Concentration Camp Riga
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Max Kaufmann Churbn Lettland The Destruction of the Jews of Latvia Foreword by George Schwab Preface by Paul A. Shapiro Introduced by Gertrude Schneider Translated from the German by Laimdota Mazzarins Edited by Gertrude Schneider and Erhard Roy Wiehn Hartung-Gorre Publishers, Konstanz, Germany Cover front page: Holocaust Memorial in the old Jewish cemetery of Riga. Photo E. Roy Wiehn. Back cover: Max Kaufmann; printed by Sowa, Warsaw, Poland. Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Die Deutschen Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in The Deutsche Nationalbibliographie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the internet at http://dnb.ddb.de Copyright © Jewish Survivors of Latvia, Inc., New York First edition 2010 HARTUNG-GORRE VERLAG, KONSTANZ, GERMANY http://www.hartung-gorre.de ISBN 978-3-86628-315-2 5 Contents George Schwab: Foreword ............................................................. 7 Paul A. Shapiro: Preface to the First English Edition (2010) ...................... 9 Gertrude Schneider: Introduction .....................................................13 Erhard Roy Wiehn: Comment.........................................................18 Max Kaufmann: Churbn Lettland – Destruction of the Jews of Latvia ...19 Yiskor - Commemoration ..............................................................23 Jeannot Lewenson: Foreword (German Edition 1947) ............................25 Nochum Senitzki: Foreword (German Edition 1947)..............................26 Max Kaufmann: Preface ...............................................................27 Part I The History of the Jewish Kibbutz (Community) in Latvia ......................29 War 1941–1945: The Germans March into Riga...................................34 The Beginning of the Destruction of the Jews of Riga (1 July – 25 Oct. 1941)... 36 The Large Riga Ghetto (25 October – 30 November 1941) ............................50 The Liquidation of the Large Riga Ghetto (30 November – 9 December 1941) ....58 The Small Riga Ghetto (Kasernierungslager – Satellite Camp) and the Reichs- Juden-Ghetto (Reich Jewish Ghetto) (1 December 1941 – 2 November 1943) ....71 Plan of the Riga Ghetto............................................................... 126 Part II The "Zentralna" and "Terminka" Prisons of Riga ............................... 128 The Press in Riga During the German Occupation .............................. 131 Jumpravmuiža (Jungfernhof) ........................................................ 132 Kworim weinen (Graves Weep)..................................................... 135 Art in the Riga Ghettos and Concentration Camps............................... 137 Men in Women's Roles (in the Small Riga Ghetto).............................. 140 Bloody Sloka (Schlock) – To My Only Son Arthur, Who Was Killed........ 143 Professor Simon Dubnow and His Final Journey ................................ 147 Latgale (Lettgallen): a) The Jewish City of Dvinsk (Daugavpils) and Its Destruction ........... 150 b) Rositten and Its Surroundings (Zilupe, Ludza, Krāslava, Preiļi etc.).. 158 Zemgale, Kurzeme and Vidzeme: a) Libau (Liepāja) ................................................................. 162 b) Mitau (Jelgava) ................................................................. 164 c) Tukums, Auce (Autz), Ventspils (Windau), Sabile (Zabeln) etc. ...... 164 6 [Eds. Photos of Mass Killing of Libau (Liepaja) Jews December 1941] ..... 166 [Eds. Photos of Prominent Latvian Jews Murdered] ............................ 167 Part III The "Kaiserwald" Concentration Camp Riga ..................................... 168 Kasernierungen – Small Satellite Camps .......................................... 194 a) "Gestapo", Later the "Lenta" Satellite Camp.............................. 195 b) HKP (Heereskraftfahrpark – Army Vehicle Park)........................ 198 c) Park (HKP)...................................................................... 203 d) Quartieramt (Billeting Department) ........................................ 210 e) Spilve............................................................................. 211 f) ABA (Armeebekleidungsamt – Army Clothing Department)............ 214 g) AEG (Allg. Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft – General Electric Works)..... 215 h) Strasdenhof (Strazdumuiža)................................................... 217 i) Reichskommissariat (Reich Commissary)................................... 219 j) Reichsbahn (Reich Railroad).................................................. 220 k) Balastdamm (Balasta Dam) ................................................... 221 l) Dünawerke (Daugava Works) ................................................ 