Kipras Petrauskas (November 23, 1885 as Ciprijonas Petrauskas – January 17, 1968) was a Lithuanian operatic tenor (created around 80 roles), professor, and Lithuanian Association of Artists member. The national opera foundation is associated with him. He was married to
Elena Žalinkevičaitė-Petrauskienė
Elena Žalinkevičaitė-Petrauskienė (September 23, 1900 – May 23, 1986) was a Lithuanian actress and writer. She was also the Lithuanian tenor Kipras Petrauskas's wife. In 1942, her husband was asked to hide a Jewish baby girl, Dana Pomeran ...
.
In 1942, he was asked to hide a Jewish baby girl, Dana Pomeranz, which he and his wife agreed to do.
To hide the girl better, he and his wife left the city, moving first to a Lithuanian village, and later to Austria and then Germany.
In 1947, they came back to Lithuania, found Dana's parents, and gave her back to them.
In 1999, Petrauskas and his wife were recognized by
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
as two of the
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...
.
Kipras Petrauskas made his first recordings for Vox (Berlin 1922), then Odeon (1926 and 1928) and finally Columbia (Vilnius, ca. 1933).
Gallery
File:Kipras Petrauskas ir Mikas Petrauskas.jpg, Kipras Petrauskas with his brother Mikas Petrauskas in the 1930s
File:Kipras Petrauskas 2.jpg, Petrauskas performing the Teuton role
File:Kaunas, , memorialinė lenta (M. ir K. Petrauskai).JPG, Memorial plaque to brothers Kipras and Mikas Petrauskas in Kaunas
Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...
, Lithuania
References
* Rainer E. Lotz, Axel Weggen, Oliver Wurl und Christian Zwarg: Discographie der deutschen Gesangsaufnahmen Band 4, Birgit Lotz Verlag, Bonn 2005
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrauskas, Kipras
1885 births
1968 deaths
20th-century Lithuanian male singers
20th-century male opera singers
Lithuanian opera singers
Lithuanian Righteous Among the Nations
Lithuanian tenors
Operatic tenors
Burials at Rasos Cemetery