Unlike his younger brother, Nikodemas, we know only the barest outline of the life of Vytautas Skidzevičius.
He was born on 9 August 1924, 13 months ahead of Nikodemas and in the same place, in Alytus, Dzūkija, Lithuania. Presumably, he too attended Alytus primary school.
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| Vytautas Skidzevičius from his Bonegilla card |
The Arolsen Archives have two different American Expeditionary Force DP Registration Records for Vytautas. Insofar as the German-language handwriting on the one dated 1 February 1946 is legible, it appears to be saying that he arrived freely in Germany on 3 August 1944 in order to study. Soviet troops had captured Vilnius (part of Poland between the two World Wars) on 13 July 1944 and Lithuania's capital city, Kaunas, on 1 August 1944, so Vytautas’ move to Germany was timely.
Perhaps August 1944 was the month in which he left Lithuania rather than the month of arrival in Germany. That is because one of several documents which state that Vytautas reached Darmstadt through Kaffenberg in Austria has him spending ‘8.44 – 45’ there. Kaffenberg is likely to a spelling error for Kapfenberg.
One of these documents has him reaching Kapfenberg through Vienna, 150 Kilometres to the northeast and still near 2 hours driving in a modern car. It is possible that the route that Vytautas took to Darmstadt might be as complex as the one Jedda Barber’s father, Valentinas Dagys, took from Lithuania to Germany.
The earlier German records also show him as a student at the Technical High School in Darmstadt, but do not say what he was studying.
We can see that his usual occupation was ‘forester’ on the English-language American Expeditionary Force DP Registration Record, dated 3 September 1945.
Maybe 5 months before the opportunity to migrate to Australia came up, he wrote to the newspaper Naujienos with an interesting request. Rasa’s translation of his letter, which was published on 4 June 1947, says, “I am one of the many Lithuanian DPs in Germany. Having no relatives in America, I would like to correspond with American Lithuanians. Dear Editor, if there are no major obstacles, please place an ad about it in News. I will be forever grateful to you for that.” He included his full street address in the city of Darmstadt.
His selection papers for Australia, dated 14 October 1947, say that he had completed 6 years primary school plus 3 years of technical school to train as an electrical mechanic. He was one of many who had been applied from a DP camp in Hanau. Since we know he was living privately only a few months before, maybe he used the Hanau DP camp address to improve his chance of selection. Maybe he had been able to find accommodation in the Hanau camp because Nikodemas was there already.
He arrived in Australia with Nikodemas on the First Transport, the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman, and spent one month in the newly opened Bonegilla Reception and Training Centre. Then he was part of the group of 64 or 65 sent to work for South Australia’s Department of Engineering and Water Supply (E&WS). Their new home was under canvas at Bedford Park in close to primitive conditions, with more details here.
The work that they were expected to do was digging ditches for water pipes. At least they were not doing this under fire, like the Lithuanian and Latvian men digging trenches between the German and the Soviet forces during World War II.
The recent year of his life might explain why a drunken Vytautas punched an Adelaide policeman in the face and tried to choke him on 8 December 1950. The date just happened to be the third anniversary of his trip from the Kanimbla, berthed in Port Melbourne, to the Bonegilla camp.
On the following day, he wisely pleaded guilty to a charge of resisting arrest and was fined £11/10/– with £1/5/3 costs in addition. The Reserve Bank of Australia says that this punishment was the equivalent of around $785 in 2023. It looks like more than that, however, more like the equivalent of at least two weeks in wages.
Vytautas made good this mistake 4 years later, though, when he asked that a farewell presentation cheque for £3 be given to the Adelaide News’ Pound for Pensioners appeal. When acknowledged the following day, 2 November 1954, the amount actually was £3/3/-, known then as 3 guineas. Guineas were a monetary unit still in commercial use at the time.
The money had been collected by his colleagues at the Australasian United Paint Company, which he appeared to have left in a hurry. “Sudden disappearance” was the term he used …
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| Vytautas' generosity as reported in the Adelaide News of 1 November 1954 Source: Adelaide News in the NLA's Trove |
He received a certificate of naturalization as an Australian on 26 July 1956. We’ve noted already that this was more than 3 years before his younger brother, Nikodemas.
