Introduction
I
Introduction
In 1936, my father, who lived in the capital of independent Latvia, received a letter from Chicago. It was addressed to RIGA, RUSSIA. Sixteen years had passed since Russia -- Soviet Russia -- had "voluntarily and forever" renounced "all sovereign rights over the Latvian people and territory." But the world never did realize that Latvia was not a part of Russia, that Riga was the capital of a sovereign state, which was a member of the League of Nations.
Latvia existed as an independent republic for only two decades. Now, nearly half a century after the forcible incorporation of the country into the Kremlin's empire, the address RIGA, RUSSIA once again seems sadly appropriate.
The world has forgotten not only Latvia, but also the other Baltic States, Lithuania and Estonia. Latvians are confused with Lithuanians; Baltic athletes are called Russians. Only when the Western press raises the issue of Nazi war criminals do we suddenly hear, "Ah, these Latvians, they're all fascists!"
"Latvians are fascists." And from a far, dark corner echo the words, "Jews are communists." But how long has it been since it was falsely proclaimed in the West, "Latvians are communists"? And now Soviet propaganda claims, "Zionists (i.e., Jews) are fascists."
How can it make any sense?
The paths of Latvians and Jews have often crossed, but only recently did the good relationship between both peoples deteriorate. In the dramatic year 1940, tragic misunderstandings occurred, whose consequences are still felt today. These consequences are deepest not in Russian-occupied Latvia or in the Jewish State.
If anything can be called the "Latvian ethnic Bible" and the mirror of Latvian folk philosophy and attitudes through the centuries, it is the short, laconic folk songs, called dainas. There are nearly one million of these four-line verses, some reflecting ancient Latvian practices and beliefs, others documenting the Latvians' contacts with neighboring ethnic groups-Estonians and Lithuanians, Germans and Russians, gypsies and also Jews. In Krisjanis Barons' authoritative collection of dainas, there are a good number about Jews. Most, one must say, are friendly and warm-hearted, and those that poke fun at Jews do so in a well-meaning way, with far less bite than the dainas making fun of Germans, Russians or the "home folks." Some typical examples:
Oh little black-bearded Jew, How sweet is your tobacco! I snuffed it just once, It made my trousers tremble! Pray God I grow up soon To be a Jew's bride. A Jew has gloves, a Jew has stockings, A Jew has pretty handkerchiefs. The daina I chose as this book's motto is also characteristic. Indeed, we Jews and Latvians have had our disagreements and problems, but the root of the conflict must be sought in Latvia's unfortunate geopolitical position between two avaricious great powers-Germany and Russia. The country is simply in the way, an obstacle to be gotten rid of. This has been a misfortune, not a fault, of both our peoples. In this book, I will consider this complex problem and its peculiarities.
In my subjective opinion, even the best novels, with their innumerable dramatic situations, cannot compete with history, with history's facts, parallels, and paradoxes. The segment of history examined here, the meeting of Latvians and Jews, is small, but even so is surprisingly rife with parallels and paradoxes.
One parallel, or analogy, is quite old. In the eleventh century, the Teutonic knights went on a crusade to the Holy Land, Terra Sancta, and along the way slaughtered thousands of Jews, culminating in a bloodbath in Jerusalem itself. Then, in the thirteenth century, the Teutonic knights invaded the territory of present-day Latvia, killing thousands of inhabitants -- pagans who refused to submit to foreign rule. By deceit and violence the homelands of the historical Latvian tribes, the lands of the Kurlanders, Semigallians, Selonians, and Latgallians, became the property of the crusading order, who called it Livonia, or Terra Mariana. The crusades in the Middle East and the crusade on the Baltic coast made the image of the knight one of evil personified in both Jewish and Latvian history, in contrast to the idealized "noble knight" of Western European tradition.
I would like to mention another interesting parallel. When the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and started the great Jewish Diaspora, they struck a medal with the inscription IUDAEA CAPTA and the figure of a mourning woman under a palm tree. More than 1500 years later, when the Polish king Stephan Batory gained control of the territory of present-day Latvia, he issued a medal to commemorate the conquest with a similar motive -- a mourning woman under a tree somewhat resembling a palm tree.
To be persecuted and subjugated, banished and slaughtered, has again and again been the fate of both Jews and Latvians.
