Runcis. When we moved, Mother put the cat in a sack at the new place, but the cat would run away and

go to the old apartment, so Mother had to repeat the sack trick a couple times until finally Runcis realized that we had a new

My Great-Uncle Burba, Great-Aunt Burbina, and a companion apartment.

He sold his land holdings and built an apartment building in We moved to downtown before my school year was over. I must downtown Kaunas. The building was two stories high with a have been 10 years old, and going into the third grade. With the partially finished attic on the Kėstučio Gatvė (Street) side. It move, we now lived a long distance from the grade school I was consisted of mostly apartments, except there was a print shop in attending. Therefore, I had to take a train to go to Šančiai in part of the first floor facing Kėstučio Street. There were two order to finish the third grade at the same school. entrances to the building. One entrance was from Maironio Gatvė and had a large open stairway with a cast iron railing. The At that time there was a narrow gauge train along the river other one had a tunnel-like opening with a wooden gate leading to Nemunas. Now, where the tracks were is a large street called the the court yard. The gate must have been at least 10 feet wide, Karaliaus Mindaugo Prospektas (King Mindaugas’ Prospect). enough for a truck to drive into the yard. The gate also had a This train went from the Aleksotas bridge in the old town, pedestrian door which was locked at night. As I recall, the key to through Šančiai, and to Panemunė on the other side of the river.

43 44 The train was pulled by a small steam engine. In the winter there parallel to Vytautas Prospect. So every day, including Saturday, was a coal-fired stove heating the passengers’ wagons. The train we walked to school for about six or seven blocks, and had to go went along a side of the river until the "Green" Railroad bridge through a cemetery. The school was a new three story building (Žalias Tiltas), and from then on went on the Juozapavičiaus and had a nice assembly hall. Prospect all the way across the Nemunas River to the suburb of Panemunė. In the school system at that time there was a four-grade Elementary School and an eight-year High School with Several times I managed to skip school and wander about the hills intermediate exams after the first four grades. for a day with some kids. I am sure the folks discovered this and I was probably taken to the wood shed. The reason for skipping After we moved downtown, my Father’s aunt Burba gave us a school was probably a bad report card, but I don’t really grand . This was a magnificent instrument and Irene and I remember why we skipped. started taking piano lessons. The teacher was an old lady who came to the house. I always enjoyed playing. Later on, after we moved to Vilnius, Irene started going to music school. I did not pass the exam, and was not accepted.

I never played well, but always enjoyed playing the piano. After we settled down in Lansing, a piano was one of the first things we bought. We bought a used player piano when we lived in River Ridge, which we regret having given away, because the piano had a very good sound.

Fourth Grade graduation, Vinco Kurdirkos Grade School. I’m in the middle of the back row with a white shirt.

The next school year I changed schools and I was now going into the fourth grade at Vinco Kudirkos Grade School. (See a photo of the 4th grade graduation). The school was on the east side of a cemetery, which was later relocated and now is Ramybės Parkas (Peaceful Park) My sister Irene also started first grade at the same school which was located on Trakų Street, which runs 45 46 HIGH SCHOOL YEARS

High School started with the 5th grade which was called the 1st class. The High School was only 3 blocks away from our apartment, and the school was called "Aušros Gymnazija" (The High School of Dawn). It was an all boys’ school. The building faced Laisvės Alėja (Freedom Boulevard) at Kanto Gatvė and it is still there. Laisvės Alėja is the main pedestrian street of Kaunas and is lined with shops and offices with trees and plantings as well. Now we had different teachers for each of our various subjects. The only teacher that taught two subjects was Mr. Kaunas and he taught algebra and geometry. He was a real character. It was a custom at that time that you had to solve problems on the chalk board when you were called, and every couple of weeks we A high-school class trip to a Lithuanian border post. would have a written test. You were graded based on your Note our school uniform caps. I am in the back row center. written tests plus your performance at the chalk board to solve problems. His idea of grading was that nobody deserved a very We also started studying German as our first foreign language. good grade, because only God knows everything. Therefore, any Our teacher was also very stern, but now I question the teaching verbal exam he graded as “satisfactory,” and any written test even methods, because after studying the language for seven years I without any errors deserved only “good.” still could not speak German. We had to read Julius Caesar in German, translate from Lithuanian to German, and memorize However, at the end of the year you might have ended up with the words. Other teachers were less memorable. top grade even though there was no way you could mathematically average out. I guess he knew each student’s We also started learning , History, Biology, Chemistry, knowledge very well. Physics, Music, and Religion. Of course we had gym, where we had to climb ropes, throw balls, and play basketball. Our geography teacher was a young lady and she was very stern. The only thing we were not taught was sex education. The When she came into the classroom, everybody was quiet, not closest thing to that was the religious “recollections” during Lent even a whisper. and the word was “don’t even try to touch the girls or you will burn in hell forever.” (I assume the girls were taught the same thing about the boys).

47 48 The building was built probably before the turn of the century and until she started going to the all girls’ High School not to far from the gym was added after I started attending the school. Under the my school. gym was an open coat-room, where we hung our coats. Not much happened in the years from the first year of High The classrooms were approximately 25' x 30' and we had about School until I finished four years of school there (4th class or 8th 30 kids in a class. The rooms were heated with a clay stove in the grade). corner and every morning the janitor would bring in wood and start the stoves. Classes lasted 50 minutes with a 10 minute break At the end of 4th Class (8th Grade) I wanted to change to the between classes. The only time we went to another classroom Technical High School which specialized in teaching technical was when we had to go to Chemistry or Physics classes or to skills such as Mechanical, Electrical and Civil Engineering. The gym. At the break while we were in the corridor, the classroom Technical High School took one year longer to complete than monitor opened the classroom windows for ventilation. The regular high school, but you received an associate degree and one hallways were monitored by the teachers during the breaks. The year university credit if you decided to continue studies at the assistant principal, called the “inspector” was the chief monitor University. I did want to go to the Technical High, but as would and no one had any desire to get in his way. happen again in my life, critical documents disappeared, such as documents, report cards, or registrations. If you had any troubles, your parents were asked to come to school, where the case against you was made. This was to be For an application to the Technical High School one had to avoided at any cost. submit an application, and a certificate of completion of the 4th class (8th Grade). For some reason my certificate never arrived at Most of the kids brought their lunch to school. I usually had a the Technical High School. We attempted to find it, but all sandwich for lunch. If you had money, you could buy a hot dog school offices were closed for the summer and there was no way or a sweet roll in the lunch room. There was no free lunch. The one could get a copy of the certificate. So there (we thought) people in charge of feeding the kids were the parents and not the went my career. This meant I had to continue the regular politicians. academic education track.

When I was in Kaunas in 1996, I went into the old high school At school I was an average student. After school I was busy building, just to look around. The school had been remodeled, but designing and building model airplanes powered with rubber remained pretty much the way it had been in my day. Our bands and taking courses in model building, navigating and Michigan State Fire Marshal would have a nightmare, visiting or airplane piloting. The courses included learning to listen to inspecting the school or many other buildings, for fire safety. Morse telegraph code and writing down the message. I could The school still has open stairways, and inadequate exits. Many write up to 60 letters a minute, but that was not good enough. We U.S. fire safety features are not practiced there. also learned disassembly and reassembly of an aircraft engine in the aircraft hangar at the airport. We disassembled an engine and My sister Irena went to the grade school for the next three years it

49 50 Russia with the Red Army, which saved his life. She saw him after the war, but he pretended to not see or recognize her. Some other friends were Lutherans, but again our move to Vilnius broke off all contacts.

My father was usually gone most of the spring, summer and fall, but when he returned he would let me draw land plots of his surveys. These drawings were done on relatively hard paper with ink and colored water lines to show the property lines. I did a fair amount of drawing and learned to use ink pens and drew all different thicknesses of lines as well as dotted lines etc. My father would come home for the weekend as he could travel for free on the railroads, but most he worked long hours, usually from sunup to sundown. The model airplane club, Kaunas. I am in the front row, far right, with Dava dulaitis to my right. Occasionally, Father had a car and a driver available to him to get was fortunate that this was only practice since after reassembly to his assigned job location. Once he took me along. We drove we to some village where Father was staying and dropped him off. had some bolts left over. The airport was located on the hill in The driver and I were to return to Kaunas, where the driver would Aleksotas, and it too is still there. To get there you had to cross drop me off at home. I was probably about ten years old at that the bridge and take a funicular elevator. The bridge was destroyed time. Everything went well, but on the way back, as we in the war and rebuilt in 1948, but the funicular is still there. approached the city, we ran out of gas. It was dark and there was nothing in sight. The driver told me to stay in the car and he Also, one of the pastimes was walking on Laisvės Alėja from one would try to get some gas somewhere. There was no traffic on end to the other. This was referred to as Laisvės Alėja šlifuoja the highway. I had no idea where the driver went, but it seemed (Polishing Freedom Boulevard). As the boys walked up and like he was gone most of the night. I sat in the car and I was down, so did the girls. Some of my friends were from an all boys scared stiff. All sort of shapes and shadows looked spooky and Jesuit High School. Other friends were Taska, a reformed Jew, there was no moon so it was total darkness. Several times I who spoke Lithuanian. Ereminas was a good friend and went to started the car and moved it a couple feet just on the starter. The the Jesuit High School. Both of them joined the Communist driver came back probably around 4:00 a.m. Dawn was breaking, Party when the Russians came. At that time I moved to Vilnius and it began to get lighter. Lithuania is on the 55th. Parallel so and our contacts broke off. that it is as far north as Labrador in the North American . In Lithuania the rises very early and sets very late When I was in Vilnius in 1992 I asked my cousin Kristine if she in the summer. Farther north in the summer, it even stays light all knew what happened to Taska. She said that he withdrew to

51 52 night. The driver had managed to get some gas somewhere and We puffed along and everybody got dizzy. I did not smoke again, we came home. until after the war ended.

One time I sneaked out to the airport and had a short airplane ride Then one time we got some vodka and went out to Napoleon’s around town. The flight cost me 20 Litas, and how I got the Hill where we climbed the hill and drank the vodka. We got money is a good question. My parents never knew about it. drunk as skunks, and we could not walk without falling.

Later on, our neighbor and friend Mr. Petrulis arranged a flight In the winters we ice skated. There were many ice skating rinks for me with all the aerobatic figures in the book. I will never around. One rink was only a block away and could be seen from forget that flight. It began when three small monoplanes came our living room window. Once in a while we played hockey. It from the north and before landing they executed a reverse loop seems like the winters were much colder, because I froze my ears and landed in formation. Then, one pilot motioned for me to playing hockey and they have been sensitive to cold ever since. come to the plane. When I went to sit in the back seat he took the parachute out and said, “The parachute will not be necessary In 1938 European politics were brewing with Hitler stirring the since I am not planning to fly high enough anyway.” So he pot. At that age I had no idea of local politics and I had even less fastened my seat belt, and took off. This was an open cockpit interest in international politics. In school the kids did show plane, so it was the wind was blowing very hard. concern about Ethiopia's war with and everybody was sympathetic to the Ethiopian struggle. As a game, the kids As the pilot took off and gained speed, he proceeded into a steep divided themselves into several groups each calling the other vertical climb until the plane stalled and started falling back, with Italians and ran around in the hallways playing sort of a war the tail first. Soon the pilot took control and the plane went into a game. But international problems mounted for Europe and steep dive. Not more than 100 feet from the ground the pilot Lithuania was not excluded. pulled the plane up again and went into another climb. This time, on the descent, the plane went into a spiral and we ended up flying upside down, just hanging by the shoulder straps. The entire flight took probably less than half an hour and before landing he did the same thing, a reverse loop. So I was treated to all the aerobatic figures in the book and this beats anything that one can find in the amusement parks. This was an experience I will never forget. Many years passed before I was in an airplane again.

Like all young people we experimented with forbidden things. One time we thought it would be cool to try smoking. We got pipes and some American tobacco, went to the river, and lit up.

53 54 SUMMER VACATIONS For a while they lived in the village of Troškūnai, where he was the Postmaster. To go to Troškūnai was not easy. First you had As Father spent the summers working in the countryside, we also to take a train from Kaunas to Radviliškis, and then another train spent as much of the summers as possible in the country. Most of to Panevežys. Here, you had to transfer to a narrow gauge train. the time, we went to Kupiškis. This was a little town probably 50 km east of Panevežys. The Masaitis family lived there. Mrs. It was here that I learned to ride a bike. The village had a square Masaitis (Ponia Masaitienė) was Mother’s cousin. Her first with the church facing the square. I remember riding a bike, and husband was well-to-do and had been a member of the Russian at the corner of the church steeple there was a boulder, serving as Duma (Parliament). I don’t remember what happened to him, but a guard post. For some reason the stone acted as a magnet and I I believe he died and she was left with two kids, Kazimiera and just could not avoid hitting it and badly injured my foot. Pranė (Frances). Masaičiai (the Masaitis family) later moved to the town of Kupiškis. Later, she married Mr. Masaitis. He was an independence war veteran and had lost a leg during the war. Her youngest son To go to Kupiškis we took a train to Padviliškis and then Vytas currently lives in Vilnius with his family. Her daughter transferred to a train going to Daugvpilis. About half an hour Kazimiera now lives in Kaunas. The rest of the family died past Panevežys was Kupiškis. The road to the town was prematurely. “divided.” One lane was paved with cobblestones, which were just round stones, and a wagon ride over it was very rough. The other lane was a “Summer Road” which turned into a sea of mud after the rainfall. At the railroad station we would hire a horse driven wagon that took us to the town. The town was small, but it had electricity furnished by a local windmill, which had a diesel generator (Holland was not the only country that had windmills. There were many windmills in Lithuania also). Electricity was turned off at 10:00 p.m.

Masaičiai had four children. At present only Vytas and Kazimiera survive. We stayed with them for a couple of summers and for a couple months at a time.

