Margaret Kagan
When Nazi Germany invaded Lithuania in 1941, many Jewish families fled. Margaret and her family chose to stay because they didn't want to leave Alik, who was at a children's holiday camp. The city was in disarray, Jews were targeted in shootings and were also being arrested. Margaret's father got arrested and he was never seen again. Those in the ghettos felt relief and believed that the worst was behind them. Margaret describes her years in the concentration camp as 'dreadful', people were in forced to do labour and were denied food.
Her whole life changed when she met her future husband, Joseph Kagan. Joseph hated the conditions of the camp, he extended his living space by pitching a tent in a vegetable garden. Joseph also managed to smuggle items into the ghetto like extra food and gramophone records. He believed that the Jewish population would be slaughtered and persuaded Margaret to get married, escape and go into hiding. While Joseph worked on arranging a suitable hiding place, Margaret found a friend outside of the ghetto who agreed to keep the Aryan-looking Alik in safety. Joseph and Margaret got married at the ghetto registry office, afterwards they and Joseph's mother, escaped their slave labour brigade and hid in the attic of a local factory.
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They hid for nine months. It was extremely dangerous and enormously stressful. They had to remain absolutely silent during the day and were constantly afraid of being caught. In July 1944, Soviet troops reached Kaunas and they were free.
Margaret was euphoric at regaining her freedom and being reunited with Alik. However, she soon began to realise the enormity of what had happened. She discovered that her father had been murdered in one of the earliest massacres of the war and that her mother had committed suicide in a concentration camp.
Joseph's father lived in England where he ran a textile company, so they decided to move to England to rebuild their lives. They started their own business, Kagan Textiles, which became a major firm. Joseph patented a new cloth, called Gannex, and made coats which were worn by Prince Philip and Harold Wilson. Margaret also worked in the company, they eventually had three children.