Latvijas Vēsturnieku komisijas raksti - 23.sējums

Atmiņas par Latgales ebreju bēgļu likteni. 1941–1945
Memories about the Fate of Latgale Jewish Refugees
in 1941–1945
Summary
How many Jews have managed to leave Latgale? Before the war, in Latgale there lived
around 28 000 Jews. Fascists killed 20 000 Jews of Latgale, which means that only 8000
Jews managed to leave Latgale. The number of rescued Jews in Latgale is affected by its
geographical position: proximity to the Latvian–Russian border. The more to the north the
location of the settlement, the better chances they had to be rescued. Jews from Zemgale
and Kurzeme had much less chances to survive. Jews from Riga and Vidzeme managed
to escape to the northeast of Latvia. At the same time a lot of Jewish refugees were killed
because of constant bombardments. It is difficult to establish how many Jews of Latgale
died from starvation, cold or intolerable conditions of life in 1941–1945 in Russia. Almost
all who survived have returned back, only a few married and stayed in Russia. All the
mentioned factors have defined the amount of rescued Jews.
Analysis of the memoirs of Latgale’s Jews from various cities, districts, volosts have
revealed a certain consistency. The overwhelming majority of the Jews who left Latgale in
the summer of 1941 were refugees.
Government could not assist them. The escape had a chaotic character and it took
place under constant bombardments of German aircrafts, sometimes under attacks by
German saboteurs as well as local anti-Semites. The old Latvian and Russian border
was protected by troops which did not let refugees into Russia. Certainly these were no
German troops and in the memoirs of respondents it was an army for Commissariat of
Internal Affairs fulfilling their orders. What was the reason for these orders? It is possible
that they were afraid to be penetrated by German spies and at the same time tried to inspire
the local population and bring a sense of security – “the enemy is stopped, everything is
fine”. As a result of this policy a part of refugees including Jews returned to embrace their
death. In any case such a policy in the conditions of uncertainty led to panic and gossip:
they would not be let through, because they did not have Soviet passports and Latvian
pasports were already void. A number of respondents think that the Soviets did not want
Latvian refugees to get acquainted with their conditions of life, which considerably differed
from Latvian. Organized evacuation only affected a small group of refugees, including Jews
who were members of the party, Soviet workers and their families whom the authorities had
taken care of.
Only when the Latvian refugees arrived in Russia the attempts were made of organized
evacuation, which happened in the area of Velikie Luki where the commodity wagons
and open platform carts were provided for the refugees. Actually, these echelons returned
empty from the front and it was clear that priority was given to the delivery of ammunition
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