Our family’s story begins in 1903, in the small Lithuanian village of Ilgviečiai, where a Jewish boy named Jacob Gens was born to Wulf and Chaja Gens. His childhood unfolded during years of upheaval for both his family and his homeland. Lithuania was first occupied by the Russian Empire and later by Germany, and during this period thousands of Jews were expelled eastward into Russia. Jacob and his family lived in exile for several years before returning to Lithuania in 1918.
By 1920, as Lithuania fought to secure its independence, Jacob volunteered for the Lithuanian Army and attended Officers’ School. When independence was finally achieved later that year, Jacob had already begun a life defined by service. He worked as a teacher and later as an accountant, while continuing his military career and rising to the rank of Captain.
Family, Occupation, and War
In 1924, Jacob married Elvyra Budreikaitė, a Roman Catholic Lithuanian woman. Two years later, their daughter Ada was born.
The family made their home in Kaunas, Lithuania’s interwar capital, where they lived until the Soviet invasion in 1940. Under Soviet rule, Jacob was dismissed from his job and his assets were frozen. Seeking work, he moved to Vilnius, while Elvyra and Ada remained in Kaunas until Ada completed high school. In June of 1941, mother and daughter reunited with Jacob in Vilnius.
The Vilna Ghetto
Their reunion was short-lived. Within days, Nazi Germany occupied Lithuania and immediately began the systematic abduction and murder of Jews. Jacob survived the first wave of mass killings and was forced into the Vilna Ghetto when it was established in September 1941. He lived there with his mother Chaja, his brother Salomon, and other family members. Elvyra and Ada lived nearby in the gentile section of the city but visited the ghetto frequently. Ada, in particular, spent much of her time there, remaining deeply connected to her father.
The Judenrat—the council of Jewish elders in the ghetto—ultimately offered Jacob the position of Jewish Chief of Police. Despite an offer from a close friend in the Lithuanian army to hide Jacob, Elvyra, and Ada in the countryside, Jacob refused. He would not save himself while the rest of Lithuania’s Jews faced humiliation and death. He accepted the role, which required organizing daily ghetto life, overseeing the police force, serving as liaison with German authorities, and making impossible decisions under constant threat—including selections for German liquidations.
Jacob led the Vilna Ghetto until September 1943, when he was ordered to report to Gestapo headquarters following accusations that he was aiding Jewish partisan groups. Though warned that he would be executed and urged to flee, Jacob chose to report as ordered. He was murdered by the Gestapo.
War’s End and Survival
After his death, Ada and Elvyra were forced into hiding. For nearly two years, they survived under the protection of the Venclauskas family in the Lithuanian countryside. Between 1944 and 1945, the Soviet Army drove the Nazis out of Lithuania, liberating the country while once again imposing Soviet occupation. In 1945, Ada and Elvyra escaped—first to Poland, and then to Germany.
Rebuilding After the War
In Germany, Ada began working for the International Refugee Organization, helping displaced persons reunite with their families and resettle across the world. This work marked the beginning of her lifelong career in immigration and interpreting. It was there that she met Antanas Ustjanauskas, a fellow Lithuanian refugee who was also working for the organization.
In 1949, Ada, Antanas, and Elvyra emigrated to Australia, where Ada and Antanas married and started a family. Ada continued her work in immigration for the Australian government. In 1953, the family moved again—this time to the United States—settling in Hartford, Connecticut, where they would eventually raise six children.
A New Life in America
In the mid-1950s, Ada and Antanas opened an international food store and parcel agency. The business allowed immigrants to send food, clothing, and essential supplies to loved ones living under Soviet rule. These parcels were heavily monitored, frequently rejected, and subjected to exorbitant taxes by Soviet authorities. Many families depended on these shipments for survival, and when parcels were returned, they had to be resent immediately. Items from the parcels were often sold on the black market to provide desperately needed income.