There was a creek running not too far from the town, and there was a small lake fairly close. Dava Dulaitis and his sister Balanda were quite often in the town for the summer, so we used to get together and run around. Dava attended the model airplane Back row: Kazimera Masaityė, me, Liolė Masaitytė, Irena. Seated: Father, Mother, Elena Masaitienė, Bronius Masaitis, Vytas Masaitis. building class with me.

55 56

One time when we were at the lake, somebody dared us to swim My parents had friends by the name of Sasnauskas. He was a across. I was not that good a swimmer, and the lake was hunter and both Mr. and Mrs. Sasnauskas worked for the post probably about 300' wide. Getting close to the other shore I was office. Eventually they built a house some place not too far from running out of steam, but Dava helped me by letting me hold on Fort VII. The city of Kaunas was fortified by Russians before the to his shoulder. I never attempted to swim across the lake again. turn of the century, and was surrounded by Forts, all of which were numbered, I through IX. Another time we rented a farmhouse together with the Jankovičius family. The house was not far from the whistle stop One time Mr. Sasnauskas took me hunting. We started early in of Palemonas, close to Kaunas. That year the Boy and Girl the morning and went to the fields north of town. We walked the Scouts had an international gathering in the forest of fields with two beautiful Irish Setter dogs. The dogs prowled and Pažaislis. There was a beautiful Monastery set in the pine forest. when they stopped and raised their tails it meant there were birds Paul (who was my good friend from childhood) and I would go in the field. When the dogs were told to move, the birds took off down there for the shows that scouts had at night with the fires and we would shoot. If the birds got hit and fell, the dogs roaring. One day, going home late after the show, we decided to retrieved them. I fired the rifle couple of times, and got a sore take a shortcut through the woods, rather than go on the road. shoulder. I was probably 10-12 years old, and by the time I got There was a path but soon we lost the path and got separated and home I was dead tired and never went hunting again. disoriented. With difficulty and scared, somehow I got back to the farmhouse. It was a spooky experience I will never forget. My fishing experience was somewhat similar. Once, I got fishing The fire flies were flashing and the tree branches looked like gear and worms, and had an awful time putting a worm on a ghosts. Finding a path in the dark was difficult. The shadows hook. When I caught a fish, I had an awful time taking the slimy were really scary. thing off the hook. This was my only fishing adventure, and I never went fishing again Several times we went to the port town of Klaipėda just to be by the Baltic Sea and have some good smoked fish, but we never spent any length of time there. The beaches of the Baltic Sea, with their white sand and low dunes, look much like the beaches of Lake Michigan, except of course the Baltic Sea is salty.

In the summer, my Aunt Burbina would take us kids to her summer home at Kazlų Ruda, which was only 20 km west of Kaunas. To get there we took a motorized railroad car. We could see a speedometer reading 40 mph and it seems like we were flying, which was exciting. Usually our cousin Kristina would be there at the same time so we always had a good time.

57 58 THE START OF WORLD WAR II of eastern Karelia from Finland. Finland refused to give in and attacked Finland in the war of 1938. The Finns Hitler managed in the 1930’s to get control of Germany, and fought bravely, but had to concede that part of Karelia to the started rearmament. The World War I allies did some protesting, USSR. The world and Lithuania watched, but there was no but not very decisively. There was no response when the German outrage. Eventually, Finland had to get involved in WW II, but armies marched into the Ruhr. At that time, had Karelia was never returned to Finland. overwhelming military superiority over Germany, but did not take any action. There are many books about the origin of WW II As Poland was being defeated by Hitler, Stalin moved in from the or, as some consider it, the continuation of WW I. One of the east. The Allies (Britain and France), also had mutual defense causes of the war was the German desire to restore the territories treaties with Poland. The parliaments of both allies deliberated lost in WW I to the German Reich. Another cause was the Allies’ for a couple of weeks before they declared war on Hitler. For fear that Communists would take over Germany. Hitler’s actions quite some time it was only a declaration as there was no action were first ignored and later accommodated. (An excellent book by the allies. Strangely enough, they did not declare war on the describing the events prior to WW II is “Deadly Embrace,” by Soviet Union even though they were an aggressor also. Anthony Read and David Fisher). At the beginning, there was no apparent change in Lithuania. After taking the Ruhr back, Hitler went on to annex and Before the war started between Poland and Germany, Poland the Sudeten Land from (with the consent of the demanded that diplomatic relations be restored with Lithuania, Russians). Eventually all of , ( became a and after this was done, we could go to Vilnius again. When German Protectorate) was taken and later Klaipėda was taken Poland was defeated, Lithuania accepted many refugees. These from Lithuania. So the only thing that was left was the Danzig were some remaining units of the Polish Army, and Polish and Corridor. He was not able to take that territory without a war, so, Jewish civilians fleeing the . on September 1, 1939 he attacked Poland. In a matter of a couple of weeks Poland was occupied. Before Hitler attacked Poland, he negotiated a non aggression treaty with the Soviet Union. The Allies also negotiated with the Soviet Union, but Hitler offered terms Stalin could not refuse. The terms were that the Soviet Union would get all of the Ukraine and some of eastern Poland plus Estonia and Latvia. This agreement was later amended by secret protocol, which adjusted the borders in the division of Poland and conceded Lithuania to the Soviet Union. In one easy step, Stalin restored the old Czarist Empire to its pre -WW I size. This was known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Before that, Stalin also tried to negotiate a takeover of a portion

59 60 RUSSIAN OCCUPATION Red Army as liberators, but some Jewish people were saying: “What are we doing, these people (meaning Lithuanians) are As I mentioned before, Hitler and Stalin had a secret protocol losing their freedom and we are celebrating?” Apparently, the made on August 23, 1939, which again divided Poland and the Jewish people that settled in Lithuania at the invitation of Grand Baltic countries. This showed up first in Lithuania as a proposal Duke Gedminas (1275-1341) several centuries ago, knew that for a Mutual Defense Pact, but in reality, it was an ultimatum Lithuania would not be able to stand up to Germany in case of from the Soviet Government demanding military bases in war. But they and others thought that the USSR could possibly Lithuania. The bases were granted on October 10, 1939, and the protect them from Hitler. Unfortunately they were wrong. moved in. Many anecdotes circulated during the initial Russian occupation, Soon after, Stalin rewarded the new Lithuania by giving the largely portraying Russians as ignorant or repressed. For Lithuanian of Vilnius and some adjacent territory example, a Russian went to the grocery store and asked if he back to Lithuania. (Not all the territory that was assigned to could buy some salami sausage. When the clerk would ask how Lithuania in the 1920 treaty with the Soviet Union was returned). much sausage he wanted, he was surprised and asked how much But the people were not fooled; as the saying went "Vilnius yra could he buy? When he was told he could buy as much as he mūsų o Lietuva yra Rūsų,” or in English "Vilnius is ours, but wanted he could not believe it. Lithuania is Russia’s.” Other stories had it that some of the Russians saw a water closet Then, after Hitler started the war with Poland, the Soviets and thought that this was a wash basin, or that some Russian occupied the western part of Poland, and, at almost the same time, ladies thought that night gowns were ball gowns. There were occupied the three . People were told that the many more stories about Russian farm boys not knowing about Lithuanian government was kidnapping and interrogating Soviet the better things in life. soldiers from the Soviet army bases, and that the Soviet government was demanding a friendlier, and Communist, The Soviets held an election for a new assembly. At the time of government. the election, I remember being in the town of Kupiškis, spending the summer with the Masaičiai family, as we often did. So, in August of 1940, Soviet troops quickly occupied the entire country. The President, Antanas (Anthony) Smetona, fled the After the election, the new assembly met and voted unanimously country along with many members of his government. Those that on the only question presented to them. The question presented stayed were promptly arrested and jailed. Some of them were to the assembly was: “Should Lithuania join the Soviet Union as later executed for “treason,” although it is not very clear against a Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic?” Of course the answer whom treason was committed. Some of them were deported to was yes because no one dared to vote against it. The NKVD Siberia, where many died in the frozen tundra. (forerunner of the KGB secret police) was watching. Amazingly enough, identical events were occurring in Latvia and Estonia. It Many people, and especially and Communists, greeted the is now very clear that all the Baltic States played from the same

61 62 script written by the Politburo in Moscow. THE MOVE TO VILNIUS

One of the delegates to that assembly wrote in his memoirs that When we returned from summer vacation, changes were in the he was surprised to have been nominated to be a candidate to the offing. My Father worked as a surveyor for the Right of Way assembly; so, he went to the Communist party headquarters to division in the Department of Transportation, and the Department find out why. He was told that they thought that since he always was now moving to Vilnius. I was going into the 7th Class (11th supported liberal socialist causes he was a Communist grade), and again I had to change schools. sympathizer. When he inquired as to what the assembly was to do and what was the agenda for the assembly, he was told that Soon we were in Vilnius and they had not yet received instructions from Moscow, so they did had an apartment close to a not know. main street, on the corner of Vincos.Kudirkos and M. Valančiaus Streets. This was at the top of "Tauro" (Aurochs – a type of wild oxen) hill on the southwest side of the city. The apartment was located close to the school. The photo of the apartment to the left was taken in 1992; the original apartment burned.

As I mentioned, I was attending the 7th Class (11th grade) and Irene was attending the 4th Class, (8th grade). But now we were both in the same school -- "Vytauto Dydžiojo Gymnazija" or " Vytautas the Great High School.”

Things did not seem to change much at the beginning. Sure, there were Soviet soldiers around, but so were soldiers of the old Lithuanian army. In general, daily life did not seem to change much for us. Our apartment was nice, and was fairly large for the standards of the day. It had three bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a bath with a bathtub and a wood-fired water heater. The apartment was on the 4th floor with a balcony in the corner

63 64 room, facing both streets. I could run up two or 3 steps at a time The government reviewed the educational system and decided without losing my breath. There was no elevator, not unusual for that in order to equalize education with the Soviet Union they the time. should graduate the 7th Class (11th Grade) rather than keeping us in school for another year. (Soviet middle education consisted of Heating consisted of ceramic tile stoves, one for two rooms. The 10 grades rather than 12 years elsewhere in the world and we stoves were wood-fired, and the kitchen also had a wood stove. Lithuanians already had 11 years behind us). Often Father and I had to cut some wood in the back yard, where the tenants had their own storage, mostly used for wood. We had Soon after the parade on May 1, the Soviets were already to split and carry the bundles of wood up four floors to the upper planning the first wave of deportations that occurred June 14-17, storage. I think I did most of the carrying up. 1941. In three days of terror they deported 30 to 50 thousand people from Lithuania to Siberia, and many did not return. Eventually we received word from the occupation housing office that our apartment was considered too big for us and we would The start of the war may have saved us from deportation, as I have to give up one room. My parents were concerned about the found out later that the Soviet Union planned to deport as many potentially dangerous possibility of having a Russian officer as one million people from the Baltic States and replace them assigned to our apartment, so my folks found a Lithuanian Army with Russians. After the Soviets returned in 1944, they deported officer to whom they rented the room. another 500,000 people from Lithuania alone.

School went on and I joined the model plane club as I had been a Even before the deportations, one could hear stories about people member of a club in Kaunas. Irene and I went to several dances disappearing or being tortured in the NKVD (forerunner of the at school, but I do not remember any people or events. I KGB) building. People jumped to their deaths from the third remember that we had to attend the parade. This was a floor trying to get away. Very similar events were occurring in big holiday in the Soviet Union. Nobody in our high school neighboring Latvia and Estonia. wanted to be in the parade and everyone tried to figure a way to get out of it. But it was a required event and we had to march on My father’s co-worker was called to come to the NKVD station Gediminas Street, with flags and slogans. across the street from the Railroad Office Building. He went without a coat and never came back. All inquiries about his One time some and I, for lack of anything better to do, disappearance were answered: “We do not know anything about decided to have a beer at a bar. We went in and ordered a draft. it” and there were many other such stories. Even an international Just as I was to get my beer, I realized that the standing figure like Count Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish Envoy, was next to me was my Father who was also having a beer. We left in kidnapped and disappeared. The Russians never admitted a hurry and that night I got a long lecture about the evils of kidnapping him, and only after the Soviet Union collapsed was it drinking. (I was too big to be taken to the wood shed). disclosed that he had died in a Soviet prison.

