Evidence on Ghetto Riga's file / תיק – ראיות על גטו ריגה

These sources document the Persecution of European Jews In the 1930s and 1940s, with a special focus on communities Latvia and GermanyThe collection includes Official documents of the Nazi regime regarding the confiscation of Jewish property, alongside Personal testimonies In manuscripts describing massacres synchronous with the burning of synagogues in Riga. Semitic lists of Survivors and the dead Appear alongside press clippings spreading virulent anti-Semitic propaganda and calls for total annihilation. Photographs of Deportation to ghettos and property destruction visually illustrate the regime's brutal policies. The documents serve as chilling historical evidence of the attempts The armed resistance within the ghettos and to the actions of specific war criminals. Together, the items chart the transition from social and economic isolation For systematic genocide In Cold Blood.

Historical documents depict a harsh reality of systematic persecution, extermination, and high-level resistance in Latvia during the Nazi occupation. The Germans and their allies committed mass murder at sites such as the Bikerniki Forest and Rumbula, leaving behind devastation and looting of Jewish property (H43-1-01f, H43-1f, H43-6f). Alongside the physical murder, draconian economic measures were employed against the Jews, including heavy taxes on immigration (H43-10f) and systematic extortion during arrests and murders (H43-15f). Nazi ideology, which sought the final elimination of Judaism, was published in official SS publications (H43-8f) and accompanied by local anti-Semitic propaganda that presented the Jews as the “true face” of the enemy (H43-5f). These crimes were not limited to Riga, but spread throughout occupied Europe (H43-11f).

Despite the appalling conditions, an armed resistance organization was established in the Riga ghetto (H43-1-07f, H43-1f). Its members worked to acquire weapons and carried out daring sabotage operations on German military equipment destined for the front (H43-1-11f). The documentation also includes lists of those who perished (H43-12f, H43-14f), lists of the few who survived the concentration camps (H43-13f), and information about the integration of Jews into public life in Latvia before the war (H43-9f, H43-4f, H43-7f). On the other hand, cases of treason and illicit trade with the Nazi regime are also documented (H43-16f).

Key figures

Victims and resistance fighters:

• Tsekhakh Weinreich: A Jewish worker and underground fighter in the Riga ghetto. He led a group that sabotaged the engines of German military trucks, was captured by the Germans and executed by hanging (H43-1-01f, H43-1-11f, H43-1f).
• Ovsei Okun: One of the leaders of the armed resistance organization in the Riga ghetto. He was involved in purchasing weapons, organizing fighting groups, and protecting persecuted Jews within the ghetto (H43-1-07f, H43-1f, H43-3f).
• Mendel Vulfovich: One of the leaders of the armed underground that was established in the Riga ghetto at the end of 1941 (H43-1-07f, H43-1f).
• Max Liberman: Member of the leadership of the underground resistance organization in the ghetto (H43-1-07f, H43-1f).
• Marjukh Gleser: One of the leaders of the Jewish underground who worked against the Nazi occupation in Riga (H43-1-07f, H43-1f).
• Khaim Freidberg: A Jew who refused to surrender to the Nazi authorities despite threats against the entire ghetto. He was hidden and protected by members of the underground (H43-3f).
• The Rivlin family and the boy Nishon Jacobson: Victims brutally murdered by Herbert Zukurs during the burning of the synagogue on Stabo Street (H43-2f).
• Dr. S. Glazer: A Jewish doctor who appears in the lists of victims and fallen in the Riga community (H43-12f).
• I.M. Lantsman: A survivor and eyewitness who witnessed the murders of Zukurs and documented his demand for justice for the murderers (H43-2f).

Nazis, criminals and collaborators:

• Herbert Cukurs: A notorious Latvian war criminal. He led the burning of the Riga synagogue and its occupants and committed murders of female students, children, and Jewish families (H43-2f).
• Krause: The ghetto commander who was directly responsible for the executions of Jews and the repression of the population (H43-3f, H43-1f).
• Eizman: A figure with a criminal background who collaborated with the Nazis in the Riga ghetto. He engaged in robbery and looting of Jewish property until he was eliminated by the Germans themselves (H43-1f).
• Vants: A Jewish collaborator who was appointed by the Nazis to head a labor camp ("Kaisernungslager") and who behaved violently and rudely towards the Jews (H43-1f).
• Frankenberg, Haar and Perl: Nazi commanders and police officers who ran the ghetto and its various units (H43-1f).

