Klara Ponelytė Virskus

Klara Ponelytė Virskus: Stories & Reflections is an oral historical record of growing up in pre-Soviet Lithuania, the World War II era, starting a family as a post-war refugee, and immigrating to the United States to start a new life in a strange country.



Klara was born in Lithuania in 1923. In the middle of World War II, she met her husband Juozas Virskevicius, a captain in the Lithuanian Army and the director of the Kaunas train station. They were married in March 1944 and she was pregnant by June 22, 1944, the day Juozas commandeered the last train to carry refugees out of Lithuania, including the future president, 19-year-old Valdas Adamkus, before the start of the Second Soviet Occupation.



Conducted, translated from Lithuanian, and edited by Klara’s granddaughter Jennifer Virskus these interviews offer a sliver of insight into what it was like to not only survive but to thrive on life's most difficult days.