BLOCH Avraham's file / בלוך אברהם, תיק אישי

Avraham ben Dov Bloch (Avraham Bloch) was a Holocaust survivor who extensively documented his experiences and the history of Latvian Jews under Nazi occupation.

Documenting the Holocaust in Riga

Avraham Bloch wrote detailed memoirs about his life during the Nazi occupation of Riga, describing major and harrowing events:

• The beginning of the occupation: He describes the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the massacres of Jews before the establishment of the ghetto, and the burning of synagogues while people were inside.
• The Riga Ghetto: His memoirs cover the establishment of the ghetto, the liquidation of the "Large Ghetto" and the creation of the "Small Ghetto," as well as the activities of the Judenrat and the Jewish police (whose members were killed in October 1942).
• Forced labor camps: Bloch documented numerous camps ("Arbeits-Einheiten") in which he was held or about which he provided testimony, including Salaspils, Lenta, "Fliegerhorst," "Deutsche Sanitätspark," and "Eisenbahn-Ausbesserungswerk."
• Mass murder: He describes the murder of most of Riga’s Jews in the Rumbula forests and the "Aktion" against children in November 1943.
• Resistance and cultural activities: Bloch mentions attempts at armed resistance in the ghetto, as well as cultural and educational activities, such as the "Ghetto School for Women."

The End of the War and Liberation

Bloch also documented the later stages of the war:

• The evacuation of the Lenta camp in August 1944.
• Transfer to the Stutthof concentration camp.
• Forced labor at Schichau-Werke in Danzig, where he also documented relations between Jewish workers and local civilians, up to the evacuation of the camp.

Literary Work and Commemoration

The sources include poems and longer poetic works written by Bloch in Yiddish, expressing pain and the need for remembrance:

• Poetry as testimony: Bloch wrote poems about the ravines and pits in Riga, the terror of impending death, and mothers holding their children in the face of the murderers ("Shakalen," or "jackals").
• Exposing the crimes: In a poem dated October 1963, he describes how the Nazis, under the command of "Rosh Man" (Roschmann), attempted to conceal evidence of their crimes by opening graves and burning the bodies, producing thick black smoke.
• Establishing a mass grave: In his poems, Bloch describes the efforts of survivors, relatives, and friends to collect bone fragments from the fields in order to provide the murdered with a dignified resting place ("Kever-Heim," a burial place).

Avraham ben Dov Bloch’s personal file in the archive contains hundreds of pages of memoirs, poems, and correspondence (including a letter to Eli Walek), forming an important part of the documentation of the fate of Latvian Jewry. Bloch dated some of his writings October 1963.

P13-1 – Letter

P13-2 – Avraham Bloch Poems

P13-2-1 – Tzilia Magid about her brother Avraham Bloch

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P13-3 – Memories

P13-4 – Memories copy (mixed pages)

P13-5 – Memories (Original)

P13-6 – Memories copy (mixed pages)

P13-7 – Letter to Eli Valk

P199-1 – Letter

P199-2-0 – Memoires from Ghetto Riga

P199-2-1 – Pages 1-99

P199-2-2 – Pages 100-199

P199-2-3 – Pages 200-325

** end of BLOCH Avraham files **

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