Latvijas Vēsturnieku komisijas raksti - 18.sējums "Holokausts Latvijā

62 Konferences “Totalitārie režīmi Baltijā: izpētes rezultāti un problēmas” referāti par holokausta tematiku
Eyewitnesses tell about unsuccessful evacuation attempts of many Jews and about
their behavior during the German occupation and describe how the local collaborators drove
the unfortunate Jews to the sites of their execution. Jews did not always comprehend the
substance of Nazism. Sometimes it was only in the last hours of their lives that they realised
what awaited them. Eyewitnesses can tell us, how the local residents perceived the Jewish
tragedy and why some local residents became Nazi henchmen. Of value are also those
recollections that reveal the attitude of the Germans’ henchmen towards their deeds.
The Jewish populations in the settlements of Eglaine, Demene, Dviete, Kaplava,
Laucese, Skrudaliena, and Svente consisted of 2–20 persons. In Eglaine and Svente,
Jews were killed on site, while the Jews from Skrudaliena and Demene were driven to
other settlements. The execution of Jewish communities took from a few minutes to half
an hour. Then followed the plunder of their property. Such “petty operations” for the most
part are absent from archival documents, and thus, eyewitnesses’ recollections practically
constitute the sole evidence. On the other hand, recollections have certain limits: witnesses
cannot know whether Jews were executed on the initiative of the local Nazi henchmen or
following orders from occupation authorities.
According to the population census of 1935, there were no Jews at all living in Svente.
However, according to the oldest residents, in 1940, a Jewish doctor settled here with
his family and was subsequently executed. Thus, eyewitnesses’ reports provide us with
a broader picture of the Holocaust and often allow establishing the sites of execution and
burial or re-burial.
The recorded eyewitnesses’ recollections constitute one of the types of sources of
oral history. Such sources open new possibilities for research of historically important
facts and allow finding out what is unavailable in newspapers or archives, and broaden
our perception of the Jewish tragedy in various villages and towns as well as immortalize
the memory of innocent victims.