Arthur Pais

Arthur "Art" Pais, age 88 of Knoxville, passed away Wednesday, April 6, 2016. Born in Lithuania, he survived the Holocaust, before moving to the United States in 1946. Starting with a small furniture factory in Chicago, he built that business into three large mass production factories, and received many accolades for his leadership in that field. Art's true passion was his family. Later in life he spoke to groups as a Holocaust survivor and educator. Those who knew him will remember Art as a kind man with a strong work ethic and deep integrity. His family will remember him as a proud and loving husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather.

Art was preceded in death by his loving wife of 50 years Charlotte Greenberg Pais; brother Theodore Pais; sister Rose Gafanovitz; and second wife Miriam "Mimi" Pais. He is survived by his children: daughter Jeanne Pais, PhD and husband Charles Bernath of Roswell, GA; son, Bert Pais of Roswell, GA; son Dr. Ray Pais and wife Babyling of Knoxville, TN; and daughter Dr. Wendy Pais Baker and husband Dr. Michael Baker of Nashville, TN; grandchildren: Aryn and Matt Meehan, Sara and Matt Witherell, Abby Pais-Bernath, Andrew and Brittany Pais, Jacob Pais, Hannah Baker and Emily Baker; great grandchildren Rachael Meehan and Evan Meehan.

Funeral services will be held at 1:00 pm Sunday, April 10th at Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel with Rabbi Alon Ferency officiating. Interment to follow at New Jewish Cemetery. Immediately following the burial, Art's family will receive friends in the lounge at Sherrill Hills, 271 Moss Grove Blvd, Knoxville, TN 37922 from 3:00 – 5:00pm. Please join the family to share stories and memories. Shiva Minyan to follow at 5:00pm in Sherrill Hills Auditorium. Memorials in Art's name may be made to: The Tennessee Holocaust Commission, 2417 West End Ave, Nashville, TN 37203 or www.tennesseeholocaustcommission.org online condolences may be extended at www.rosemortuary.com - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/knoxnews/obituary.aspx?pid=1795499...

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/knoxnews/obituary.aspx?pid=179549974

Arthur “Art” Pais – age 88 of Knoxville, passed away Wednesday, April 6, 2016.

Born in Lithuania, he survived the Holocaust, before moving to the United States in 1946. Starting with a small furniture factory in Chicago, he built that business into three large mass production factories, and received many accolades for his leadership in that field.

Art’s true passion was his family. Later in life he spoke to groups as a Holocaust survivor and educator. Those who knew him will remember Art as a kind man with a strong work ethic and deep integrity.

His family will remember him as a proud and loving husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather. Art was preceded in death by his loving wife of 50 years Charlotte Greenberg Pais, brother Theodore Pais, sister Rose Gafanovitz, and second wife Miriam “Mimi” Pais.

Funeral services will be held at 1:00 pm Sunday, April 10th at Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel with Rabbi Alon Ferency officiating.Immediately following the burial, Art’s family will receive friends in the lounge at Sherrill Hills, 271 Moss Grove Blvd, Knoxville, TN 37922 from 3:00 – 5:00pm. Please join the family to share stories and memories. Shiva Minyan to follow at 5:00pm in Sherrill Hills Auditorium.

Interment to follow at New Jewish Cemetery.

Rose Mortuary

Burial: New Jewish Cemetery Knoxville Knox County Tennessee, USA

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Created by: Bob Nuchols Record added: Apr 09, 2016 Find A Grave Memorial# 160767212 http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=pais&GSfn=art...
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http://www.clubrunner.ca/CPrg/home/storyitem.asp?cid=2169&iid=121810

Arthur Pais, a survivor of the Kovno ghetto in Dachau, Germany, speaks about his experiences to the Rotary Club of West Knoxville.

Ed Campbell introduced our speaker for the day, Arthur Pais. Arthur was born in 1927 in Ukmerge, Lithuania. He immigrated to the United States after the end of WWII, earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, started a manufacturing business, sold it, started another business and sold it as well, and ultimately retired in 1990. Pais now spends his time doing consulting and charity work. He now lives in Knoxville and has 4 children, 7 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren.