Thousands of packages could sit in bureaucratic limbo for weeks or months, stalled by arbitrary Soviet demands. Antanas took on the exhausting task of corresponding directly with Soviet authorities to resolve these rejections, working tirelessly alongside Senator Thomas J. Dodd to advocate for the families affected. As demand grew, Ada and Antanas opened three additional parcel agencies in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Advocacy and Public Service
Committed to democratic values and Baltic independence, Antanas became politically active within the Lithuanian-American community. In 1960, he contacted Senator John F. Kennedy to offer assistance in mobilizing Lithuanian-American voters. Kennedy responded positively and forwarded Antanas’s information to the Democratic National Committee. While Antanas was appointed the Democratic Party’s representative among Connecticut Lithuanians, much of the campaign work took place in Chicago, where the couple promoted Kennedy through Lithuanian-language newspapers and radio. Kennedy’s support for Baltic independence resonated deeply. On April 28, 1961, President Kennedy remarked in Chicago, “If all of you had voted the other way—there’s about 5,500 of you here tonight—I would not be President of the United States.” In recognition of their efforts, Ada and Antanas were invited to Kennedy’s inauguration. In 1966, Antanas was appointed Campaign Coordinator for American Lithuanian Groups by DNC Chairman John M. Bailey.
In 1967, Ada and Antanas founded the Hundred Club of Connecticut, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the families of police officers, firefighters, and correction officers killed in the line of duty. Less than one month after its founding, Hartford Police Officer Harvey Young was killed while making an arrest. Antanas personally presented Officer Young’s widow with the organization’s first line-of-duty death benefit.
At the time, the club had only a handful of members. Their son Andrew proposed a solution and went door to door throughout Hartford, recruiting dues-paying members. His efforts were remarkably successful, and together father and son built a membership that included Vice President Hubert Humphrey, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Senator Thomas J. Dodd, Governor John Dempsey, boxer Gene Tunney, DNC Chairman John M. Bailey, and New Britain Mayor Paul Manafort.
In August 1972, Antanas passed away suddenly from a heart attack at the age of fifty-seven. Ada was left to carry on their work, manage the family businesses, and raise their six children—most of them teenagers at the time. She did so with the same resilience, sense of responsibility, and commitment to service that had shaped her family’s story across generations.
Ada’s career with the United States government 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, Ada helped thousands of immigrant families navigate complex immigration systems, assisted USCIS and other federal agencies, accompanied foreign dignitaries on official visits, and traveled internationally with American Presidents and Vice Presidents—including to Lithuania and the Baltic States.
In December of 1990 Ada Ustjanauskas had the honor of providing simultaneous interpretation for then President George H. W. Bush while meeting with Chairman of Lithuania Vytautas Landsbergis. This pivotal meeting, which was held in the Oval Office of the White House, involved Mr. Landsbergis requesting political protection from the United States during Lithuania’s quest for full fledged independence from the Soviet Union. Just over one year later, Ada accompanied Vice President Dan Quayle during his February 1992 visit to Vilnius. On this trip Vice President Quayle had several meetings with Lithuanian authorities and attended the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius. More importantly, Ada stood alongside Vice President Dan Quayle at Independence Square when he presented his eloquent speech congratulating the Lithuanian people in their long fought battle to regain their democracy. Delivering the translation of V.P. Quayle’s independence speech was the fulfillment of Ada’s lifelong dream. Half a century after her life was torn apart by the Soviet and Nazi regimes, Ada was once again standing on free Lithuanian soil, just as her parents did in 1918.
In 1994, Ada accompanied Lithuanian law enforcement officials to the United States, where they trained with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Serving as their official interpreter, she was required to learn the procedures herself in order to translate them accurately. This included assembling, disassembling, and firing weapons of all sizes and calibers. Ada was in her late sixties at the time. Several months later, she returned to Lithuania with U.S. officials to inspect airports and ensure that security procedures learned in America had been properly implemented.
When not traveling for government work, Ada could be found in her office at Cosmos International supermarket on Farmington Avenue in West Hartford, Connecticut. For decades, “Mrs. A” provided immigration services to families from across the world, including Yemen, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Somalia, Syria, and Afghanistan. The family’s Indian, Middle Eastern, and European market became a neighborhood institution, widely known for its warmth, service, and beloved made-from-scratch Indian dishes prepared by Chef Bennie.
Ada’s final government assignment came at the age of ninety, when she traveled to Alaska for the U.S. State Department to interpret for a Ukrainian citizen in prison.
Legacy and Mission
Today, at ninety-nine years old, Ada attends a senior program five days a week at Florida Atlantic University, where she enjoys yoga, exercise, painting, and discussions of current events. She is always willing to share her life story with those who wish to listen, and she hopes it will inspire others to live with humanity’s best interests in mind.
To honor Ada’s legacy—and to continue the values of service, responsibility, and moral courage that define our family—we founded the Gens Family Project.