222 m) The Dundaga (Dundangen) Satellite Camp................................ 223 n) Poperwaln (Popevalns) ........................................................ 224 o) Other Satellite Camps (Kasernierungen).................................... 225 The Evacuation ........................................................................ 226 Part IV The "Stutthof" Concentration Camp (Waldheim) ................................ 229 The "Buchenwald" Concentration Camp (Satellite Camp Magdeburg)....... 241 The "Sachsenhausen" Concentration Camp (Oranienburg)..................... 257 The Road to Freedom (The Liberation)............................................ 260 Via Stutthof – Burggraben – Gotentov – Riben – Lauenburg to Freedom ... 265 From Riga via the KZ Stutthof – Buchenwald – Zeitz-Remersdorf to There- sienstadt and Freedom ............................................................. 267 The Dachau Concentration Camp................................................... 270 The Day of Commemoration (Jorzeit) in the Riga Synagogue................. 270 Epilogue................................................................................. 273 Index of Names ........................................................................ 278 7 George Schwab * Foreword Max Kaufmann's Churbn Lettland: The Destruction of the Jews of Latvia, is a classic. Published in Munich, Germany, in 1947, only two years after Nazi Germany's collapse, the book contains Kaufmann's recollections and those of other Latvian Jewish survivors whom he was able to buttonhole in the tumul- tuous immediate postwar period. In Yiddish, Russian, German, and Latvian he grilled them in Riga, Berlin, and Munich on their wartime reminiscences. With little more than pen, pencil, and slips of paper, Kaufmann made copious notes and painstakingly reconstructed what had transpired between 1941 and 1945. What makes this work unique is Kaufmann's account to record for pos- terity the deliberate destruction of the once culturally rich Latvian Jewish community. Why publish this oeuvre in English now? Notwithstanding the fact that Holocaust studies have been and still are widely pursued, serious gaps in the analysis of the enormity of this heinous crime perpetrated by Germans and their local collaborators still remain. The case of Latvia, where more than 80,000 Latvian Jews and thousands non-Latvian Jews were slaughtered, is but one example. Though it is true that a few eyewitness accounts and some schol- arly works by Latvian and non-Latvian scholars have appeared since 1947, es- pecially in the recent past, much still needs to be researched in general and also in the wake of the huge, recently released trove of declassified documents stored in Bad Arolsen, Germany. Another reason why this work should be known today is the need to counter the works of charlatan writers who, out of ignorance or prejudice or malice, deny that the Holocaust in Latvia and else- where ever took place and dismiss eyewitness accounts and documentary evi- dence as inventions by Jews and their sympathizers. The late Boris Kliot, a survivor and resident of New York City, understood the relevance of Kaufmann's book and commmissioned its translation into English. Professor Gertrude Schneider of the City University of New York corrected factual errors and mistranslations of technical terms, especially those referring to ghetto and concentration camp language. Wherever possible, the Riga archivist Rita Bogdanova corrected the spelling of names to accord with those found in the Riga archive and transliterated many Latvian spelled names * Dr. George Schwab, Professor Emeritus, City University of New York (City College and Graduate Center), President, National Committee on American Foreign Policy. 8 to match the German spelling. Dr. Ivar Brod of New York carefully scruti- nized and harmonized the various parts of the emendated translation, notes, introduction, foreword and preface before he forged them into this authorita- tive and unforgettable book. March 2010 9 Paul A. Shapiro * Preface to the First English Edition (2010) "For us, all of Latvia is a huge cemetery – a cemetery without graves or gravestones." Max Kaufmann, Churbn Lettland (1947) The Holocaust revealed in an unprecedented way the worst that human beings are capable of – unjustifiable hatred, demonization and isolation of one-time neighbors, colleagues, friends, even innocent children, because they were la- beled "different"; shameful greed matched by comprehensive theft by both rich and poor from both rich and poor; deportation to faraway camps or to loca- tions just out of sight or earshot; and finally, mass murder. More extreme than any genocide that preceded it or that has followed, the Holocaust was uncivi- lized, comprehensive in intent, brutally vicious in implementation--and no- where