Holocaust Survivors's file / תיק – ניצולי השואה

These documents present Semitic lists of Jews who survived the Holocaust in Riga and its surroundings, as documented at the end of World War II in 1945. The sources include detailed personal data such as Full names, dates of birth, fathers' names, and residential addresses Up-to-date information in the city. Some of the lists were compiled by The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in Moscow and were forwarded to the World Jewish Congress in New York for the purposes of locating and assisting. Another document, written in Russian, also details the Survivors' professions and focuses on those who survived the Riga Ghetto under Soviet rule. This record collection constitutes Vital historical evidence The fate of the Jewish community in Latvia after the Nazi occupation. Chillingly, the documentation indicates that only 158 Jews remained alive From the city's original Jewish population.

The documents before us reveal a painful and detailed picture of the Holocaust of the Jews of Riga, Latvia, through personal testimonies of survivors and Semitic lists documenting the destroyed community and the few who survived. Of a pre-war population of about 100,000 Jews in Riga, only about 300 survived the ghettos, labor camps, and concentration camps (H82-10f).

Key figures

Victims, survivors and rescuers:

• Jack Ratz: A Riga-born Holocaust survivor who survived a series of ghettos and camps, including Lenta, Stutthof, and Gottsdorf (H82-10f, H82-9f). He dedicated his life to documenting his experiences in the memoir "Endless Miracles" (H82-10f).
• Inas Fridmanes: A Holocaust survivor who provided detailed testimony about her survival in Riga (H82-11f). She was hidden in a children's home after her mother, a dentist, was taken by the Gestapo (H82-11f).
• Riva Friedman: Ina's mother, a dentist by profession, who was interrogated by the Gestapo and murdered (H82-11f).
• Vidvuds Eglītis: A Latvian spiritualist and pianist who assisted Ina Friedman and her mother during the war, provided them with letters from prison, and even maintained contact with Ina after the war (H82-11f).
• Emīls Resnais: The director of the children's home where Ina Friedman was hidden. He and his wife Anna protected her and other children, risking their lives against the Nazi authorities (H82-11f).
• Paula Kauffert: A Holocaust survivor from Riga who was liberated from the Landsberg camp in July 1945 (H82-8f).

Nazis:

• Adolf Hitler: The leader of Nazi Germany, whose rise to power in 1933 marked the beginning of the persecutions that led to the extermination of European Jewry (H82-10f). Sources indicate that his followers collaborated to destroy humanity (H82-10f).

Expansion of important sources

Jack Ratz's memoir "Endless Miracles" (H82-10f, H82-9f): This source is a living testimony to the horrors experienced by the Jews of Riga. Ratz describes the Nazi occupation in July 1941, the burning of synagogues, and the massacre in the Rumbula Forest, where his mother and younger siblings were murdered (H82-10f). He describes how he miraculously survived the "selection" in the Lanta camp when his father decided to keep him by his side rather than send him with the children to the gas chambers (H82-10f, H82-9f). After the war, Ratz saw a moral obligation to tell his story in order to combat Holocaust deniers (H82-10f).

Ina Friedman's testimony (H82-11f): This testimony sheds light on the daily struggle for survival of Jewish children under a borrowed identity. Friedman describes the harsh interrogations in the Gestapo and the constant fear of exposure (H82-11f). The source emphasizes the crucial role of local “Righteous Among the Nations,” such as the Rasnais Widvodas Aglitis family, who, thanks to their courage and humanity, managed to survive (H82-11f). She notes the stark contrast between Nazi cruelty and the compassion of the rescuers (H82-11f).

Lists of survivors and residents (H82-1f, H82-2f, H82-5f): These documents are of immense historical and genealogical value. They include detailed lists of Jews living in Riga before the war (H82-1f), and lists of survivors compiled by the Soviet Army and the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee immediately after the liberation in 1944 and 1945 (H82-2f, H82-5f). The lists indicate names, patronymics, dates of birth and addresses, and constitute a semitic record of the destroyed community (H82-1f, H82-5f).

List of sources

• H82-1f : A detailed list of Jewish residents who lived in Riga, Latvia.
• H82-2f : List of Jewish survivors in Riga who registered with the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in Moscow in 1945.
• H82-3f : A list of Jewish survivors in Riga, including the names of their ancestors and their updated addresses after the war.
• H82-4f : List of Jews who returned to Latvia from the Soviet Union in December 1945.
• H82-5f : List of survivors from the Riga Ghetto prepared by the Soviet Army in 1944.
• H82-6f : Review and details of Alfred Winter's memoir about the Riga ghetto and the labor camps in Latvia.
• H82-7f : Registration of Jewish survivors in Eastern European countries, including Riga and other cities in Latvia.
• H82-8f : Official document confirming the release of Paula Kaufert from the Landsberg concentration camp.
• H82-9f : A personal essay by Jack Ratz's granddaughter describing his life, survival, and educational legacy.
• H82-10f : A collection of articles and testimonies about Holocaust survivor Jack Ratz and his book "Endless Miracles".
• H82-11f : Transcript of the testimony of survivor Ina Friedman about her experiences in a children's home in Riga and the story of her rescue.

 

H82-1f

H82-2f

H82-3f

H82-4f

H82-5f

H82-6f

H82-7f

H82-8f

H82-9f

H82-10f

H82-11f

 

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