Eta Gurvichuyte

This is a photo of me. The picture was made during an interview in my office in the Jewish Community of Vilnius, June, 2005.

In 1949 I was offered a job in the economy department of one of suppliers. I worked in a wonderful team and made many good friends there. We marked Jewish holidays. A lot of people got together on Chanukkah, Purim and Pesach. We open spoke Yiddish at work, which was common in Lithuania. There was a great computer center in our company I was employed by. I was a computer operator. The computer machine I was working on in the early 1960s covered half of my office. People treated me good at work. I was always good to people and they were reciprocal. Almost every year I got a trip vouchers to the spa Druskeninkai or Palanga, which was paid by the trade union, son always went on vacation to the pioneer camps at the cost of trade-union. I had worked there until retirement.

In 1990s I found out about acting Jewish community. I came here with my sister Anna. Here we were helped in many things, especially with medicine, when Anna was sick. Now, when I am living by myself and my grandchildren do not need close attention, I work as a volunteer in medical center of the community. I work for couple of hours every day. It gives me the feeling of being needed to people. I enjoy communicating with the Jews, who come over here. My friends are working in the community as well. We see Sabbath and mark Jewish holidays together. Recently we got together on Shavuot and cooked traditional dishes from milk and curds.

My life was not easy. I raised my son alone. It was hard from material standpoint. I am not needy now. I get pension. Besides, in accordance with the law on restitution I received remuneration for our house in Kaunas. I shared money with my siblings and helped out my grandchildren. I knew love in my life. I kept friends with both men of my life in spite of the fact that we parted. Haim left for Israel and died couple of years ago. Augustinas is currently living in Vilnius. He is a very sick man and I am helping him. I have always had many friends, who made my life better. We feel ourselves free in independent Lithuania [Reestablishment of the Lithuanian Republic], which is positive for everybody. I hope, Lithuanian being a part of Europe will enjoy European standards and rules regarding Jews and other nations.