"Visit her home and you never knew what you would find, or when, or for whom that extra bed had been made up," historian and museum curator Jovita Vilimaitienė said of Stanislava Jakševičiūtė-Venclauskienė – the woman known as the Mother of Šiauliai, who raised more than 120 orphans.
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Stanislava was born into a noble family in Šiauliai. Both her parents had taken part in the uprising of 1863 – an insurrection against Tsarist Russian rule across the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – and growing up in such an environment instilled in her a deep patriotism and love of the Lithuanian language.
She completed her studies at a girls' school in Riga before taking acting courses, and becoming involved at an early age in the Lithuanian national revival movement. She went on to become one of the directors and lead actresses of the first Lithuanian-language theatrical production, Amerika pirtyje (America in the Bathhouse), staged in Šiauliai in 1904.
"She was always concerned with laying the foundations for a professional Lithuanian theatre. Despite working under Tsarist Russian rule, in a climate of restrictions on Lithuanian culture, she enthusiastically organised Lithuanian evenings with like-minded people, directed productions, performed – and it was at one such evening that she met her future husband, Kazimieras Venclauskis, a young lawyer," historian Vilimaitienė said.
A centre of civic life
The young Venclauskis family became a hub of Šiauliai's intelligentsia, participating in the Great Šiauliai May Gatherings – social events that served as a cover for more serious discussions.
"Behind all of that, very serious conversations were taking place, and it is even said that the idea of an independent Lithuania was first raised at the Great Šiauliai May Gatherings, in which Stanislava and her husband Kazimieras also took part," Vilimaitienė said.
After the restoration of Lithuanian statehood, Stanislava became a politician and civic figure, serving on Šiauliai city council on several occasions as a member of the right-leaning Tautininkai Party – while her husband remained a committed Social Democrat throughout his life.
"These two political forces had very clear differences of vision about what Lithuania and society should look like, but that did not prevent them from belonging to different political parties and creating a truly remarkable family," the historian observed.
Together, Stanislava and Kazimieras had two daughters – Danutė and Gražbilė – and fostered, educated more than 120 orphaned or in other ways disadvantaged children.
The family placed great importance on each child's education. Stanislava herself spoke of sending approximately a quarter of her foster children to university, and continuing to support many of them financially even after graduation, until they had established families of their own. The family also placed a lot of importance on extracurricular activities.
"They played the piano or the violin, there was theatre at home, children were encouraged to put on domestic productions, and they learned all manner of crafts and arts. Life was truly in full swing," Vilimaitienė said.
The war years
The year 1940 brought profound hardship. Stanislava's husband Kazimieras died at the start of the year, and the Soviet occupation of Lithuania led to the nationalisation of the family home. They were forced to move into an old wooden house nearby that had belonged to Stanislava's parents.
During the Nazi occupation that followed, the Venclauskis family women showed exceptional courage in helping to save Jewish lives – an act for which they were later recognised as Righteous Among the Nations.
The eldest daughter, Danutė, established a sewing workshop, ostensibly producing military gloves, earmuffs and other equipment for the Reich, employing Jewish women from the Šiauliai ghetto.
"A large number of the Jewish women had no sewing skills, and the work was neither profitable nor particularly productive. The family covered the losses from their own money and paid German soldiers in order to keep the workshop from being closed – because it provided a kind of lifeline for Jewish people," Vilimaitienė explained.
Danutė also held a permit to enter the ghetto and used it to bring in food and medicine.
"There are many accounts of her making continuous deliveries, but to do that required dedication and courage. The family also used part of their own capital to secure certain possibilities – to ensure that people turn a blind eye in certain quarters," the historian said.
At one point a Jewish boy, given the name Jonas, was living in the Venclauskis household. He needed to be moved when searches began. It was spring – potato planting season. People were carrying sacks of potatoes to the fields, and Jonas was concealed in one of those sacks. He was taken to a village nearby, to the home of one of Stanislava's former foster children, where he remained safely until the end of the war.
The youngest daughter, Gražbilė, also contributed to the rescue efforts. She and her husband relocated from Šiauliai to Žemaičių Naumiestis, taking with them a young Jewish girl who also survived the war.
Exile
As the Nazis retreated from Lithuania, Stanislava and Danutė chose to leave the country, fearing – correctly, as it turned out – that they faced deportation to Siberia.
"Danutė heard from a Russian soldier, who apparently had taken a liking to her, that they were on a list of those to be deported," Vilimaitienė recounted.
They eventually settled in the United States, where life was modest, but Stanislava continued caring for those in need until her death in 1958.
In one of her last interviews, she said that her life had had a single purpose: to work for Lithuania.
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