65 66 These were very scary times and the closest we came to family was deported, but the NKVD left a baby behind in the deportation was when someone knocked on our apartment door at apartment. A neighbor took the baby to the NKVD office and 4:30 a.m. Mother answered the door and she started shaking like told them that they forgot the baby. So, she was arrested too and a leaf. There were four NKVD soldiers demanding to know her deported. Other stories were told that deportation quotas had to name. It turned out that our Polish neighbors across of the stair be met, and the NKVD could not find the people on the list at were given half an hour to pack and they were deported to home. They just picked up someone else. Siberia. Why they were deported, we will never know. Trucks loaded with people ran in the streets for several days. People So my Aunt Ona’s family’s life was totally ruined. Her two knew that when they arrived home and the apartment hallway daughters, my cousins now live in Kaunas, and have health lights were out, someone was going to be taken. problems which probably are due to their harsh and difficult childhood, lacking proper nutrition and comfort. They also I saw two of my teachers being trucked away in the NKVD truck missed out, through being in Siberia and in prison, on having a right on Gediminas Gatvė, the main street of Vilnius. They were proper education. My Aunt passed away in 1996. When I saw both Jewish, and in this case, their deportation to Siberia may her in 1992, she was unable to walk because of a broken hip that have saved them, for they may have survived Siberia. The was probably improperly set. Soon she also lost her eyesight. Germans would have killed them in a concentration camp. She told me “I am a God-fearing woman, but why is God punishing me with such a difficult life?” Our family lost my Aunt Ona, her husband and their daughters Ona and Jadvyga, who were three and six years of age at the time. As the Lithuanian occupation was being implemented, part of the They were taken to Siberia and separated from their husband and agreement between Hitler and Stalin was that people of German father. My aunt and cousins survived, and later managed to run origin could go back to Germany. All they had to do was prove away. When they ran away and returned to Lithuania they got that they had some German ancestors. Many people saw a caught and this time thrown into prison for 10 years. Their father possibility to get out of the Russian grip, but they also did not was killed while cutting trees in Siberia. Why they had been know what was waiting for them in Germany. However, it deported, they never found out, but had some guesses. Reasons seemed like a better situation than living under the Russians. were often capricious. My father tried to figure out if we had any such connection with My Aunt Ona thought that they had been deported to Siberia Germany, and whether his grandfather’s Lutheran religion had because her husband had helped a German family to leave any connection to Germany. My Aunt Janinas’s husband Mr. Lithuania. Many people were departed because of their political Liakauskas spoke German and his grandfather was German, so affiliations, especially Socialists, who were the worst enemy of he, my aunt, and their son Edmundas went to Germany. My aunt the Communist Party. did not like living there so when the Germans occupied Lithuania, they came back to Lithuania, and stayed in Lithuania even after Solzhenitzyn, in his book “The Gulag Archipelago,” described the war was over. some deportations quite vividly. One story I remember, is that a

67 68 If my father had found some German connection and we would THE WAR BETWEEN GERMANY AND THE SOVIET have gone to Germany, I would have ended up in the German UNION Army. Since that did not happen, I was lucky. I was also lucky when the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania. And then came Sunday, June 22, 1941. The German Nazi armies started the war against the Soviet Union on that day. On Friday, I They started drafting young men into the army. The draft age was had just finished my high school final exams, and a group of us 19 years old. Fortunately I was 18 years old at that time, and was were planning a picnic for Sunday. We were going to take a not drafted. I also escaped the draft even as I got older, for the steamboat, and go up several miles up a stream to the beach on Soviet Union occupied Lithuania in 1940. The election of our the river Neris. new assembly was held on July 14, 1940. The assembly “voted” to join the Soviet Union and on August 3, 1940 Lithuania became Since it was Sunday, we went to St. John’s Church at Vilnius the “Soviet Socialist Republic of Lithuania.” When Germany University for morning Mass, because my friend Algis started the war against the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, I was Kalinauskas was playing the organ there. He later became a only 18-1/2 years old and thus escaped the Soviet draft. symphony conductor and I saw him on my visit to Vilnius in 1992. While the Mass was going on, I was with Kalinauskas in the organ loft. Strange things happened about the middle of the Mass. Sirens went off. We could hear the sounds of low flying planes, and shots were being fired. I went outside to see what was going on. Soldiers were running around on motorcycles and herding people into the buildings. There were some airplanes flying around and some shooting going on. Also, I think the air raid alarm was blaring on and off. People did not know what to think, but most thought that this was nothing but some practice. The time was about 11:00 a.m. and little did we know that the war had been on since 4:00 a.m.

The first thing to do was listen to the radio. We went to Kalinauskas’ apartment and tuned into a local radio station, but there were no reports of any kind, only music playing. The same program was on Radio Moscow. So we tuned in to Radio Berlin and learned that Germany had attacked and the events were not exercises but real war. Incidentally, the Russians did not admit to the start of the war until about 2:00 in the afternoon.

I don't remember for sure but I think that my sister Irene and her

69 70 friend were with us as we tried to work our way home. There (Territorial Leader) Herr . There was only were many soldiers on the street corners and it was difficult to limited advisory administration under control of the German dodge them, but we finally made it home. There, we could see Military and later the German Civilian Government. German "Stuka" planes diving and trying to hit the Gediminas Gatvė (Street) Bridge going to Žverynas. There were many dives, but to my knowledge no hits. That night the Germans bombarded the town throughout the night. All night we sat in the basement of our apartment. It was a horrible experience. All you heard was the whistling sound and thud, then explosions. Some explosions were very close and obviously scared everybody out of their wits, but I thought “why me?” and it was not me, nor there were many casualties.

It was not the kind of bombing that was executed later on in the war against London, Berlin and other cities. In the morning it was obvious that very few buildings were hit and damaged. There was a bomb crater in the empty lot next to our apartment building, so it came kind of close! The next morning, 12 hours into the war, the Germans showed up and occupied Vilnius and the rest of Lithuania. The Russian Army was in total disarray and Germany and the Ost-Gebiet (Eastern Occupied Territories) 1941-1944 was retreating as fast as it could. Rumors were that the old Lithuanian Army units revolted and attacked the retreating Soviet One of the first German military commander’s orders was that all troops. This was later confirmed. All the Lithuanian Army units Jewish people had to have a yellow Star of David on their coats in chased the Russians and attacked them. front and the back. Next, they were ordered to walk in the street and not on the sidewalk. Several weeks later they were herded Some articles even stated that the Lithuanian Army occupied the into the “ghetto” which was created in the old town. This was entire country before the German Army moved in, which explains eventually closed in and guarded. the ease of German movement to the east through Lithuania. In a very short time the general quality of life began to Now, a new era began. There was general euphoria and hope that deteriorate, with difficulties with utilities, and food shortages. the "Evil" Soviet Empire would be defeated. But what people did But the war was far away from us. The fighting front was around not know yet that the apparent victor was not much better than the 500 to 800 miles to the east. No bombs were dropped so life was Soviets. Things became more obvious when the Germans did not almost normal, except that food shortages were constantly getting restore the independence of Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia, but worse. created Ost-Gebiet, (the Eastern Territories) with the Gauleiter

71 72 That summer I worked in a saw mill where the general manager the window. was Mr. Daugvilas, the father of my sister Irėna's friend Irėna Daugvilaite (Garunkštienė). She married and later divorced one One time we loaded Petravičius’ portfolio with stones, since he of my classmates from Kaunas. In the sawmill I was sort of a always took it home with him. Another time we nailed his time keeper, checking the names of people working. During the rubbers to the floor, because he always put them on while getting day I had a lot of time to just walk around, and very little to do. dressed. He almost fell over. Also, we once rigged a needle with a remotely operated string, so that if anybody sat down on that In September 1941, I quit this job and started to work as a chair you could pull the string and the needle would go through draftsman for the Lithuanian Railroad Building Division. the perforated plywood seat of the chair into the seat of the person Obviously my Father had something to do with getting this job, sitting on the chair. So these were some of the practical jokes that but he never told me, nor did I ever ask him about his occupied a lot of our time since we did not have a lot to do. involvement. There was not much to do. My co-worker was Vytas Savickas, whose father also worked for the Railroad (I I wanted to study engineering, but this was not available at the think he was the Personnel Director). University of Vilnius, so I was not able to study at university until September of 1942 when I was able to move to Kaunas. There, I enrolled to study Civil Engineering and Architecture at the Vytautas Didysis Universitetas (Vytautas the Great University) in Kaunas.

In Vilnius, 1942? L to R unknown, Mikas Untulis, Sasnauskas, Henrikas Paskevicius:

The chief of the building division was a Mr. Tauras. He was a Civil Engineer-Architect, and there was a local (Polish) engineer My parents in 1942 named Mr. Petravičius. We had a lot of time on our hands and played a lot of pranks on everybody like flying paper planes out I moved to Kaunas and lived with our family friend Mr. Petrulis. 73 74 I don’t remember much about what was going on at that time. in order to give Kalinauskas a chance to conduct. Anyway, it was not very long until all Universities were closed in the spring of 1943. I later found out that the universities were After that performance he closed because Lithuanians refused to form SS Battalions. And became an associate since they refused, the Germans decided to close all the conductor, and his career was Universities. After the Universities were closed, I moved back to started. Later on he went to Vilnius and returned to work at my old job at the Railroad in the Wien (Vienna) in Austria to Building Division. study conducting symphony orchestras. He was a During my spare time I joined the chorus "Varpas” which conductor of the Lithuanian performed at various functions and churches. Some Sundays the Symphony Orchestra during chorus went from church to church. Sometime we sang at as the Soviet Occupation. My many as three churches in one Sunday. That was not that difficult cousin Lili made a portrait of because in Vilnius there is a church in every other block. When him, since he was one of the we weren’t singing we just read the Sunday papers and paid no more prominent people in the attention to the Mass going on. Soviet Lithuanian Republic. Lili’s portrait of Algis Kalinauskas

The most memorable performance of the chorus was with the When Kalinauskas and I often went for walks during the war in Vilnius Symphony Orchestra. We performed a Cantata for Vilnius, he always carried a small score of the Operas and studied Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, composed by our chorus most of the time. As I mentioned, I saw him in 1992, while director Mr. Sinius. We had a very good time. It was at the visiting Vilnius. I had lunch with him. Lili told me that he was chorus that I met Vytas Suduikis, Mikas Untulis, Raimundas and eased out of his conducting because of excessive drinking, and at Henrikas (Lialka) Paškevičius, Joana Kaukoriute (who married the time I saw him he was giving lessons my friend Krutulis), and other people. I have had a long or something. He invited me to come to association with them, from Lithuania through after the war in his apartment for a visit, but I could not Germany and also in the USA. go because I was not feeling well after a car accident. Often we went to Symphony concerts and the opera. My friend Algis Kalinauskas and his sister played violin in the Symphony Lili-Janina Paškaukaitė, orchestra. She was a better violinist than her brother, but he also self-portrait managed the orchestra and took care of the distribution of sheet music to the orchestra members. He was notified by the conductor one day that the conductor was ill, so Kalinauskas stepped in and conducted the Gounod opera “Faust,” with some success. I suspect that the illness might have been premeditated

75 76 We also did some foolish things. My father, Mr. Savickas, Vytas The war continued in far off lands. We experienced a constantly Savickas and I went camping overnight in the woods north of diminishing food supply. Also, the German soldiers were always Vilnius. I had trouble sleeping and heard footsteps of several present. Once in a while, there were rumors of pressing all young people moving near us. Fortunately, we were not discovered, Lithuanian men into the German army. Vytas Savickas and I, not because the woods at that time were full of “partisans” or as I wanting particularly to be in the German or any army, were ready later found out “Armija Krajova” (The Country Army). This and made to go north by train and hide out in the group was active in the area, and probably consisted of the forests around the Ignalina area. But these were only rumors and remnants of the Polish Army who fought guerrilla- against nobody I knew was drafted. the German Army and Lithuanian Home Guard. If we had been discovered, we might have been killed to keep us from giving Some people were in away their movements, as may have happened to my childhood the Lithuanian Home friend Paul Jankovičius. Guard forces, the remaining units of the Other times on summer weekends we often used to paddle kayaks Lithuanian Army. upstream on the Neris river to a beautiful beach and then float They guarded mostly back to town in the evening. Mr. Tauras, who was my boss, warehouses, railroads, belonged to a small kayak cub, so Savickas and I also signed up and fought with the and had the use of kayaks. Once in a while we also rowed sculls. partisan and “Armija From the perspective of time outings like this now appear very Krajova” forces. dangerous. We used to go quite a way out of town, so there could have been some active partisans in the area. But the partisans were most active at night.

Me and a friend in the Home Guard

A trip up the Neris to the beach at Valakampis, about 4 or 5 miles north of downtown, in kayaks, June 22, 1944

77 78 THE WAR COMES CLOSER TO VILNIUS Some time late in June of 1944, it seemed like all of a sudden the front was almost upon us and we could hear the thundering of The food situation artillery. The chaos of the war was not too far behind. One could continuously got worse. even hear some shots in the streets. My parents took trips out to the farming areas My father decided to move to Kaunas. Since he and I worked for to get some food for the railroad, we had access to arrangements made for a railroad winter storage in car to evacuate railroad workers. As I recall, we got somebody exchange for whatever with a horse and buggy to take our hastily assembled belongings they could trade. to the railroad station where the railroad car waited at the siding. My father knew that if he gave my mother too much time to pack Our family, about 1943. she would either pack too many things or try to talk him out of moving. So he only gave her a little time to get ready. But As young people, we strings had yet to be pulled to get the car hooked onto the next had some dances called train going to Kaunas. Eventually, the car was connected to a "roebucks.” Many train and we were underway. Chaos increased as the train moved parties had to be held slowly to the west. Other trains loaded with soldiers, tanks, and overnight since there other military equipment were moving to the east. was a curfew in effect, and no-one could be on the street after 10:00 p.m. Wherever you The highways were also full of tanks and trucks moving to the had to go, you went on foot, because there was no mass east. Eventually, we came to Kaunas, and everybody thought that transportation of any kind, so that your mobility was very limited. in a couple weeks we would go back to Vilnius. My mother was For instance, we lived very close to a suburb of Žverynas, but I all set to go back to retrieve some 95% (190 proof) alcohol she never went there. In the four years that we lived in Vilnius, most forgot. But this was not to be. To go back was dangerous, of our movement was limited to Downtown, Old Town and the because nobody knew exactly where the front was. I think we Railroad Station. So there were many other places that I did not had been in Kaunas a couple of weeks when news came that the visit in Vilnius at that time. Red Army was coming closer and closer. The city of Minsk, only about 120 miles from Vilnius, was evacuated on June 28, 1944 As the days dragged by, the war was coming closer and closer to and Vilnius reoccupied on July 13, 1944. Vilnius. This was the beginning of the summer of 1944. The allies had just landed in France and the German armies had I don’t clearly recall, but Edmundas Liakauskas told me that he suffered a major defeat in Stalingrad and other areas of the front. and his parents lived with us in Vilnius and they also retreated The Germans were slowly being driven out of Russia. with us. Where we all stayed is not clear to me, as my memory is blank for much of this time. My father learned that people working for the railroad, (and I believe others) could sign up for

