Holocaust in Latvia
Encyclopedia
The Holocaust in Latvia refers to the Nazi crime
s during the occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany
.
The German army crossed the Soviet frontier early in the morning on Sunday, June 22, 1941, on a broad front from the Baltic Sea
to Hungary
. The German army advanced quickly through Lithuania
towards Daugavpils and other strategic points in Latvia. The Nazi police state included an organization called the Security Service (German: Sicherheitsdienst
), generally referred to as the SD, and its headquarters in Berlin
was known as the National (or Reich) Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt), known by its initial RSHA.
. The name of these units was a euphemism
, as their real purpose was to kill large numbers of people whom the Nazis regarded as "undesirable". These included Communists, Gypsies, the mentally ill, and, especially, Jews. The Einsatzgruppen followed closely behind the German invasion forces, and established a presence in Latvia within days, and sometimes hours, of the occupation of a given area of the country by the German Wehrmacht
.
The SD in Latvia can be distinguished in photographs and descriptions by their uniforms. The full black of the Nazi SS
was seldom worn, instead the usual attire was the gray Wehrmacht uniform with black accents. They wore the SD patch on the left sleeve, a yellowish shirt, and the Death's Head (Totenkopf
) symbol on their caps. The SD ranks were identical to the SS. The SD did not wear the SS lightning rune symbol on their right collar tabs, but replaced it with either the Totenkopf or the letters "SD".
The SD first established its power in Latvia through Einsatzgruppe A, which was subdivided into units called Einsatzkommandos 1a, 1b, 2 and 3.
As the front line moved further east, Einsatzgruppe A moved out of Latvia, remaining in the country only a few weeks, after which its functions were taken over by the "resident" SD, under the authority of the Kommandant der Sicherheitspolizei un SD, generally referred to by the German initials of KdS. The KdS took orders both from RSHA in Berlin and from another official called the Befehlshaber (commander) der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, or BdS. Both the KdS and the BdS were subordinate to another official called the Ranking (or Higher) SS and Police Commander (Höherer SS-und Polizeiführer), or HPSSF. The lines of authority were overlapping and ambiguous. The eastern part of Latvia, including Daugavpils and the Latgale region, was assigned to Einsatzkommandos 1b (EK 1b) and 3 (EK 3). EK 1b had about 50 to 60 men and was commanded by Erich Ehrlinger
.
In Latvia
the Holocaust started on the night of June 23 to June 24, 1941, when in the Grobiņa
cemetery SD
murderers killed six local Jews, including the town chemist
. On the following days 35 Jews were exterminated in Durbe
, Priekule
and Asīte. On June 29 the Nazi invaders started forming the first Latvian SD auxiliary unit
in Jelgava
. Mārtiņš Vagulāns, member of the Pērkonkrusts
organisation, was chosen to head it. In the summer of 1941, 300 men in the unit took part in the extermination of about 2000 Jews in Jelgava and other places in Zemgale. The killing was supervised by the officers of the German SD Rudolf Batz
and Alfred Becu, who involved the SS people of the Einsatzgruppe in the action. The main Jelgava Synagogue was burnt down through their joint effort. After the invasion of Riga
Walter Stahlecker, assisted by the members of Pērkonkrusts and other local collaborationists, organised the pogrom
of Jews in the capital of Latvia. Viktors Arājs
, aged 31 at the time, former member of Pērkonkrusts and a member of a student fraternity, was appointed direct executor
of the action. He was an idle eternal student who was supported by his wife, a rich shop owner, who was ten years older than he was. Arājs had worked in the Latvian Police for a certain period of time. He stood out with his power-hungry and extreme thinking. The man was well fed, well dressed, and "with his student's hat proudly cocked on one ear".
started to form his armed unit of men who were responding to the appeal of Pērkonkrusts to take arms and to clear Latvia of Jews and communists. In the beginning the unit mainly included members of different student fraternities, while later on many degraded and degenerate individuals also joined. In 1941 altogether about 300 men had applied. The closest assistants of Viktors Arājs included Konstantīns Kaķis, Alfrēds Dikmanis, Boris Kinsler, and Herberts Cukurs
. On the night of July 3, Arājs Kommando started arrest
ing, beating
and rob
bing the Riga Jews. On July 4, the choral synagogue at Gogoļa Street was burnt, and thereafter, the synagogues at Maskavas and Stabu Streets. Many Jews were killed during those days, including the refugees from Lithuania
. In carts and blue buses the murderers of Arājs Commando went to different places in Courland
, Zemgale and Vidzeme
, killing thousands of Jews there.
These killings were supposed to serve as an example to other anti-Semitic supporters of the Nazi invaders. Individual Latvian Selbstschutz
units were also involved in the extermination of Jews. In the district of Ilūkste
, for instance, Jews were killed by the Selbstschutz death unit of commander Oskars Baltmanis, which consisted of 20 cold-blooded murderers. All killings were supervised by the officers of the German SS and SD. In July 1941 the mass killing of Riga Jews took place in the Biķernieku Forest. About 4000 people died there. The executions were headed by Sturmbannführer
s (majors) H. Barth, R. Batz, and the newly-appointed chief of the Riga SD Rudolf Lange
.
d of the rights that were enjoyed by the other citizens of Latvia. Jews were strictly forbidden to leave their homes in the evening, at night and in the morning. They were allotted lower food rations, they could only shop in some special stores, and they had to wear the mark of recognition - the yellow Star of David
on their clothes. It was forbidden for them to attend places where public events took place, including cinema
s, athletic fields and park
s. They were not allowed to use train
s and tram
s, to go to bath-house
s, use pavements, attend libraries and museum
s or to go to school
s, and they had to hand over bicycle
s and radio
s. Jewish doctor
s were only allowed to advise and treat Jews, and they were forbidden to run pharmacies. Maximum norm
s for furniture
, clothes and linen
were also soon introduced for Jews. All articles above the norm were subject to confiscation
for the needs of the Reich
. All jewelry, securities, gold
and silver
coin
s had to be handed over without delay. Many things were usurped by German officials and their local servants. Anti-Semitism
became the source of their enrichment. The above misers were directly interested in the extermination of Jews. This guaranteed that nobody would demand back the stolen items.
the first mass killing of Jews took place on July 3 and 4, when about 400 people were shot dead, and on July 8 when 300 Jews were killed. The German group of SD and policemen did the shooting, while the members of Latvian Selbstschutz convoy
ed victims to the killing site. On July 13 the destroying of the large choral synagogue of Liepāja began. The rolls of the Scripture were spread on the Ugunsdzēsēju Square, and the Jews were forced to march across their sacred things, with watchers merrily laughing at the amusing scene. The above operations took place under the direct leadership of Erhard Grauel, commander of the Einsatzgruppe's Sonderkommando
.
