Farmers Račiūnas, Vaitkus and Zaksas resided in the village of Guriai, 2 km from Raseiniai. They were well acquainted with Shimshon Milner and Faivel Kagan from Raseiniai, who owned a sawmill and a windmill, and many local farmers were their clients. In 1937 Shimshon became a widower. He was raising his two sons, Aharon and Berl, alone. Right at the beginning of the German occupation, when the new regime had already claimed its first victims among the Jews, Shimshon came to speak to Račiūnas. The latter promised his help in case of need. During the final liquidation of Raseniai Jews, which took place on September 28, 1941, Shimshon, his sons, and Faivel Kagan managed to flee. In order to increase their chances for survival, they split: Shimshon and the 10-year-old Berl went to Račiūnases; Faivel and his 12-year-old nephew Aharon went in a different direction, and three quarters of a year passed before they met again. The Račiūnases welcomed the Jewish fugitives and hid them in a barn. Later a hideout was prepared for them – a pit under the floor of the barn, with an entrance concealed by a big box for storing flour. Antanas, Ona and their three grow-up sons managed quite a big farm and thanks to their hard work lived in abundance. The Jews under their protection benefited from that too, as well as a family of Russian war refugees – and elderly mother with her daughter and a four-year-old granddaughter Katya. If not for the Račiūnases’ generous offer they would certainly have died of hunger in winter. Shimshon and Berl were introduced to them as Lithuanian hired laborers, but later the Russian refugees revealed the truth. They supported the Račiūnases in their effort to save innocent people and kept the secret. The neighboring farmstead belonged to Pranas, Ona and Marijona Zaksas, the Račiūnases’ orphaned relatives. Their 30-year-old half-brother, Jonas Vaitkus lived with them and was the head of the family. They were much poorer than the Raciūnases who patronized them. Vaitkus and his half-brother and sisters knew from the very beginning their relatives were hiding the Jews; Shimshon and Berl even used to help them with seasonal work. In summer 1942 they moved to the Vaitkus-Zaksas family for keeps. Thee decided to move there after Faivel Kagan and Aharon Milner came to the Raciūnases’ farm – they were forced to leave their previous hideout urgently. Shimshon and Berl left them their hiding place that seemed very comfortable in comparison to the conditions in which they had lived before. It was not possible to construct such a well-built and well-concealed hideout at the Vaitkus-Zaksas’ premises, so Shimshon and Berl had to satisfy themselves with a narrow hole in the dirt floor, right under Pranas’ bed. They Jews descended there only when they heard the dog barking, which always warned the hosts that some strangers were approaching. The rest of the time they moved around the farmstead freely, helping the hosts around. In the evening, they used to meet with Aharon and Faivel. Twice Antanas Račiūnas secretly took Faivel and Shimshon to Kaunas, to see their relatives in the ghetto. Most of them perished in 1944, during the liquidation of the ghetto; only Shmerl Milner, Shimshon’s elder brother, escaped and was for many months hiding at Anelė Tarapienė’s farm. When the Red Army drew near, Shimshon, his sons and Faivel Kagan joined Shmerl and two more Jews in a dugout not far from Tarapienė’s house. After the war the survivors moved to Kaunas, where Aharon and Berl continued their school studies, which had been interrupted by the Nazi occupation. In the 1970s the Milners’ immigrated to Israel.

Rimas, the grandson of Antanas and Ona, says that everyone spoke of his grandparents as very good and honourable people. They saved people because they were Christians. The family does not have any photos of Petras, because he died young after being hit by a bomb during the war.