79 80 work in Germany. My father decided he was not going to risk that the train was about to move. My mother was still returning more Communist deportations and the uncertain behavior of the from the village and was still about a block away when the train Russians, so he and Mother decided to strike out for unknown started to move. We had to make a quick decision. I jumped from territory. the railroad car and joined Mother, while Irene and Father remained on the train. In retrospect, I think they were also concerned with my being drafted into the Soviet Army when the Soviet Government This was a good example of how easily could separate returned. Going to Germany was a lesser danger for my being during the war, but we were lucky, because almost no sooner than drafted, as Germany formed foreign SS battalions, but did not Mother and I got back to the railroad tracks there was another always draft foreign refugees. My parents were also concerned train going north. I frantically motioned to the engineer and by a with the irrational repercussions the Russians were capable of. miracle he slowed down the train quite a bit. Mother and I ran along the tracks, and I was able to help her jump up onto the So, we signed up to go to Germany. When the appointed day brakeman’s step, which is fairly high on freight cars. I managed came, (I estimate this must have been about July 17, 1944), we to jump on the step of the next car. So there we were moving to boarded a freight railroad car with some other people and a Radviliškis again sitting on the freight car’s steps. German railroad worker who was our escort. The car eventually became part of a train going north to Radviliškis and then We had no idea if we would be able to find Father and Irene southwest to Telšiai and Germany. Why the train went this way, again, or where this train was going. The train finally pulled into I don’t know for certain. Kaunas was only 40 to 50 miles to the the freight yards of the Radviliškis Station, and miraculously west of the German border, but we made a big loop by going stopped almost next to the train where Father and Irene were. north and then southwest from Radviliškis. I suspect that the There was a quick reunion and a happy ending to the separation, railroad tracks from Minsk -Vilnius - Kaunas to Königsberg (now which could have been extremely long if not forever. Needless to ) were totally clogged with military traffic. say, Father was very angry about the entire affair. But all’s well that ends well. As the train moved on, it stopped quite often. I am sure this was due to traffic congestion. One time, the train stopped at a gravel Soon the train started moving again, this time toward Tauragė or road with a village nearby. My mother decided to go to the southwest toward Tilsit (now Sovietsk) and Germany. Once we village to see if she could get some food from the farmers. There arrived at Tilsit, we had to go through the delousing station, was no way we could persuade her not to go, as she was a strong- where we had to undress to take a shower. Meanwhile, our willed woman. The train was just standing in the field and no one clothes were fumigated and returned after the shower. I was knew when it would be allowed to move. We had no choice but embarrassed to be naked with women attendants around, but to wait. We could even hear the thunder of artillery to the east. nobody paid any attention to anybody. Everybody had to go I’ll never know how far we were from the front, but I suspect it through the same procedure. was not very far, because the German front was collapsing everywhere. After a while, the engineer blew a whistle indicating

81 82 The train then traveled south through Prussia, and the former one story wooden barracks. The camp was fenced in and had Polish Danzig Corridor. It went west of by Allenstein, gates but there were no guards. Movement to and from the camp Poznan and finally to Oels. This was just northeast of Breslau, was not limited, so we could go to town or stay in the camp. which is now in Poland. I believe it is called Wrocław. There was a camp kitchen and food was served at set hours. There were many different nationalities in the camp. I remember I don't remember how long it took, or how we got the food and somehow meeting a former French POW, and a Czech who was water, but I remember helping the German escort to get water to very pro-Communist. There again, I don't remember how we the people in the freight cars. While we were getting the water communicated, but we must have used a combination of Polish, the train pulled out of the station so the escort and I had water but Czech, Russian and German. no train, in some unheard of station. The people I met in the camp told me that whatever I did I should We went to the switching tower and the escort made some calls to avoid the concentration camps, because they were the pits. Some find out when the next train going the same way would be. This of the people in the camp had spent time at the concentration was also a dangerous moment of separation from the family but camps and had first hand experience. since I was with the railroad escort, I was not that worried. Soon fall came and we were cold. There was only cold water in That night, while waiting for another train in the switching the washroom, which was in a separate building. We had been in control tower, an announcement was made on the radio that there the camp for some time and nobody had asked us to go to work, was an attempt on Hitler's life and that he survived the attempt nor was anybody else doing anything. (July 20, 1944). The Germans in the tower that night publicly thanked God for sparing Hitler’s life, but I don’t know what they Then Father started to worry and talked about finding some work. really thought. At that time my ability to speak and understand His reasoning was, unless we found work, we might be sent to German was very limited, so I did not understand much of what work in the locomotive repair shop where most of the people in they were saying. Just exactly how we communicated, I don't the camp worked, and who would want to do that? So Father remember. The train escort and I finally boarded the next train was grumbling and concerned, but I was totally carefree and and rejoined the group at the next station. didn’t worry about anything.

At last, about on July 22, 1944, we came to the little town of Eventually Father talked me into going to see the railroad District Oels. Oels was about 30 km (20 mi) northwest from the City of Engineer about a job. The gentleman turned out to be probably in Breslau, which at that time was still intact, and had a population his seventies and was extremely kind. I explained that Father and of approximately 600,000. And on August 1, 1944, Kaunas was I had worked for the Lithuanian Railroad, and that Father was a reoccupied by the USSR. We had escaped just in time. surveyor and I was a draftsman.

We ended up in the worker’s camp and were assigned to a room We convinced him that we could draw. He said that while he which had three other families living in it. The buildings were could use some drafting help he did not have any room for work

83 84 stations. Then he had an idea. He said there was a railroad crew Allies landed in France on June 6, 1944, which was before we shanty at the railroad station with two drafting tables where we even left Lithuania. Their landing was successful, and they were could work. So we had a job and an office of sorts. slowly advancing toward Germany. The Russian front came closer and closer every day to the German border. Again, the On August 12, 1944, we got ID cards, after my father and I town of Oels became too close for comfort for us to be there. In managed to get this job with the German Railroad. An ID card January 1945, signs of panic began to appear. We went to the was a vital piece of paper. city office and got permits for Mother and Irene to leave Oels. At that time you could buy a railroad ticket to go 30 km (about 20 The engineer opened the tracing file and pulled out a couple of miles) so if you bought a ticket every thirty kilometers, you could sets of beautiful ink cloth drawings of some railroad buildings. keep on going west. He gave us some drafting tools and linen drafting cloth and told us to trace these drawings. This was nothing more than make- We left the Oels-Bremen area just in time, because the Russian work jobs, but we had job cards and a railroad job, which meant Army was advancing very rapidly at that time. The panic of the that we were better off than other workers who were mobilized to civilian population at that time was well described in the book dig trenches or worse somewhere. This happened to some of my “Fall of Berlin 1945” by Anthony Bevor. Being there, we knew friends who, while crossing the German border, got conscripted we had to be away from the areas likely to be occupied by the to serve in the German Army work battalions. They even ended Russians. up in prisoner of war camps, because they wore army uniforms as part of a work battalion. We packed our meager belongings. We each had a suitcase and we also carried a large radio. We settled in our "office" which, as Soon the first drafting assignment was finished and we delivered I mentioned, was a railroad shack and was right at the railroad the new drawings to the chief at the main office. He was siding. Many scheduled trains came from the east to the main surprised at the speed with which we did the tracing, and looked railroad terminal and all of them were full of refugees heading at me like he wanted to tell us to slow down and not bother him. west. We almost gave up hope of getting on a train. One of the He gave us more drawings to trace, and we went back to our own special trains pulled up on the siding next to our "office,” and all "office.” Fall and winter came and our shanty, as well as our of a sudden, the doors of one of the compartments opened and all room, had coal stoves. Every night we took some coal from our the people in that compartment got out leaving the compartment shanty back to the barracks just to keep the room warmer. to four of us. The railroad car was of pre WW I vintage, and each compartment had two benches facing each other, with the doors Meanwhile I was trying to study German and every day I read a opening directly to the outside. There was an outdoor running local newspaper and tried to memorize some words. I had taken board connecting all the compartments, which was used mainly courses in high school so I had some by train conductors to move between compartments while the knowledge of the basics, but badly needed to build vocabulary. train was moving. Passengers were not supposed to walk on these running boards. As the days dragged on, the war front kept coming closer. The

85 86 After a while the train started moving, and while we did not know supposed to leave the next morning. So we had to spend the night where the train was going, it was headed in the right direction. I in the railroad station. The amazing part of this trip was that don't remember how long it took, but we eventually arrived at the Berlin was not bombed that night. Again, our luck was with us. city of . Initially, we wanted to go to the Stettin area by the Baltic Sea. That's where, supposedly, Fathers’ cousin lived. The next morning we boarded the train to Stettin and arrived She had moved to Germany after marrying a German soldier there without any problems. We were put up in some Gaststätte during WW I. (Bed and Breakfast). Again, we didn’t know exactly what to do.

I think Father had some sort of an address, but it must have been Father and I went to the Railroad Engineer’s District Office and old, because we didn’t find her. In Dresden I checked the railroad asked about a possible job. He was a different kind of a man and schedules and found out that there would be a “D-Zug” express flatly said no way. He didn’t need any draftsmen. Meanwhile, train heading to Berlin. So we wandered around the railroad efforts to find Father’s cousin were unsuccessful, so there was no station for a while. particular reason for us to stay there. Also, Stettin was somewhat north and east of Berlin and Father and Mother decided to move At that time Dresden had not been bombed yet. After a while, I South and further away from the possibility of Russian troops. was approached by a couple of policemen in civilian clothing, who demanded an explanation for our presence in Dresden. I It was some time during this move that Mother and Father got to showed them the permits for Mother and Irene to leave Oels, and know a doctor from Vilnius. He and his family were of Polish explained that Father and I worked for the railroad in Oels. I also origin and I think they had traveled with us to Oels and later explained that we were just escorting my Mother and Sister out of moved on to the south, to in Würtenburg. My danger and we would be returning to Oels on the next train. Of Mother kept in touch with them, so not knowing anybody else, course, we did not plan to return to Oels, but moved to the track the folks decided to go to Freudenstadt in the German State of where the “D-Zug” express train was supposed to arrive. The Würtenburg. Besides, the Allies would likely come into train came and it was on time. However, it was filled with people Germany from the south. hanging out the windows. The situation seemed hopeless, as we could not get on board. Someone said that the next train was Again we went to the railroad station and waited for a train, but coming in half an hour and would be an “E-Zug” semi-express there were no direct trains from Stettin to Freudenstadt, so we had train. to change trains somewhere east of Berlin. We took the first train and got to the transfer station without much trouble. We had to It was not an express train, but when it came, it was half empty, wait for the train going south to . We waited for the so that we were able to have a seat and travel in comfort. This, as train on the track platform and there where what looked like I recall, was around six or seven o'clock in the evening and we thousands of people waiting for the train from Berlin. I believe had about a four to five hour ride ahead of us. We arrived in that at that time Vytas Mikalavičius (Mikūnas) and another some Berlin station after midnight and the trip was uneventful. I friend, whose name I now forget, joined us so now we had six in checked the schedules and found that the next train to Stettin was our party.

87 88 and never know what happened. But many people were going in Well, as I said, there was a mob on the platform waiting for the our direction and we finally found a place where we got some train and soon it arrived. That night, Berlin was bombed and the sandwiches and some ersatz (fake) coffee. After a little rest we train was full of refugees. Again, people were hanging out of the walked back to the railroad station but how we found it I don't windows. The situation really appeared hopeless. Somehow I know. Many people were already in the station. I found a plank said, “Let’s go toward the back of the train,” and as the train about 12" wide where I laid down and slept like a baby. In the stopped we found ourselves right at the baggage car. Meanwhile, morning the train was ready to leave and we finally were on our the mob stormed the train and people tried to get into the cars way again. through the windows. I even saw a German General trying to squeeze in through a window. It was a chaotic situation, to say We arrived at Freundenstad sometime in the afternoon. It was the least. February 1945, and we immediately looked for lodging. The people there spoke a "Schwäbisch" . It sounded sort of like As we stood at the very end of the train next to the baggage car, I they were speaking French. By this time I was able to speak started a conversation with the conductor of the baggage car, and German a little better, but I still had trouble understanding this he told me there was no way that we could get into the car, dialect. because this was against the law. My father was standing by and he slipped a pack of cigarettes to the conductor. After a couple of days, Father and I went to the labor office and presented ourselves as draftsmen. After talking to someone, we All of a sudden the guy said, “Get in.” We threw our belongings were told to go to the village of Glatten and talk to someone at the into the car and literally rolled in, because the baggage car floor factory. The name of the factory was “Finegeretebau” which was about 3 to 4 feet above the platform and there was no step. means “Precision Instrument Construction Building.” Neither This literally was a miracle for us. The lesson was that you Father nor I had any mechanical drafting experience, but we were should not take NO for an answer. We got in and most of the warm bodies, we knew how to hold a pencil, and they figured people on the platform were left behind. This was an express they could use us. So again we had a job. The labor office also train and it was going to Zürich in Switzerland, not stopping very got us two rooms in a Gaststätte (sort of like a bed and breakfast, often. except we did not get any breakfast) in the adjacent village of . Mother and Irene stayed in one room and Father and We had the entire baggage car to ourselves and as night came, we I had a room in another Gaststätte. just slept on the floor. We still had to change trains at some station in order to get to Freudenstadt. We arrived there after Every morning we walked down the hill to work in the shop at midnight and learned that the train to Freudenstadt was scheduled “Finegeretebau" in Glatten. We drew some details of nozzles as to leave in the morning, so we had a long wait. We went into directed by the engineer. These detailed drawings went into the town to find something to eat and the walk to the Travelers’ Aid shop where a craftsman made a nozzle using a machine. Then we Station was extremely difficult. It was cloudy, and because of a went to the yard where the nozzle was attached to some blackout there were no lights. You could stab yourself in the eye equipment which blew flames. I don't know what they were

