Emīlija Gajevska worked in Riga (Latvia) as a housekeeper for the Jewish lawyer Andrzej Blankenstein. She met the Jewish Löwenstein family through him.
Soon after the Wehrmacht occupied Latvia in June 1941, Emīlija Gajevska’s Jewish employer was arrested. Gajevska, who was not married, got by on occasional work. As a Catholic, she regarded it as her duty to help persecuted Jews, despite the risk of severe punishments. Emīlija Gajevska arranged a series of hiding places, mainly through the Riga Baptist community, for her acquaintance Valentīna Freimane (née Löwenstein). Along with her sister Marija Karčevska and brother-in-law Juzefs Karčevskis, Emīlija Gajevska provided food and shelter for the Jewish Šefere family.
Emīlija Gajevska was honored by the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Center Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations in 1994.
Emīlija Gajevska with her niece, Riga, 1930s. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
