Magdalena Serapinaitė-Ignotienė

Magdalena Serapinaitė-Ignotienė (1927–2017) was born in the village of Babrungėnai, Plateliai Rural District, Kretinga County. In 1947, she enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine at Vilnius State University. Magdalena’s parents, Petronėlė Serapinienė and Liudvikas Serapinas, together with one of her sisters – Adelė, were deported from Babrungėnai to Buryatia-Mongolia in 1948. The deportation officers did not find the other daughters, Magdalena and Petronėlė  Serapinaitė, as they were studying in Vilnius. After learning in their university dormitory that they too were to be deported, they fled. Magdalena Serapinaitė moved away from Vilnius, hoping she would not be found. On 18 April 1949, by Order No. 706 and on the basis of a decision of the Mandates Commission, she was removed from the list of students. In 1949, she began working as a chemistry teacher at Laukuva Secondary School (Šilalė District). She stayed in Laukuva for two academic years. During her second year there, she realised that she was being monitored by state security officers and left Laukuva. From 1951 to 1953, she worked at Švėkšna “Saulės” Gymnasium. After her husband Petras Ignotas was arrested in 1953, and upon learning that her parents had been deported to Buryatia-Mongolia and that she herself was considered the daughter of a “kulak”, she was dismissed from her position.
After her husband returned, she moved to Klaipėda, where she studied at Klaipėda Medical School from 1953 to 1955.