89 90 making but it sure looked like nozzles for flamethrowers or jet alarm warning of an attack. The alarm also sounded when larger engines. Mother and Irene were never asked to work. bombers flew over. We were required to go to the shelter which was a long tunnel dug into a hill. We seldom talked to our landlord or neighbors, as my parents spoke very little German. I spoke some German but my Some Germans actually shook in panic whenever they heard the conversational ability was rather limited. Time passed and the roar of the planes. I was told that these people had traumatic war went on. The Allies had advanced from the beaches of experiences in cities like Berlin or some other places. I had no Normandy and were steadily moving toward Germany. such fear. My reasoning was that bombers would most likely proceed to targets better than a little village, and I was right. I In the spring the Allied fighter bombers appeared almost like used to climb to the top of a hill and lie down under a tree and clockwork. About 15 fighters would come at 10:00 a.m. in the count the planes. These were four engine planes which were flew morning and about 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon. I could almost set quite high, but you could see their formations and their vapor my watch by their appearance. trails. Lying down I could do nothing else but count the planes and wonder where they were going. Several times I counted When they flew more than a thousand planes. My best guess was that they were over, everything going to Vienna or Munich, but I never found out. This occurred stopped, as nobody for most of the early spring of 1945. Later that spring the front wanted to be again moved closer to Freudenstadt. The town was about 40 caught on the road. miles from the French borders. The planes shot at anything that Then, one night we learned that the government warehouses moved, even cows would be open to the people and we went, over Father’s and horses. objections. Many other people were there, helping themselves to canned cheese, meat, and other goods. All of this was stored in the village movie theater. The local Germans had wagons, The railroad (wegele) but we had to carry everything in our arms. My father bridge, September 2, 1945 was very upset because he was afraid the Germans might round However, their favorite target was the railroad bridge over the up and execute looters. valley. The bridge was fairly tall, and consisted of masonry piers with arches, and railroad tracks on the bridge. The planes dive The next morning we saw some scattered German soldiers bombed the bridge many times. The arches collapsed but the walking through the village, but they were just walking by. That tracks and ties still hung between the piers. On steel bridges the night, all of a sudden, there was an artillery bombardment not to damage was light, outside of breaking some railroad ties. I could far from the village. We found out later that while the French hear trains moving at night which was the only time they could army was advancing toward Freudenstadt, Hitler’s "National move. Of course, before the planes came, there was an air raid Guard" (Volksbewehr), consisting of kids and old men, started

91 92 shooting at the French. The French troops pulled back, leveled OCCUPATION OF GERMANY AND DISPLACED PERSONS the city with artillery overnight and occupied it the next morning. CAMPS Meanwhile, we spent the night in the basement where we were living, and sometime in the morning we heard someone ordering In April of 1945, the French First Army arranged for all us to come out. One by one we left the basement with our hands Lithuanians to move to Dietersweiler and establish the "Displaced up high, and saw several young French soldiers standing there Persons" (DP) Camp. The camp consisted of people living in with machine guns and their fingers on the trigger. I am sure they farmers’ houses. The French Army gave us army rations. Once a were just as scared as we were. If anybody moved, we had all week a bottle of wine was included for everyone, even children. been history. There was also a Russian DP Camp not too far away, so the French gave all young DP men a military rifle and a permit to Once you go through this kind of experience it’s easy to carry it for our protection. understand how massacres of civilians can occur. Fortunately, nothing happened to us. All men were ordered to go to the The war ended on May 7, 1945, and hostilities stopped May 8, village square, where French soldiers questioned everybody about 1945. The end of the war went by us almost unnoticed, because why they were not in the army. Obviously they were looking for for us, the war ended when the French Army arrived in soldiers who may have changed into civilian clothes. Father and I Freudenstadt. had documents to prove that we were Lithuanians. This was accepted very kindly and we were told to return to the house.

Somebody’s motorcycle Besides a rifle, I also had a permit to travel in the French zone. There were many cars scattered around with various degrees of damage. We tried, without success, to restore one. However, somebody managed to get hold of a motorcycle, and I remember taking a trip somewhere and going through some army checkpoints.

93 94 In November of 1945 we were moved to Tübingen. The town was totally intact just as if there had been no war at all. Here, we After we returned from the trip, I developed a king-size cold and had a small apartment on the third floor. Also, some friends and eventually had to have my sinuses punctured to drain them. But in acquaintances were in the same town so we had people to talk to. the long run we were all accepted at the Technische Hochschule (Technical University) in . As displaced persons, the The University of Tübingen was also located there. This was a German administration provided us with a free education. I German-type University. It was a Scientific University teaching started studying Architecture on January 7, 1946. All Lithuanian Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Philosophy, Law and Theology, students were assigned to live in a house in Bad Cannstadt (a but it did not have technical facilities. So, for lack of anything Stuttgart suburb). We were fed and even had house parents. This else to do, I enrolled to study in Physics. This was not an easy house was a small apartment building at 80 Wildinger Strasse. task as I attended some lectures where there were 200 to 300 students in the auditorium. The professor lectured in German and I roomed with my friends Untulis, Suduikis, Liobys and Krutulis. wrote on the chalkboard faster than I could copy. There were no Liobys was the first to move to the USA since he had some books, no published lecture notes, and nobody to talk to for help. relatives. And he was the Soon my friends and I decided to look for something else. first to pass away. All of these men were My friends and I decided to travel as far as and apply to Lithuanians from Vilnius all the Technical Universities from the north to the south. We who grew up there after traveled by freight trains, as there still were no passenger trains. WW I under Polish We traveled mostly at night sitting on the freight car steps or in occupation. All of us the brakeman’s cabin. At that time travel was restricted and a eventually ended up in the permit was required to move among the American, French and USA and Untulis was next British Zones of Occupation. For us “hobos,” the permit was not to leave us. necessary. We knew we wouldn’t get one. We just went, and Saying goodbye to Liobys at the station when we came to a transfer station just found the next train going north. We slept and ate in refugee centers. The house across the street was occupied by Latvian students. Gunnar Birkerts lived there and he later became a well-known I’ll never forget the time we came to . It was after architect in the USA. My daughter Irene eventually studied midnight with a full moon, and the sky was clear. We had to architecture under him at the University of Michigan. walk from the Railroad Station to a shelter since the town was bombed out and there were only narrow walks between piles of We returned to Tübingen as my family still lived there, having rubble. The only things still standing were the chimneys. The moved in November of 1945. Instead of camps, we had an entire view was spooky and looked like a moon landscape. apartment, as did all displaced persons. One time, some of my Eventually we went as far as Hamburg and applied to all friends and I boarded a very crowded train in Tübingen, bound Universities where they had Architecture and Engineering. for Stuttgart. We were talking loudly in Lithuanian, and the

95 96 Germans started to grumble saying that there were too many foreigners in Germany. Then, one of my friends stood up and said in a loud voice, “Erst Siegen, den reisen” meaning, first win the war, then travel. This was a slogan used by the Germans during the war to discourage travel. After that statement we didn’t hear a word from our German travelers.

Aldona Šatkutė in

A very nice refugee camp was located in Füssen. It was in a small hotel not far from the railroad station, with a beautiful view of the Alps. The Petras Savickas family and Sofija Šatkiene also lived in this camp. I visited Füssen during vacations.

The train ended there, and I had to go

Schloss Neuschwanstein from Stuttgart to Munich, to Kempten and then on to Füssen. When I visited In February of 1946 Mother, Father and Irene moved to Füssen. my family, so did Aldona Šatkutė, This was a little town at the foothills of the Alps, not far from Sofija Š atkiene’s daughter, from “Mad” Ludwig’s Castle “Neuschwanstein.” “Mad” Ludwig was Klaipėda. As she recalls, we first met a King of Bavaria, and he liked to build fantastic and bizarre when I used to play the piano in the . The original castle close to Füssen, called hotel lobby. She lived in the DP “Schwanstein,” was a hunting castle but it was not good enough Camp in Eichstatt, and her brother for Ludwig so he built a new one. I think this one was built just Henrikas lived in Wurzburg. to provide a model for Walt Disney.

The Füssen Gasthaus, our refugee camp. L to R: Me, Jadvyga Savickaite, Irena, Vytas (Mikalavicius) Mikūnas

97 98 Vytas Savickas, his sister and the streetcars were not running. I had to walk. This would Jadvyga, my sister Irene, not have been so bad, but I had two heavy suitcases. Fortunately, Aldona and I were all young at that time, the streets in Germany were very safe. and had a lot of energy. We often went for the walks. Many times we ended up at the “Neuschwanstein” Castle, or beyond the Castle to the mountains. The walks were very enjoyable and beautiful, but only possible in the summer. Some of these walks could best be called climbs!!

Aldona and me at a party

The beginning of a Semester had to be celebrated with the “Inicium Semestri,” which was just an excuse for a party. Guests were invited, so Aldona and my sister Irene came to these parties. Not only did we manage to get some food, but we also got some whiskey. We had lots of fun dancing.

Must have been a wild Christmas party!

Aldona and me in the mountains near Füssen

After a while the DP Camp was moved from Füssen to Augsburg.

This was considerably closer to Stuttgart. It took only about two and a half hours to get there with a direct train, and they ran quite frequently. Once you were in Augsburg you took a streetcar to the DP Camp. The Camp was located in the suburb (I believe it was Friedberg). This was probably about 3 miles from the Railroad Station. One time I arrived at Augsburg after midnight 99 100

Out on a hike We hold a “hunger strike” – we were always hungry!

After living in Bad Cannstatt for about a year, the authorities moved us students to Fellbach. This was a little town east of Stuttgart. They assigned several houses about a block away from the RR Station. There, the rooming arrangements changed. Untulis, Suduikis and Krutulis had a room in the house next door, while I roomed with Žibuntas Mikšys. He was an aspiring artist. In the beginning we had some good arguments, but later we managed to get along quite well. Later as an aspiring artist he moved and lived in . His sister married an American soldier and she lived in Detroit. She recently passed away. Mikšys had several exhibits in Chicago, but we lost contact.

Next door to us was Masiulis who also was an architectural student. He roomed with his Latvian girlfriend. When

immigration started, they came to the United States, got married, Another party.. and lived in Beverly Shores, Indiana. I believe he passed away some time ago.

101 102 Now we walked about a block to the commuter train, which arrived at the main railroad station in Stuttgart. We then took the streetcar to the Art School where the Architectural School was located, because much of Stuttgart was bombed out. This commute took about three-quarters of an hour.

During vacations we also managed to travel a little. One time we went to the hills during Nice shirts…I am the one with the sunglasses!

the winter, rented skis, Meanwhile, world governments wrestled with the problem of and pretended to ski. resettling the DP's. Some came up with various proposals to There were no lifts and accept some of the displaced people. , Canada, South the old wooden skis and others developed work-immigration schemes. So (with an old bear trap some people signed up and started to leave Germany. The United like bindings) were States also started to debate DP immigration. Eventually, the heavy so it didn’t take USA passed a bill to accept some 200,000 DP's. One of their long for everyone to be requirements was to have a sponsor in the USA to guarantee the tired out. For some reason I always wanted to ski. My only other th well being and support for the new emigrant. One of the first to experience was back in Lithuania, when I was in the 7 Class th leave Fellbach was Vytautas Liobys. He had some relatives in (11 grade). During the Soviet Occupation I entered a 6 mile (10 the USA, and they sent him the necessary papers. Km) cross country ski race. This was over hilly terrain and half way through the course, my bear trap binding broke. I had to stumble along with one ski in snow that was about two to three feet deep.

Other outings were to the north side of Bodensee near Fridrichshafen. I still have some pictures of all the guys in striped shirts, which were given to us by the UNRRA (United Nations Refugee Relief Association). We took anything we could get.

103 104 were coming back to Lithuania in 1944, Martin went to Germany and Austria and eventually he got to a Swiss Consulate, where he presented his birth certificate and claimed his United States citizenship.

So, as soon as the Americans occupied Austria and Germany, Martin was on his way to America. Irene met Martin in the camp at Oels, Martin proposed and Irene accepted. He obtained the documents for all of us to come to the United States of America.

Rules in the DP Camp, 1949

Soon more and more people were leaving. Many of them had relatives in the United States to act as sponsors, but we did not have anybody in the United States.

My parents and Irene were still living in Augsburg and Irene was going to a makeshift high school. She met Martynas Laurinavičius in Oels. His parents had lived in Kedainiai, and some time before WW I they went to the United States, and lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A year after Martynas was born, they decided to go back to Lithuania. Martin's brother and sister On my 25th birthday, did not want to return so they stayed with either their aunt or February 13, 1948 uncle. Meanwhile, Martin, a United States citizen, grew up in Lithuania and went to Lithuanian schools. When the Soviets 105 106 THE VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC Occasionally, the stern of the ship would be out of the water. This would cause the propellers to turn in the air. When this I was the first of the family to go to the United States. I had just happened, the entire ship would shake. I even thought that the started my 9th semester of University when my application ship might break up, because it was shaking so badly. paperwork was finished. It was something of a joke in the DP Occasionally, people were allowed on deck. There were ropes camps how long it took to strung out to hold on, because when the bow rose, one would go complete paperwork. On February up with it and you had to hold on to the rope. Obviously, many 7, 1949, I signed out of the people were seasick. Some of them even got seasick when the Fellbach Camp and soon went to a ship was still tied up in the river some fifty miles from the sea. transition camp near Bremerhaven. Fortunately I did not get sick, so there were several days when I Here we had to go through final was the only one eating in the dining room. The only time I medical exams and wait for the came close to getting sick was when they conducted emergency time of sailing. I almost didn’t exercises. Everybody had to go to their assigned assembly station pass the medical exam because of and put on a life jacket. My assembly area was two decks down elevated blood pressure, but the in a crowded hallway where it was hot and many people threw up doctor told me to lie down and rest right, left and everywhere. That's the only time I came close to for a minute after which he throwing up myself. The worst thing is to see someone throwing rechecked my blood pressure. up when you’re close by. In Fellbach, at the train to Brmerhaven on the way to the United States I met some people on the ship and So, the doctor passed me through the health check and a couple even corresponded with some of days later we were taken to the port, and boarded the SS Marine them for a while. Now that I have Shark, a converted troop ship. The ship was 523' long and 17,300 looked up the passenger list, I see tons, built in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1945. The ship that Vytas Gerulaitis was on the was operated by the United States Lines and there were only same ship, but I did not know him. about 600 passengers on board. We did not have to work and He must have been a young man or were served meals in the dining rooms. The food was terrific, a boy at that time; he later became a after the meager subsistence diet in the camps. This was ultimate ranked tennis player. He died about luxury after the life in the camps. 1995 from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. The ship left the port on February 19, 1949 and it took 12 days to cross the Atlantic. The seas were stormy most of the time and it was so rough that the doors to the deck were closed. When the Photographing the SS Marine Shark bow of the ship hit the waves, water rolled over the deck.

