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A few months ago, Ruth and I took a cruise along the Baltic Sea, visiting the capitals of Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Poland. We had many interesting experiences in these countries; however, due to space limitations, I will recount only one.
Latvia is a small country of 2.4 million people whose capital is Riga. We took the Jewish Heritage tour because we knew of the great depredations the Jews of Latvia experienced in World War II. The Baltic countries were always in danger of being taken over by Russia and historically allied themselves with Germany for protection.
The Jews entered Latvia about 1824 and by 1935 constituted 12 percent of the population. By this time, most of the Jews could speak the Latvian language and became an integral part of the country's commerce and culture.
In 1939, the Nazis invaded Poland. The Polish army was helpless against the German tank divisions and, to make matters worse, Poland was also invaded from the east by the Soviet army. The contest for the Baltic states was now in play. The Jews sided with the Soviets because word of the terrible treatment of Jews in Poland had reached them.
In their usual duplicitous way, the Soviets rounded up Jewish religious and political leaders and sent them to Siberia, where most perished. This treachery was followed by the deportation of 14,000 Latvians and 5,000 Jews to the Gulag. The Soviet army withdrew under the German onslaught, whereupon the Nazis immediately began a killing of the Jews.
All the Latvian synagogues were burned to the ground except for one, the Great Synagogue in Riga, founded in 1905. It was saved by a Lutheran minister of a nearby church. He pleaded with the Nazis not to burn the synagogue because the fire might spread to his church. The synagogue was our first visit on the tour, and it was under complete renovation. In addition to local funds, a major portion of the restoration was being provided by the European community. A walk through the old city of Riga provided a charming interlude for what was to come next.
The Nazis established a series of concentration camps throughout Latvia and peopled them with Jews from Austria, Germany and Poland, as well as the local population. In addition, a ghetto was created in Riga, designed through hard work and little food to starve the inhabitants. As they died, their bodies were thrown into a deep trench in the old Jewish cemetery. The slaughter continued, and additional bodies were buried in a forested area called Rumbula.
After the war, the Soviets annexed the Baltic states. They offered no recognition of the atrocities except to state that many Soviet citizens had died here. Only after Latvia received its independence from the Soviet Empire was a large Star of David erected over the trench where the Jews were buried. Many Jewish families then began to visit Rumbula in search of the graves of their martyred relatives. They placed small marker stones with the names of their relatives: "Here lies Anna, David, Michael and Lillian Rosenberg." In remembrance, we also placed some small stones on the markers, a symbol of our presence. One of the gentlemen on our tour exclaimed, "Who will say Kaddish [prayer for the dead] with me?"
Ruth and I chanted the prayer in Hebrew, with tears flowing down our faces.
Our last stop was the Jewish Center in Riga. It is a school, a museum and a recreation center. As we were leaving, we heard female voices from a side room singing Yiddish songs. Ruth learned many of these songs as a young girl and used to sing them to me when we were courting. We joined in the singing to the delight of the elderly singers. As we exited the room, there was a stained-glass window picturing rabbis in their robes and prayer shawls, hands outstretched to heaven with the inscription, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" (Psalm 22)
It was a moving experience that we shall long remember.
• Abraham Clearfield is a member of Congregation Beth Shalom in Bryan and has taught Jewish history courses.
