In this picture Fredke is shown on the right together with her sister Ziske, on the left, and her closest friend Stefa in the middle.
Ziske emigrated to South-Africa in 1936. She escaped the big tragedy, but Fredke was murdered by the German Nazis and their collaborators in the woods of Pakruojis, Morkakalnis, in July of the summer of 1941.
Emilija Mikolaitiene, our eye-witness from Klovainiai, told us that very soon after the liberation from the German Nazis by the Soviet soldiers, the Soviet government showed people films made by the Germans during the Occupation of Lithuania. Emilija watched such a film in Siauliai in the cinema in1944. She was very shocked when she saw the killings of the Jews of Pakruojis, and recognised Fredke Dermeikaite (one of her friends from Klovainiai). She saw how Fredke calmly and haughtyly undressed herself and silently waited to be shot. Emilija was completely destressed for days.
The other Jewish women of Klovainiai and the Jewish women and children of Rozalimas and some Jewish women and children of Radvilikis were shot in Panevezys, at Kaizerlingas forest on 4-8-1941.
The men of Klovainiai were murdered beforehand in the forest of Rozalimas during the summer of 1941.
The story repeated through Stefa’s eyes:
Story from Klovainiai
As Stefa recalls: One day, during the German Nazi Occupation-period, Stefa was cycling from Klovainiai to the forest of Rozalimas to pick nuts and berries .She remembered: It was a beautiful sunny day in August 1941.Suddenly she saw a horse cart full of men. Four of them, Lithuanians, carried guns and the unarmed other five were Jews. They were from Klovainiai. Their names of Jewish men were: Irshkis, Kaimukas (Irshkis’ brother-in-law), Dermeika (Fredke’s and Zyske’s father; Fredke and Zyske were Stefa’s closest friends), Dermeika’s brother-in-law and lastly a person whose name Stefa couldn’t recall. Irshkis and Kaimukas often went from Klovainiai to Rozalimas to buy flax from the farmers.
Stefa recognised one of them as Irshkis, the young man whom she often danced with at parties. He was such a fine dancer! Irshkis could only nod at Stefa to express his honour and greetings to her. They were about three kilometres off Rozalimas. As soon as she reached the bushes full of nuts and Stefa started picking them. Suddenly she heard shooting. After a few hours of picking berries and nuts, she decided to search for the spot from where she heard the shooting. Stefa found the place and was terrified: The earth and bushes were stained with blood and at a certain spot she could see that the ground was recently dug. She understood that the Jews were shot, and that her dancing-friend Irshkis must have been killed too. It was clear to her that they were buried on the same spot as they were murdered.
Stefa was very shocked and she cried and didn’t sleep for days.
Later the bodies were reburied at the Jewish cemetery, but when exactly, I don’t know. It could have happened in August 1941 (during the German Nazi Occupation) or in August 1944, after the liberation from the German Nazis.
According to another eye-witness, the names of the four Lithuanians who killed these five Jewish men were:
Antanas Siratavicius. †
Steponas Jurgaitis (a member of the
Lithuanian patriots)
Jonas Bielskis (he disappeared)
Povilionis †
According to the same eye-witness these Lithuanian men helped the German Nazis with the killing of Jews from the Klovainiai-neighbourhood.Also, they escorted other Jews to their execution spots (for example Panevezys) and killed as many Jews as possible. It seems that Steponas Jurgaitis was very proud of his deeds. Especially because the German Nazis gave him the honour to be the first to shoot at the Jewish men, women and children. Immediately afterwards the German Nazis followed.
Not one of the Jews of Klovainiai survived the big tragedy, except for Ziske Dermeikaite who had already emigrated to South-Africa in 1936.