TE15 Lithuanian Honey Cake

Irena: Life Should Be Clear

have the chance to explain to the Gestapo that Pranas knew nothing about my background when he rented me the room. After weighing all of the pros and cons, I returned to the ward, and, because it was mealtime, picked up a bowl of porridge and began feeding one of the infants. Just then we heard soldiers marching down the corridor. Dr. Rudaitis entered the ward with several Gestapo officers. I cannot remember their faces, but the image of their perfectly polished boots is fixed in my memory. I’m not sure, but I think that Dr. Rudaitis may have winked at me when he came in. The Gestapo officers looked around the ward and then left. Some time later I learned that they had come to the clinic after receiving a complaint that there were some Jewish children in the nursery. There was a shortage of blood for injured German soldiers and Jewish children were in demand as a source of blood 7 . Dr. Rudaitis did not let the Gestapo have a single one of the children in the nursery. Even though several circumcised boys were discovered during the inspection, Dr. Rudaitis said that they were not Jewish, but Karaite children. The Gestapo’s visit to the nursery “legalized” me. I became “reliable” in the eyes of both the staff and people visiting the nursery, and I was able to work there until the end of the German occupation. Every day I would walk to work along Subačiaus Street. At the time, 2 Subačiaus Street housed a bordello that “serviced” German soldiers. Every Tuesday was a day 7 This statement is of questionable historical accuracy.

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