The Holocaust in Latvia

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The Holocaust in Latvia
Exhibit presented at the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, showing only 3,500 Jews left alive in Latvia out of about 60,000 in the country at the time of the Nazi invasion.
Also known as	Churbns Lettlands
Location	Latvia
Date	22 June 1941 to late 1944
Incident type	Genocide through imprisonment, mass shootings, concentration camps, ghettos, forced labor, starvation
Perpetrators	Rudolf Lange, Friedrich Jeckeln, Franz Walter Stahlecker, Viktors Arājs
Organizations	Einsatzgruppen, Order Police battalions, Wehrmacht, Arajs Kommando, Latvian Auxiliary Police, Kriegsmarine
Victims	About 66,000 Latvian Jews; 19,000 German, Austrian and Czech Jews; unknown numbers of Lithuanian and Hungarian Jews; unknown but substantial number of Roma, communists, and mentally disabled persons

The Holocaust in Latvia refers to the

The German army crossed the Soviet frontier in the early morning of Sunday 22 June 1941, on a broad front from the Baltic Sea to Hungary. The Germans advanced through Lithuania towards Daugavpils and other strategic points in Latvia. The Nazi police state included an organisation called the Security Service (German: Sicherheitsdienst), generally referred to as the SD, and its headquarters in Berlin was known as the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA).^[3]

The SD in Latvia

Ahead of the invasion, the SD had organised four Einsatzgruppen, mobile killing squads. The name Einsatzgruppen ("special assignment units") was a euphemism; their real purpose was to murder people the Nazis saw as "undesirable". These included Communists, Romani people, the mentally ill, homosexuals 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 by the German Wehrmacht.^[3]

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 a grey Wehrmacht uniform with black accents.^[3] They wore a SD patch on the left sleeve, a yellowish shirt, and the Death's Head (Totenkopf) symbol on their caps. The SD ranks were the same as in the SS. The SD did not wear the SS lightning rune symbol on their right collar tabs and replaced it with either the Totenkopf or the letters "SD".^[3]

The SD first established its power in Latvia through Einsatzgruppe A, which was subdivided into units called

In Latvia,

On 2 July

As stated by the Latvian historian

In

After that, Grauel went to Ventspils. 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 from 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).

Daugavpils

In Daugavpils the murder of Jews was initially commanded by

Rēzekne

In Rēzekne killings were carried out by a German SD group, which was helped by Selbstschutz men and Arajs Kommando. Beginning in July 1941 and into the fall, about 2,500 Jewish men, women and children were murdered in Rēzekne.^[15][16]

There are two known instances of people rescuing Jews in Rēzekne – Old Believer Ulita Varushkyna who at the plea of his parents took in their two-year-old son, Mordechai Tager, who she later adopted, and the Polish Matusevich family that hid Haim Israelit and his nephew Yakov for three years. Both Varushkyna and the Matusevich family have been awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations for their actions.^[17]

Varakļāni

Varakļāni, a relatively small town, had about 540 remaining Jews when the Germans gained control. They were shot into graves they were forced to dig on August 4, 1941. The fate of this small town is similar to many other towns, documented by JewishGen and others.^[18]

Jungfernhof concentration camp

Confinement

Riga Ghetto

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Comprehensive report of Einsatzgruppe A up to 15 October 1941

On July 27, 1941, State Commissar (

The Daugavpils Ghetto 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.^[14]

Romani 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.^[23] Most of the available information about the persecution of the Gypsies in Nazi-occupied eastern Europe comes from Latvia.^[24] 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" lives.^[24]

On December 4, 1941, Hinrich Lohse issued a decree which stated:

Gypsies who wander about in the countryside represent a two-fold danger.

1. As carriers of contagious diseases, especially typhus; 2. As unreliable elements who neither obey the regulations issued by German authorities, nor are willing to do useful work.

There exists well-founded suspicion that they provide intelligence to the enemy and thus damage the German cause. I therefore order that they are to be treated as Jews.^[24]

Although Lohse's name was on the order, it was actually issued at the behest of Bruno Jedicke,

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."[26] 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.^[26] 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.^[26] 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.^[26] 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.^[27]

Like the Jews, the killing of the Gypsies proceeded through Latvia's smaller towns, and with the aid of Latvians. The Arajs Kommando was reported to have killed many Gypsies between July and September 1941.^[24] In April 1942, 50 Gypsies, mostly women and small children, were assembled at the jail in Valmiera, then taken out and shot.^[26] Other massacres were reported at Bauska and Tukums.^[26]