107 108 Next morning at the hearing I was again questioned about the missing papers, and I had no idea what was missing. Assisting me at the hearing was the IRC (International Rescue Committee). The entire hearing had to be conducted through a German interpreter. The hearing officer did not know what to do, and eventually he decided to let me go, on parole, until the papers could be found and another hearing arranged. So I was free to go.

The New York skyline, March 1949

The ship arrived in New York on March 3, 1949 at 12:06 a.m. A couple days before arrival, everyone received a file with their immigration papers. I put the file under my pillow, and didn’t In Brooklyn at Liobys’s apartment think more about it. The next morning we had to go through an immigration hearing. As my turn came, I gave them the file, and The IRC escorted me to Brooklyn where Vytautas Liobys (he the first question they asked was what did you do with the passed away some time ago) lived and I stayed with him for a papers? couple days. There I was, finally in the USA, without any ID and without any money. They gave us, I believe, $ 5.00 at arrival Apparently some papers were missing, but how would I know – which I spent on a taxi. After a couple days I took a train (New there was no index in the file. I had no idea what was supposed York Central) from New York to Detroit by way of Canada. to be in the file, so I was taken to Ellis Island. There, I had a bed Fortunately, I did not get off the train and nobody asked me for an assigned to me, and the next morning I was taken to the New ID. In Detroit, I changed to a train going to Lansing (Pere York Immigration Office for a hearing. That night at Ellis Island Marquette Railroad) and arrived at the Michigan Avenue Station I had a problem. I had an accordion and a camera with me, which (now Clara’s Restaurant). I had agreed to deliver to somebody in Chicago. For some reason I tried to hide the camera, which made me very uncomfortable.

109 110 ARRIVING IN LANSING more and more of the German language.

In Lansing, Martin was waiting for me at the railroad station and took me to the house where he lived and where he had rented a room for me. The house was located at 428 W. Grand River on the northeast corner of West Grand River and Sycamore Streets, a block away from the Michigan School for the Blind. The owners of the house were Mr. and Mrs. Geurou. He was of French descent from Vermont, close to the Canadian border. He said that he did not speak English until he was drafted into the American Army during WW II. He was sent to France because he was able to speak French, where he learned that French Canadian was somewhat different from “real” French. He worked as a water quality tester for the DNR of the State of Michigan. His wife Irene and Martin’s wedding worked at St. Lawrence Hospital in the bookkeeping department. Irene arrives in Lansing As I had no ability to communicate in English, Martin needed to In May of 1949, Irene arrived in Lansing, and she married Martin act as translator. I applied for work at several places without on May 14, 1949. They moved to a one bedroom apartment in a success. house on Larch Street, about two blocks south of Michigan Ave. (This house has since been demolished). One day Mrs. Geurou said there was an opening at St. Lawrence Hospital for a janitor. So I applied and was hired at $ 1.00 per I started looking for a job in an architectural office. I took a trip to hour. This must have been about the end or middle of March Detroit, and stopped at the office of Harley, Ellington and Day 1949, because I remember walking to work on some cold architectural office. Mr. Edmundas Arbačiauskas worked there. mornings. At work I was shown how to mop floor, use the floor (Later, he changed his name to Arbas and had his own office in polisher, and clean rooms. There were some older people California). There were no openings at that time. I recall that I working there. One of them was called Curly, because he was also went to an office somewhere around Six Mile Road and totally bald. I could not speak to them, and they could not speak applied for work without success. to me, so we used sign language. I started a crash course to learn the language. But the opportunity to work at an architectural office came right here in Lansing. Bob Liscomb worked with Martin in the Road At night I wrote twenty words in a note book, and at work I Design Office of the Highway Department. On Saturdays, Bob repeated the words over and over again, while I polished the worked for Clark C. Ackley Architectural Office. He told Martin floors. This was my way to build a vocabulary. I also tried to that Ackley was looking for a draftsman. So I applied and was learn simple everyday phrases. After a while, I began to hired at $ 0.90 an hour, less than I made as a janitor. This was a understand more and more, and, at the same time, I was forgetting cut in pay but it was also an opportunity to get some architectural

111 112 experience. The job also opened up many new possibilities. MARRIAGE

In June of 1949 I received a letter from the IRC informing me that my immigration papers were found and received at the State Department, and that I would be notified by the Immigration Office in Michigan about further action. Finally, I was asked to appear at the Detroit Immigration office for a hearing.

At the hearing sometime in July of 1949, I was told that we had to wait for a German interpreter, but I could converse in English by that time, so we went into the hearing. It was more or less a formality, and I was told that everything now was in order and I would finally be receiving the Green Card. This was very important to me since I was courting Aldona Šatkutė, who was working and living in Hamilton, Ontario, and without the Green Card I could not go to Canada.

Aldona and I are married

Soon after I received my Green Card, Aldona and I scheduled our wedding. The wedding was to take place in Hamilton, Ontario. Her friends pitched in and helped us make arrangements. We got married on August 13, 1949 and the ceremony was performed in a Lithuanian Church, with the Monsignor Dr. J. Tadarauskas presiding. The Province of Ontario required a three-day waiting period before the marriage after obtaining the marriage license. Since I had worked only a short time for Clark Ackley and had to go back to work after the weekend, the good Father post dated our marriage license. Our remaining problem was getting Aldona into the United States.

113 114 The statements made to Aldona by the US Consulate in Toronto I continued to work for Clark Ackley. The office designed many were not encouraging. She was committed to a work contract schools, and it looked like we had a lot of work. One time, Clark with the Canadian government, and for the time being, she had to decided that we should go and see a school after building was work there. We decided that it would be nice if Aldona could completed. So, some time in March we drove to Bay City as the move to Windsor, so that I could visit her on weekends and school was in that area. Just north of Saginaw it started to rain holidays. This eventually happened and she got a job in Windsor and soon the wet surface became an ice skating rink. Clark with a family. Also, her landlord was a friend of the US Consul turned around and we never got to see the school. and he arranged for Aldona to file an application for a visa to the United States called “second preference.” This was a way for a At the office Clark managed to challenge people by assigning family to get into the United States without waiting for a quota, them to new tasks. Denny Denniston was asked to design heating which, for all intents and purposes, was extremely limited for and electrical systems. As he told me, he had no idea where to Lithuanians. The quota was 300 Lithuanian people per year at start, but eventually he became the Mechanical Designer for that time. heating, air conditioning and plumbing. At one time he worked for Bolton and Helveston Mechanical-Electrical Consultants, Eventually, Aldona received the permanent visa and came to located within the Manson Building. Later he worked for the Lansing through Windsor, Ontario on December 7, 1949. Highway Department’s Building Design Section. Meanwhile, in October of 1949 my parents also came to Lansing. We rented an apartment on the second floor of a house at 1107 I was asked to do some structural work, so occasionally I did N. Washington Ave. The apartment was small with one room some structural design when I had some time available. Soon plus a kitchen. summer came and working conditions became bad. With hot and humid weather arms stuck to the tracing paper and sweat rolled The house was old and close to the intersection of Washington down and dripped onto the paper. Then, on June 24, 1950, the and Grand River Avenues in the northern part of town. My broke out, and soon it seemed that work at Ackley’s parents got work in the kitchen of the Porter Hotel. I think started to dry up. I was told that Clark would have to let me go, Mother made salads and Father washed dishes. So under these but he told me not to worry, that he would try to arrange a job for conditions Aldona came as a newlywed to a very crowded me with another office. Meanwhile, I could work for him until a apartment without any privacy. Obviously, the situation was not new job materialized. Soon, Clark told me to see Mr. Elmer J. good, and I don’t remember how long it continued, until another Manson at the office of Manson and Carver Architects. He told bedroom became available adjacent to the apartment. So, Aldona me that they might be able to use my services, and I was hired as and I moved to a separate bedroom. Until that time we slept in a draftsman some time in August of 1950. I stayed with this the kitchen. Some time later we rented a larger apartment on the office until my retirement on February 13, 1987. first floor in the same house while Mother and Father remained upstairs. The apartment was much larger, with a large kitchen, bedroom and a living room.

115 116 Aldona and I often visited Martin and Irene, who still lived on S. Larch Street. One time while Irene and Aldona talked, Martin The furnace was coal fired and had to be filled up with coal and I went for a walk. Somehow we walked all the way down to every morning. We didn’t have a refrigerator, but we had an ice South Washington and Townsend Streets, where Les Foot Car box and the ice man would deliver ice every day. The milk man Dealership was located. It was getting dark and they had a used also delivered milk with a horse drawn carriage, and brought the 1948 yellow Oldsmobile 98 on display with flood lights bathing bottles to your door. This has all disappeared and now you have the gleaming car. We talked to the salesman and learned that the to go to 7-11 or Quality Dairy to get milk. price was $ 2,000 and the terms were reasonable. So, after a while of bargaining, I bought the car, and drove away. I had no driver’s license or insurance, but nobody asked about that. Needless to say, Aldona was shocked, and being quite naive at the time, I didn’t even think of consulting with my wife before making a major purchase for the family. I don’t remember how many miles the car had, but it served us well until we bought a new Olds 88 in 1955.

Raymond

My mother, me, Raymond, and the car

On May 7, 1951, our son Raymond was born while we still lived on Washington Avenue. At that time an apartment opened up downstairs and we moved there. This was quite a large space, with a large kitchen, but the place was not in very good shape and needed a lot of work. We didn’t have much furniture and I made a table with an attached seat for Ray, so it was sort of a high chair. Aldona and Ray, June 1951

117 118 HOUSE ON WALNUT STREET married Aldona Chomskyte and her mother, Mrs. Chomskiene, somehow ended up in Lansing living with another Lithuanian After a while, living in an apartment became questionable and we guy. They were both heavy drinkers and he would often beat her started thinking of buying a house. A house at 615 North Walnut up. Once, Aldona went to see a lawyer with Mrs. Chomskiene, was for sale. We looked at it and decided to buy together with but the lawyer said, that if the women tolerated being beat up my parents. The price was $ 10,000, as I remember, so we once, probably nothing could be done. Anyway, Luna, as we bought it on a land contract. The house was two stories on a 33' called him, was also a heavy drinker. We had good times and I wide lot about half a block south of W. Saginaw Street. It was often drove with too many drinks in me. This I now regret, convenient to my work place at Manson and Carver, which at that because I should have known better. time, was at the Manson’s house on 410 W. Saginaw Street, only about a block away. Mother and Father went with us to Toronto several times and they Aldona, Ray and I lived on the stayed with the Jankovičius family. Toronto was somewhat first floor and my parents lived unusual to us. In Ontario whiskey could be bought in on the second floor. It was still government stores only. One had to fill out an order form. Beer not very convenient, as the and wine were sold in different stores. Bars had separate areas folks had to go through our for men and women. One time I was running low on gas while living room to get to the stairs. driving around the town. That was on Sunday and I was looking for a gas station, but all of them were closed. So, finally I asked a Raymond on the porch at Walnut Street taxi driver where to buy some gas. He told me where to go.

Aldona’s mother and brother continued to live in Toronto, Once I got there and pulled up to the pump, some men came out Ontario where we visited. Ray was only a year old when we and told me to go back on the street and park at the curb. When I traveled by car over two-lane roads. Driving through London and asked why, he said gas and whiskey don’t mix. When I pulled up Hamilton was a challenge. Traffic often moved only 25 mph, to the curb, he came out with a can and filled the tank with gas. without a possibility of passing. One time when we arrived at Dufferin Street in Toronto (where Aldona’s mother lived) the Several times we also went to Chicago to visit Aldona’s uncle street was blocked off. This was because of the annual Ontario Joseph and my friends from Stuttgart times. We used to stay at Expo, which was only a block away. Once in Toronto we always Henrikas Paškevičius’s. His was Lialka (a doll) had a good time. But soon Aldona’s mother became ill and was because he was good looking. Once in Chicago, we went to diagnosed with lung cancer. Aldona went to Toronto several dance halls where big bands played. times by overnight train. Her Mother was ill for a long time and eventually she passed away. She is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Toronto - Lot 142, Section 4. The Cemetery is located off Mount Pleasant Street in Toronto.

On visits to Toronto we looked up my friend Vytas Luneckis. He 119 120 One time when I was still learning to drive, I had to park the car Ray was growing up and he started going to Kindergarten. The in some alley, and did not know how. My attempts to park school was several blocks away on Butler Street. The problem blocked the driveway and people behind me were screaming. was that he did not speak English, but he could read. The kids Fortunately, all ended up well. made fun of him, and eventually he forgot the basic Lithuanian he knew and spoke English. One day on a trip to Chicago, we started out early in the morning and it was partially sunny. We drove on old M-78 to Battle Creek Our daughter Irene was born on February 15, 1958, while we and US-12, when it started snowing. The snow was light at first, were still living in the Walnut Street house. but it soon became heavier. By the time we got to Kalamazoo it was snowing like crazy. At that time we had no idea of “lake effect” snows, and turned south to South Bend, hoping that road conditions may be better there. But conditions got worse. We had light clothing and Aldona was even wearing high heels. The snow came down in ever increasing quantity. When we got to South Bend, there was hardly any traffic. Since it was lunch time we had to find something to eat, but most places were closed. So we just kept going toward Chicago, now on US 20. Fortunately, we had the new 1955 Olds 88 with new tires. These helped keep us on course. I think we were the only people on the road, as everybody else knew better. We drove around numerous jackknifed trucks and cars in ditches, and us finally arrived at Uncle Joe’s about 8:00 p.m. The trip took 12 hours. The Ray, Aldona, Irene and me. snowfall was 16" and drifts were even worse, but we survived.

Ray, Irene, and Aldona, September 1958 Meanwhile, the house on Walnut Street had no garage to house our big yellow car. So, we decided to build a garage. We managed to dig a trench and build forms for the foundation, but when the concrete truck came, the forms got loose and Aldona and I had to struggle with the concrete. Somehow, the garage got built, and is still standing today. Somewhat later we built a stairway in the back of the house, and separated the second floor apartment from the first floor with its own entrance.

