Eimontas Jonas

Eimontas, Jonas Vonžodas, Aleksandras Vonžodas, Malvina Jakov Lopianski (b. 1940) lived with his parents, Hirsh and Hanna, in Kovno (today Kaunas), Lithuania. When war broke out with Germany, the family attempted to flee into Russia, but they were thwarted and forced to return, and they settled in the ghetto with their extended family. A ghetto Aktion (mass execution) in November 1941 led to the deaths of several family members. Before the war, Hanna’s father, Meyer, had owned a farm 24 kilometers north of Kovno, in the town of Vandžiogala, and he had remained in touch with some of his acquaintances from that area. He hatched a plan that involved some of these connections. In the fall of 1943, a friend of Meyer’s, Jonas Eimontas, brought a wagon and met several members of the Lopianski family at a prearranged spot. Hanna and Hirsh wore farmers’ clothing and sat in the driver’s seat. Other family members hid in the wagon itself, buried under piles of straw. Jonas rode a bicycle a safe distance ahead of the wagon as it headed north. If the wagon was stopped, Jonas was to claim that the wagon had been stolen from him, so as not to implicate himself in their escape. Fortunately the wagon made it to Vandžiogala without incident, and the family was received by Aleksandras and Malvina Vonžodas, who owned a farm in the area, near Jalinka. Aleksandras worked for the local rail company, and Malvina was a homemaker; they had two small children. They hid Jakov, Hirsh, Hanna, Asne (Hanna’s sister), Sheine-Etl (her aunt), and Sheine-Etl’s husband, Osher Keidanski. The primary hiding spots were underneath a pigsty and in a barn. In this manner the family survived until the liberation. Jakov’s sister Eva, born after the war, recalled hearing that despite the hardships, Malvina Vonžodas managed to present Jakov with a cake with four candles for his birthday. In addition she recalled that the Vonžodas family had a close relative who was an enthusiastic supporter of theNazis. Whenever he visited, they made sure many chickens were in the barn in which the Jews were hiding so their clucking would mask any noise. Following the war most of the family immigrated to Israel, but Hirsh, Hanna, and Jakov remained in Kovno. They remained in contact with their rescuers following the war. On February 27, 2013, Jonas Eimontas and Aleksandras and Malvina Vonžodas were recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.