TE15 Lithuanian Honey Cake

Irena: Life Should Be Clear

living there with a Lithuanian passport 2 . I suspect that he that spoke to Juozas and Onutė about me. In any case, let us get back to Onutė’s letter. It was passed on to me by someone from the ghetto work brigade who worked in the city. Onutė informed me that documents were being prepared for me and that I must escape from the ghetto—that I was sure to die if I remained. After reading the letter I debated for a long time—what should I do? I did not want to leave my loved ones. Aliukas and Mara were also getting ready to flee 3 . In the end, all the people close to me convinced me to try to escape from the ghetto; they pointed out that we could not all get out together, so we would have to save ourselves one by one. It was finally decided that I would leave the ghetto on November 7, 1943, with the evening work brigade. Arrangements were made with the Jewish policeman in charge of the ghetto that day that he would not count me. I was to remove the Stars of David frommy clothes—I 2 Izidorius Veisas (1900–1973)—businessman, Irena Veisaitė’s father. 3 Aliukas—Alexander Shtromas (1931–1999)—Irena Veisaitė’s cousin and very close friend throughout her life; Lithuanian political scientist, dissident, professor, and author. Survived the Holocaust and, during his teenage years, lived with the family of Antanas Sniečkus, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Lithuanian SSR. Emigrated to the UK in 1973 where he taught at Bradford University and Salford University, and then later at Hillsdale College in the US. Mara—Margarita (Mara, Mary) Štromaitė-Kagan (1924–2011)—Slavic Studies scholar, businesswoman, and public figure. Irena Veisaitė’s cousin and Alexander Shtromas’s sister. Escaped the Holocaust with her husband, Joseph Kagan, and settled in the UK.

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