. The killings were jointly carried out by German Ordnungspolizei
and the men of the local Selbstschutz. On July 16-July 18, 300 people were shot dead in the Kaziņu Forest. In July-August the remaining 700 Jews of the town were shot dead, while the Jews of the region were killed in the autumn. The shooting was carried out by German, Latvian and Estonian SD men who had arrived by ship. Soon a poster appeared on the Kuldīga
-Ventspils highway, which said that Ventspils was Judenfrei
(free of Jews).
the extermination of Jews was initially commanded by Erich Ehrlinger
, chief of Einsatzkommando 1b. By July 11 they had killed about 1150 people. Ehrlinger's work was continued by Joachim Hamann, who was liable for the killing of 9012 Jews in the city and in southern Latgale
. The chief of the local auxiliary police
Roberts Blūzmanis had rendered active assistance by ensuring the moving of the Jews to the Grīva
ghetto and transporting them to the killing places.
killings were carried out by a German SD group, which was helped by Selbstschutz men and Arājs murderers. About 2500 people were exterminated. By October 1941, altogether about 35,000 Latvian Jews
were killed.
On July 27, 1941, State Commissar (Reichskommissar
) Hinrich Lohse
(earlier Gauleiter
of Schleswig-Holstein
), ruler of the Baltic
lands and Belarus
or Ostland
as the territory was called by the invaders - made his guidelines on Jewish question
public. Jews, in his opinion, had to be used as a cheap labour force by paying them minimum wages or by providing them with a minimum food ration - with whatever may be left over after supplying the indigenous Aryan
population. In order to govern the Jews they had to be moved to special areas where ghettos would be arranged and they would be forbidden to leave the area. Walter Stahlecker protested against the idea of Hinrich Lohse and demanded that the extermination of the Jews be continued. Berlin
, however, passed the power to the civil administration of occupation force and it did things its own way. The area of the Latgale Suburbs in Riga
was chosen for the Riga Ghetto. It was mainly inhabited by poor people: Jews, Russians and Belarusians. The ghetto bordered on Maskavas, Vitebskas, Ebreju (Jewish), Līksnas, Lauvas, Lazdonas, Lielā Kalnu, Katoļu, Jēkabpils and Lāčplēša Streets. About 7000 non-Jews were moved from there to other flats in Riga. More than 23,000 Riga Jews were ordered to move to the territory of the ghetto. There now were more than 29,000 inmates in the ghetto, including those who had already previously resided there. The Jewish Council was formed within the ghetto, which was assigned the task of regulating social life. The Jewish police force for the maintenance of order formed there. It consisted of 80 men armed with sticks and rubber
truncheon
s. The ghetto was enclosed by a barbed-wire fence. Wooden barriers (logs) were placed on the main streets at the entrance, and the Latvian police were stationed as guards there. Jews were allowed to leave the ghetto only in work columns and in the accompaniment of guards. Individual Jewish specialists could come and go by displaying a special yellow ID. Leaving independently was severely punished.
In the ghetto the Jews were very crowded: 3-4 square metres were allotted per person. There was also great poverty
, as food rations were given only to those who worked, i.e. to about a half of the ghetto inmates. They had to maintain their 5652 children
and 8300 elderly and disabled people. The ghetto only had 16 groceries, a pharmacy
and a laundry
, and a hospital
was arranged, which was headed by Professor
Vladimir Mintz, a surgeon
. The Council of the ghetto was situated in the former Jewish school building at 141 Lāčplēša Street. The historian Marģers Vestermanis writes: "The members of the Jewish Council, including the lawyers D. Elyashev, M. Mintz and Iliya Yevelson, and their volunteer assistants did all they could to somehow relieve general suffering." Jewish policemen, too, tried to somehow protect their fellowmen. The inmates strived to preserve themselves, and there was even an illusion of survival. A resistance group was formed that bought weapons.
was set up in Grīva at the end of July, 1941, when all surviving Jews in the city were moved there. Jews from other towns and villages of Latgale and even Vidzeme were also brought there. Altogether the ghetto had about 15,000 prisoners. The engineer Misha Movshenson ran the Council of the ghetto. His father had headed the city of Daugavpils in 1918 during the previous period of German occupation.
On December 4, 1941, Hinrich Lohse
issued a decree which stated:
Although Lohse's name was on the order, it was actually issued at the behest of Bruno Jedicke, the Ordnungspolizei
chief in the Baltic States
. Jedicke in turn was subordinate to Friedrich Jeckeln
, the senior SS
man in the Baltic States and Belarus.
Gypsies were also forbidden to live along the coast. Historian Lewy believes this restriction may have occasioned the first large killing of Gypsies in Latvia. On December 5, 1941, the Latvian police in Liepāja arrested 103 Gypsies (24 men, 31 women, and 48). Of these people, the Latvian police turned over 100 to the custody of the German police chief Fritz Dietrich
"for follow up" (zu weiteren Veranlassung), a Nazi euphemism for murder. On December 5, 1941, all 100 were all killed near Frauenburg.
On January 12, 1942, Jedicke distributed Lohse's order of December 4, 1941, ordering his subordinates that in all cases, they were to make sure to implement the necessary "follow up." By May 18, 1942 the German police and SS commander in Liepāja indicated in a log that over a previous unspecified period, 174 Gypsies had been killed by shooting. The German policy on Gypsies varied. In general, it seemed that wandering or "itinerate" Gypsies (vagabundierende Zigeuner) were targeted, as opposed to the non-wandering, or "sedentary" population. Thus, on May 21, 1942, the SS commander in Liepāja police and SS commander recorded the execution of 16 itinerate Gypsies from the Hasenputh district. The documentation however does not always distinguish between different Gypsy groups, thus on April 24, 1942, EK A reported having killed 1,272 people, including 71 Gypsies, with no further description. In addition, the Nazi policy shifted back and forth as to how the Gypsies were to be treated, and the treatment of any particular group of Gypsies did not necessarily reflect what might appear to have been the official policy of the moment.
Like the Jews, the killing of the Gypsies proceeded through Latvia's smaller towns, and with the aid of Latvians. The Arājs Commando
was reported to have killed many Gypsies between July and September 1941. In April, 1942, fifty Gypsies, mostly women and small children, were assembled at the jail in Valmiera
, then taken out and shot. Other massacres were reported at Bauska
and Tukums
.
It is not known how many of Latvia's Gypsies were killed by the Nazis and their Latvian collaborators. Professor Ezergailis estimated that one-half of the Gypsy population was killed, but there will probably never be a more definite number.
Some of the Rumbula murderers were captured after the fact.
The Soviet Union suppressed research into and memorials of the Holocaust in Latvia until 1991, when Soviet rule over Latvia ended. In one case a memorial at Rumbula of which the authorities did not approve was simply hauled away in the middle of the night, with no explanation given. Occasional references were made to the Holocaust in literature during the Soviet era. A folkloric figure called Žīdu šāvējs (Jew shooter) turned up in stories on occasion. The poet Ojārs Vācietis
often referred to the Holocaust in his work, including in particular his well-regarded poem "Rumbula", written in the early 1960s.
