Women of Resistance: Sara Ginaite Rubinson

“What I saw, I cannot forget. It will always be with my mind.”

Sara Ginaite Rubinson, Jewish-Lithuanian-born Canadian resistance fighter

Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas to form the Kingdom of Lithuania in 1253, eventually expanded until the 14th century when it became the largest country in Europe as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Uniting with Poland to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569 created one of the most prosperous states in Europe. Then came the mid-1700s when neighboring countries “dismantled it, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuanian territory.(1)” Then came the end of World War I, and Lithuania declared its independence.

This is the world into which Sara Ginaite was born on March 17, 1924. Her family was well-to-do and well educated. Her father worked for various foreign companies with clients from all over the world. According to an interview late in Sara’s life, those first few years were idyllic, and she had many friends in her hometown of Kaunas. When she was ten years old her parents, like many other Jews, removed her from the German private school after Hitler came to power. Jewish parents in the community formed their own school, and Sara attended. They persevered.

Then came 1940 when Lithuania was overrun by the Soviet Union. Not long after the invasion Jewish

schools were closed, residents were evicted from apartments that were confiscated for members of the Soviet army, businesses were liquidated at a fraction of their value, and thousands of Jewish people were deported to Siberia.

The following year, Germany invaded and created ghettos into which Jewish people and other “undesirables” were moved, including Sara and her family. But life only got worse. The Kaunas Pogram was implemented which swept through the city resulting in 9,000 Jewish deaths, three of whom were Sara’s uncles. She’d had enough and joined the Anti-Fascist Fighting Organization. but bided her time for the perfect opportunity, and in the Spring of 1942, Sara joined the Anti-Fascist Fighting Organization, a secret group composed of communists, Zionists, and socialist youth movements. They managed to smuggle in weapons, forge identification documents, and engage in sabotage. In a bold act of resistance, the group conducted a series of armed skirmishes with German troops. Unfortunately, the uprising was unsuccessful, and Sara and some of the inmates, including Misha Rubinson who she would later marry, escaped in the Rudninkai Forest.

They connected with “Death to the Fascists Occupiers,” and Sara was appointed to run military operations. Fearless, she returned to the ghetto on two occasions to help others escape. In July 1944, the Soviets liberated Lithuania from the Germans, and Sara and Misha were part of freeing those still held in the Vilnius and Kaunas ghettos. Tragically, Sara’s sister and niece were her family’s only survivors, and life under the Soviets did not improve. It would be another ten years before Lithuania regained its independence.

By all reports, she continued to fight anti-semitism and became a professor of political economics at Vilnius University. After her husband’s death she moved to Canada in 1983, to be with her daughters. She passed away on April 2, 2018 at the age of 94.

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Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and

women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state, immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors, and drinks copious amounts of tea.

Dutch Dawn

Will they survive the 500-mile journey to freedom?

Isak Westgard is only six missions short to be rotated stateside. Then the unthinkable happens, and he crashes in the occupied Netherlands where the chances of him making it back to England are slim to none. The beautiful and tough-as-nails resistance courier begs to differ and claims she hasn’t lost anyone yet. The problem is the longer they’re together, the less he wants to escape.

Annaliese Claasen has escorted her fair share of refugees and downed Allied pilots to safety - too numerous to remember. Until now. There’s something different about the Norwegian-American lieutenant, and it’s more than his good looks. Can she get him out of the country before losing her heart?

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/bMjoxV

 
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Ginaite

Sources:
https://thefemalesoldier.com/blog/sara-ginaite
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Ginaite
https://intheirownwords.net/sara-ginaite-rubinson-2
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn95120

Photo Credits:
Sara Ginaite: By Yasha Riumkin - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Sara Ginaite, Public Domain
Sara Ginaite Rubinson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVZI0jcm2ZU
Map of Europe indicating Lithuania: By NuclearVacuum, image created with Inkscape