121 122 A NEW HOUSE per year) or insurance. As I recall at that time, my gross pay was $ 10,000 per year which was not bad, but was not that good In 1956, Elmer Manson settled the architectural fees with either. Mitchell Real Estate for the firms’ design of Edgemont Park houses. For unpaid fees, Elmer received several lots in the River Construction went well. But I was warned by Jim Heyhoe, (who Ridge subdivision being developed at that time by Mitchell was president of Capitol City Lumber Company at that time), that Realty. Elmer knew that we were looking for a lot. He was the builder was on shaky financial grounds, and was not paying willing to sell one of his lots. We looked over all the unsold lots his bills. This advice saved us from any claims for unpaid bills as in the River Ridge subdivision. The area was somewhat familiar I insisted on getting waivers from the suppliers and subcontractor. to us, because when we got the yellow car, and I had no driver’s license, we used to drive on Willow Street. The street was a little traveled gravel road and was ideal to practice driving without a license. So we looked at and liked a lot with a little elevation change, because I wanted a bi-level house. We also wanted a lot facing the Grand Woods Park. We finally chose a lot, but it turned out to have already been sold to the Kivelas. Then we chose a corner lot at the east side of the intersection of Grand Woods and River Ridge Drives. The address was 4916 River 4916 River Ridge Drive Ridge, and there where we finally built our house and settled down. In the fall of 1959 we moved into the new house. The entire area was new. Willow Highway had a 90° turn at the entrance to After we obtained the lot, I started planning a modest house with Grand Woods Park. This corner was rebuilt into a sloping curve two small bedrooms and a lower level family room opening to the with a branch road taking off to River Ridge Street and the Park back yard at a grade. Then Aldona got pregnant, and the plan entrance, pretty much how it is today. Willow Highway was also was changed to a three bedroom house. paved with asphalt and curbs and gutters were installed. However, there were no sidewalks in the neighborhood. St. Finally everything was in order. We had a plan and a mortgage Gerard Parish was being organized and we were charter members and after bidding, we had a builder. Massuch Construction of the parish. We were concerned with Ray changing schools and Company was the lob bidder with a base bid of about $22,000.00, walking to Bretton Woods School on a busy road. So I talked to and the house was under construction. My parents took out a Fr. John Weber, the pastor of St. Gerard, and was able to get Ray mortgage and bought our share of 615 N. Walnut Street. So we accepted at Holy Cross School, so he was able to go to school on managed to put up a total of $ 15,000 as down payment for the the bus. new house. While we put a considerable down payment on the house, we were still worried about the monthly mortgage We were in the new house when Ray left for school across the payment, which was $ 115 a month, not including taxes (of $ 300 “lawn” except there was no lawn, but a sea of mud. At that time 123 124 only the driveway had gravel and could be walked on. The grass Engle started building next door, just south of us. Up on the hill, was just seeded and after rain one could not walk any place on Willow Highway, Jim and Barbara Barrett were already living, except for the driveway. even before Willow Highway was paved and realigned.

The house was basic. The lower level was unfinished. We had As we moved to the new house, we also became charter members only a carport for the car, and only roughed-in plumbing for the of St. Gerard Parish, a new . Within a couple lavatory, kitchen and lower level. The house was also very warm years St. Gerard built a school and a temporary church. Aldona in the summer, because it had no air-conditioning. The living joined the Madonna Circle, and got to know Barbara Barrett and room had a cathedral ceiling and the clerestory windows in the Barbara Georgi, and they’ve been friends ever since. So we got dining room faced west. Eventually, I made some shading to know some of our neighbors and made friends. louvers for the clerestory windows, and got a small window air- conditioner for the kitchen. In 1956 I was working on the expansion of the Engine Plant at Oldsmobile. At that time Bolton and Helveston were doing most of our heating and electrical design work, but they did not have industrial design experience, so we hired Roger Hewlett Engineers to do the project. There I met the young engineers Elgin (Al) Clark and Bill Trombley. Again, these fellows and I became good friends.

Ray joined a Little League baseball team, and of course we went to practices and the games. Jim Barrett and Bob Georgi coached The house from the rear the team, and so we had good friends and fun times together. A Later on we expanded and enclosed the carport into a two car couple years later, Al Clark called and invited me to join the garage with storage. We also installed a concrete drive and a North West Kiwanis Club. There again were Bob Georgi, Harold concrete patio at the lower level. I worked on finishing the house Getshow, Hap Brooks, Elgin Clark and many others. a little bit at a time. We put in the floor in the lower family room, paneled the walls with plywood, installed acoustic tile ceilings, Through these friends we met many others. The Wynaldas, the and got some furniture. By the time we sold the house we had Cianciarulos, the Powises, Stan and Sue Clark, the Bridsons, also finished the basement. This included a dark room, workshop Earlys and many others. We have shared many trips, cruises, and recreation room, with a ping pong table. The house was good parties and visits, and after retirement, have had winter vacations for us and everybody liked it. to Florida together as well. These have been wonderful life-long friends. When we moved to River Ridge in 1959 there was only one other house in the neighborhood. The streets had curbs and gutters, but However, the time came when it became difficult for us to take were gravel. Soon after we built the house, Richard and Sally care of the house and cottage, since we spent summer weekends

125 126 at our cottage and in the winter we went skiing. VACATIONS

One day Mrs. Marie Manson called Aldona and told her that there As we prospered and had more money available, we considered was an apartment for sale at the condo where they lived. Aldona taking Summer vacations. told me about it and we thought there would be no harm in looking at it. I had some reservations about going to see the Martin, who had been in the States several years longer than we apartment, but after a little thought, we did go. Mr. Dean showed had, went on vacations to Bass Lake located between Pentwater us the unit, which was for sale since his mother had passed away. and Ludington near Lake Michigan. There, he rented a cottage He was Dean of the “Dean and Harris” Ford dealership in North from people from Chicago. This area had many older cottages Lansing on Grand River Avenue. owned by Chicago people. There used to be a train that used to go along Lake Michigan shore line from Chicago to Petoskey. I was not that enthusiastic about moving, so we slept on it. As I The train stopped at many resort places like Pentwater. The recall the next day, I had to go to Omaha, for a meeting with the women would spend the summers at the resort lakes and the men Corps of Engineers, and had to leave the office at about ten in the boarded the train Friday night and arrived Saturday morning at morning. Before leaving, I phoned Aldona and we decided to their cottages. They returned to Chicago by train Sunday night. make an offer for the place. This was 1978; Raymond was already out of the house and Irene was in for a summer The people from whom we rented had three buildings on the architectural seminar. property which was on the west side of Bass Lake. There was a main house, a cottage, and a garage with living quarters where the Our offer was accepted, and now we had to come up with the owner’s sister Vera lived. Initially we rented the cottage for $ cash, and sell our house. Mrs. Pat Lee helped us sell it. We did a 35.00 a week. It had a living room, a kitchen and a couple little work in the new condo, installing new carpet, and painting. bedrooms. The walls were unfinished and had exposed studs and We moved in early October, 1978. When Irene returned from single board siding with many holes visible to the outside. Greece, she was surprised to find that her parents had sold the Mornings were cold. There was a kerosene heater, but we did not house and were preparing to move. use it much. I don’t remember exactly when we started vacationing there but it was about 1954 or 55. One time we When we sold the house, we moved into Chateau Louise rented the house. Of course the rent was much higher. I believe Condominium # 205 located at 1740 Wellington, Lansing, MI. it was $ 50 a week. The condominium is located just north of Mt. Hope Avenue. At Bass Lake, we would walk to the beach through the public access at the channel. This was a little river from Bass Lake to Lake Michigan. The river was dammed up at Lake Michigan. The dam is only about two feet high, but without it, Bass Lake would be just a pond. On the other side of the dam the river is very shallow and the water was warm, making an ideal

127 128 playground for the kids. So Ray and later Irene had a ball playing place, we started looking at possible available lots in the same and building sand castles. Even recently, Ray took our grand kids association. The lot which I wanted was lot number 39, but there to play in the warm waters. fortunately it was not available. The lot looked good from the beach, but a cottage could not be built on the low side. Martin and Irene built an “A” frame cottage not far from the Eventually, a Mr. Radke bought the lot, and built a cottage on top public beach access at a side street in the Bass Lake area. We of the hill. We bought lot number thirty-four from a Mr. Bacon also started talking about finding a location for a cottage and for $ 5,000.00, including a share of unsold lots. decided to go to different places. One year we went to Beulah by big Crystal Lake which is a big beautiful lake with access to Lake I had a good time planning a small cottage, and in the winter of Michigan. But it has a railroad running along the shore on the 1964 the plans jelled. By the spring of 1965 we were able to get a south side and a highway runs along the north side. Next time we couple of proposals to construct the cottage. went to Burt Lake. We stayed at Indian River. This is a little town between Burt and Mallet Lakes which are fairly large and Some time in 1965 we got word that Aldona’s father had some are connected with rivers and canals all the way to Lake Huron. health problems. He was living in Austria, had remarried and had a daughter named Maria, Aldona’s half sister. We decided to go The Indian River is not far from Petoskey and once we decided to to Europe to visit him. So, in June of 1965, Aldona and I set off go to a drive-in movie. I was driving and accidentally hit a curb for Europe. We flew from Detroit Metro to Munich. It was easy at the same time that Aldona was lighting a cigarette, and her to fly to Munich, (München) but not so easy to get to Detroit. finger nail scratched her eye. All night she was in pain and the Elmer came to our rescue, and had our office helper drive us next day we took her to Petoskey Hospital. This happened to be there. From Detroit, we flew to Munich and after one night in a the weekend of the Fourth of July and fortunately they had an eye hotel, we took a train to Spittal a/d Drau in Austria. I spent a doctor on duty, who helped her out and relieved the pain. couple days in Spittal visiting my father-in-law and then took off by train to Italy. Aldona stayed to visit with her father. We also took the opportunity to look around Houghton, Higgins and other lakes. Meanwhile, while we were looking around, The train was full and I had to spend most of the night standing. I Martin and Irene found a lot on Lake Michigan. It was in a new went to Rome and then to Florence. From Florence I went to association created by several people from Midland. Most of Nice by way of . There, I took a train to and them worked for Dow Chemical Corporation. arrived around midnight, so I had no chance to see the city. From Milan I went to where I spend a couple of days. Finally, I They purchased almost a mile of frontage on Lake Michigan for $ was back in Spittal. Meanwhile, Aldona spent the time with her 35.000 dollars. However they had little cash available, so they father and stepmother and half sister. I was kind of naive about decided to sell some lots to finance the road and power Aldona’s father’s illness and didn’t think it was very serious, but I development. Martin and Irene bought lot number nine. They always misjudged his appearance. Aldona knew better and told sold their other cottage and started building an “A” frame cottage me that her Father was accumulating liquids and the prognosis on a concrete block basement. After they settled in their new was not good. She had a lot more experience with medical

129 130 problems than I did, having worked as a assistant. friends.

After a couple days we said goodbye and took a train to Vienna, In any case, the kids had a good time, especially since there were where we visited my second cousin Christine Bleske, her husband quite a few kids of Ray’s age, and they had beach fires and hiked Augie and the family. Christine’s husband worked at the on the dunes plus other activities. Dale Gibbs, who was one of American Embassy. This was a short visit, and we left Vienna the originators of the Birchwood Hills Association, organized for Paris. We toured for a couple days trying to see as much as many of these activities. Our family also had our own beach we could and then took off for London. There, we were fires. I even built a stone fireplace and made benches out of unsuccessful in finding the Manson’s son Fred for a visit and washed up railroad ties. At that time the water was about 130' after a couple of days we were on our way back home. The total away from the shore and the second drop off was about 40' wide. trip lasted only three weeks. We even had a boardwalk up to the drop off, build of washed up boards. This temporary structure was wiped out when the waters When we returned, we finalized our financing of the cottage rose, and fall and winter storms washed out the fore-dunes. construction by taking a $ 5,000 second mortgage, and let the construction contract to Mc Kay Lumber Co. At that time they We spend most of the weekends at the cottage, and, of course, I were located on W. Saginaw Street at the railroad crossing in kept working on finishing as much as possible. Once in a while I Lansing Township. They eventually started a golf course had an office outing for guys at the cottage. Everybody had a construction company, and went out of the lumber business. good time. The fun carried on late into the night. One time, Ron Klemish shouted “The devil made me do it” over and over again Construction started in August 1965 and by late fall we had a at about 2:00 a.m. Most of the outings were late in the fall, and frame enclosed and ready for winter. The next year we hired a we even took a dip in Lake Michigan. Fortunately the water was local plumber/electrician -Tom Neil. He also arranged for rather warm. Robert Bolton came on our first outing. He was a installation of a well and a septic tank. We now had a shell with horrible snorer. He would snore very loud and then stop all at plumbing and minimal electrical lighting to be able to “camp out” once, without breathing. As Art Wilkes put it, “sounds like inside. Ray was 14 years old and helped a lot. Irene was seven Bolton died.” But all of a sudden he began snoring again where years old and helped as much as she could. he left off. I don’t remember how many came to the first outing, but we had sleeping bags all over. I quickly partitioned off the bathroom and our bedroom. At that time the bathroom was small. It had a shower and water heater As result of the outing, the Don Morgridges came one summer to and some storage over the heater. I built kitchen cabinets over camp at Birchwood camping grounds. That year, there was a the winter in the basement of our River Ridge house. I built tremendous die off of Lake Michigan alewives. These are a small everything with a hand held power saw. Even beveling the doors fish of the herring family, about 4" to 6" in size. The beaches was done with that saw. The kitchen was very small. It had just were covered with the fish and the stench was unbelievable but an electric cooking surface and no oven. We used a portable OK at the cottage. Aldona raked and buried fish for hours, even oven when necessary and also grilled on the deck with our going 300 feet south and 500 feet north. She worked because

131 132 nobody else was working or they did not care. I seldom raked the THE OFFICE AND WORK fish, because I was working on the cottage interior. One summer, Don Morgridge helped a lot with the interior paneling. At night I started working for Clark C. Ackley in the Summer of 1949 and we played bridge. as I mentioned, moved to Manson and Carver in August of 1950.

