Irena Veisaite was my dear friend and a shining role model in my life.
I can say with certainty that the world will remember Irena for her all-encompassing knowledge and for her strong belief in love and concern for others, this in spite of all the evil and hurt she herself had to go through in life. Irena will also be remembered as one of the most prominent Litvaks (Lithuanian Jews) of our time.
I interviewed her and wrote several articles about her for our publication VilNews, where she told in detail about her upbringing in Kaunas, about how she managed to escape from the ghetto in Kaunas as a 14-year-old, and about how she eventually grew to become a outstanding humanist, community builder, always defined by love, deep wisdom and the ability to forgive where others might have hated. Very few people like her have lived on this, our little vulnerable planet.