Small Riga Ghetto

162
Zemgale, Kurzeme and Vidzeme
a) Libau (Liepāja)
"A window toward Europe!" This was the idea of the Russian Czar Peter the
Great. In order to create this window, Czar Alexander III built Liepāja, the
largest harbor on the Baltic Sea, and provided it with strong fortifications.
Liepāja played a significant role for Russia as a harbor for imports and exports,
especially for the export of grain from Ukraine. Through the construction
of the Liepāja-Romner railroad with a branch line to Moscow-Rybinsk a
direct connection was created with Ukraine. Before World War I the largest
Jewish export firms, such as Dreyfuss (France) and Brodski (Ukraine), had
branch offices in Liepāja. The export of lumber to England, which lay almost
exclusively in Jewish hands, was partly routed through Liepāja and Ventspils
(Windau). Thus the Jews played a significant role in the development of this
great Russian harbor, and in the natural course of things a very wealthy Jewish
center developed, which later gradually declined under Latvian rule. The huge
Liepāja fortress, which bore the name of Alexander III, was also built by
Jews. Until the beginning of World War II about 14,000 Jews lived in Liepāja.
Today Jewish Liepāja exists no longer, and the once-prosperous institutions
and great synagogues have likewise disappeared.
***
Right at the beginning of the war, the Jews of Liepāja were the first to have
the "luck" of being occupied by the enemy (on 29 June 1941). Because the
fighting took place in the city itself, a large part of it was destroyed. As early
as the third day after the German occupation, the Latvian population began to
"visit" the Jews. After receiving their first directives from the "murder staff"
in Riga, they began the arrests, which claimed many victims. Civil administration
was quickly taken over by the victors, and a Gestapo was set up. Dr. Zitkus
became the police chief, later succeeded by Dietrich. The SD leader was
the notorious murderer Kügler, assisted by Handke, Kraft and others. With
their help the first Aktion began on 23 July, and it cost about 4,000 Jews,
mostly men, their lives. Dr. Schwab, who was very prominent in Liepāja, died
an especially gruesome death. They gouged out one of his eyes and tortured
him until he himself begged to be killed.
The Jews were arrested and gathered together in the Women's Prison of
Liepāja. There the Latvians carried out strict body searches and took away all
valuables. Every evening small transports of Jews were sent to Šķēde behind