Petronėlė Serapinaitė-Čepulienė

Petronėlė Serapinaitė-Čepulienė (1924–?) was born in the village of Babrungėnai, Plateliai Rural District, Kretinga County. From 1935 to 1942, she studied at Plungė Gymnasium. In 1942, she applied for admission to the Dentistry Department at the Faculty of Medicine of Vytautas Magnus University, but her application was rejected. In 1943, she enrolled at the Agricultural Academy in Dotnuva, where she studied for one year. In 1945, she applied to study at the Dentistry Department of the Faculty of Medicine of Vilnius State University and was admitted. In 1949, by decision of the Mandates Commission, she was removed from the list of students. It was noted that the student’s father, Liudvikas Serapinas, was of “kulak” origin and was deported in 1948, and that her brother was a priest. Her personal file preserved in the archives of Vilnius University contains an application submitted in 1999, which states: “[…] a meeting of the University Komsomol activists was convened, and an ‘accusation’ was brought that my parents had been deported and my brother was a priest. The then Rector at the time, Bučas, stated that ‘not all children of kulaks need to complete higher education’. I had to leave the University.”