Memories of Mrs Galina:

In the family of Viktoras and Eugenia Pekarskis, a girl named Neonila was born on 20 February 1925. She grew up in a loving and harmonious family.

Because her parents wanted their children to be enlightened, Neonila studied and graduated from the Radviliškis Gymnasium. The war not only brought turmoil and quite serious challenges to the family, but also prevented her from becoming a midwife.

1945m. Neonila married Vladas Lapkauskas. The family had two daughters, Galina and Irena.

After 25 years of marriage, Neonila became a widow.

A few years later, she met Benediktas Pakalniškis, a widower who had returned from Siberia with two children aged 10 and 13. Neonila and Benediktas started a family because they had to raise and teach their children.

In 1984, a terrible tragedy occurred in the family of daughter Irena. Two grandchildren, aged 7 and 9, were left without their parents. This meant that the orphans had to be cared for again, and they were successfully brought back to life.

After 25 years of marriage, Neonila became a widow again.

Despite such a difficult life, this woman did not break down and did not lose the joy of life. She was by nature kind, friendly, energetic and cheerful. She remained so throughout her life.

She sang beautifully, which is why she took part in her own activities. She loved her five grandchildren very much, with whom she played, sang and danced.

Neonila, like her mother Eugenija, loved to sew. Her houses were decorated with embroidered pictures. The jams, cakes and flowers grown in the garden made the family and neighbours happy.

For raising three generations of children, saving the lives of Leah and her son Anatolijus Šeštokas, she is truly worthy of the awards she has received.

In March 2000, she was awarded the Medal for Justice and Integrity among Nations. She was awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations. Her name is commemorated in the YAD VASHEM Memorial Museum.

In 1999, she was awarded the Cross for the Rescue of the Fallen. Neonila Pekarskytė Pakalniškienė died in 2002. She was buried in Radviliškis Cemetery.

From Life and Bread Bearing Hands, scrapbook 2:

The son of Lea Dulickaitė-Šeštokienė and Jurgis Šeštokas, Anatolij was born in Kaunas in June 1939. When the war broke out, Lea and Jurgis Šeštokas, carrying their child, tried to escape from the attacking Germans, but there was no hurry on foot, and the Wehrmacht troops caught up with them in Daugavpils. The Germans arrested Jurgis Šeštokas. Lea and her baby returned from Daugavpils to Radviliškis to find a hiding place for herself and her child. Eugenija and Viktoras Pekarskis took her in. Anatoij was taken care of by the Pekarskis' daughter, Neonila, who received documents that he was her illegitimate son. At that time, Lea Šeštokienė received news that her husband had been released and was living in Kaunas.

Lea left the child with Neonila and returned to Kaunas. She found her apartment empty and ransacked. She survived, but was denounced, arrested and imprisoned in the ghetto. After three months of hunger, she escaped on 25 October 1941 and returned to Radviliškis on foot. There she found her husband, who was living with his mother. It was dangerous to live together, because the police were checking her husband to see if he was living with his Jewish wife. Therefore, she had to hide with the Pekarskis. A couple of weeks later, it turned out that a neighbour, who could not be trusted, had discovered that a stranger was living with the Pekarskis. It was urgent to leave the house at night and run to his mother-in-law, Barbora Šeštokienė, but even here it was unsafe. Therefore, after only a month, Lea secretly reached Šeduva, where she was taken in by Stasė Padgurskienė. There, she hid for three months until she was spotted again by neighbours. Once again, she had to change her shelter urgently. Fortunately, a prior arrangement had been made with a farmer, Bronius Šereiva, from the village of Naujasodžiai, near Šeduva. There, Lea hid for ten months. From there, she was taken to the village of Bebrujėliai to a farmer, Vilius Dangis, who hid her and looked after her until the end of the war. When the Germans withdrew, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Lea Šeštokienė's family was reunited and settled in Radviliškis.

For three whole years, dozens of people risked their own lives and the lives of their relatives to save the Jewish woman Lea Šeštokienė and her son Anatolij from death. One executioner was enough to exterminate 100 Jews, while it took the enormous effort, knowledge, spiritual strength and determination of more than twenty people to save only two people from death.

Lea and her family will never forget their rescuers and their feat.

Sadly, only two people are alive today, those who rescued Lea Šeštokienė and Anatolijs Šeštokas. They are Neonila Pekarskytė-Pakalniškienė and Jadvyga Dangytė-Kaupienė, the daughter of Viliaus Dangis. Both live in Radviliškis.

From Life and Bread Bearing Hands, scrapbook 2,

State Jewish Museum of Vilnius Gaon. Vilnius, 1999

Neonila Pekarskytė-Pakalniškienė remembers:

We lived in a small town in Radviliškis and knew each other well. After the marriage of my mother Eugenija Pekarskiene's brother Jurgis Šeštokas to the Jew Lea Dulickaite (Šeštokienė), our families became good acquaintances.

In 1941, when the German army occupied Lithuania and the persecution of the Jews began, Lea Šeštokienė came from Kaunas, tired and without her husband. My parents hid her. Such actions were very risky and required the approval of all family members. There was no special hiding place for L. Šeštokienė in our house; she hid in a small room on the high floor. I took responsibility for the care of Anatolij, the son of Lea and Jurgis Šeštokas. The child was very young, born in June 1939. He stayed in our family throughout the war, and got used to me - he called me "Mama".

Soon afterwards, Lea left for Kaunas and found out that her husband had returned. She didn't come back for a long time - we were already afraid that she was no longer alive. After a while she came back, but it was no longer safe for her in Radviliškis, so my father took her to the village of Šeduva, to Padgurskienė.

In a small town like Radviliškis before the war, one neighbour knew almost everything about the other. It was very difficult to hide a person. At that time, hiding Jews was punishable by death, and the neighbours were diverse - of different views and beliefs, many of them anti-Jewish. During the entire period of the German occupation, Šeštokienė had to change her place of residence four times just because of the suspicions of the neighbours.

Our family's approach to rescuing Šeštokienė and her son Anatolij was based on the principle of neighbourly love and categorically opposed the genocide perpetrated by the occupiers and the local Lithuanian administration. After the war, the Šeštokas family and I became like relatives, we meet very often and communicate to this day.

Radviliškis, 1998