What has been the fate of Latvians and Latvian Jews in this century, squeezed in the vise between Russia and Germany? Before pursuing the subject in greater detail, I would like to give several pairs of quotations that speak for themselves and show how mocking the laughter of history can sometimes be.
A special Latvian unit which had been guarding Lenin at the Smolny Institute arrived on the same train from Petrograd as the Government.... All responsible security positions at the Kremlin were entrusted to riflemen of the Latvian Ninth Regiment; the Latvian Parade Unit and the Second Riga Regiment guarded the staff of the Supreme Soviet for Military Affairs, various commissariats, and foreign embassies.
Nikolai Nefiodov, "The Revolt of July 1918," article in Novoye Russkoye Slovo, New York. September 30, 1973.
Finally, about 80 men, that at the time was the entire Fifteenth Reconnaissance Battalion, arrived at their designated post Unter der Linden. The perimeter secured by the unit included the Reichskanzlei, the Ministry of Aviation, Himmler's security police building and several other buildings. The Reconnaissance Battalion was given defensive positions in Himmler's former headquarters (RSHA). Oberleutnant Neilands, the battalion commander, set up his command post in Himmler's own underground bunker.
Bulletin of the Latvian Welfare Association Daugavas Vanagi, Nr. 3, 1955, which discusses the fate of the Fifteenth Reconnaissance Battalion of the Fifteenth Latvian Waffen-SS Division in Berlin on April 30, 1945.
" What destroyed Russia? Jewish brains, Latvian bayonets, and Russian stupidity."
A view prevalent among White Russian émigrés in the twenties.
The Estonians are the elite of the Baltic peoples. Then come the Lithuanians, and lastly the Latvians. Stalin used Latvians for the executions which the Russians found disgusting. They're the same people who used to have the job of executioners in the old empire of the Tsars.
Adolf Hitler, night of July 11-12,1941, from Hitler's Secret Conversations 1941-1944, New York, Signet Books, 1961, p. 38
The Jews, however, comprise a conspiracy against the entire world and humanity.... Though scattered throughout the world, they together make up a separate, secret nation, and they take the citizenship of other nations only as a mere formality. They are dual nationals.... There is only one stand to take with the Jews, and that is to destroy them....
The time of the Jews is over!
R. C., "The True Face of the Jews," from the Jelgava (Mitau), Latvia, newspaper Zemgale, Nr. 1, August 18, 1941, during the German occupation.
The chauvinistic idea of world hegemony formulated in the "Holy Scriptures" and reflected in prayers has always been especially repellent.... In practice, this is reflected in the struggle for a "worldwide Jewish nation" centered in Israel and based on the dual loyalties of Jews beyond its borders.... No true national government, unless it has been taken over by Jewish bankers, will ever surrender its sovereignty and recognize as legitimate this "state within a state".... Zionism was born at the same time as imperialism, shared its fate, and together with it will disappear from the face of the earth.
Vladimir Begun, Ielausanas bez ierociem (Invasion without weapons), Riga, Avots, 1981.
... when Latvia was invaded for the first time by the Soviet Union, the actions of the Jews, without regard to the privileges they enjoyed in free Latvia. Masses of Jews along the streets of Riga greeted, embraced, and gave presents to the invading Red Army soldiers. The Jews without hesitation took the side of the communists.
Open letter by the president of the Latvian Officers' Association in Australia and New Zealand, June 21,1983.
The Latvian population of Riga welcomed the Nazis in their Sunday garb. Most of the buildings were decorated with swastikas.... The destruction of Latvian Jewry will remain an eternal stain on the Latvian and German peoples.... History is very cruel and at times it repays what a people deserves. It is in this context that I venture to say that Latvians will be repaid for their complicity in the extermination of Jews, and for stabbing retreating Russian forces in the back. With its millions of citizens, the huge neighbor to the East is flooding Latvia with its citizens; Latvians are bound to become a minority in their own country in the not-too-distant future.
Max Kaufmann, "The War Years in Latvia Revisited," in The Jews in Latvia, Tel Aviv 1971, published by the Association of Latvian and Estonian Jews in Israel.
These excerpts make fascinating reading. Historical facts mix with human prejudices, brazen lies, distorted perceptions, grievances, and vengeance. The rational mixes with the irrational. All this is involved in the bloodstained saga of Eastern Europe.
My purpose is to help the reader understand what actually happened in this time and place to the relationship between these two peoples.