Berčiūnas Jurgis ; Sister: Kaminskienė Birutė

Berčiūnas, Jurgis Kaminskienė, Birutė The Berčiūnas family lived in the village of Otesnik, Alytus County. When the Soviets entered Lithuania in 1940, the Berčiūnases, being Lithuanian nationalists, ardently opposed the Russians, and for that reason some family members were imprisoned. When the Germans occupied Lithuania the family wanted revenge on the Communists, but at the same time did not support the German anti-Jewish policy. They were friendly with the Weinstein family from the town of Simnas (Alytus County) and readily offered shelter to the Weinsteins and other persecuted Jews from Simnas and the vicinity, who succeeded in fleeing from the nearby ghettos and were looking for shelter in the surrounding villages. The major participants in the Berčiūnases’ act of rescue were Jurgis Berčiūnas (b.1906) and his sister Birutė Kaminskienė, who in 1942-43 were the ones who initiated the rescue efforts, while other members of the family helped them, either actively or by keeping their secret. Thus, Joseph Weinstein and his brother Abel (later Aba Gefen) were hidden there periodically, as were Leib and Rachel Frank, Shmuel Ingel and his future wife, Lea Port. Berčiūnas and Kaminskienė carried out their acts of rescue for purely humanitarian reasons. On December 2, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Jurgis Berčiūnas and Birutė Kaminskienė as Righteous Among the Nations.