MEILACH STALEVICH
(1923—2014)
by Dovid Katz (www.dovidkatz.net)
The Jewish Community of Lithuania has just lost one of its most powerful and authentic Litvak personalities, and one of the very last Vilna-born prewar Jews in Vilnius, Meilach Stalevich, who was born on June 28th 1923. The funeral: Wednesday November 12th, at 2 PM at the Vilnius Jewish cemetery.
Born on June 28th 1923 in the city (then Wilno, Poland; forever in Yiddish: Vílne), Meilach grew up on Kíyever gás (now: Kauno gatvė), opposite the Mishmères-Khéylim (Mishmeres Cholim) hospital which had a kloyz (prayer-house) where his grandfather Avigdor was the gábe (gabbai). Afterwards his family lived in a flat rented to them by a friendly Catholic priest on the grounds of nearby All Saints Church (Visų šventųjų; in local Yiddish: Kolanshómes [from: kol haneshómes ‘all souls’]). Meilach studied at the Yiddish secular Reál-gimnàzye on Rudnítsker gas (today’s Rūdninkų). He is a highly decorated hero of the war against Hitler (the only Jew in a Red Army unit of Cossacks). Most of his relatives were murdered at Ponár (Paneriai). He had received a letter in 1944 (after Vilna fell, but while he was still fighting at the front) that nobody of his family survived.
Feeling unable to live here again, he nevertheless decided in 1946 to come for one brief last farewell to his native Vílne. It was quick, and on his way up Sadóve (Sodų gatvė) to catch a train away from his beloved and desolate native city, he encountered a Polish friend from his youth called Alexander, who worked in a movie theatre, and called out to him, saying that his mother Léye (Liza) was alive.
Incredulous, and even angry that someone could be making up such things, Meilach went with Alexander to look for her. They found her a few moments later in the passage to the courtyard on Zaválne (Pylimo) where she lived. Meilach recalls: “For a long time, I couldn’t say a word. We just cried, she cried and I cried. Then I began to shout ‘Máme, Máme!’ and she was shouting ‘Méylakhl, mayn zun’! The other people in the courtyard were crying too. It seemed that the walls on every side of the courtyard were also crying.”
Photo: Dovid Katz. Meilach Stalevich at the spot where he found his mother in 1946.
In the photo, Meilach now stands in the archway where he found his mother. He spent the next 30 years with her in her little dwelling in that courtyard, in the heart of Vílne.
Meilach and I became good friends during my first trip to Lithuania in December of 1990. We met on a bus going from the Jewish Community to a commemoration at Ponár, when he got into a friendly but spirited argument with my host and guide that day, the late Professor Meir Shub. Meilach and I kept in touch by mail for a few years, but by the time I settled in Vilnius in 1999 I had thought he’d long emigrated. Then, years later, we met on another Vilnius bus. He heard me talking Yiddish to a friend, came up to us and said: “Excuse me. There had once been a completely different person — he was young and handsome, not heavy, neat haircut and no beard at all — but with the exact same voice, he was visiting in town, so maybe you know him, the name was: Katz, Dovid.” Then we began meeting all the time, and later on, speaking on skype, which Meilach particularly loved.
Meilach became a stalwart participant at the Dr. Sheine Sideraitė Yiddish Reading Circle at the Jewish Community. At the age of 91, he started the group last spring, when he delivered a robust and persuasive rebuttal to the image of Vilna depicted by the great Yiddish poet Méyshe Kúlbak in his immortal poem Vílne. His personal memories led to an animated discussion about the image of cities in the hearts and minds of poets. For years, it was at Meilach’s (correct) insistence that we begin every session with some Yiddish humor, before proceeding to the “serious” literary texts.
My 2006 article about his life, “Di mérkverdike geshéenish in der lébns-geshìkhte funem ríkhtikn vílner Méylakh Stalévitsh” (“An amazing event in the life of true-blue Vilner Meilach Stalevich” appeared in the Algemeiner Journal (23 June 2006, pp 9-10).
Meilach’s bold comments on the burning issues surrounding the “Double Genocide” theory stole the show when featured in Wendy Robbins’ 2010 BBC radio program “Heart and Soul.”
We shall never forget the remarkable Meilach Stalevich and send our heartfelt condolences to his dear wife Neli and to all the family.