Stumbling Stones, a series of stories by LRT RADIO, pays tribute to some of the most accomplished Litvaks born in Lithuania.
The twin brothers Dovydas Ilgovskis and Gedalis Ilgovskis were the biggest construction tycoons of interwar Lithuania.
The company they founded in 1921 built some of the most iconic buildings in Kaunas, the then capital of Lithuania, and across the country.
The two Ilgovskis were so influential that the Kaunas society would often joke: “Lithuania is being run by the Chodakauskaitė sisters and the Ilgovskis brothers” – comparing them to the wives of the country's president and prime minister.
The Ilgovskis' company was responsible for Vytautas Magnus University Clinics, the Palace of Agriculture, the Military Museum of Vytautas the Great and the headquarters of the Pažanga company, an icon of Kaunas modernist architecture.
The company also took on complex engineering projects that, according to contemporary press, would usually be entrusted to foreign contractors.
The Ilgovskis built the first highways in the regions of Kaunas, Šiauliai, Alytus and Marijampolė. They are also responsible for Pavenčiai sugar factory and two bridges across the Nemunas river, in Kaunas and Alytus.
In 1932, the brothers built a residence for themselves worthy of their status. The four-story modern building on Donelaičio Street housed their company's offices on the ground floor and Ilgovskis' private apartments on the first floor. Five other luxurious flats were rented out.
Rent for a four-room apartment was about 400 litas a month, a steep price at the time, equivalent to over 2,000 euros today.
Eventually, only Gedalis Ilgovskis stayed in charge of the construction business, as his brother Dovydas left for Palestine.
Following Lithuania's occupation by the Soviet Union at the onset of World War Two, Gedalis and his family were exiled to the Altai region in Russia's Siberia.
Read more:
Stumbling stones. Litvak novelist campaigning for Lithuanians who saved Jews
Stumbling stones. Danielius Dolskis, Lithuania's first king of Schlager music
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