The Decision to Leave

During the Summer of 1944, the Soviet Union pushed west and launched its "annexation occupation" of the Baltic States. By mid-July of that year, my Mom and my paternal Grandfather, Jake, could hear the bomb blasts approaching their home town of Kaunas.

Mom and Jake packed two suitcases and decided to wait out the Soviet invasion—which they believed would be brief—in the border city of Tauragė. They gathered a few belongings. Mom bartered a bicycle in exchange for a wagon. They then hitchiked to Tauragė, where Jake's Parents, Cody Sr. and Wanda, had lived.

Mom and Jake remained in Tauragė during the last two weeks of July 1944, hoping that the Soviet Army would retreat. The two stayed with the family of Jake's cousin, who lived on the second floor of the old, Cody Sr., house. They buried most valuables they had in the countryside. When the Russians continued to move westward, the families—Mom, Jake, and Jake's cousin's brood—decided to leave Lithuania. They headed together to the train station and began their lives as refugees.

Notably, in the ensuing year, Tauragė became the precise region in which in Soviet Army would claim victory over the Germans.

Tauragė, Lithuania, between July 14 and July 31, 1944. My Mom poses with the wife of Jake's cousin. This is one of the last three photos taken of Mom while she was still on Lithuanian soil.