One notable survivor of the Latvian Holocaust was Michael Genchik, who escaped from Latvia and joined the Red Army, where he served for 30 years. His family was killed at Rumbula. Many years later he recalled:
On November 29, 2002, sixty-one years after the murders, the highest officials of the Republic of Latvia, together with representatives of the Latvian Jewish community, foreign ambassdors, and others attended a memorial dedication at the Rumbula site. The president and the prime minister of the Republic walked to the forest from where the Riga ghetto had been. Once they arrived, President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga
addressed the gathering:
Nazi crime
Nazi crime or Hitlerite crime is a legal concept used in some legal systems .In the Polish legal system a Nazi crime is an action carried out by, inspired by or tolerated by public functionaries of the Third Reich that also classifies as a crime against humanity or other persecutions of people...
s during the occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany
Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany
The occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany was completed on July 10, 1941 by Germany's armed forces. Latvia became a part of Nazi Germany's Reichskommissariat Ostland — the Province General of Latvia...
.
German occupation
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
to Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. The German army advanced quickly through Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
towards Daugavpils and other strategic points in Latvia. The Nazi police state included an organization called the Security Service (German: Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
), generally referred to as the SD, and its headquarters in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
was known as the National (or Reich) Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt), known by its initial RSHA.
The SD in Latvia
In advance of the invasion, the SD had organized four "Special Assignment Units", which have become known in history by their German name of EinsatzgruppenEinsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...
. The name of these units was a euphemism
Euphemism
A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...
, as their real purpose was to kill large numbers of people whom the Nazis regarded as "undesirable". These included Communists, Gypsies, the mentally ill, and, especially, Jews. The Einsatzgruppen followed closely behind the German invasion forces, and established a presence in Latvia within days, and sometimes hours, of the occupation of a given area of the country by the German Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
.
The SD in Latvia can be distinguished in photographs and descriptions by their uniforms. The full black of the Nazi SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
was seldom worn, instead the usual attire was the gray Wehrmacht uniform with black accents. They wore the SD patch on the left sleeve, a yellowish shirt, and the Death's Head (Totenkopf
Totenkopf
The Totenkopf is the German word for the death's head and an old symbol for death or the dead. It consists usually of the skull and the mandible of the human skeleton...
) symbol on their caps. The SD ranks were identical to the SS. The SD did not wear the SS lightning rune symbol on their right collar tabs, but replaced it with either the Totenkopf or the letters "SD".
The SD first established its power in Latvia through Einsatzgruppe A, which was subdivided into units called Einsatzkommandos 1a, 1b, 2 and 3.
Einsatzkommando
During World War II, the Nazi German Einsatzkommandos were a sub-group of five Einsatzgruppen mobile killing squads—up to 3,000 men each—usually composed of 500-1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to kill Jews, Romani, communists and the NKVD collaborators in the captured...
As the front line moved further east, Einsatzgruppe A moved out of Latvia, remaining in the country only a few weeks, after which its functions were taken over by the "resident" SD, under the authority of the Kommandant der Sicherheitspolizei un SD, generally referred to by the German initials of KdS. The KdS took orders both from RSHA in Berlin and from another official called the Befehlshaber (commander) der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, or BdS. Both the KdS and the BdS were subordinate to another official called the Ranking (or Higher) SS and Police Commander (Höherer SS-und Polizeiführer), or HPSSF. The lines of authority were overlapping and ambiguous. The eastern part of Latvia, including Daugavpils and the Latgale region, was assigned to Einsatzkommandos 1b (EK 1b) and 3 (EK 3). EK 1b had about 50 to 60 men and was commanded by Erich Ehrlinger
Erich Ehrlinger
Erich Ehrlinger was a member of the Nazi SS who, as commander of Special Detachment 1b, was responsible for mass murder in the Baltic states and Belarus.He was also the commander of the Security Police and the...
.
Murders commence with Nazi invasion
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
the Holocaust started on the night of June 23 to June 24, 1941, when in the Grobiņa
Grobina
Grobiņa is a town in western Latvia, eleven kilometers east of Liepāja. It was founded by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century. Some ruins of their Grobina castle are still visible. The town was given its charter in 1695....
cemetery SD
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
murderers killed six local Jews, including the town chemist
Pharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
. On the following days 35 Jews were exterminated in Durbe
Durbe
Durbe is a town in Latvia. Durbe was first noted in 1260, when the Battle of Durbe occurred near Lake Durbe.Town rights were granted to Durbe in 1893 and confirmed in 1917.Town coat of arms was granted in 1925 - a silver apple tree...
, Priekule
Priekule
Priekule is a town in southwestern Latvia.-History:Priekule is first mentioned as a fortified manor in 1483 but only began to grow as a town after 1871 when the Liepaja - Vilnius railway was built through Priekule. It was granted town rights in 1928 by the Latvian government.-References:...
and Asīte. On June 29 the Nazi invaders started forming the first Latvian SD auxiliary unit
Latvian Auxiliary Police
Latvian Auxiliary Police was a paramilitary force created from Latvian volunteers by the Nazi German authorities who occupied the country in June 1941. Composed of local fascists, rightist members of the former military and police, and nationalist students, the organization participated in the...
in Jelgava
Jelgava
-Sports:The city's main football team, FK Jelgava, plays in the Latvian Higher League and won the 2009/2010 Latvian Football Cup.- Notable people :*August Johann Gottfried Bielenstein - linguist, folklorist, ethnographer...
. Mārtiņš Vagulāns, member of the Pērkonkrusts
Perkonkrusts
Pērkonkrusts , was a Latvian political party founded in the 1930s. This group adapted fascist ideology to the situation in independent Latvia after 1918. It was the largest and longest-lived organisation of its kind in Latvia...
organisation, was chosen to head it. In the summer of 1941, 300 men in the unit took part in the extermination of about 2000 Jews in Jelgava and other places in Zemgale. The killing was supervised by the officers of the German SD Rudolf Batz
Rudolf Batz
Rudolf Batz was an SS Sturmbannführer. From 1 July to 4 November, 1941 he was the leader of Einsatzkommando 2 and as such was responsible, along with others, for the mass murder of Jews in the Baltic states.- Life :...
and Alfred Becu, who involved the SS people of the Einsatzgruppe in the action. The main Jelgava Synagogue was burnt down through their joint effort. After the invasion of Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
Walter Stahlecker, assisted by the members of Pērkonkrusts and other local collaborationists, organised the pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
of Jews in the capital of Latvia. Viktors Arājs
Viktors Arājs
Viktors Arājs was a Latvian collaborator and Nazi SS officer, who took part in the Holocaust during the German occupation of Latvia and Belarus as the leader of the Arājs Kommando...
