Grinius Kazys & Grinienė Kristina (Ars)

Grinius, Kazys Griniuvienė, Kristina Dmitry Gelpernas was born in 1914 and grew up in the Lithuanian city of Kovno (today Kaunas). He lived there with his father and stepmother, Boris Gelpernas and Melissa Volberg. Boris passed away in the 1930s, and Dmitry continued living with his stepmother. When Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union, they fled into the Soviet Union. During the turmoil they lost track of each other, and later Dmitry learned that Melissa had perished in Panevėžys. Dmitry was arrested, but he managed to flee and return to his hometown. He met his good friend Chaim Yelin and his family, who, like him, were of Jewish origin. They could not move around freely in the city, because of the widespread anti-Semitism that left them open to mistreatment or murder, so Chaim and Dmitry lived with Dmitry’s aunt. They could not go outside, and Dmitry’s aunt provided both men with food. By chance one day, she met Kristina Griniene, who knew Dmitry and his stepmother very well. Dmitry and Kristina had a common passion for stamp collecting, and Kristina had been his stepmother’s schoolmate. When she heard that Dmitry was in town, she immediately offered her help. In October 1941 there was a massacre in the Kovno Ghetto, and many of Dmitry’s relatives and friends were murdered. Dmitry managed to leave the ghetto, and he found shelter in the home of Kazys and Kristina Grinius. Kazys Grinius was born in 1866, and his wife was about 25 years younger. Kazys had been president of Lithuania in 1926, for half a year, until the military revolution of Smetona. Later he returned to his first profession as a physician. The Grinius couple took care of everything Dmitry needed, supplying him with false identity papers, a private room in the house, and food. They had interesting conversations, and Dmitry met their close friends. Kristina’s stamp collection was sold, which provided them with the money they needed to live. At night Dmitry occasionally went out and secretly met the Jewish brigade, whose members knew how to enter and leave the ghetto. He remained in contact with his friend David Yelin, and together they founded a new battle unit in the forests, consisting of Jews from the ghetto. The head of the unit was Chaim Yelin, and Dmitry was his right hand. Dmitry continued living with the Grinius couple until the spring of 1942. They helped him a lot by supplying important information for the resistance movement and medicines for the ghetto. Other Jews were also helped by them. In 1942 Kazys Grinius signed a memorandum against the German occupation and the Germans’ treatment of the Jews and other Lithuanian citizens. He and all the other people who had signed were arrested and punished. He was expelled from Kovno to his birthplace. When in 1944 the Red Army approached, he fled westward. In 1947 he immigrated to the United States. Meanwhile, Dmitry had become leader of the antifascist combat unit, after Chaim Yelin fell. On July 13, 1944, Dmitry was sent to the Dachau concentration camp in Germany. He was liberated by the American Allies. After the war Dmitry returned to Lithuania, worked as a manager in a printing office, and wrote books and articles about life in the ghetto. On September 21, 2015, Yad Vashem recognized Kazys and Kristina Grinius as Righteous Among the Nations.