Valentina Eugenija Blažaitytė was born in 1927 to Antanas and Adelė Blažaitis. She had a brother, Leonas. Valentina spent part of her early childhood in Canada.

During the war, the family lived in Panemunė, Kaunas. Valentina played a special role in rescuing Roza Finaitė, who had been brought out of the Kaunas ghetto.

Roza was born in Kaunas in 1934 to Chava and Rafaelis Finas. After the Children’s Aktion in the Kaunas ghetto, her parents decided she had to be taken out. Rafaelis happened to meet Valentina’s father, Antanas Blažaitis, who agreed to shelter the girl. Once Adelė also consented, Roza was smuggled out of the ghetto beneath sacks and brought to the Blažaitis home.

There was a problem, however: Roza spoke almost no Lithuanian.

Fifteen-year-old Valentina therefore became little Roza’s almost constant companion. She had to stay close so that the girl would not reveal her true origins when meeting strangers. Neighbours were told that Roza was a deaf and non-speaking relative of the Blažaitis family from the countryside.

Helping rescue Roza also required a personal sacrifice from Valentina: she left school for a year because Roza could not be left alone.

The Blažaitis family was already caring for another Jewish girl: a baby a few months old whose parents, being led to execution, had left her in a basket outside their home. Her parents never returned. Named Irena Margarita, the girl remained with the Blažaitis family after the war and was raised as their daughter. She therefore became Valentina’s sister.

Roza Finaitė also survived. After the war, her parents returned to Kaunas and found their daughter. Roza later graduated from Kaunas Polytechnic Institute and started a family. In 1972, she moved to Israel with her husband, daughter and son.

Valentina later married and became Valentina Eugenija Liutikienė.

Additional family testimonies

The Blažaitis family notes collected by the project author’s father state that Valentina and her brother Leonas lived in Canada as children, before the family settled in Kaunas. These notes confirm the family’s recollection of the two Jewish girls they cared for: Roza Finaitė and Irena Margarita.

The manuscript records that Irena Margarita was raised as a daughter by the Blažaitis family and thus became Valentina’s sister. This helps explain that their assistance went beyond temporary hiding: one girl continued living with her rescuers’ family after the war.