List of sources

• H43-1-01f : Handwritten notes on the Jewish resistance and the massacre in the Bikerniki Forest.
• H43-1-07f : Documentation on the establishment of the armed resistance organization in the Riga ghetto and its leaders.
• H43-1-11f : Details about the sabotage activities of the Weinreich group and his execution.
• H43-1f : A comprehensive list of figures, underground leaders, and collaborators in the Riga Ghetto.
• H43-2f : A detailed letter of testimony about the shocking crimes of Herbert Zukurs in Riga.
• H43-3f : Documentation on the Chaim Friedberg affair, the arrests in the ghetto and the actions of Commander Krause.
• H43-4f : A letter in Latvian including a list of signatories addressed to the General Inspector of the Latvian Legion.
• H43-5f : Antisemitic propaganda in the Latvian press and information about Jewish soldiers.
• H43-6f : Historical photographs of the evacuation of Jews from the Riga ghetto and the results of the "Aktions".
• H43-7f : Pages from the Passover Haggadah printed in Riga in 1930.
• H43-8f : An excerpt from the SS newspaper "Das Schwarze Korps" about the extermination of Jews in Germany.
• H43-9f : An article in Yiddish about the integration of Jews into the state apparatus in Latvia before the war.
• H43-10f : An official German document detailing immigration regulations and tax payments for Jews.
• H43-11f : An article from the newspaper "Izvestia" about the crimes of the Nazis and the extermination of the Jewish population in Europe.
• H43-12f : Press clippings with lists of those murdered, obituary notices, and information about Dr. Glazer.
• H43-13f : List of 155 survivors from Riga who came from various concentration camps in Germany.
• H43-14f : Testimony in Yiddish about the extermination of tens of thousands of Jews in the Riga ghetto.
• H43-15f : Report on the murder of 200 Jews in the town of Malta in Latvia and the robbery of their money.
• H43-16f : List of Jews who traded with Nazi Germany under the title "On the Black Board".
  • The source H43-16f It is a unique document in Yiddish that appears under the title "Apfen Schwarzen Towel" (on the blackboard)This is an advertisement from the "Boycott Committee Presidency" (Der Presidium von Boycott-Kamitet), publicly denouncing Jewish businessmen who conducted trade relations with Nazi Germany (H43-16f).
    The advertisement states that "the Jews who came sold their honor and their people by trading in goods from Hitler's Land" (H43-16f). It lists the names and addresses of two business owners in Riga:
    1. A. Leibowitz: Owner of a packaging business on 2 K.W. Rez Street (H43-16f).
    2. Y. Chiatin: Owner of fashion and haberdashery stores at 7 Herrn Street and 2 Freiheits Street (H43-16f).
    This document reflects the organized efforts of the Jewish community in Latvia to maintain an economic boycott of Nazi Germany even before the physical occupation, as part of civil and moral resistance (H43-16f). It stands in stark contrast to other documents describing the vibrant Jewish life in Latvia before the war, such as the integration of Jews into the state apparatus (H43-9f) or the printing of sacred objects such as the Passover Haggadah in Riga (H43-7f). It also presents a different kind of "betrayal" than that documented during the ghetto period, where figures such as Vannet or Eisman As direct collaborators with the Nazi repression apparatus (H43-1f).

 

– H43-1f

– H43-1-01f

– H43-1-07f

– H43-1-11f

– H43-2f

– H43-3f

– H43-4f

– H43-5f

– H43-6f

– H43-7f

– H43-8f

– H43-9f

– H43-10f

– H43-11f

– H43-12f

– H43-13f

– H43-14f

– H43-15f

– H43-16f

 

** end of Evidence on Ghetto Riga files **

**Press to go back to Holocaust Table**