Pais started his story with a bit of history about Lithuania, which had a prewar Jewish population of approximately 235,000. When Germany attacked Poland and divided it, Lithuania wound up with a Russian border and it in effect became a RussianRepublic. With this came the results typical of a Communist takeover, which were basically a takeover of everything including their culture. His father had a plow mill which was nationalized, and he thus became unemployed. His brother and sister were at the only university at the time, so his father moved there while Pais and his mother stayed behind at their house. The Communists took that over as well, leaving them with only a single room until they decided to move. Ultimately almost everyone in his town of approximately 4,500 was killed, and they survived only because they left. Pais was in a summer camp about 2 kilometers from the German border when Germany attacked Lithuania in June of 1941, and thus became a prisoner within the first few hours of the war. He was almost 14 at this time. He recalls an incident when a boy of about age 10 spoke out to a German guard and was shot immediately.

By early August, the Red Cross had gotten him back with his parents. There was an edict that all Jews had to move by August 15, 1941, into the Kovno ghetto (effectively a prison camp). On a daily basis, the Germans would take approximately 1,000 men out on work detail building airports and other such things. One day the German officials said they needed 500 workers for technical or clerical work. His brother and dad tried to get in, but were too late. they already had 501 people, so they were told to return to camp. The Germans took those 500 out and shot them all.

In October everyone was asked to assemble in the square. The guards randomly pointed to people and started separating them into two groups. They ultimately marched 10,000 of them outside. Pais recalls the sound of machine gun fire. This action became known as the Kaunas massacre, and was the largest mass murder of Lithuanian Jews perpetrated in the war.

He spoke of his sister who was a medical student and thus worked in the hospital. He told of one day when she was a bit late to work and the guards wouldn't let her in. Shortly thereafter, the Germans burned the hospital along with all doctors, nurses, and patients.

Most days the most able-bodied among them were taken out for some sort of work detail. He recalls another day when the Germans came in and killed all of the children and elders that were left behind.

By the end of October, the Germans reported having killed over 215,000 Jews, and the only reason they didn't kill the rest is that they needed workers. Most of the Jewish population of Lithuania was killed within the first few months of the war.

Pais worked in a supply room run by German civilians. He was tasked with stealing tires that were then sold on the black market. He also recalls a time when they were forced to dig up bodies of murdered civilians and burn them.

By 1944 they were told that they were being moved to a new work camp in Dachau. They were marched to a railroad track and loaded into a cattle car. They traveled for 2 or 3 days before they eventually stopped. The women and children were asked to leave, but only to be taken directly to the gas chambers. By that time there were only 5,000 of them left.

They were tasked with working on an underground facility. They worked 12 hour shifts, with 2 weeks of day shift and 2 weeks of night shift. Marching to and from work took nearly an hour per day. Their daily ration was a piece of bread and a ladle of watery soup. Within 1 month, they started having nearly 35 to 45 of them dying per day of starvation. A dentist among them had the job of removing the gold from the teeth of the dead. There were approximately 2,000 in this camp, but the attrition rate was very high. New people kept coming in, but hunger and starvation was a huge problem.

When they started hearing rumors about the advance of the American army, the Germans evacuated the camp forcing the prisoners on a death march. They were marched for 4 days into the Bavarian Alps. On May 2, 1945, after sleeping in the woods, they awoke to find the German guards had fled. They were liberated. Later, the American army brought them to Munich which at that time was run by the United Nations. It was there that he was reunited with his father. He later learned that his mother, who had been stricken with cancer while held in the prison camps, had lived long enough to be liberated but who passed away only a month afterwards. She did get to see her family home one last time and was able to be given a proper burial. Arthur says that he was very grateful for this, but "what a thing to be grateful for."

In Munich Arthur asked for and received a job, which allowed him to get food and clothing. He wanted to learn English, and did so by conversion with American soldiers learning what he called "GI English". He ultimately immigrated to the United States, obtained a GED, and then attended college where he earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. He got married at age 20, and started raising a family. Soon thereafter, he started a business in Chicago. As the company grew, ultimately to over 400 employees, he built a small plant in Morristown. He moved there in 1963 and started several other companies. In 1977 Pais sold the companies and moved to Knoxville. He started another business with a German company in 1983 and built another plant in Morristown. Asked how he could work with a German company after what he had been through, Pais said that "this guy was only 6 years old at the time", and couldn't reasonably be held responsible for anything that happened. He was also asked later if he ever returned to Lithuania. To this he said "No". These people had been their neighbors and friends, and many of them (the non-Jews) ended up being involved in the killing. In the end, less than 5 percent of the Lithuanian Jews lived through the war.

