Aksentijus Burlakovas (1873–1955), his wife Matriona (1876–1959) and their adult children Fiodoras and Zinaida lived in Myliai village in Švenčionys district. They were Belarusian Old Believers. During the Nazi occupation, their home became a refuge for the young daughter of a Jewish family fleeing persecution.

Before the war, Izraelis and Rachelė Gantovnikas lived in Stajėtiškis village. Their daughter Rebeka was born in late summer 1941. On 26 September that year, the Jews of Stajėtiškis were ordered to take three days’ food and walk towards Švenčionėliai. On 7–8 October 1941, many Jews from the Švenčionys region were murdered at the Švenčionėliai military training ground. The Gantovnikas family managed to escape.

After wandering and living in ghettos in Belarus, the Gantovnikas family returned to the Švenčionys region and stayed in the Švenčionys ghetto. When news spread that it would be liquidated, they fled again. One night in autumn 1942, they knocked on the Burlakovas family’s door in Myliai with Rebeka, who was just over a year old.

Aksentijus, Matriona and their children Fiodoras and Zinaida welcomed the strangers, fed them and let them warm up and rest. As the Gantovnikas family prepared to continue their journey, the Burlakovas family offered to keep little Rebeka: cold weather was approaching, and hiding with a small child who often cried was particularly dangerous. Her parents, who had never been separated from her even for a day, found the decision difficult. Eventually they wrote down their hosts’ names and address and entrusted the girl to them.

Rebeka lived in the Burlakovas home for almost two years. With help from their adult children, Aksentijus and Matriona fed, clothed, cared for and protected her. Meanwhile, Izraelis and Rachelė hid in surrounding villages and forests.

In July 1944, the Gantovnikas family returned to Stajėtiškis. Only seven of about 350 local Jews had survived. When her parents went to Myliai, they found Rebeka alive and well. After the war, the family emigrated to Israel, and the Iron Curtain cut off contact with their rescuers for many years.

After political circumstances changed, Rebeka, later known as Rivka Golan, returned to Myliai to thank the Burlakovas family. Aksentijus and Matriona had already died. She met their son Fiodoras, who still lived in the same house where she had been cared for as a child.

In 2019, Aksentijus and Matriona Burlakovas were posthumously awarded the Life Saving Cross. On 19 February 2019, they were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. Their daughter Zinaida was also recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. On 7 November 2022, their great-grandson Andrius Juršėnas accepted their awards on the family’s behalf in Vilnius.