Memory Office: F. Kučinskienė about Kulautuva

Fruma Kučinskienė, a member of the Kaunas Jewish Community, talking about hiding in Kulautuva during the war. She was secretly kept in Savanorių Avenue and lands in Kulautuva by landlords Natalija Fugalevičiūtė and Lidija Fugalevičiūtė-Gulobovienė, as well as a large group of other Jewish children. Fugalevičiai sisters have saved nearly 30 children from the terrible war.

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“First trip to Kulautuva was during a late dark night. I was accompanied by stepsister Margarita. We‘ve arrived at Kulautuva and we had to walk through the woodland to Natalia's sister Lyda‘s farmstead. I remember the fear, apparently, I was in general scared at that time... That walk through the woods, when I couldn‘t even see the pathway… ”

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"One night, they came to check. Outside the house, there was a rather abandoned spot, where high forks and shrubs grew, everyone ran towards that direction and told us to pretend sleeping. We woke up and got frightened. In fact, German soldiers came, illumining our faces with torches. Both of us had bright features, didn‘t look like Jews at all, so they went on. But the fear, of course, remained.”

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"On the other side of Nemunas - was a Russian artillery, and on this side - German. During the last days, when shooting already became very dangerous, I remember, how those projectiles were dropping. We ran between Tamara Hill and that river, quickly into the woods and heard the projectiles exploding in the meadows.”

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"We were in the barn. Germans were walking through the road, a German enters the barn, turns to my Rivka and asks her in German to show him the way. Fear was still there. And I remember to my great surprise, Rivka, who spoke German really well, as well as many other languages, she is trying to show him, that she doesn’t understand what he wants.”

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"There was no fear because, I was already surrounded by my people. I wasn‘t scared. I only had bad mood and anxiety because of my parents. Because, previously, I saw the ghetto burning.”

Date of the interview: 2018-04-11

Read more about Fugalevičiai family and Kulautuva memory here.