Small Riga Ghetto

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the military harbor, where they were bestially murdered. In August 1941 the
Jewish population was forced to wear the yellow Star of David and was allowed
out on the streets only from 10 a.m. until noon and from 3 to 5 p.m.
They were forbidden to walk on the sidewalks. The synagogues and all other
Jewish institutions – such as the moschav-zkejnim (old-age home), the Talmud
thora (religious school) and the Jewish club – were destroyed by rampaging
crowds. Some of the Jews in the small towns of Aizpute (Hasenpoth), Pāvilosta
and Grobiņa were killed on the spot, and the very few who remained
were taken to Liepāja.
On 16 December 1941 the second large Aktion took place, which cost 3500
Jews their lives.
Before this action a decree was announced which forbade people to leave
their apartments. The Jews were taken out of their apartments by Latvians
wearing green armbands and driven in trucks to the prison. From there they
were taken at night in sledges to the shooting range at Skeden and shot there.
At one point some of the Jews ran away from the sledge during this journey.
Thereupon a new order was issued to the effect that the Jews had to remove
their shoes and outer clothing; when they arrived at their destination they had
to take off the rest of their clothes and were shot entirely naked.
There were a few small Aktionen later on, in which mainly women and children,
as well as men who were unable to work, were killed.
Like the Jews everywhere else, the Liepāja Jews also had to work in various
units. The SD set up workshops where the Jews worked under the direction of
David Siwzon. Although Siwzon managed to make contact with the partisans,
he paid for this with his life, * whereas his friend Josef Mandelstamm escaped.
Of course the Liepāja Jews were also subjected to much harassment by the local
people. Their number declined fairly rapidly, and on 1 July 1942 only a
very small group (850 persons) was taken to the ghetto in the old city center of
Liepāja. There too, many of them (Chawensohn, Neu and others) lost their
lives. The Council of Elders in the ghetto was headed by the Liepāja wholesale
merchant Israel Israelit and the lawyer Kaganski (both of whom were killed).
Dr. Weinreich managed the outpatient clinic, Dr. Baron and Dr. Isaksohn the
dental ward. The ghetto Kommandant was Patrolman Kerscher.
On the day before Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement, 8 October 1943) the
ghetto was dissolved and the remaining inmates were taken in cattle cars to
Riga, guarded by eighty Latvian volunteers.
* [Ed.: He survived.]