TE15 Lithuanian Honey Cake

Irena: Life Should Be Clear

our heads. I offered to go to find out if they were all right. It was a hazardous journey, but once again I was happy to help my second mother. The train to Biržai, through Panevežys, took three days. It barely crept along, stopping constantly. I remember sitting on the station platform, freezing; a man hugged me to warm up, but I quickly got away from him. Then I walked from Biržai to Vabalninkas, a distance of 26 or 27 kilometres. I found both Algis and the sisters alive and well, so I was able to return to Vilnius with good news. And then the Soviet period began . . . Before we enter this period, I would like to ask you one more question. There were many situations in your life when your life was in danger. How did you handle the extreme tension of those situations? After all, there were many cases when your fate clearly depended on whether you would know how to control yourself and calmly analyse the situation in which you found yourself. I certainly did not always succeed in controlling myself. On the other had, as I have said already, there is some kind of survival instinct that comes into force in extreme circumstances and helps a person make quick decisions. I have already told you about my escape from the Kaunas ghetto and the time when the Gestapo unexpectedly visited the clinic nursery. I am eternally grateful to my father, who raised me to be independent and taught

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