, aged 31 at the time, former member of Pērkonkrusts and a member of a student fraternity, was appointed direct executor
Executor
An executor, in the broadest sense, is one who carries something out .-Overview:...
of the action. He was an idle eternal student who was supported by his wife, a rich shop owner, who was ten years older than he was. Arājs had worked in the Latvian Police for a certain period of time. He stood out with his power-hungry and extreme thinking. The man was well fed, well dressed, and "with his student's hat proudly cocked on one ear".
Arājs commando formed
On July 2 Viktors ArājsViktors Arājs
Viktors Arājs was a Latvian collaborator and Nazi SS officer, who took part in the Holocaust during the German occupation of Latvia and Belarus as the leader of the Arājs Kommando...
started to form his armed unit of men who were responding to the appeal of Pērkonkrusts to take arms and to clear Latvia of Jews and communists. In the beginning the unit mainly included members of different student fraternities, while later on many degraded and degenerate individuals also joined. In 1941 altogether about 300 men had applied. The closest assistants of Viktors Arājs included Konstantīns Kaķis, Alfrēds Dikmanis, Boris Kinsler, and Herberts Cukurs
Herberts Cukurs
Herberts Cukurs was a Latvian aviator. He was a member of the notorious Arajs Kommando and was involved in murders of Latvian Jews as part of the Holocaust but he never stood trial. There are eyewitness accounts linking Cukurs to war crimes...
. On the night of July 3, Arājs Kommando started arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
ing, beating
Battery (crime)
Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the fear of such contact.In the United States, criminal battery, or simply battery, is the use of force against another, resulting in harmful or offensive contact...
and rob
Rob
Rob or ROB may refer to:*The shortened form of Robert or Robin*R.O.B., an abbreviation of "Robotic Operating Buddy", an accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985*ROB 64, an important robot character in the Star Fox series...
bing the Riga Jews. On July 4, the choral synagogue at Gogoļa Street was burnt, and thereafter, the synagogues at Maskavas and Stabu Streets. Many Jews were killed during those days, including the refugees from Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
. In carts and blue buses the murderers of Arājs Commando went to different places in Courland
Courland
Courland is one of the historical and cultural regions of Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland.- Geography and climate :...
, Zemgale and Vidzeme
Vidzeme
Vidzeme is one of the historical and cultural regions of Latvia. Literally meaning "the Middle Land" it is situated in north-central Latvia north of the Daugava River...
, killing thousands of Jews there.
Selbstschutz
Selbstschutz stands for two organisations:# A name used by a number of paramilitary organisations created by ethnic Germans in Central and Eastern Europe# A name for self-defence measures and units in ethnic German, Austrian, and Swiss civil defence....
units were also involved in the extermination of Jews. In the district of Ilūkste
Ilukste
- History :Ilūkste was first mentioned in 1559, part of the estate lands of Count Kasper Zibergs.By 1795, thanks to its strategic location at the crossroads of Lithuania, Belarus and Daugavpils, Ilūkste became an important trade city and regional center, with 50 churches, 15 schools, and 150 taverns...
, for instance, Jews were killed by the Selbstschutz death unit of commander Oskars Baltmanis, which consisted of 20 cold-blooded murderers. All killings were supervised by the officers of the German SS and SD. In July 1941 the mass killing of Riga Jews took place in the Biķernieku Forest. About 4000 people died there. The executions were headed by Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
s (majors) H. Barth, R. Batz, and the newly-appointed chief of the Riga SD Rudolf Lange
Rudolf Lange
Dr. Martin Franz Erwin Rudolf Lange was a prominent Nazi police official. He served as commander of the SD and SIPO in Riga, Latvia...
.
Massacres
As stated by the Latvian historian Andrievs Ezergailis, this was the beginning of "the greatest criminal act in the history of Latvia". From July 1941 the Jews of Latvia were also humiliated in different ways and depriveDeprive
To deprive a person is an intransitive verb, which can mean:-In the Law:* Child neglect* To deprive some person of life, liberty, or property* To deprive someone of a peerage, see Titles Deprivation Act 1917...
d of the rights that were enjoyed by the other citizens of Latvia. Jews were strictly forbidden to leave their homes in the evening, at night and in the morning. They were allotted lower food rations, they could only shop in some special stores, and they had to wear the mark of recognition - the yellow Star of David
Star of David
The Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles...
on their clothes. It was forbidden for them to attend places where public events took place, including cinema
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
s, athletic fields and park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
s. They were not allowed to use train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
s and tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
s, to go to bath-house
Public bathing
Public baths originated from a communal need for cleanliness. The term public may confuse some people, as some types of public baths are restricted depending on membership, gender, religious affiliation, or other reasons. As societies have changed, public baths have been replaced as private bathing...
s, use pavements, attend libraries and museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
s or to go to school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s, and they had to hand over bicycle
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
s and radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
s. Jewish doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
s were only allowed to advise and treat Jews, and they were forbidden to run pharmacies. Maximum norm
Norm
-In academia:A designated standard of average performance of people of a given age, background, etc.*Norm , a set of statements used to regulate artificial intelligence software...
s for furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
, clothes and linen
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
were also soon introduced for Jews. All articles above the norm were subject to confiscation
Confiscation
Confiscation, from the Latin confiscatio 'joining to the fiscus, i.e. transfer to the treasury' is a legal seizure without compensation by a government or other public authority...
for the needs of the Reich
Reich
Reich is a German word cognate with the English rich, but also used to designate an empire, realm, or nation. The qualitative connotation from the German is " sovereign state." It is the word traditionally used for a variety of sovereign entities, including Germany in many periods of its history...
. All jewelry, securities, gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
and silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
s had to be handed over without delay. Many things were usurped by German officials and their local servants. Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
became the source of their enrichment. The above misers were directly interested in the extermination of Jews. This guaranteed that nobody would demand back the stolen items.
Liepāja
In LiepājaLiepaja
Liepāja ; ), is a republican city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea directly at 21°E. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme Region of Latvia, the third largest city in Latvia after Riga and Daugavpils and an important ice-free port...
the first mass killing of Jews took place on July 3 and 4, when about 400 people were shot dead, and on July 8 when 300 Jews were killed. The German group of SD and policemen did the shooting, while the members of Latvian Selbstschutz convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
ed victims to the killing site. On July 13 the destroying of the large choral synagogue of Liepāja began. The rolls of the Scripture were spread on the Ugunsdzēsēju Square, and the Jews were forced to march across their sacred things, with watchers merrily laughing at the amusing scene. The above operations took place under the direct leadership of Erhard Grauel, commander of the Einsatzgruppe's Sonderkommando
Sonderkommando
Sonderkommandos were work units of Nazi death camp prisoners, composed almost entirely of Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the disposal of gas chamber victims during The Holocaust...
.
Ventspils
Thereafter Grauel went to VentspilsVentspils
Ventspils is a city in northwestern Latvia in the Courland historical region of Latvia, the sixth largest city in the country. As of 2006, Ventspils had a population of 43,806. Ventspils is situated on the Venta River and the Baltic Sea, and has an ice-free port...
