Righteous Gentiles

Juozas Rimša Family

When war broke out between Germany and the USSR in 1941, Olga (née Gurvich) Whitehill-Horwitz was 18 years old and attending dental school in her hometown of Kovno (today Kaunas), Lithuania. Unsuccessful in her attempt to escape to the Russian interior, she joined Hirsh, her brother, and Bella, her mother, in the ghetto. During this time she was aided by a schoolmate and friend, Marija Holecek (née Zelčiutė), who smuggled food into the ghetto. On the eve of the October 28 Aktion (mass execution), Marija convinced Olga to flee the ghetto and stay with her, a decision that may well have saved her life.

Marija lived in a two-room apartment with Stefanija and Vincas Vaičiūnas, her sister and brother-in-law. Over the next 18 months, the three took care of Olga, who hid in a closet during the day and at night slept in Marija’s bed.
One day they noticed Germans searching a neighboring building where it was known that a Jewish doctor was being hidden. Olga climbed out the window, ready to jump so as not to implicate Marija if she were captured, but Marija would not hear of it: “You don’t need to die so I can live; I’m no better than you.” In the end the Germans did not search their building, but the incident rattled the family, so Olga, with Marija’s help, found an alternate arrangement a couple of weeks later.

Her next stop was with Valerija Karvelyte, who lived with her boyfriend. They hid her in a closet for three months, but Olga was forced to move on when Valerija suspected that they were being watched. Again with Marija’s assistance, she found shelter with a common acquaintance, Dr. Antanas Starkus, and his wife, Elena. They presented her to their two small children as “Monika” and explained to them that they must never discuss her presence with anyone. Because Antanas refused to join the German army as a doctor, thefamily lived in fear that Antanas would be arrested and Olga discovered. Nonetheless, Olga managed to stay with the family for 18 months. Eventually Antanas was indeed arrested and sent to the Stutthof camp, but Olga happened to be out of the house at the time because Marija had taken her to her house for a few days while its other occupants were away. Olga was again without shelter, and Marija arranged for her to stay with a friend, the sculptor Petras Rimša.

Petras took Olga to his brother’s home in the small village of Margiai, near Vilkaviškis. When Juozas and Justina Rimša, who were living with another brother, Jurgis, and his wife, Ona, discovered that Olga spoke fluent Lithuanian, they presented her as a farmhand (they had many laborers working on their farm). In this manner Olga survived until the liberation. Olga later recalled that the Rimšas saved other Jews during this time and assisted Jewish partisans hiding in the area. Though her parents did not survive the war, with the help of Petras Rimša, Olga was reunited with Hirsh. She immigrated to the United States in 1949 and remained in contact with all her rescuers following the war.

On August 15, 2012, Marija (Zelčiutė) Holecek, Antanas and Elena Starkus, Valerija Karvelyte, Justina Rimšienē, and Juozas Rimša were recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. On January 23, 2013, Ona Rimšienē and Jurgis Rimša were recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.