מאגר סיפורי מורשת

Today I am going to present you an inspiring story about a woman called Genrieta Duko. I am really fortunate and happy I had the chance to meet her in the project and hear her interesting story about her life. I am grateful to the organizers of this project. It gave me a chance to get familiar  with  a sweet and smart Jewish lady whose story I wouldn’t  hear if I haven‘t participated.

She was born in Ukraine in the city called Dnepropetrovsk which is now called Dnipro. It’s a big, beautiful, and quite developed city which has many learning facilities, theatres and other amusing and interesting objects. When Geta was younger, she spoke with her family in Russian, even though her family was Jewish. They lived next to a music studio, however, Geta didn’t attend it. After she finished a primary school, the Second World War started. Her father Moisei went to fight for his country and eleven year old Geta with her mother Hialeah and little brother Yuri, who was only four years old, were evacuated. Geta mentioned that the evacuation was a very hard process –  they didn’t get the chance to take many of their belongings. Geta only took her briefcase with her schoolbooks and her mother took a small bag. They were evacuated to another city in Ukraine – Luhansk. As her mother wasn’t an educated woman and did not have a degree, she read many books to become smarter. She also thought that the war would finish after two weeks, unfortunately she was wrong. Geta also mentioned the terrible fact that her and two other families on the way with them were kicked out and left in the station. As her cousin lived in Luhansk, they moved there. Hialeah – Geta’s mother got a job in a local hospital where she took care of the injured soldiers. They had to evacuate again after one month of staying there as the war was progressively spreading and becoming more and more dangerous. As Geta’s sister had to move with her husband because of their job in the factory, they couldn’t take them together. They ended up spending the night in a train station again. In the morning they got to a different destination by train which was meant for animals. It was truly horrible. They were travelling for a whole month until they reached Kyrgyzstan – a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. There she reconnected with her father and finished the 9th grade. In 1946 her family moved to a different place where she finished school.

Geta loved to play volleyball and basketball when she was in school. In her student years when she was studying in Dnepropetrovsk, she became a captain of her volleyball team. It was one of  her biggest  hobbies even after she had moved to Vilnius. She told me about her dreams  where she was playing volleyball.

Geta got married when she was thirty five years old. She was a doctor and got her degree in Kaunas, where she studied for two years and then moved to finish her degree in Dnepropetrovsk. After that, she worked in the western part of Ukraine as the senior doctor. Her specialization was epidemiology, so she took care of sick patients who had caught an infection. Unfortunately, the town she worked later  was almost completely destroyed . Right now, Geta lives in Vilnius and has quite a big family. She has two sons, one of them lives in the USA in California. She also has three grandkids, one of them – Eva – works in a bank and got a degree in internet technologies, the other granddaughter – Greta – is currently studying at a university and her grandson Emil who is sixteen, studies in Vilnius Lyceum. Their mother is Lithuanian, so Geta taught them Russian. Her brother Yuri also lives in Vilnius and worked as an engineer when he was younger. Now he works as a guide in the Jewish Museum. He speaks Russian, Lithuanian, and English.

Getting to know this wonderful woman was a truly valuable experience and I will never forget it.

הזוית האישית

Getting to know this wonderful woman was a truly valuable experience and I will never forget it. I wish this lady happiness and health.