Valčiukas Povilas & Valčiukienė Antanina

Valčiukas, Povilas Valčiukienė, Antanina The Halozins, a big Jewish family, resided in the vicinity of the town of Kelmė, Šiauliai District. They managed a farmstead that included almost 50 acres of land where they grew wheat, barley and cotton, kept cows and sheep, produced peat for heating. The Halozins were respected by their neighbors for being honest and hardworking. On June 22, 1941, when Germany entered Lithuania, Kelmė was set on fire; many families, mostly poor Jewish population, were left roofless. The Halozins hosted the fire victims, around 100 people, until the first Aktion, on July 29-th, when Jewish children and the elderly were murdered. The rest remained at the farm until August, 22, when armed policemen came and convoyed everyone they found to Kelmė. They were shot shortly afterwards. The Halozins went into hiding a few days before the second Aktion. The brothers, Hirsh, Icchak and Shmuel, being young and strong, preferred to hide in forests. They had guns and the local bandits were afraid of them. The sisters, Haviva and Sima, lived with Lithuanian families under the guise of housemaids. The parents, Yakov and Sara-Reizl, 65 and 63 years old accordingly, were welcomed by a Antanina and Povilas Valčukas, who were not known to them before. The Valčiukases had a humble farmstead near the village of Opškalnis, 15 km from Kelmė. It was an ideal hiding place: far from other village buildings, close to the forest, 2 km north from the road which lead from Kelmė to Vaiguva. The host and the Halozins constructed a double wall in the living quarters, and camouflaged the entrances to the place both from inside and outside the house. Here Yakov and Sara-Reizl spent the following 15 months. Their sons provided for them since the Valčiukases could hardly sustain themselves and their four children. Due to their poverty the hosts were always late with tax payments, which caused, in March 1943, a visit of a tax inspector. Apparently it was him whonoticed the strangers at the farm and reported the fact to the police. The following day, when the Valčiukases set off for Kelmė to pay their tax dept, white-arm-band-wearers came to the farmstead. First they found Hirsh Halozin, fast asleep in a barn. In an attempt to escape, Hirsh wounded two of them but was killed himself. Then the bandits drew Valčiukases’ young children out of house and made a thorough search. Yakov and Sara-Reizl were found and taken to prison, where they were killed a few days later. The hosts were arrested upon their return home. A severe punishment awaited them, but luckily Povilas managed to flee from under arrest; while Antanina convinced the investigator that her husband had forced her to take in the Jews in spite of her objections. She was allowed to go back to her children. Povilas had to hide until the Germans were driven out of the area in the fall of 1944. After the war the surviving members of the Halozin family settled in Israel. They kept in touch with the Valciukases when the circumstances allowed that. On June 24, 2007 Yad Vashem recognized Povilas and Antanina Valčiukas as Righteous Among the Nations.