Until naturalization, the law treated him as an Alien who was required to register any change of employer or residential address. From that record we can see that he was one of those released from the contract to be employed as directed in Australia on the date specified by the Minister, 30 September 1949.
His next employer had been the “SAHB” of “PtAdel”, presumably the South Australian Harbour Board, for whom he worked in Port Adelaide. The following entry records his employment by the United Paint Company of Port Adelaide, but not a commencement date or departure date from the SAHB. It noted, however, that he was living in the inner Adelaide suburb of Wayville in April 1950 but had moved some 18 Km north-east to the coastal suburb of Semaphore in August 1952.
He stayed with the United Paint Company, as a labourer, through 3 more changes of residential address, until that “sudden disappearance” in November 1954. He then worked in the Print Office of the Adelaide News’ rival paper, the Advertiser, for a few months.
In April 1955, he advised that his employer now was General Motors Holden, of Woodville, an Adelaide suburb between Wayville and Semaphore. He had moved to a residence in the same suburb. Seven changes of residential address in just over 5 years suggest that he was a renter rather than someone who already owned his own home.
In all of his workplaces, his occupation is given as labourer. As senior staff of the E&WS complained, he appears to have been mismatched to possible employment, and from the beginning. Anyone with previous employment as a forester presumably would have been a much better fit with the Department of Woods and Forests South Australia, which Vaclavs Kozlovskis recorded as wanting 33 men. He would also have been a better fit with the various “not yet determined” employers in New South Wales, who turned out to be that State’s forestry department in various locations as well as sawmillers.
Voting is compulsory for Australian citizens, so we should be able to follow any changes in home address and occupation for Vytautas from July 1956. However, we have been unable to find him on digitised electoral rolls. We'll try some more digging after his naturalisation papers are digitised.
Rasa has found 3 newspaper articles about V. Skidzevičius taking to the stage. He is said, by Teviskes Aidai, to have been an actor in two short plays performed for the Adelaide Lithuanian Catholic Women's Society in June 1990. However, that was 7 years after his death, so clearly there has been a mistake in the reporting or editing.
The same newspaper had reported the appearance of V. Skidzevičius with the Adelaide Vaidila theatre group in 1978. It was commemorating the 45th anniversary of the flight across the Atlantic of Lithuanians Darius and Girėnas. If the actor was Vytautas, it would have been a one-off appearance. We think that it was another typographic error. Instead, it was much more likely to be Nikodemas presenting the Darius and Girėnas testament, and we have written as much in Nikodemas’ life story.
The third report appeared in the Canadian-Lithuanian newspaper, Teviskes Ziburiai, on 24 August 1978, two months after the Teviskes Aidai report. We suspect that Teviskes Ziburiai picked out the story from Teviskes Aidai and saw no need to factcheck.
Vytautas’ death on 26 May 1983 was notified in the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper. He was only 58 years old. Like his brother afterward, he was interred in the Catholic Section of the Centennial Park Cemetery in Adelaide.
SOURCES
Advertiser (1983) ‘Death Notices’, Adelaide, 28 May.
Arolsen Archives (1945) ‘Skidzevicius, Vytautas’ AEF (American Expeditionary Force) DP (Displaced Person) Record, 3 September 1945 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/69134315 accessed 22 February 2025.
Arolsen Archives (1946) ‘Skidzevicius, Vytautas’ AEF (American Expeditionary Force) DP (Displaced Person) Record, 1 February 1946 https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/69134314 accessed 22 February 2025.
Arolsen Archives (1947) ‘Registration of Foreigners and German Persecutees by Public Institutions, Social Securities and Companies (1939 - 1947) / 2.1 Implementation of Allied Forces’ Orders on Listing all Foreigners and German Persecutees, and Related Documents / 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany / 2.1.1.1 Lists of all persons of United Nations and other foreigners, German Jews and stateless persons; American Zone; Bavaria, Hesse (1) / 2.1.1.1 HE Documentation from Hesse / 2.1.1.1 HE 006 Documents from the rural district Darmstadt (SK) / 2.1.1.1 HE 006 LIT Nationality/origin of person listed : Lithuanian / 2.1.1.1 HE 006 LIT 2 Information on foreigners being locally registered (after the war) in the district Darmstadt (SK)’ 14 July https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/de/document/70305941 accessed 22 February 2025.