We had several office outings at the cottage, and everybody Elmer Manson came to Lansing at the invitation of Mr. Malcom always had a lot of fun. We even got a “certificate” thanking us Williams. Mr. Williams attended Architectural School at Cornell for the fun. University with Elmer and was best man at Elmer’s and Marie’s wedding. Mr. Williams worked in the architectural office of Eventually, the original cottage got more or less finished, and as Warren Holmes who developed a large practice in the school time went on, we started to think about retirement. Our plan was market. After WW II, there was a need for many schools, and to spend the summers at the cottage. The Condo would be our soon the baby boomers of WW II veterans would be showing up security area, close to the grocery store, bank and convenient to at Kindergarten. Holmes’ office designed schools nationally, other services. This has worked out well for us so far. from coast to coast. Elmer started working with Holmes. After two years, Mr. Holmes asked Elmer to establish a branch office in Hammond, IN. Elmer and Marie liked living in Lansing and didn’t like the idea of moving to Hammond. Thinking that having declined this offer, his promotion chances were slim, he quit and opened his own office. Eventually he invited his classmate Bill Carver to join him.

At that time Manson family lived in a house at 410 W. Saginaw Street and he and Bill Carver had an office in the play room next to the dining room of the house. The dining room was used for a drafting room. It was there that I worked when I joined them in 1950.

The office (playroom) was north of the dining room with the kitchen to the west and living room south. In the morning, Mrs. Manson made coffee and ate breakfast in the kitchen. The kids got ready to go to school; Fred was just a little boy at that time.

When I arrived, Charlie Haddad was a drafter. He was meticulous. Soon, Elmer hired Roger Stoppel and had his work station set up in the living room.

133 134 transcripts and told us that in his opinion I would have to start The first project I worked on was the Oding Building on South over again, and if things went well they might give me some Grand Avenue, and it’s still there. The building is on the east side credits for the work done in Germany. He went on to say that of Grand Avenue across from the State Journal building. Bill they don’t know what was being taught in German Universities. Carver was in charge of the project and I did the drawings. I was So in view of the Dean’s statements I had two choices; start over fascinated by the big glass window at the stairway. going to University, or simply get the years of experience.

We socialized with the Haddad’s. Charlie and Rita had a large When we came back, I talked to Elmer about my situation. To family and he was of Lebanese descent. Sometime later Charlie go to school again would take five years. To take the licensure went to work for a legislative fiscal agency and our connections exam I would have to wait for five years anyway, because I had broke off. to be a US Citizen, in order take the exam. One other item to consider was that Aldona was pregnant with Raymond, and we In order to advance in the architectural office, one had to be a did not have any money. So we chose the easy way out. Registered Architect, and have a license to practice Architecture. The State of Michigan requirements for architectural registration I kept on working in the office and waited to get the citizenship. at that time were: American citizenship, a minimum of 4 years of Aldona and I went to night school to improve our English architectural schooling and 4 years of work in an architectural language skills and eventually took citizenship classes. In 1955 office. If you did not have a university degree you had to have we went to the courthouse and became citizens of the United eight years of work in an architectural office under the States of America, with Clark Ackley as our witness. supervision of a Registered Architect. A minimum of 4 years of actual work experience in the office was required with four years After that I immediately applied for architectural registration with of college. After a candidate met these qualifications, the the State of Michigan. Now I had five years of experience and 4 candidate was required to pass a 5 part exam. years of college. My application was accepted and approved. The only thing was left to do is to take the exam. Looking over the requirements, my minimum waiting time was five years regardless of what I was going to do. I had to become a In those days the exam was given in only two places and was citizen. In order to qualify for the US citizenship one had to have given only once a year. The closest place for me was Detroit. The a minimum of five years of US residency. other place was in Marquette in the Upper Peninsula. The exam in Detroit was given at the University of Detroit on Seven Mile Aldona and I visited the Architectural School at the University of Road. The exam consisted of five parts, and the most demanding Michigan in Ann Arbor. We talked to the Dean of the part was Design. The other parts were composition (site design), Architectural School. I had my transcripts from Technical structural, mechanical equipment and specifications. Except for University of Stuttgart translated and gave them to the Dean of Design all parts of the exam lasted 4 hours. The Design Exam the Architectural School. I had been in the 10th and last semester lasted all day from 8:00am to 10:00 pm. You were allowed to go at Stuttgart when I left the University. The Dean looked over the out for lunch and dinner. This exam was where most people

135 136 failed, with the failure rate running about 50%. After the building was remodeled and we moved in, Manson and Carver hired more people. One of those was Dixon Wilson who Before taking the exam, I went to night school at MSU. I took was a graduate of Ohio State University. Dix was a nice young courses in reinforced concrete design and advanced reinforced man who was married to Meg and had four children. We concrete design. I also took refresher courses for engineering socialized with them, and after a while Dix was offered associate design. I also studied at home on all the subjects. For the Design status. The office name was also changed to Manson, Carver and Exam I got programs for previous design exams and I would Associates. This lasted for a while but in my opinion Dix and spend entire Sunday designing and drawing up the projects. After Elmer did not get along. Dix was a good designer, but not that that Elmer would give me a critique. I repeated the practice good at construction documents. So what he drew during the process five times. In that type of exam the timing is extremely daytime, Elmer changed at night. This frustrated Dix. important. I realized that if you could not develop a floor plan in 4 hours you could not finish the rest of required drawings, and if The office kept growing and we got more and more crowded in you could not finish the drawings by 7:00 p.m., you could not the converted house. Soon, an opportunity presented itself when finish the perspective rendering of the building. The rendering the Lansing School District offered the old Cherry Street School was required in those days but this requirement was later for sale. Elmer and Bill Carver bought the building and with the dropped. Christman Company helping with financing, it was remodeled into offices for us. We kept some rental offices on the second I took the structural design exam on January 29, 1955 and the floor. Not long after we moved into the new offices, Bill Carver other exams in June of 1955. Finally I received a letter dated and Elmer parted. Bill went to the University of South Dakota to October 18, 1955 notifying me that I had passed all the exams. teach Architecture. Soon another letter followed saying that I would receive my Registration Certificate at an official presentation on November The office hired William. J. H. Kane in March, 1957. Bill was 5, 1955 at the Rackham Building in Detroit. Elmer Manson, born in Grand Ledge and went to the Architectural School at Aldona and I went to that presentation and I received my Notre Dame. After graduating he worked for the architectural “Shingle” No. 8831 dated October 18, 1955. Now I could use the office of Holabird, Root and Burgee in Chicago, and was a Architect after my name. In recognition of my Registered Architect in Illinois, but he wanted to return to Grand accomplishment the office promoted me to an associate status. Ledge. He was already married to Joan and had a son. Bill wanted to specialize in schools and started calling on the school As the office grew, Elmer and Bill bought a house on N. districts in the Lansing area. He was a hard worker, and was soon Washington Avenue and remodeled it into an office. This area is offered an associate status. After Bill Carver departed, the office now part of Lansing Community College. Bob Bolton, MSU name was changed to Manson, Jackson, Wilson and Kane. This graduate and engineer, designed most of the mechanical and remained until Dix Wilson became more and more disenchanted. electrical systems in buildings designed by our office, so Elmer He finally quit and opened his own office. He also built a house talked him into renting a couple of rooms upstairs. in East Lansing on S. Grand River.

137 138 After Dix Wilson resigned, the office name was changed again to already in progress and helped with other jobs such as the Manson, Jackson and Kane, and the company incorporated. (Dix estimates and preliminary and structural design for the Veteran’s passed away in 2000). Administration nursing home in Saginaw. I also helped on interviews and presentation for new jobs. Eventually, I edited the For some time, Elmer tried to get the design of the new Mason specifications and did the estimate for the Saginaw VA nursing High School and was finally successful. This resulted in a long home. I was also offered some of the project management jobs, string of other work with the Mason School District. I designed but I declined because it would take me back to full time work. the structural steel frame and footings for this building, and, I believe, I coordinated the architectural, mechanical and electrical When I decided to retire, we liquidated the firm, and divided the design. At that time I progressed to the position of Chief proceeds. Meanwhile Bill Kane, Brian Knox and Bob Smith Draftsman and had considerable input in the preparation of formed a new firm under the same name. Since I was not part of construction documents. it, I knew very little about how things were working. But I listened to complaints. Eventually Bill hired Everett Thompsen, Elmer also worked hard to get work with Oldsmobile, and he former president at the engineering firm of Williams & Works in succeeded in 1954 in getting an addition to the engine plant Bldg. Grand Rapids, to review the firm’s work and organization. (E. # 23. This building was recently torn down to make room for the Thompsen has a cottage in Birchwood Hills Association). As new assembly plant. Oldsmobile remained a good client for result of Everett’s review, Bob Smith left the Company and Bill many years with a variety of work, part of which was nasty sold the firm in 1989 to WBDC (Wold, Bowers, Dushane and remodeling and some involved cafeterias, offices and many Covert) of Grand Rapids. That winter we were in Phoenix and studies. When I retired, Bob White took over this client and still Bill called to tell me about the impending sale. But since I was works with GM. already out, I couldn’t say anything.

As my workload increased, I had to give up the Chief Draftsman Bill became a VP at WBDC and promoted the school market. job. So, in October 1966, Herbert Iversen was hired to be the About a year later he was fired in a very unpleasant manner. Chief Drafter. Herb was a graduate of Illinois University in WBDC was a firm that expanded quite rapidly. They also Urbana and had worked for Skidmore, Owings and and Merrill, a diversified into project development and project ownership, major architectural firm in Chicago. He stayed with Manson, which eventually led them to bankruptcy. After WBDC’s Jackson and Kane until it was sold to WBDC of Grand Rapids. bankruptcy, they reorganized into the BETA Design Group. He and his family lived up the hill from us in River Ridge. For a while I was considered a retiree from WBDC, but after the The office had a variety of work. I worked on many Olds jobs, reorganization I was out. offices, credit unions, hospitals, nursing homes and some schools. I finally retired in 1987 after 37 years with the same firm. Since then I have done a few small projects on my own. I designed an elevator addition and handicapped accessibility The first year after I retired, I worked part time finishing my jobs remodeling for the Cristo Rey Community Center. I also worked

139 140 about two months for The Granger Construction, on the Lansing CONCLUSION School Building Evaluation Project. Almost all people born at the beginning of the Twentieth Century As usual after every project I did for Cristo Rey I prepared a plan were ruled by a King, Czar, or Emperor of some kind. No one had for future work. In 1999 they obtained approval to start a capital any idea what changes and upheavals would take place in just few drive for a boiler replacement, and clinic expansion. In April of short years. 2000, we came back from Daytona Florida, where we had spent the winter. Tony Benavides, the Executive Director of Cristo Rey Europe has always been in turmoil. Before the formation of the Community Center told me that they expected me to work on this Nation States, Kings and Dukes tried to expand their territories by next project. My daughter Irene assisted me with preparation of marriage and wars. Lithuania and Poland formed a the working drawings. Commonwealth, but through the centuries the far eastern territories were difficult to control, and the State was weakened After a fund raising effort the Bishop of Lansing gave the go- by constant military demands and their form of government. ahead for the project, so in the Spring of 2001 the ground was broken and the new Medical Clinic was completed with a new Meanwhile the South and Western European States began boiler installed in the fall of 2002. forming Nation States, and strove for domination of Europe and the Holy . Napoleon controlled Europe for a So this is where the story ends. while, and so did Hitler. So as Russia, Prussia and the Austro- Hungarian became stronger, they decided to partition Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. The first partition came in 1792. Several other adjustments of the territories followed and eventually Hitler and Stalin participated in the fourth partition.

My great-grand parents and their parents had to go through many wars. My parents lived through WWI and WW II. All these wars impoverished the people and made their lives difficult.

World War II was raging around and in Lithuania and the life of our family was disrupted. It has been estimated that 20 million people died in the Soviet Union alone. German loses were probably around 10 million. Many people died in the concentration camps, and many people died in Siberian Gulags, in addition to those who died fighting in the armies.

As I mentioned the Soviet Union deported about 30 to 50,000

141 142 people to Siberia from Lithuania before Germany started the war electrical designer in a missile design unit, rather than be sent to against the Soviet Union, and after they came back in 1945, they the front. As it is I am a rare male of my generation who was not deported an additional 500,000 people. We were extremely lucky in any country’s military. to avoid the first deportation, and we were already gone to Germany at the time of the second deportation. In all the WW II The generation of the 1960’s protested the War. Many turmoil Lithuania lost about 20% of the population. young people died there. But the current generation did not have to endure the hardships of the world wars. So it is difficult for The war interfered in my education. First Germans closed the them to understand the hardships that people had to suffer. Universities in Lithuania, then later I had to go to a German University, with a minimal knowledge of the language. However, No matter how our family suffered, we were very lucky to have I was lucky to get a place in Stuttgart. Finally I had to go to the come out of all the turmoil in one piece, and after settling in the States, before I could get my degree. United States, were able to lead peaceful lives.

I somehow managed to stay away of the military by sheer luck. In Lithuania the military draft age was 21. In 1941, before Soviets came I was still in high school. When the Soviets took over, their military draft age was 19, and at that time I was 18 years old, so I was not drafted. When the Germans came, they did not restore Lithuanian independence, because they had other designs for the Baltic States. They did not bother to draft Lithuanians, so again I was lucky.

Later on they wanted to form Lithuanian SS battalions, but Lithuanians refused. At that time there were many rumors about the draft about to begin, and that’s the time when Vytas Savickas and I were ready to escape into the woods. When we came to Germany, we were foreigners so as a foreigner and a railroad worker I again luckily escaped the military. If my father had succeeded in leaving Lithuania for Germany before the war started, I would have been in the German army.

I came to the United States in March of 1949. At that time I was already 26 years old. A friend of mine who was 25 years old did get drafted into the US army during the Korean War. He was lucky to be assigned to work in Huntsville, Alabama as an

143 144

145 146