Her father—then a Captain in the Lithuanian Army—was dismissed from his position, and his bank accounts were frozen by the Soviet regime. The forced Russification of Lithuania profoundly altered daily life, yet it did not diminish Ada’s love for her homeland or her heritage. Nor did that love fade when Nazi Germany occupied Lithuania in June 1941.

Life in and Around the Vilna Ghetto

In September 1941, Ada’s father was appointed Chief of Police of the Vilna Ghetto by the Jewish council of elders. Jacob lived inside the ghetto with his Jewish family members, while Ada and her mother lived nearby in the gentile section of the city. Ada visited the ghetto frequently and spent much of her time there, maintaining close relationships with her father, grandmother, aunt, uncle, and many Jewish friends. She became her father’s confidant and, together with her mother, provided him with vital moral support.

Jacob trusted Ada completely, but he understood the danger she faced. Because she knew sensitive information, fifteen-year-old Ada carried a cyanide pill in case she was captured and tortured—so she would not be forced to betray the ghetto and those inside it.

Ada, Elvyra, and Jacob often spoke about the importance of preserving cultural life within the ghetto. Jacob believed that theater, music, and art could provide employment for artists and restore a measure of dignity to those imprisoned there. To ensure that ghetto theater productions met the professional standards of performances in Vilnius, Ada attended theatrical productions in the city, including Man Under the Bridge. She carefully observed staging, sketched costumes and sets, and took detailed notes so that the ghetto theater could recreate them—“so that the Jewish production was not worse than the production in Vilnius.”
— United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Interview with Ada Ustjanauskas (2008)

Many Jews in the Vilna Ghetto worked in factories and workshops outside the ghetto, allowing them to smuggle food and supplies back inside upon returning from work. Although the gates were guarded by Jewish police, random inspections were conducted by SS-Oberscharführer Franz Murer—known among Jews as the “Butcher of Vilnius.” Anyone caught smuggling food could be executed on the spot. When Murer appeared at the gate, Ada and Elvyra walked alongside the returning workers and whispered warnings—“Murer at the gate”—prompting workers to drop contraband in the street before passing safely inside.

Flight and Survival During the War

On September 14, 1943, Jacob Gens was summoned to the Gestapo and executed, partly for aiding Jewish partisan groups in the ghetto. Ada and Elvyra were warned by one of Jacob’s assistants to disappear immediately. With extraordinary luck, they escaped to Šiauliai, where the Venclauskas family offered them sanctuary. After nearly two years in hiding, Ada and Elvyra survived the German occupation and reunited with surviving family members in Kaunas.

They soon fled Soviet-occupied Lithuania, first to Poland and eventually to Germany. While there, Ada attended the Nuremberg War Trials for two days. Years later, she reflected on that experience:
“I saw the criminal element who ruined my life, who ruined my mother’s life, who killed my father, who killed millions of people… I figured that justice was done and they deserved it.”
— United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Interview with Ada Ustjanauskas (2008)

Post-War Immigration Work in Europe

In Germany, Ada found work with the International Refugee Organization. Fluent in seven languages, she helped displaced persons reunite with their families and immigrate to new countries. This marked the beginning of a career in immigration and interpretation that would span seven decades. It was also in Germany that she met her future husband, Antanas Ustjanauskas. The two later moved to Australia, where they married and became active in Lithuanian organizations advocating for their homeland’s independence.

Life in the United States

In 1953, Ada, Antanas, and her mother Elvyra immigrated to the United States. Though they built a new life in America, Lithuania never left them. After years of work and while raising six children, Ada and Antanas opened a parcel agency in Hartford, Connecticut. Their business specialized in sending food and clothing to families living behind the Iron Curtain, including in Lithuania. As demand grew, they opened three additional locations in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

The couple worked closely with the U.S. government to address Soviet interference with parcel delivery, using every opportunity to educate American officials about Lithuanian democracy and Soviet repression. In 1967, Ada and Antanas founded the Hundred Club of Connecticut, a nonprofit organization that provides funeral expenses, tuition, and financial assistance to the families of police officers, firefighters, and correction officers killed in the line of duty.

Ada and Antanas also played a role in John F. Kennedy’s 1960 presidential election. They worked with the Democratic Party to place advertisements on Lithuanian radio programs and in Lithuanian-language newspapers throughout Illinois, urging voters to support Kennedy for his commitment to Baltic independence. As a result of these efforts, Antanas was appointed Campaign Coordinator for American Lithuanian Groups by John M. Bailey, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Government Career and National Service

Ada’s career with the U.S. government formally began in the 1970s. She worked for the Office of Special Investigations, interpreting for Nazi war criminals including Bruno Kaminskas and Feodor Fedorenko. Over the decades, she assisted thousands of immigrant families with complex USCIS and federal paperwork, accompanied foreign dignitaries on official visits, and traveled internationally with American Presidents and Vice Presidents, including to Lithuania and the Baltic States.

In December 1990, Ada provided simultaneous translation during a pivotal Oval Office meeting between George H. W. Bush and Vytautas Landsbergis, who was seeking U.S. political protection as Lithuania fought to reclaim full independence from the Soviet Union. In February 1992, Ada accompanied Dan Quayle to Vilnius, where she stood beside him in Independence Square as he delivered a speech congratulating the Lithuanian people on regaining their democracy. Translating that speech fulfilled Ada’s lifelong dream. Half a century after her life had been torn apart by Nazi and Soviet regimes, she stood once again on free Lithuanian soil—just as her parents had in 1918.

In 1994, Ada accompanied Lithuanian law enforcement officials to the United States for training with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Serving as their official interpreter required her to learn the procedures herself, including assembling, disassembling, and firing weapons of all sizes and calibers. Ada was in her late sixties. Several months later, she returned to Lithuania with U.S. officials to inspect airports and ensure that the security measures taught in America had been properly implemented.

Ada continued her work for the U.S. government until the age of ninety. Today, at ninety-nine, she has outlived both totalitarian regimes that sought to destroy her family, her country, and her democratic spirit. Her life stands as a testament to the values Lithuania holds dear—values shared with the American people for centuries, despite sustained efforts to suppress Lithuanian language, culture, and independence.