. The killings were jointly carried out by German Ordnungspolizei
Ordnungspolizei
The Ordnungspolizei or Orpo were the uniformed regular police force in Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1945. It was increasingly absorbed into the Nazi police system. Owing to their green uniforms, they were also referred to as Grüne Polizei...
and the men of the local Selbstschutz. On July 16-July 18, 300 people were shot dead in the Kaziņu Forest. In July-August the remaining 700 Jews of the town were shot dead, while the Jews of the region were killed in the autumn. The shooting was carried out by German, Latvian and Estonian SD men who had arrived by ship. Soon a poster appeared on the Kuldīga
Kuldiga
Kuldīga is a town in western Latvia. It is the center of Kuldīga municipality with a population of approximately 13,500.Kuldīga was first mentioned in 1242. It joined the Hanseatic League in 1368...
-Ventspils highway, which said that Ventspils was Judenfrei
Judenfrei
Judenfrei was a Nazi term to designate an area free of Jewish presence during The Holocaust.While Judenfrei referred merely to "freeing" an area of all of its Jewish citizens, the term Judenrein was also used...
(free of Jews).
Daugavpils
In DaugavpilsDaugavpils
Daugavpils is a city in southeastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. Daugavpils literally means "Daugava Castle". With a population of over 100,000, it is the second largest city in the country after the capital Riga, which is located some...
the extermination of Jews was initially commanded by Erich Ehrlinger
Erich Ehrlinger
Erich Ehrlinger was a member of the Nazi SS who, as commander of Special Detachment 1b, was responsible for mass murder in the Baltic states and Belarus.He was also the commander of the Security Police and the...
, chief of Einsatzkommando 1b. By July 11 they had killed about 1150 people. Ehrlinger's work was continued by Joachim Hamann, who was liable for the killing of 9012 Jews in the city and in southern Latgale
Latgale
Latgale is one of the four historical and cultural regions of Latvia recognised in the Constitution of the Latvian Republic. It is the easternmost region north of the Daugava River...
. The chief of the local auxiliary police
Latvian Auxiliary Police
Latvian Auxiliary Police was a paramilitary force created from Latvian volunteers by the Nazi German authorities who occupied the country in June 1941. Composed of local fascists, rightist members of the former military and police, and nationalist students, the organization participated in the...
Roberts Blūzmanis had rendered active assistance by ensuring the moving of the Jews to the Grīva
Griva
Griva was a Serbian and former Yugoslav hard rock band from Novi Sad.-1982—1992:The band was formed in 1982 by former Ibn Tup members, Zlatko Karavla and Josip Sabo . The first lineup also featured Zoran Gogić , Laslo Novak , and Đorđe Jovanović...
ghetto and transporting them to the killing places.
Rēzekne
In RēzekneRezekne
In the 19th century, the population of Rēzekne was 2/3 Jewish. As a result of the Pale of Settlement many Jews settled in Latgalia and were confined to the cities. The remainder of the population included Poles, Germans, Russians, and an extreme minority of native Latgalians...
killings were carried out by a German SD group, which was helped by Selbstschutz men and Arājs murderers. About 2500 people were exterminated. By October 1941, altogether about 35,000 Latvian Jews
History of the Jews in Latvia
The History of the Jews in Latvia dates back to the first Jewish colony established in Piltene in 1571. Jews contributed to Latvia's development until the Northern War , which decimated Latvia's population...
were killed.
The Riga Ghetto
On July 27, 1941, State Commissar (Reichskommissar
Reichskommissar
Reichskommissar , in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and the Nazi Third Reich....
) Hinrich Lohse
Hinrich Lohse
Hinrich Lohse was a Nazi German politician, best known for his World War II rule of the Baltic states.-Early life:...
(earlier Gauleiter
Gauleiter
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...
of Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
), ruler of the Baltic
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
lands and Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
or Ostland
Ostland
Ostland may refer to:* In World War II, the Reichskommissariat Ostland was the official designation of some of the eastern territories occupied by Nazi Germany* Ostland is a province of the land called The Empire in Warhammer Fantasy Battles...
as the territory was called by the invaders - made his guidelines on Jewish question
Jewish Question
The Jewish question encompasses the issues and resolutions surrounding the historically unequal civil, legal and national statuses between minority Ashkenazi Jews and non-Jews, particularly in Europe. The first issues discussed and debated by societies, politicians and writers in western and...
public. Jews, in his opinion, had to be used as a cheap labour force by paying them minimum wages or by providing them with a minimum food ration - with whatever may be left over after supplying the indigenous Aryan
Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...
population. In order to govern the Jews they had to be moved to special areas where ghettos would be arranged and they would be forbidden to leave the area. Walter Stahlecker protested against the idea of Hinrich Lohse and demanded that the extermination of the Jews be continued. Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, however, passed the power to the civil administration of occupation force and it did things its own way. The area of the Latgale Suburbs in Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
was chosen for the Riga Ghetto. It was mainly inhabited by poor people: Jews, Russians and Belarusians. The ghetto bordered on Maskavas, Vitebskas, Ebreju (Jewish), Līksnas, Lauvas, Lazdonas, Lielā Kalnu, Katoļu, Jēkabpils and Lāčplēša Streets. About 7000 non-Jews were moved from there to other flats in Riga. More than 23,000 Riga Jews were ordered to move to the territory of the ghetto. There now were more than 29,000 inmates in the ghetto, including those who had already previously resided there. The Jewish Council was formed within the ghetto, which was assigned the task of regulating social life. The Jewish police force for the maintenance of order formed there. It consisted of 80 men armed with sticks and rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
truncheon
Truncheon
Truncheon may refer to:*Baton *Cutting , means of plant propagation used by gardeners*HMS Truncheon , a British submarine commissioned during Word War II and later sold to Israel...
s. The ghetto was enclosed by a barbed-wire fence. Wooden barriers (logs) were placed on the main streets at the entrance, and the Latvian police were stationed as guards there. Jews were allowed to leave the ghetto only in work columns and in the accompaniment of guards. Individual Jewish specialists could come and go by displaying a special yellow ID. Leaving independently was severely punished.
In the ghetto the Jews were very crowded: 3-4 square metres were allotted per person. There was also great poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
, as food rations were given only to those who worked, i.e. to about a half of the ghetto inmates. They had to maintain their 5652 children
History of children in the Holocaust
Children were especially vulnerable in the era of the Holocaust. The Nazis advocated killing children of "unwanted" or "dangerous" groups in accordance with their ideological views, either as part of the "racial struggle" or as a measure of preventive security...
and 8300 elderly and disabled people. The ghetto only had 16 groceries, a pharmacy
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
and a laundry
Laundry
Laundry is a noun that refers to the act of washing clothing and linens, the place where that washing is done, and/or that which needs to be, is being, or has been laundered...
