TE15 Lithuanian Honey Cake

Irena: Life Should Be Clear (memoir excerpt) By Irena Veisaitė & Aurimas Švedas Translated from Lithuanian by Karla Gruodis

IV CONVERSATION: TO FORGIVE AND BUILD THE FUTURE—THESE ARE THE DUTIES OF THE LIVING.

I would now like to hear about how you managed to escape from the Kaunas ghetto.

For a long time, a false hope prevailed—that we would be allowed to survive as long as we were useful to the Reich. But, as time went on, it became very clear that all of the Jews of the ghetto were condemned to death—that our own demise was only a matter of time. So everybody started to look for a way out. Some of the young people joined the partisans. But, to be honest, no one there was waiting for them with open arms— one of the conditions for being accepted into the Soviet partisans was that one had to have a weapon—and where to find one? Some people tried to find refuge for themselves or their children with Lithuanian families. But that too was no easy task. After all, the Nazis threw Jews and their rescuers into the same pits . . . Moreover, Nazi and LAF propaganda had deeply affected society’s views—the Jews were seen as responsible for all of 105