She wasn't left behind; she stayed behind.

My Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora, did not flee Lithuania when my Mom and her Father left in 1944. We are not sure why Dora stayed behind.

Dora remained in Kaunas. She lived in the house that Jake and Jadzė had built in the early 1930s. Dora's Husband, her Mother, Zigmunta, and a series of Chihuahuas and Miniature Pinschers shared the home with her. Dora lived into her nineties, and so did Zigmunta.

You may recognize these steps from an earlier post:

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1956. Dora sits with her doggie, "Pupkė," on the front steps. My Mom's maternal Grandmother, Zigmunta, rests in the back, on the bench.

Click on the "Dora" tag below to get a better picture of her story.