, and a hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
was arranged, which was headed by Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
Vladimir Mintz, a surgeon
Surgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
. The Council of the ghetto was situated in the former Jewish school building at 141 Lāčplēša Street. The historian Marģers Vestermanis writes: "The members of the Jewish Council, including the lawyers D. Elyashev, M. Mintz and Iliya Yevelson, and their volunteer assistants did all they could to somehow relieve general suffering." Jewish policemen, too, tried to somehow protect their fellowmen. The inmates strived to preserve themselves, and there was even an illusion of survival. A resistance group was formed that bought weapons.
The Daugavpils ghetto
The Daugavpils GhettoDaugavpils Ghetto
Following the occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany in the summer of 1941, the Daugavpils Ghetto was established in an old fortress near Daugavpils. Daugavpils is the second largest city in Latvia and the principal city of the Latgalia region. Daugavpils was located in southeastern Latvia on the...
was set up in Grīva at the end of July, 1941, when all surviving Jews in the city were moved there. Jews from other towns and villages of Latgale and even Vidzeme were also brought there. Altogether the ghetto had about 15,000 prisoners. The engineer Misha Movshenson ran the Council of the ghetto. His father had headed the city of Daugavpils in 1918 during the previous period of German occupation.
The Gypsy Holocaust in Latvia
Less is known about the Holocaust of the Romani people (called "Gypsy" in English and Ziguener in German) than for other groups. Most of the available information about the persecution of the Gypsies in Nazi-occupied eastern Europe comes from Latvia. According to Latvia's 1935 census, 3,839 Gypsies lived in the country, the largest population of any of the Baltic States. Many of them did not travel about the country, but lived settled, or "sedentary" life.On December 4, 1941, Hinrich Lohse
Hinrich Lohse
Hinrich Lohse was a Nazi German politician, best known for his World War II rule of the Baltic states.-Early life:...
issued a decree which stated:
Although Lohse's name was on the order, it was actually issued at the behest of Bruno Jedicke, the Ordnungspolizei
Ordnungspolizei
The Ordnungspolizei or Orpo were the uniformed regular police force in Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1945. It was increasingly absorbed into the Nazi police system. Owing to their green uniforms, they were also referred to as Grüne Polizei...
chief in the Baltic States
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
. Jedicke in turn was subordinate to Friedrich Jeckeln
Friedrich Jeckeln
Friedrich Jeckeln was an SS-Obergruppenführer who served as an SS and Police Leader in the occupied Soviet Union during World War II...
, the senior SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
man in the Baltic States and Belarus.
Gypsies were also forbidden to live along the coast. Historian Lewy believes this restriction may have occasioned the first large killing of Gypsies in Latvia. On December 5, 1941, the Latvian police in Liepāja arrested 103 Gypsies (24 men, 31 women, and 48). Of these people, the Latvian police turned over 100 to the custody of the German police chief Fritz Dietrich
Fritz Dietrich (Nazi official)
Fritz Dietrich was a German SS officer who held a doctoral degree . His name is also seen as Emil Diedrich.- Career summary :...
"for follow up" (zu weiteren Veranlassung), a Nazi euphemism for murder. On December 5, 1941, all 100 were all killed near Frauenburg.
On January 12, 1942, Jedicke distributed Lohse's order of December 4, 1941, ordering his subordinates that in all cases, they were to make sure to implement the necessary "follow up." By May 18, 1942 the German police and SS commander in Liepāja indicated in a log that over a previous unspecified period, 174 Gypsies had been killed by shooting. The German policy on Gypsies varied. In general, it seemed that wandering or "itinerate" Gypsies (vagabundierende Zigeuner) were targeted, as opposed to the non-wandering, or "sedentary" population. Thus, on May 21, 1942, the SS commander in Liepāja police and SS commander recorded the execution of 16 itinerate Gypsies from the Hasenputh district. The documentation however does not always distinguish between different Gypsy groups, thus on April 24, 1942, EK A reported having killed 1,272 people, including 71 Gypsies, with no further description. In addition, the Nazi policy shifted back and forth as to how the Gypsies were to be treated, and the treatment of any particular group of Gypsies did not necessarily reflect what might appear to have been the official policy of the moment.
Like the Jews, the killing of the Gypsies proceeded through Latvia's smaller towns, and with the aid of Latvians. The Arājs Commando
Arajs Commando
The Arajs Kommando , led by SS-Sturmbannführer Viktors Arājs, was a unit of Latvian Auxiliary Police subordinated to the Nazi SD...
was reported to have killed many Gypsies between July and September 1941. In April, 1942, fifty Gypsies, mostly women and small children, were assembled at the jail in Valmiera
Valmiera
Valmiera is the largest city of the historical Vidzeme region, Latvia, with a total area of 18.1 km². It is the center of the Valmiera District. As of 2002, Valmiera had a population of 27,323, and in 2008 – 27,569....
, then taken out and shot. Other massacres were reported at Bauska
Bauska
Bauska is a town in Bauska municipality, in the Zemgale region of southern Latvia. The town is situated at the confluence of the rivers Mūsa and Mēmele where they form the Lielupe River...
and Tukums
Tukums
Tukums is a town in Latvia. Three regions of Latvia meet in the vicinity of Tukums – Vidzeme, Zemgale and Courland. The city was host to the Cold War facility Tukums air base.- History :...
.
It is not known how many of Latvia's Gypsies were killed by the Nazis and their Latvian collaborators. Professor Ezergailis estimated that one-half of the Gypsy population was killed, but there will probably never be a more definite number.
Justice
- Hinrich LohseHinrich LohseHinrich Lohse was a Nazi German politician, best known for his World War II rule of the Baltic states.-Early life:...
was a member of a Nazi class that "was to receive surprisingly light treatment" at the Nuremberg trials. In Lohse's case, apparently because the British authorities believed him to have been innocent of the Nazi crimes in the Baltic states, he was handed over to a West German "denazification" court. Sentenced to the maximum of 10 years, Lohse was released early in 1951 "on the familiar grounds of ill health." - Victors Arajs was charged in a British court with war crimes, but was released in 1948, and afterwards hid out in West Germany for many years; although he was still a wanted war criminal, he found work as a driver for a British military unit in the western occupation zone. Eventually Arajs was caught, and, in 1979, tried and convicted of murder in a West German court.
- Friedrich Jahnke, a Nazi policeman who had been instrumental in setting up the Riga Ghetto and organizing the march out to the pits, was likewise apprehended and tried in West Germany in the 1970s.
