Statement

Recorded with: Berner Isaak, born: 18.6.1909 in Riga

On July 1st, 1941, the Germans came to Riga. On July 2nd, an auxiliary Latvian SS troop was formed. They wore green armbands on their sleeves with a skull on. The first thing this auxiliary troop did was to stop Jews in the street, to humiliate them, to throw Jewish women and children out of their apartments and to force them to work. Work was done clearing up, where the aim was not so much that work was done, but much more to tyrannise the Jews. Beards were pulled out, the women had their hair cut off, beaten and kicked, the people stayed lying on the floor. On July 3rd, the apartments of the Jews began to be ransacked. On July 6th, all the synagogues in Riga were set on fire. I can testify under oath that many rabbis, cantors, temple assistants and families that lived in the neighbourhood of the synagogues were forced into the burning synagogues and suffocated and burnt alive. Shortly afterwards, the mass arrests began amongst the Jewish population. Over a short period, 3000-4000 Jews disappeared, I don’t know what happened to these people. All of the Jews that were still free had to register daily at the prefecture and were sent to work, where they were – of course – tormented in the worst ways possible. At the beginning of September, Prefect Stieglitz – a repatriated German who had come back to Latvia – gathered all the leading Jewish men and told them to form a Jewish committee. The members were the lawyer Dr. Eljachow, Dr. Minz 1Note 1: Uncertain, whether he means Vladimir Mincs., Kaugert, Winzker, Dr. Blumfeld. Their task was: arranging for the relocation of the Jews in Riga to the working-class suburb of Letgaler, an area where originally 3000-4000 had lived. In this cramped area, in the small, low rooms, 30-40,000 people had to find accommodation. We had to give our apartments to the people moving out of the working-class area without any compensation, and were only allowed to take essentials with us that we could carry; special permission was needed if you wanted to take, for example, a cupboard with you. If it was a good piece of furniture, then the permission wasn’t granted. The relocation had to be carried out by October 15th, the ghetto was then fenced in, surrounded by Latvian SS, the Jews were segregated and the tragedy of the ghetto began.

Already in the first days, many Jews who only got too close to the fence were shot attempting to escape. Shots were fired into windows that were supposedly the black-out was not good enough, many people died as a result. Work commandos left daily. Anyone who was halfway able to tried to avoid it, as returning to the ghetto could be deadly. You were checked at the gate, searches were undertaken and most were beaten; women and children were not spared. Groceries and essentials were supplied by 14 shops, but the allocation got less and less every week. Security was provided by the Jewish Police. On November 18th, it was arranged that the ghetto would be evacuated and everyone would be transferred to a work camp. When Dr Eljachow asked what would happen to the old and the sick, an SA man named Schulze answered bluntly that anyone who was unable to march would be shot. We were allowed to take 20 kg of luggage with us. We believed that were really going to be taken to a work camp.

On November 20th, Latvian workers came and isolated a small section of the ghetto.

We didn’t know why they had done it, but on November 23rd, all of the strong men were forced into this isolated section. On November 30th, the grosse Aktion (big action) began. At 6pm, children, women and old people – with or without luggage – were driven out of their apartments. Blows, kicks, shooting, murder were the tactics used to prompt the terrified people. People stayed on the streets for the whole night, until 6am, in the frost, hungry and many poorly dressed. A group of 1000 people were marched on foot along the Moskauer Strasse (Moscow Street) under the strict supervision of the SS.

Nobody was allowed to watch, even Aryans weren’t allowed to look out of the window as shots were immediately fired. This evacuation lasted until December 9th, 1941. During this time, those of us in the isolated part of the ghetto heard that Russian prisoners of war were digging pits outside of town by Quadrat in Salasplis and in the Bickernjaken woods. We couldn’t find out initially what they were for. We found out from farmers that lived nearby and from the statements of those who had been able to escape: The transports with the women and children (and also several men too) were forced to the pits and mown down with machine guns. The screaming and wailing of the poor victims was so harrowing, that many farmers on the immediate area couldn’t sleep for days. In this action, around 27,000 women, around 3000 children between 1 and 13 years as well as 4000-5000 men who were less able to work were murdered. The whole Aktion was led by General Jeckeln, who was based in the Knight’s Hall in Riga with his accomplices, Dr Lange and the SA man Schulze. To the character of General Jeckeln I want to add: when several Jews were sent to his house to work for him, he didn’t like two of them. Out of nowhere he shot them. After the end of the Aktion, nearly 5000 men and around 270 women and children who had been able to hide during the evacuation remained in the small isolated section of the ghetto. I was the camp elder at the time and got permission from the commandants to bring the women and children into a special block, and later other women from Latvia came as well. There was a total of 500-600 women in the women’s block. The new commandant was called Obersturmführer Krauss, his assistant was SS Scharführer Roschmann. The camp was designated a barrack/work camp and all the inmates had to work without rest. Three shops were set up and we received food rationing cards, concerning goods, there was only that which was left over from the shops in the large ghetto. Almost everyone went to work every day. The large ghetto was taken over by a trust, and the property found there was sold in packages for 15 marks to the local population, whole wagons full of clothes were sent to Germany as winter assistance from the Latvian people. The SS men kept the best things for themselves. Three days after the annihilation action, 13-14,000 Jews from Germany (men, women, children) were brought to the ghetto that we had cleared out. They were brought from Germany to Szirotowa in first and second-class carriages and given coffee there by nurses from the Red Cross. They had been given permission to bring luggage with them from Germany and so arrived quite well-equipped. In Szirotowa they were sorted with blows and beatings. The men were mostly sent to Salaspils to the work/annihilation camp, some of the old people were shot in Szirotowa, the rest were brought as mentioned into the ghetto. All of their luggage was stolen and they lived from what they got from us. It was strictly forbidden, that we left the work camp and went into the ghetto, and the inhabitants of the ghetto were also not allowed to come into contact with us. We went to work every day. Every Jew in the barrack camp had to deliver money, valuables, stocks and gold. We surrendered 115,000 marks and a fortune in gold, jewellery and diamonds. The

worth is difficult to estimate, but it was a fortune. Eight days later, the first two Jews were publically hanged in the barrack camp. One was found to have 60 pfennigs and the other 1 mark. After the execution was carried out, the Jews were ordered to carry out another collection of money, golds and valuables, as it was clear that not everything had been handed over. We immediately carried out another collection and raised 80,000 marks. As a personal gift for the Commandant Krause, we kept some diamonds, a gold clock and cigarette case to one side for him. It was said, that he refused the gift and threw it into the basket with all the other things. A constable said later, that Krause took enough things that he could live from them for 100 years.

The hangings and shootings in the camp hadn’t stopped; for every small infraction, someone had to pay with their life. The executions by hanging had to be carried out by the Jewish Police who were left in the barrack camp. The Gestapo in Riga carried out many arrests amongst us, especially from important businessmen or industrial people. These people disappeared and never came back. Within a year, 1000 Jews had been killed. The camp existed until 1943-06. Thereafter, it was disbanded and we were housed in groups at the companies that we were working for, in barracks and under stricter guard.

Some of the people were taken to the newly founded Kaiserwalde concentration camp near Riga. Food was quite scarce in the factory camp, but there was enough to keep you alive and not have to starve. As the Russians approached, we were taken to Germany and housed in a concentration camp.

Statement copied from the original.

Protokol opsala: Marta Fischerová

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