1915 – The Gens family, along with thousands of Lithuanian Jews, is exiled from Lithuania by the Russian government.
1918 – The Gens family and other Lithuanian Jews are allowed to return home to Lithuania.
1920 – Jacob Gens finishes grade 6 and joins the Volunteer army in Lithuania’s fight for independence.
1924 – Jacob Gens and Elvyra Budreika marry.
1926 – The couple welcomes daughter Ada.
1940 – Lithuanian independence lasts until the Soviet invasion in June. Gens family bank accounts are frozen, Jacob is fired from his job at Lietukis, a Lithuanian co-operative involved in international trade, and has his work permit revoked.
1941 – Germany invades Lithuania on June 22nd, by June 24th mass killings of Jews have begun throughout Lithuania.
1941 – On September 6th the Vilna Ghetto is formed, where Jacob Gens and his family are imprisoned. Jacob is appointed Chief of Ghetto Police by the Judenrat. His wife Elvyra and daughter Ada live outside of the ghetto.
1942 – By early 1942 approximately 80% of Lithuania’s Jews have been murdered.
1943 – On September 14th Jacob Gens is executed by the Gestapo, Elvyra and Ada flee the city and are forced into hiding. The Vilna Ghetto is liquidated between September 23rd-24th.
1944 – The Soviet Army regains control of Lithuania from Germany. Over 200,000 Lithuanian Jews have been murdered by the Nazis. Out of the four Gens brothers, only one survives the Holocaust. The lone brother, Efraim, survived the Šiauliai Ghetto and Stutthof concentration camp before returning to Lithuania. He will later be deported to Vorkuta Gulag labor camp for years before reuniting with his family. Joseph Stalin re-established the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.
1990 – On March 11th Lithuania regains its independence from the Soviet Union. In December Lithuanian Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis visits American President George Bush Sr. in the White House to request support for the newly independent nation. Jacob Gens’s daughter Ada sits beside President Bush, acting as his interpreter.
1992 – In February American Vice President Dan Quayle travels with Ada to Vilnius to meet with Lithuanian heads of state. On this trip Mr. Quayle opens the U.S. Embassy and delivers his famous independence speech. Ada translates the Vice President’s speech to a democratic Lithuania, finding herself standing on free Lithuanian soil for the first time in over 50 years – since she was 13 years of age.
Lieutenant Jacob Gens. Early 1920’s. Photo credit: Lithuanian Central State Archive 
Vilna Ghetto sports field. Jacob Gens 6th from left, daughter Ada one to the right of Gens, wife Elvyra three to the right of Ada. 
Efraim Gens University documentation, 1933. Photo credit: Lithuanian Central State Archive 
Efraim Gens, German camp identification card stamped by U.S. army. 
President Bush and Ada Gens-Ustjanauskas meet with Lithuanian President Landsbergis in the Oval Office. U.S. participants include Lawrence Eagleburger, Brent Scowcroft, Robert Gates, and Nicholas Burns. 10 December 1990 Photo credit: George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum 
Vice President Quayle and Ada Gens-Ustjanauskas greet the crowd gathered outside their working lunch with Lithuanian President Landsbergis. 7 February 1992 Photo credit: George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum 
Vice President Quayle and Ada Gens-Ustjanauskas attend the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Lithuania. 7 February 1992 Photo credit: George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum 
Vice President Quayle addresses the Lithuanian people. 7 February 1992 Photo credit: George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum 
Vice President Quayle, President Landsbergis, and Ada Gens-Ustjanauskas (right side of photo) after addressing the Lithuanian people. 7 February 1992 Photo credit: Lithuanian Central State Archive