- Herberts CukursHerberts CukursHerberts Cukurs was a Latvian aviator. He was a member of the notorious Arajs Kommando and was involved in murders of Latvian Jews as part of the Holocaust but he never stood trial. There are eyewitness accounts linking Cukurs to war crimes...
escaped to South America, where he was later murdered. It is said that he was assassinated by MossadMossadThe Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
agents, who attracted him from BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
to UruguayUruguayUruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
under a fake intention of starting an aviation business, after it was found out that he would not stand trial for his alleged participation in the Holocaust. - Eduard StrauchEduard StrauchEduard Strauch was an SS-Obersturmbannführer, commander of Einsatzkommando 2, commander of two Nazi organizations, the Security Police , or Sipo, and the Security Service , first in Belarus – then called White Russia or White Ruthenia – and later in Belgium...
, SS Lieutenant Colonel, commanded a subunit of the Rumbula killers called "Einsatzkommando 2.". Despite an effort to sham mental illness, he was convicted by the Nuremberg Military Tribunal in the EinsatzgruppenEinsatzgruppen TrialThe Einsatzgruppen Trial was the ninth of the twelve trials for war crimes the U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Nuremberg after the end of World War II. These twelve trials were all held before U.S...
trial for having a key role in the Rumbula and a number of other mass murders in Eastern Europe. On April 9, 1948, Presiding judge Michael MusmannoMichael MusmannoMichael Angelo Musmanno was an American jurist, politician, and naval officer of Italian heritage.Musmanno was born in Stowe Township, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, an industrial neighborhood a few miles west of Pittsburgh.Musmanno rose to the rank of Rear Admiral in the United States Navy...
pronounced the tribunal's sentence on Strauch: "Defendant EDUARD STRAUCH, on the counts of the indictment on which you have been convicted, the Tribunal sentences you to death by hanging." Unlike his co-defendants Otto OhlendorfOtto OhlendorfOtto Ohlendorf was a German SS-Gruppenführer and head of the Inland-SD , a section of the SD. Ohlendorf was the commanding officer of Einsatzgruppe D, which conducted mass murder in Moldova, south Ukraine, the Crimea, and, during 1942, the north Caucasus...
and Paul BlobelPaul BlobelPaul Blobel was a German Nazi war criminal, an SS-Standartenführer and a member of the SD. Born in the city of Potsdam, he participated in the First World War, where by all accounts he served well and was decorated with the Iron Cross first class...
, Strauch did not hang. Instead, he was handed over to authorities in Belgium, where he had committed other crimes, for trial. He died in Belgian custody on September 11, 1955. - Friedrich JeckelnFriedrich JeckelnFriedrich Jeckeln was an SS-Obergruppenführer who served as an SS and Police Leader in the occupied Soviet Union during World War II...
came into Soviet custody after the war. He was, interrogated, tried, convicted and hanged in Riga on February 3, 1946. Against popular misconception, the execution did not happen in the territory of the former Riga ghetto, but in Victory square (Uzvaras laukums).
Soviet period
After the Second World War, the Soviet Union again occupied Latvia, this time from 1944 to 1990. It did not suit Soviet purposes to memorialize the Rumbula site or to acknowledge that the victims were Jewish. Until 1960 nothing was done to preserve or memorialize the killing grounds. In 1961 young Jews from Riga searched for the site and found charred bones and other evidence of the murders. In 1962 the Soviets staged an officially-sanctioned memorial service at Bikernecki (another murder site) which made no mention of the Jews but spoke only of "Nazi victims". In 1963 groups of young Jews from Riga came out to Rumbula weekly and cleaned up and restored the site using shovels, wheelbarrows and other hand tools. The site has been marked by a series of makeshift memorials over the years. Throughout the Soviet domination of Latvia the Soviets refused to allow any memorial which would specifically identify the victims as Jews.The Soviet Union suppressed research into and memorials of the Holocaust in Latvia until 1991, when Soviet rule over Latvia ended. In one case a memorial at Rumbula of which the authorities did not approve was simply hauled away in the middle of the night, with no explanation given. Occasional references were made to the Holocaust in literature during the Soviet era. A folkloric figure called Žīdu šāvējs (Jew shooter) turned up in stories on occasion. The poet Ojārs Vācietis
Ojars Vacietis
Ojārs Vācietis was a Latvian writer.-References:...
often referred to the Holocaust in his work, including in particular his well-regarded poem "Rumbula", written in the early 1960s.
One notable survivor of the Latvian Holocaust was Michael Genchik, who escaped from Latvia and joined the Red Army, where he served for 30 years. His family was killed at Rumbula. Many years later he recalled:
Independent Latvia
In Latvia, Holocaust scholarship could only be resumed once Soviet rule had ended. Much of the post-1991 work was devoted to identification of the victims. This was complicated by the passage of time and the loss of some records and the concealment of others by the NKVD and its successor agencies of the Soviet secret police.On November 29, 2002, sixty-one years after the murders, the highest officials of the Republic of Latvia, together with representatives of the Latvian Jewish community, foreign ambassdors, and others attended a memorial dedication at the Rumbula site. The president and the prime minister of the Republic walked to the forest from where the Riga ghetto had been. Once they arrived, President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga
Vaira Vike-Freiberga
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga was the sixth President of Latvia, the first female President of Latvia and the first female leader in eastern Europe. She was elected President of Latvia in 1999 and re-elected in 2003.Dr...
addressed the gathering:
Historiographical
- Anders, Edward, and Dubrovskis, Juris, "Who Died in the Holocaust? Recovering Names from Official Records", Holocaust and Genocide Studies 17.1 (2003) 114-138 Angrick, Andrej, and Klein, Peter, Die „Endlösung“ in Riga., (English: The Final Solution in Riga), Darmstadt 2006, ISBN 3-534-19149-8
- Bloxham, Donald, Genocide on Trial; war crimes trials and the formation of Holocaust History and Memory, Oxford University Press, New York NY 2001 ISBN 0-19-820872-3
- Browning, ChristopherChristopher BrowningChristopher Robert Browning is an American historian of the Holocaust.-Education:Browning received his bachelor's degree from Oberlin College in 1968 and his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1975. He taught at Pacific Lutheran University from 1974 to 1999, eventually becoming...
, and Matthäus, Jürgen, The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939 – March 1942, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE 2004 ISBN 978-0-8032-5979-9 - Dribins, Leo, Gūtmanis, Armands, and Vestermanis, Marģers, "Latvia's Jewish Community: History, Trajedy, Revival", Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Latvia
- Edelheit, Abraham J. and Edelheit, Hershel, History of the Holocaust : A Handbook and Dictionary, Westview Press, Boulder, CO 1994 ISBN 0-8133-1411-9
- Eksteins, Modris, Walking Since Daybreak: A story of Eastern Europe, World War II, and the Heart of our Century, Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1999 ISBN 0-395-93747-7
- Ezergailis, AndrewAndrew EzergailisAndrew Ezergailis is a retired Professor of History, Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York, USA, known for his research into the 20th-century history of Latvia, particularly of the 1917 Revolution and the Holocaust in Latvia....