Turner Howard asked Pais if Post Traumatic Stress Disorder had affected him in any way. In an answer very characteristic of Pais, he said "No. you just have to let it go. You can't carry it with you."

Afterwards, Pais' current wife Mimi spoke briefly. She told of what an extraordinary person Arthur is, and of how he has become a person of culture. He didn't let the events of his past ruin his life, and she cautions us all not to let hate run our lives.

http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kovno/kovno_pages/kovno_stories_p...

Arthur Pais Picture; Arthurs' family before the war

Taken from; http://www.tennesseeholocaustcommission.org/livingon/biographies/de... Knoxville, Tennessee Born: 1927 Ukmerge, Lithuania Survivor: Kovno ghetto, Dachau Concentration Camp

"My sister carried my mother through the death march.[My mother] died one month after liberation...we were very grateful to know that she was buried. What a thing to be grateful for," says Arthur Pais, who was among the ten percent of Lithuanian Jewry to survive the Holocaust.

Pushed into the Kovno ghetto after his town was destroyed, Arthur remembers, "German soldiers came in during a workday and took all the children and older people and shot them." Those who remained were loaded into boxcars. When the train stopped, Arthur's mother and sister were rerouted to Stutthof, a concentration camp in Poland. Arthur says of the last time he saw his mother, "My only memory of that day is of her crying." Arthur, his father, and his brother were sent to Dachau.

After working fifteen-hour shifts for weeks on end and surviving on watery soup and a daily slice of moldy bread, the inmates at Dachau heard rumors about the advance of the American Army. The Germans evacuated the camp, forcing the prisoners into a death march. Arthur's father, too weak to move on, stayed behind.

Starving, exhausted, and ill, Arthur and his brother pressed on toward the Bavarian Alps. When they awoke one May morning, they discovered that the guards had fled. They wandered to the nearest town. A few days later, American troops took them to Munich. It was there that Arthur found his father, just barely alive, and learned that his mother had at least lived long enough to see her home once again.

http://tennesseeholocaustcommission.org/bio.php?id=52

 Knoxville, Tennessee Born: 1927 Ukmerge, Lithuania  Survivor : Kovno ghetto, Dachau Concentration Camp “My sister carried my mother through the death march.[My mother] died one month after liberation...we were very grateful to know that she was buried. What a thing to be grateful for,“ says Arthur Pais, who was among the ten percent of Lithuanian Jewry to survive the Holocaust. 

Pushed into the Kovno ghetto after his town was destroyed, Arthur remembers, “German soldiers came in during a workday and took all the children and older people and shot them.“ Those who remained were loaded into boxcars. When the train stopped, Arthur's mother and sister were rerouted to Stutthof, a concentration camp in Poland. Arthur says of the last time he saw his mother, “My only memory of that day is of her crying.“ Arthur, his father, and his brother were sent to Dachau.

After working fifteen-hour shifts for weeks on end and surviving on watery soup and a daily slice of moldy bread, the inmates at Dachau heard rumors about the advance of the American Army. The Germans evacuated the camp, forcing the prisoners into a death march. Arthur's father, too weak to move on, stayed behind.

Starving, exhausted, and ill, Arthur and his brother pressed on toward the Bavarian Alps. When they awoke one May morning, they discovered that the guards had fled. They wandered to the nearest town. A few days later, American troops took them to Munich. It was there that Arthur found his father, just barely alive, and learned that his mother had at least lived long enough to see her home once again.

http://www.clevelandstatecc.edu/news.asp?ID=84

CLEVELAND, TN. – Cleveland State Community College has invited Holocaust Survivor Arthur Pais of Knoxville to speak on Friday, April 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the Cleveland Country Club. This event is sponsored by the CSCC Human Services/Social Work and History Departments.

