Petrauskas Kipras & Petrauskienė Elena (Žalinkevičaite)

Petrauskas, Kipras Žalinkevičaite-Petrauskienė, Elena Kipras Petrauskas, one of the founders of the National Lithuanian Opera, lived in Kaunas with his wife, Elena Žalinkevičaite-Petrauskienė, a well-known actress and poet. In the spring of 1942, Petrauskas was asked to provide shelter for six-month-old Dana Pomeranz, the daughter of the violinist Daniel Pomeranz, a famous musician in prewar Lithuania. After Petrauskas consulted briefly with his wife, the infant, with the help of a man he trusted, was smuggled from the ghetto to the Petrauskases’ home. Since the Petrauskas family was famous in Lithuania, the Germans treated them with respect, but because of the risk involved in hiding Jews, they chose to leave the city. Together with the Jewish infant and their own three children, the Petrauskases moved first to a village, then to Austria and later to Germany. Throughout all these moves, the Petrauskases treated little Dana with warmth and devotion. In 1947, when they returned to Lithuania, the Petrauskases located Dana’s parents and returned their daughter to them safe and sound. For many years after the occupation, Dana remained in touch with her rescuers, regarding them as a second set of parents. Like her biological father, Dana (later Mazurkevich) became a violinist. On August 2, 1999, Yad Vashem recognized Kipras Petrauskas and Elena Žalinkevičaite-Petrauskienė as Righteous Among the Nations.