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A sign, in both German and Latvian, warning that people attempting to cross the fence or to contact inhabitants of the Riga ghetto ...

Latvia
Baltic Countries: Maps

Latvia is one of the Baltic states. It is situated between Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. Latvia was an independent republic between the end of World War I and 1940. In 1935, 94,000 Jews lived in Latvia, making up about 5 percent of the total population. Approximately half of Latvian Jewry lived in Riga, the capital. Latvian Jews were represented in all social and economic classes. There was a well-developed network of Jewish schools, with over 100 institutions.

The Soviet Union occupied Latvia in June 1940 and annexed the country in August 1940. In June and July 1941, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the Germans occupied Latvia. During the German occupation, Latvia was included in the Reich Commissariat Ostland (Reichskommissariat Ostland), a German civilian administration covering the Baltic states and western Belorussia.

Riga ghetto, 1942
Riga ghetto, 1942
  • US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Detachments of German Einsatzgruppen, together with Latvian and Lithuanian auxiliaries, massacred most Latvian Jews. Ghettos were established in the larger cities of Riga, Dvinsk, and Liepaja. Several hundred Jews in the Riga ghetto organized resistance against the Germans. Small groups sought to escape from the ghetto.

Deportation of Jews to Riga, Latvia. Bielefeld, Germany, December 13, 1941.
Deportation of Jews from Germany to Latvia

Deportation of Jews from Bielefeld in Germany to Riga in Latvia. Bielefeld, Germany, December 13, 1941.

  • Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz

The Nazis deported thousands of German and Austrian Jews to the Riga ghetto in 1941 and early 1942. Einsatzgruppen and Order Police murdered most of them.

Betty Leiter Lauchheimer
Betty Leiter Lauchheimer

Betty was one of 14 children born to a religious Jewish family in Aufhausen, a village in southwestern Germany. Her father was a successful cattle dealer in the area. On May 8, 1903, at age 20, Betty married Max Lauchheimer, a cattle merchant and kosher butcher. They lived in a large house by an orchard in the village of Jebenhausen. Betty and Max had two children, Regina and Karl.

1933-39: In late 1938 Betty and Max were visiting their daughter in Kippenheim when police arrested Max and their son-in-law. Hoodlums stoned the house, shattering the windows. Betty, her daughter, and granddaughter hid until it was quiet. Later, they learned that the town's Jewish men had been deported to the Dachau concentration camp; three weeks later, Max and his son-in-law returned home. That May, Max died of a heart attack.

1940-41: Regina's family moved into Betty's home in Jebenhausen. Many anti-Jewish laws went into effect: Jews couldn't use the bus; Jews had to wear yellow stars; Jews couldn't travel. In late 1941 the household was ordered to report for "resettlement in the east." Betty's son-in-law appealed to the local Gestapo to spare them, hoping they might listen sympathetically because he was a disabled World War I veteran. Though they granted his appeal, it did not extend to Betty. She was forced to report for the transport.

Betty was deported in early December to Riga, Latvia. In the Rumbula Forest near Riga, Betty was shot in a mass execution of Jews.

By the beginning of 1943 only about 5,000 Jews remained in Latvia. They were concentrated in the Riga, Dvinsk, and Liepaja ghettos and in a few labor camps. The largest of the camps was Kaiserwald, near Riga, which later was designated a concentration camp.

In 1944 the Soviet army reentered Latvia, which again became a Soviet republic. Only a few hundred Jews remained in Latvia. About 1,000 Latvian Jews returned to Latvia from the Nazi concentration camps; several thousand others who had escaped to the Soviet Union during the war also survived. However, the horrendous losses sustained during the Nazi Holocaust utterly devastated Latvian Jewry.

Jacob Gamper
Jacob Gamper

Jacob was born to a Jewish family in the Baltic seaport of Liepaja. He owned a clothing store in the city, and also owned some apartments, from which he collected rent. After his wife died, Jacob, who had retired, moved in with his daughter Sarah.

1933-39: Jacob was an avid reader. His favorite newspaper was Liepaja's German language daily, the Libauer Zeitung, which he liked to read in the garden and orchard around his daughter's home. On Sundays, "Grampa" would take his granddaughters Fanny and Jenny and other children from the neighborhood to the harbor. He would treat them to caramel candies, and they would sit and watch the ships.

1940-41: In June 1940 the Soviet Union occupied Latvia. A year later, Germany invaded Latvia and reached Liepaja in one week. The Nazis immediately began rounding up Jewish males, ostensibly for conscript labor details. None of the men ever returned. The roundups abated for a few months until the night of December 15, when Latvian police began rousting Jews from their homes and taking them to prison. Those with work permits were released, but the rest were taken north to the village of Skeden.

Jacob Gamper was among approximately 2,800 Jews massacred by Latvian and German gunmen in Skeden between December 15 and 17, 1941.

Author(s): United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

Critical Thinking Questions

  • What factors might serve as precursors to mass atrocity and genocide?
  • Explore the motives and pressures that led individuals to abandon their fellow human beings—or to make the choice to help. What questions are raised about the roles of professionals during this history?
  • Are the events of the Holocaust commemorated in Latvia?
  • How and why might anniversaries of historical events encourage reflection about the warning signs that led to the Holocaust?
  • Learn about the history of the Jewish community in Latvia.

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