           Born in 1927 in Ukmerge, Lithuania, Pais is a survivor of the Kovno ghetto, Dachau Concentration Camp. Pais was among the ten percent of Lithuanian Jewry to survive the Holocaust. Pushed into the Kovno ghetto after his town was destroyed, Pais remembers, “German soldiers came in during a workday and took all the children and older people and shot them.” Those who remained were loaded into boxcars. When the train stopped, Pais’ mother and sister were rerouted to Stutthof, a concentration camp in Poland. Pais says of the last time he saw his mother, “My only memory of that day is of her crying.” Pais said his sister carried his mother through the death march, but she died one month after liberation. “We were grateful to know that she was buried. What a thing to be grateful for.” Pais later learned his mother had at least lived long enough to see her home once again. Tickets for the speaking engagement will be sold at the CSCC Business Office on Wednesday, March 19 until Monday, April 7. Office hours are Monday-Thursdays, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Fridays from 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (closed Friday, March 21) The cost for adults is $20.00 and the cost for students is $15.00. The price includes dinner. For more information on Arthur Pais, please contact Jana Pankey at (423) 472-7141, ext. 438. 

http://www.clevelandstatecc.edu/news.asp?ID=96

CLEVELAND, TN. – Holocaust Survivor Arthur Pais of Knoxville recently spoke at the Cleveland Country Club. Approximately 130 people attended the event, sponsored by the CSCC Human Services/Social Work and History Departments.

           Pais was born and raised in Ukmerge, Lithuania. During the Second World War, he spent four years in the German Concentration Camps. He came to the United States in 1946, when he was 18 years old.  He lived in Chicago and attended night school, earning his degree in Mechanical Engineering. He started a manufacturing company in Chicago in 1949 and in 1963, he started several industries in Morristown, TN. He introduced new technologies and soon had over 400 employees. He sold the company and built a new plant as a joint venture with a German company that introduced new products to the wood working industry. He retired in 1990 and has been doing volunteer work and consulting since. He is currently a volunteer counselor at SCORE, a business that specializes in business startups. He speaks often to schools and church groups about his experience during the Holocaust. 

           Pais is a survivor of the Kovno ghetto, Dachau Concentration Camp. Pais was among the ten percent of Lithuanian Jewry to survive the Holocaust. Pushed into the Kovno ghetto after his town was destroyed, Pais remembers, “German soldiers came in during a workday and took all the children and older people and shot them.” Those who remained were loaded into boxcars. When the train stopped, Pais’ mother and sister were rerouted to Stutthof, a concentration camp in Poland. Pais says of the last time he saw his mother, “My only memory of that day is of her crying.” Pais said his sister carried his mother through the death march, but she died one month after liberation. “We were grateful to know that she was buried. What a thing to be grateful for.” Pais later learned his mother had at least lived long enough to see her home once again.

           Pais stated that when he moved into the ghetto, he had to leave behind all of his cherished possessions, like his stamp collection and his violin, noting that was when he stopped playing the violin. Also, in the ghetto, he was only allowed approximately 200-250 calories per day, basically ¼ of a piece of bread and a very small ladle of liquid. Because of these extreme conditions, approximately 25-30 people died per day of starvation. Thinking back on this experience, he said he can remember that his hair did not grow because he was starving. He also said he remembers thinking to himself, “If I get out of here, I’m going to eat an entire loaf of bread by myself.”

           After Pais was finished speaking, his wife, Mimi, stood up and spoke about her husband’s character. “I do have to tell you, he is a man of great humility and he doesn’t like to talk about the things that, in my eyes, make him a hero. On the last death march they were on, where they were going to kill all of the people that were on that march, his brother said to him, ‘I can’t walk anymore.’ and Arthur knew that if his brother laid down, then the Germans would shoot him. So, my husband, starving and emaciated, carried him until they got to the town that night, and the Germans moved on that next morning. So, he really saved his brother’s life, who by the way, was 12 years older. Then, he also took care of his father. He did all of this and he was just a youngster. He survived things that no person should ever have to live through and all because of hate.” 

When asked if he would return to Lithuania, Pais replied, “No. I would never step foot in that country again. Those were my family and my friends that I lost there. I have no desire to return.” Arthur and his wife, Mimi currently reside in Knoxville. They have four children, seven grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.