Commentary
Pauls Raudseps
We
live our own life. We go to work, go shopping, if we can
afford we go to Rumbula to look for a car… Maybe we have
heard something what happened behind the car retail 62 years
ago, maybe – haven’t. Something terrible that merges together
with all the other danger events that happened during this
world most bloody century. We do not think anything more
about it.
On November 30 and December 8 of the year 1941, Rumbula’s
“actions” were held, actions where the biggest part of Jews
yarded in Ghetto were executed. The best informative source
about the Rumbula’s tragedy, a fundamental research of the
historian Andriev Ezergailis “Holocaust during the times
of German’s occupied Latvia” estimates that during these
days 25 000 were murdered, thus Rumbula became the place
of the biggest mass assassination in Latvia’s history. Short
news appears in Latvian press each year informing that remembrance
moment is taking place in Rumbula. The numbers are announced
– these abstract thousands of Latvian Republic’s residents.
However it is very rear when society got wider review how
it is possible during two short winter days’ time to kill
as many people as live in Jekabpils or Valmiera nowadays.
The events of those days are brightly and painfully described
by Frida Fride-Mihelson in the book “I survived Rumbula”.
On September a part of Ghetto’s residents were high jacked
to the Rumbula’s forest. Those who were not able to go were
killed at the place and the streets of Getto (Ludza, Liksna,
Maza Kalna streets) were covered by hundreds of people dead
bodies. On December 8, in the morning turn of F. Fride-Mihelson
had come.
The command of Arajs got people out from homes and linked
up in colonies, thousand in each. 10-killometer long walk
through snow wind to Rumbula’s forest began. “Our colony
entered the forest. A big wood box stood at the entrance.
Some SS soldier armed with cudgel was standing there and
time to time cried: “Put all the valuables and money in the
box!” (..) A bit further Latvian policeman ordered: “Take
of coats and through them on the other things!” (..) Policemen
started to chase us more consistently. Shooting, endless
shooting became lauder. We were coming closer to the end.
I was terribly frightened, fears that are close to the insanity.
I began to cry hysterically, to tear hair, just to muffle
the sound of shooting.”
F. Fride-Mihelson was one of those rare people who managed
to survive. She fall down on the pile of clothes on the road
edge and pretended she was dead. Almost all others the walk
finished in the 10-meter long, 3-meter deep hole in the Rumbula’s
forest not far from the railway. According to the planned
and in Ukraine worked out murdering method, victims should
got into the hole by themselves and they should lie down
with their faces against just killed bodies. Grupenfurer
Jekel and other German occupation power high officials were
standing at the edge of the hole and were watching how twelve
Jekeln’s bodyguards German SS soldiers were killing each
victim with one shoot in the back of the head.
After December 8, only small part of Jewish residents stayed
in Riga. After the assassination in Rumbula Jews from Germany
were placed in Riga’s Getto. Lilija Pancis ws among them,
she described what she saw: “We ran into Bilefeld (Vilanu)
house Nr. 7. (..) The hall and stairs were in chaos and we
could not see the flour and stairs because of the children
toys and other personal staff covered everything. (..) One
day I put up clothes from the baby bad and found there a
little two-year old child with shot through head.”
Nazi hunter Zuroff once again visited Latvia last week. Unfortunately,
despite his targets, at the moment Zuroff does not carry
out the Latvia’s Jews execution understanding as poor quarrels
about questionable witnesses give to people to distance psychologically
from the main question – if we have done enough to study
the facts of the Holocaust in Latvia?
Endless Soviet and
now Russia’s propaganda’s attempts try to put a sign of equity
between the words “Latvian” and “fascist” , makes a lot of
people to take protection position and to turn away from
these events without understanding that exactly quibble increases
suspicions and causes an impression that Latvians secretly
believe in collective fault that in words justly refuse.
Our historians have done huge and careful job; however comparatively
small group of researchers is interested in results.
Everyone has to know the truth about that time, because it
happened here. We have to know about it due to respect towards
those who died. We have to know about it as only honestly
and openly looking at this evil, we have hopes to overcome
indifference and to understand those tolerance and rights’
principles that are in the base of the modern Western civilizations
(including NATO and EU). At least we should know it as exactly
sympathy towards other person’s suffering differs us as human
beings. The poet Ojars Vacieties understood it alreasy in
the year 1966 when he wrote a poem “Rumbula”…
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