, The Holocaust in Latvia 1941-1944—The Missing Center, Historical Institute of Latvia (in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) Riga 1996 ISBN 9984-9054-3-8 - Ezergailis, AndrewAndrew EzergailisAndrew Ezergailis is a retired Professor of History, Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York, USA, known for his research into the 20th-century history of Latvia, particularly of the 1917 Revolution and the Holocaust in Latvia....
, "Latvia", in The World Reacts to the Holocaust, Wyman, David S., and Rosenzveig, Charles H., Eds., at pages 354-388, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1996 ISBN 0-8018-4969-1 - Fleming, Gerald, Hitler and the Final Solution, Berkeley : University of California Press, Berkeley,1994 ISBN 0520060229
- Friedländer, SaulSaul FriedländerSaul Friedländer is an award-winning Israeli historian and currently a professor of history at UCLA.-Biography:...
, The years of extermination : Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945, New York, NY 2007 ISBN 978-0-06-019043-9 - Hancock, IanIan HancockIan Hancock is a linguist, Romani scholar, and political advocate. He was born and raised in England, and is one of the main contributors in the field of Romani studies....
, "Genocide of the Roma in the Holocaust", Excerpted from Charny, Israel, W., Encyclopedia of Genocide (1997) available on-line at the Patrin Web Journal - Hilberg, RaulRaul HilbergRaul Hilberg was an Austrian-born American political scientist and historian. He was widely considered to be the world's preeminent scholar of the Holocaust, and his three-volume, 1,273-page magnum opus, The Destruction of the European Jews, is regarded as a seminal study of the Nazi Final...
, The Destruction of the European Jews (3d Ed.) Yale University Press, New Haven, CT 2003. ISBN 0-300-09557-0 - Kaufmann, Max, Die Vernichtung des Judens Lettlands (The Destruction of the Jews of Latvia), Munich, 1947, English translation by Laimdota Mazzarins available on-line as Churbn Lettland -- The Destruction of the Jews of Latvia (all references in this article are to page numbers in the on-line edition)
- Klee, Ernst, Dressen, Willi, and Riess, Volker, eds., The Good Old Days: The Holocaust as seen by its Perpetrators and Bystanders, (English translation) MacMillan Free Press, NY 1991 ISBN 0-02-917425-2
- Latvia Institute, The Holocaust in German-Occupied Latvia
- Lewy, GuenterGuenter LewyGuenter Lewy is an author and political scientist who is a professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts. His works span several topics, but he is most often associated with his 1978 book on the Vietnam War, America in Vietnam, and several controversial works that deal with the...
, The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies, Oxford University Press 2000 ISBN 0-19-512556-8 - Lumans, Valdis O., Latvia in World War II, New York : Fordham University Press, 2006 ISBN 0-8232-2627-1
- Michelson, Frida, I Survived Rumbuli, Holocaust Library, New York, NY 1979 ISBN 0-89604-029-1
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, Holocaust Remembrance - Rumbula Memorial Site Unveiled, December 2002
- Niewyk, Donald L., and Nicosia, Francis R., The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust, New York : Columbia University Press, 2003
- Press, Bernard, The Murder of the Jews in Latvia, Northwestern University Press, 2000 ISBN 0-8101-1729-0
- Reitlinger, GeraldGerald ReitlingerGerald Roberts Reitlinger was a scholar of the economics of art and of history, particularly the Holocaust...
, The SS—Alibi of a Nation, at 186, 282, Viking Press, New York, 1957 (Da Capo reprint 1989) ISBN 0-306-80351 - Roseman, Mark, The Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution—A Reassessment, Holt, New York, 2002 ISBN 0-8050-6810-4
- Rubenstein, Richard L., and Roth, John K., Approaches to Auschwitz, page 179, Louisville, Ky. : Westminster John Knox Press, 2003. ISBN 0-664-22353-2 Scheffler, Wolfgang, "Zur Geschichte der Deportation jüdischer Bürger nach Riga 1941/1942", Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. – 23.05.2000
- Schneider, Gertrude, ed., The Unfinished Road: Jewish Survivors of Latvia Look Back, Praeger Publishers (1991) ISBN 978-0-275-94093-5
- Smith, Lyn, Remembering: Voices of the Holocaust, Carroll & Graf, New York 2005 ISBN 0-7867-1640-1
- Winter, Alfred, "Rumbula Viewed From The Riga Ghetto" from The Ghetto of Riga and Continuance - A Survivor's Memoir 1998
War crimes trials and evidence
- Brätigam, Otto, Memorandum dated 18 Dec. 1941, "Jewish Question re correspondence of 15 Nov. 1941" translated and reprinted in Office of the United States Chief of Counsel For Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Exhibit 3666-PS, Volume VII, pages 978-995, USGPO, Washington DC 1946 ("Red Series")
- Jeckeln, FriedrichFriedrich JeckelnFriedrich Jeckeln was an SS-Obergruppenführer who served as an SS and Police Leader in the occupied Soviet Union during World War II...
, excerpts from minutes of interrogation, 14 December 1945 (Maj. Zwetajew, interrogator, Sgt. Suur, interpreter), pages 8–13, from the Historical State Archives, as reprinted in Fleming, Hitler and the Final Solution, at pages 95–100 (Portions of the Jeckeln interrogation are also available online at at the Nizkor website. - Stahlecker, Franz W.Franz Walter StahleckerFranz Walter Stahlecker was Commander of the Sicherheitspolizei and the Sicherheitsdienst for the Reichskommissariat Ostland in 1941/42...
, "Comprehensive Report of Einsatzgruppe A Operations up to 15 October 1941", Exhibit L-180, translated in part and reprinted in Office of the United States Chief of Counsel For Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Volume VII, pages 978-995, USGPO, Washington DC 1946 ("Red Series") - Trials of War Criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10, Nuernberg, October 1946 - April 1949, Volume IV, ("Green Series) (the "Einsatzgruppen case") also available at Mazel library (well indexed HTML version)
Further reading
- Hancock, IanIan HancockIan Hancock is a linguist, Romani scholar, and political advocate. He was born and raised in England, and is one of the main contributors in the field of Romani studies....
"Downplaying the Porrajmos: The Trend to Minimize the Romani Holocaust—A review of Guenther Lewy, The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies on-line edition (criticizing Guenter Lewy's treatment of the Gypsy holocaust) - Margalit, Gilad, Germany and its gypsies—A Post-Auschwitz Ordeal Madison, Wisc.: University of Wisconsin Press2002 ISBN 0-299-17670-3
- Fings, Karola; Kenrick, Donald; Heuss, Herbert; and Sparing, Frank, The Gypsies during the Second World War, Hatfield, Hertfordshire : Gypsy Research Centre, University of Hertfordshire Press, 1997 ISBN 0-900458-78-X
External links
- The Death of the Jewish Community of Kraslava
- Holocaust in the Baltics, a site by Professor Dovid Katz of the Vilnius Yiddish Institute at Vilnius University