It is not known how many of Latvia's Romani people were killed by the Nazis and their Latvian collaborators.^[28] Professor Ezergailis estimated that one-half of the Gypsy population was killed, but there will probably never be a more definite number.^[29]

Justice

• Hinrich Lohse was a member of a Nazi class that "was to receive surprisingly light treatment" at the Nuremberg trials.^[30] 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." He died in 1964.^[31]
• Viktors Arājs 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.^[31] Eventually Arājs was caught, and, in 1979, tried and convicted of murder in a West German court. He died in prison in 1988.^[31][32][33]
• 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.^[34]
• Herberts Cukurs escaped to South America. In 1965, he was assassinated by Mossad agents, who attracted him from Brazil to Uruguay under a fake intention of starting an aviation business,^[35] after it was found out that he would not stand trial for his alleged participation in the Holocaust.^[36]
• Einsatzgruppen 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 Musmanno 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."^[38] Unlike his codefendants Otto Ohlendorf and Paul Blobel, Strauch did not hang. Instead, he was handed over to authorities in Belgium, where he had committed other crimes, for trial. Strauch was sentenced to death, but not executed. He died in Belgian custody on September 11, 1955.^[39]
• Friedrich Jeckeln 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).^[40]
• Dachau Trials
  for ordering the murders of 7 American POWs. Dietrich was found guilty, sentenced to death, and hanged in 1948.

Historiography and memorials

During Soviet occupation (1944–1991)

During the Second World War, the Soviet Union reoccupied Latvia in 1944, which lasted until 1991. 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, a group of 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 Bikernieki (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.^[41] The site has been marked by a series of makeshift memorials over the years. Throughout the Soviet occupation 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.^[42] 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.^[43] 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 murdered at Rumbula. Many years later he recalled:

In later years the officials held memorial services every year in November or December. There were speeches reminding of the atrocities of the Nazis. But saying kaddish was forbidden. Once after the official part of the meeting, Jews tried to say Kaddish and tell a little about the ghetto, but the police didn't permit to do so. Until 1972, when I retired from the army, I did my best to keep the place neat.^[41]

In independent Latvia (1991–present)

In Latvia, Holocaust scholarship could only be resumed after the

The Holocaust, in its many forms, has painfully struck Latvia. Here in Rumbula where the earthly remains of Latvia's Jews rest, we have come to honour and remember them. I wish therefore to extend a special greeting to the representatives of Latvia's Jewish community for whom this is special day of mourning, all the more so since here lie their loved ones, relatives, and members of their faith. * * * This is an atrocious act of violence, an atrocious massacre. And it is our duty, the duty of those of us who have survived, to pass on the commemoration of these innocent victims to future generations, to remember with compassion, sorrow and reverence. Our duty is to teach our children and children's children about it, our duty is to seek out the survivors and record their recollections, but, above all, our duty is to see that this will never happen again.[46]

See also

• Segodnya (Riga)
• Sonderaktion 1005
• Konrāds Kalējs
• The Holocaust in Lithuania
• The Holocaust in Estonia
• Jungfernhof concentration camp
• Kaiserwald concentration camp
• Salaspils camp

Notes

References

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
• (in German) 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
• 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
• ISBN 9984-9054-3-8
• ISBN 0-8018-4969-1
• Fleming, Gerald, Hitler and the Final Solution, Berkeley : University of California Press, Berkeley,1994
  ISBN 0-520-06022-9
• ISBN 978-0-06-019043-9
• Hancock, Ian, "Genocide of the Roma in the Holocaust", Excerpted from Charny, Israel, W., Encyclopedia of Genocide (1997) available on-line at the Patrin Web Journal at the Wayback Machine (archived October 26, 2009)
• 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)
  ISBN 978-3866283152
• 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
• 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, Bernhard (2000). The Murder of the Jews in Latvia: 1941-1945.
  ISBN 978-081011729-7
  .
• ISBN 0-306-80351-8
• 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
• (in German) 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

• Bräutigam, 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, OCCPAC: Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Exhibit 3666-PS, Volume VII, pages 978-995, USGPO, Washington DC 1946 ("Red Series")
• Jeckeln, Friedrich, 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 the Nizkor website Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine).
• Stahlecker, Franz W., "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, OCCPAC: 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)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Holocaust in Latvia.

• 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
• Propagandistic German video showing the entrance of the Wehrmacht in Riga.
• Mārtiņš Ķibilds (27 July 2018). The Jews of Valdemārpils – killed and then forgotten. Public Broadcasting of Latvia.