Small Riga Ghetto

272
Many men and women are in uniform. One sees very high-ranking Jews,
and those who have already been demobilized are still wearing their uniforms.
The congregation looks very poor, as if a war were over.
This is the Riga of today!
This is not only Riga but most of the Jewish Latvian community!
Whether great or small, all of them are here.
And the Jewish kibbutz (community) of Latvia, which once was so large and
beautiful, can today easily fit into the only synagogue that has survived.
Izkor (commemoration)!
I am one of the few who know when Kaddish has to be said. Most of them
don't know this.
The present rabbi (who was saved in Riga but is not a native of the city)
climbs to the chancel next to the oroin koidesch.
The synagogue is as quiet as a tomb. The rabbi tries to speak but his voice is
choked by tears.
The people in the gallery and below sob and weep and cannot calm down.
The rabbi begins his sermon. He thanks God the Almighty for the fact that
Jews can now gather together in the city that was supposed to be "free of
Jews". He thanks the liberators also.
He touches upon our great tragedy, but a new storm of pain that breaks out
among all of those present prevents him for a time from going on with his
sermon. He tells of the great martyrdom of the Jewish kibbutz of Latvia, and
goes on to speak of the native Latvian population, which played a great role in
our destruction.
We simply cannot believe that the people who had grown up with us and
lived with us looked upon our great misfortune so pitilessly and even increased
it.
The rabbi lifts up his hands to the Almighty. He prays to Him for retribution
for all the spilled blood of our holy ones. When he has finished, the whole assembly
weeps and shouts with a single voice: "Amen!"
A few more people speak about our great misfortune, but it cannot be described;
only the few survivors can comprehend it.
We know only too well that our dearest and best, our wives, children and
husbands, our fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers are now in Rumbula,
Biķernieki and Baltezers.
We know just as well that the ashes of the people dearest to us have been
scattered over all the fields of Latvia.