Ejmont Antoni

Laurinavičius, Antanas Lawrynowicz (Laurinavičiene), Zofia Ejmont (Ejmontas), Antoni Antanas Laurinavičius lived with his wife Zofia and his two sons on 38 Birutes Street in Telšiai. He was a carpenter. The family owned a private house, part of which was rented. With the beginning of the German occupation the tenants moved out and the family income was thus reduced. One day in the fall of 1941 Zofia came to the Jewish ghetto, situated in Telšiai near the lake, intending to take Lea Schiff, her friend, for work at her house (at that time the non-Jews were allowed to employ Jews). On that day Schiff was already working elsewhere, and so Zofia took another young woman, Lea Shapira. Shapira came to work for the Laurinavičiuses and stayed with them for several weeks. She was treated kindly, ate with her employers and was given warm clothes. The most important thing was that she saw there were still people who were kind towards Jews and ready to help them. Grateful for Zofia’s humane attitude, Shapira knitted her a pair of socks – the only thing she could offer. In the meantime the Laurinavičiuses decided to open up a small business, an artificial flowers workshop. After the necessary permits were obtained from the municipality, more working hands were needed, so Zofia brought Lea Schiff from the ghetto as well. Shapira and Schiff were taught how to make flowers out of wood shavings; Lithuanians used the flowers to decorate furniture and tombs, so they readily bought them. On December 19, 1941 Shapira attempted to visit the ghetto, but the guard there did not let her in without giving him the reason for her visit. Shapira went back to the Laurinavičiuses, feeling that something bad was going to happen. Two more days passed and Nesya Miselevich, a teacher from Plungė, came to Zofia’s house, accompanied by the 14-year-old Etta Piker. Zofia and her husband welcomed them and sheltered them as well. After the liquidation of the ghetto Lithuanian banditsstarted hunting down the last Jewish survivors. Antanas then built two separate hiding places: one in the attic and another behind the double wall of the garden outhouse, where the four Jewish refugees spent the following six months. These were hard times for the Laurinavičiuses: their financial situation deteriorated and they could hardly feed themselves and their wards. Trying to find a solution to their financial situation, the Laurinavičiuses decided to take a risk and to reopen their artificial flowers business. The hiding place in the attic was expanded and turned into a workshop, where the four Jewish women were making bouquets of wooden and paper flowers that Zofia later sold, as if it were her own work. At the end of 1942 Antanas brought a radio, and the Jewish women were now able to listen to broadcasts from Moscow. News about every victory, even the smallest, raised their spirits and gave them hope for freedom in the future. The flower production grew, and Zofia now needed more help in order to continue. She confided her secret to her brother, Antoni Ejmontas. Being an insurance agent, Antoni traveled a lot and sold the flowers in Šiauliai, Kaunas and other places he visited on his business trips. He also bought food and brought it to the hidden women. Through Antoni, Nesya exchanged letters with her friend Taibe Mariampolski, who was interned in the Šiauliai ghetto. One day, when Antoni passed Taibe the letter, he mentioned the exact location of Nesya’s hiding place; another Jewish woman, Zlata Khotivlanskaya, overheard the conversation. One year later, in December 1943, Zlata escaped from the ghetto together with her friends, Masha Rikhman and Anna Levina. In spite of their hopes they were not welcomed by their non-Jewish acquaintance in their native Plungė. Having no other choice they came to Telšiai and were taken in by the Laurinavičiuses. In the spring of 1944 a German officer rented a room at the Laurinavičiuses. The room was exactly underthe workshop, so the Jewish women had to stop working for fear that some noise would attract the officer’s attention. Zofia had to use all her resourcefulness in order to cook for such a number of people and bring the food to the attic unnoticed. By the summer of 1944, when Šiauliai was liberated and the survivors could already hear the Russian cannons, Telšiai was still under German control. It was then that Antanas Laurinavičius was taken to Germany as a laborer. Until October 8, 1944, the day the were liberated, Zofia cared for the Jewish women alone, with the help of her brother. In the following weeks a few dozens of Jewish survivors gathered in Telšiai. They considered Zofia, who saved seven Jewish women, a hero. But many Lithuanians looked at her differently. Fearing for her life, Zofia took her husband’s sons and left for Poland. Her brother also left. Antanas Laurinavičius came back to Telšiai after their departure, but the Soviet authorities would not allow him to reunite with his family; he remained alone in Telšiai until his death. Zofia (whose name in Poland was changed to Lawrynowicz) and her brother Antoni settled in Wroclaw. Zofia maintained contacts with the women she saved, among them Lea Shapira (married name Rudnik) and Masha Rikhman (married name Tsangen), who now live in Israel. On October 19, 2010 Yad Vashem recognized Zofia Lawrynowicz (Laurinavičienė) and her husband Antanas Laurinavičius as Righteous Among the Nations. On November 23, 2010 Yad Vashem recognized Antoni Ejmont (Ejmontas) as a Righteous Among the Nations.