Mortal threat: Latvian Jews at the dawn of Nazi occupation

Abstract

In late June 1941, Nazi Germany stormed the borders of the Soviet Union, occupying the three Baltic republics within weeks. By the end of 1941, a significant proportion of the Jewish population had been murdered by German forces and local collaborators. In the days before full Nazi occupation of the territory, Latvia’s Jews confronted the question of whether to flee into the Russian interior or stay in their communities. History shows that this would be a critical choice. Testimonies and memoirs of Jewish survivors illuminate the competing motivations to leave or to remain. This article highlights the key factors that figured into these calculations and the interaction between individual agency and structural opportunities and obstacles in determining where Latvia’s Jews were when Holocaust in their homeland began.

Keywords:

• Latvia
• Holocaust
• Jewish community
• World War II
• flight decisions

Acknowledgements

Daina S. Eglitis wishes to acknowledge that this article was made possible, thanks to her tenure as a Visiting Fellow at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Didzis Bērziņš would like to acknowledge that his contribution was made possible, thanks to the ERA.NET RUS Plus (EU-FP7) project “Living together with difficult memories and diverse identities (Livingmemories).”

Notes

1. Latvia was an independent country from 1918 to 1940. In June 1940, Latvia was occupied by the USSR. German troops occupied in July 1941. Soviet troops reclaimed Latvia beginning in summer of 1944, launching months of regional battles. With the full retreat of Germany in spring 1945, it was reoccupied by the USSR. We use “Latvia” to refer to both the independent and occupied territory. We use “Russia” to refer to the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic.

2. Authors’ calculations based on available data.

3. Levin (1990b) writes that across the Baltics, the toll of deportation included “12,000 Jews who were singled out as ‘enemies of the nation’” (56).

4. After the Ulmanis coup, much of the Jewish press was shut down.

5. USC Shoah Foundation, Institute, Visual History Archive (VHA), Julius Drabkin interview (no. 35043).

6. VHA, Max Solway interview (no. 37541).

7. VHA, Zelda-Rivka Hait interview (no. 26792).

8. U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), Edward Anders interview (RG-50.030*0451).

9. VHA, Riva Schefer interview (no. 31842).

10. VHA, Maja Abramowitch interview (no. 4627).

11. VHA, Adele Honigwill interview (no. 24705).

12. VHA, Tamara Fainshtein interview (no. 38709).

13. VHA Pinkhus Gurevich interview (no. 22988).

14. VHA Sara Zalstein interview (no. 35077).

15. Centropa. Irina Golbreich interview. Accessed at http://www.centropa.org/biography/irina-golbreich.

16. VHA Hannah Herman interview (no. 4212).

17. VHA Haim Civian interview (no. 18435)

18. VHA Cecilia Boruchowitz interview (no. 4947).

19. VHA Sima Dreyer interview (no. 5898).

20. Personal interview with Margers Vestermanis, 16 October 2014, Riga.

21. VHA Anne Buvitt interview (no. 48351)

22. VHA Isaac Zieman interview (no. 38094).

23. VHA Rhoda Volpyansky Gurevich interview (no. 24569).

24. VHA Ella Medal’e interview (no. 32793)

25. VHA Maksim Felton interview (no. 7871).

26. VHA Sara Munic interview (no. 25700).

27. Centropa, Bella Bogdanova interview. Accessed at http://www.centropa.org/biography/bella-bogdanova.

28. VHA Ruvin Fridman interview (no. 6348).

29. VHA Naum Lifshits interview (no. 14131).

30. Centropa, Hana Rayzberg interview. Accessed at http://www.centropa.org/biography/hana-rayzberg.

31. VHA, Hait interview (no. 26792).

32. VHA Margaret Kagan interview (no. 46259).

33. VHA, Hait interview (no. 26792).

34. USHMM Henry Bermanis interview (RG-50.030*341).

35. Centropa, Ella Perlman interview. Accessed at http://www.centropa.org/biography/ella-perlman.

36. VHA, Hait interview (no. 26792).

37. VHA Morduch Max Eidus interview (no. 1223)

38. VHA Joshua Wainer interview (no. 25829).

39. VHA Gurevich interview (no. 22988).

40. VHA Khenia Zivtson interview (no.41088).

41. VHA Schefer interview (no 31842)

42. VHA Heit interview (no. 26792)

43. VHA Jakob Basner interview (no. 6277).

44. VHA Kalman Aron interview (no. 84).

45. VHA Abramowitch interview (no. 4627).