Rubene file / תיק קהילה

📜 The history of the Rovna community and its fate in the Holocaust

The sources presented provide Historical and demographic overview of the settlement Rovna (Rubene) in Latvia, focusing on the small Jewish community that existed there. Statistics from the 1920s and 1930s indicate the presence of Lonely Jews in the village, alongside information about the social and economic structure of the area at the time. The documents describe the political upheavals that began with Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact and the annexation of Latvia to the Soviet Union in 1940. The culmination of the documentation concerns During the Holocaust, when the local Jews were murdered by the Nazis and local collaborators in the fall of 1941, following the German invasion. The combination of sources, including Data sheets and statistics books, creates an image of a community that was almost completely wiped out during the war.

The settlement Rovna (Rubene), also known as Lubna (Lubene), located in the district Illuxta (Ilukste) in the region Zamgale (Zemgale), an area that previously belonged to the region Courland (Kurland) in Latvia (C106-1f, C106-3f). According to official statistical documents from 1936, the settlement is located in the local council (Pagasts) of Rovna, and it is a center for the rural settlements in its vicinity (C106-2f). Historically, it is noted in the scriptures that as early as 1759 a document was issued by the General Johan Zeiberges (Johann Zibergs) regarding the construction of a wooden church on the site, when the current church in the settlement was built in 1893 (C106-2f).

Demographics and population composition in Rovno

The Jewish community in Rovno was small and numbered only a few people over the years. In 1925, 7 Jews, and in 1930 their number increased to12 people (C106-3f, C106-6f). This figure remained stable even in the 1935 census, when Jews constituted 5.50% of the total population (12 persons out of 218 residents), while the vast majority were Latvian (91.74%) and other minorities included Poles, Russians and Lithuanians (C106-2f). Census records indicate that the population in the settlement consisted of 91 men and 127 women (C106-2f).

Economic activity and property ownership in Rovna

Despite being a small community, the Jews of Rovna were involved in commercial life and owned property in the settlement. A number of Jewish names appear in the list of property owners in the center of the settlement in 1935: Meir Fleishman (Meiera Fleišmana) owned property No. 10; Abram-Elka andLeyva-Nachman Feldhun (Ābrams-Elka un Leiba-Nachmans Feldhūni) were the owners of property No. 14, called "Rovna"; andRosa Fleischmann (Roza Fleišmane) owned property No. 15 called "Tirumi" (C106-2f). In the field of commerce, it is noted that a grocery store operated in the settlement under the management of Yaakov Bar (Jacob Bēra) (C106-2f).

The Jewish community in Silene

Near Rovna, in the same district (Iloksta), as the settlement Silena (Silene), formerly called Borovka (Borovka), where a much more significant Jewish community existed (C106-2f). In 1935, they lived in Silina 189 Jews, which constituted 18.49% of the total population (C106-2f). Among the prominent business owners in Silena were Meir Fleischmanis (Meijers Fleišmanis), who ran a textile and fashion store, andHeine Hirschhorn (Heine Hiršhorns), who ran the local pharmacy (C106-2f). The list of homeowners in Silesia includes many Jewish surnames, including Levin, Zeitlin, Roisin, shoemaker andPanchosowitz (C106-2f).

The Holocaust and the Destruction of the Community

The fate of the Jews of Rovna was sealed following the political and military events of World War II. After the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact In August 1939, Latvia was annexed by the Soviet Union in the summer of 1940 (C106-1f, C106-6f). On June 22, 1941, with the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the region was occupied (C106-5f). During July 1941, the murderous operations began, and the Jews of Rovno and its surroundings were murdered in the autumn of that year by The Germans and Latvian collaborators (C106-1f, C106-4f, C106-6f). A handwritten note on the transit document lists the name "RUBENE" alongside the printed description of the events (C106-1f).

Local terms and concepts

• Apriņķis: Administrative district in Latvia.
• Pagasts: A smaller administrative unit, a kind of local council or rural district.
• Zemgale: One of the historical regions of Latvia.
• Kurland: The historical name of a region in western and southern Latvia (in sources: Kurzemes/Kurland).
• Tirgotava: A store or trading house.

List of sources

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• C106-1f – A printed information sheet with a handwritten note describing the geographical location of Rovna, demographic data, and an overview of the extermination of the Jews in the Holocaust.
• C106-2f – Official statistical yearbook of the Latvian government (1936) including demographic, economic data and a list of property owners in the settlements of Rovna and Silesia.
• C106-3f – A historical and demographic summary in Hebrew about the Rovna community, including data from population censuses and information about the fate of the community in 1941.
• C106-4f – A document in English from the archives of the Beit Hatfutsot Museum that reviews Rovna as an agricultural settlement and details the data on the Jewish population and its destruction in the Holocaust.

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