Arolsen Archives (nd) ‘2 Registration of Foreigners and German Persecutees by Public Institutions, Social Securities and Companies (1939 - 1947) / 2.1 Implementation of Allied Forces’ Orders on Listing all Foreigners and German Persecutees, and Related Documents / 2.1.1 American Zone of Occupation in Germany / 2.1.1.2 Lists of all persons of United Nations and other foreigners, German Jews and stateless persons; American Zone; Bavaria, Wurttemberg-Baden, Bremen (2) / Lists of names and correspondence pertaining to foreigners who were staying in Darmstadt’ https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/87796675?s=skidzevicius&t=2728209&p=0 accessed 28 February 2025.
Centennial Park, 'Results for" vytautas skidzevicius"' https://www.centennialpark.org/memorial-search/?surname=skidzevicius&firstname=vytautas accessed 1 March 2025.
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (1957) 'Certificates of Naturalization’, Canberra, 14 March, p 802 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232965688 accessed 20 February 2025.
National Archives of Australia: Department of Immigration, Central Office; A11772, Migrant Selection Documents for Displaced Persons who travelled to Australia per General Stuart Heintzelman departing Bremerhaven 30 October 1947, 1947-47; 657, SKIDZEVICIUS Vytautas DOB 9 August 1924, 1947-47; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5118083 accessed 22 February 2025.
National Archives of Australia, Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla [Victoria]; A2571, Name Index Cards, Migrants Registration [Bonegilla], 1947-56; SKIDZEVICIUS Vytautas : Year of Birth - 1924 : Nationality - LITHUANIAN : Travelled per - GEN. HEINTZELMAN : Number – 1031, 1947-48; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=203708786 accessed 22 February 2025.
National Archives of Australia, Department of Immigration, South Australia Branch; D4881, Alien registration cards, alphabetical series, 1946-76; SKIDZEVICIUS Vytautas - Nationality: Lithuanian - Arrived Fremantle per General Stuart Heintzelman 28 November 1947, 1947-56; https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=9210654 accessed 22 February 2025.
Naujienos [News](1947) ‘Nori Susirašinėti Amerikos Lietuviais’ [Wants to Correspond with American Lithuanians] Chicago, Illinois, 4 June, p 2, https://spauda.org/naujienos/archive/1947/1947-06-04-NAUJIENOS-i7-8.pdf accessed 22 February 2025.
News (1950) 'Tried to Choke Policeman ', Adelaide, 9 December, p 15, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130287711 accessed 22 February 2025.
News (1954) 'Happy Times at Xmas is Wish’ Adelaide, 1 November, p. 12 , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130976622 accessed 22 February 2025.
Pr P (1990) ‘Adelaidė, Šiupinys’ [Adelaide, Medley] Teviskes Aidai [The Echoes of Homeland] Melbourne, 3 July, p 8 https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1990/1990-07-03-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf accessed 21 February 2025.
Reserve Bank of Australia, ‘Pre-Decimal Inflation Calculator’ https://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html, accessed 22 February 2025.
Teviskes Ziburiai [The Lights of Homeland] (1978)'Lietuviai Pasaulyje, Australija' ['Lithuanians in the World, Australia'] Mississauga, Ontario, 24 August, p 4, https://spauda.org/teviskes_ziburiai/archive/1978/1978-08-24-TEVISKES-ZIBURIAI.pdf accessed 21 February 2025.
Vasiliauskas, J. (1978) ‘Gyvas Didvyrių Atminimas, Dariaus ir Girėno Minėjimas Adelaidėje’ [Living Memory of Heroes, Darius and Girėnas Commemoration in Adelaide], Teviskes Aidai, [The Echoes of Homeland] Melbourne, 22 June, p3, https://spauda2.org/teviskes_aidai/archive/1978/1978-nr28-TEVISKES-AIDAI.pdf accessed 22 February 2025.
