Jerusalem Post - 12.30.2001

 

The Jerusalem Post

Revival in Riga

By Elli Wohlgelernter

(January 2) - A decade after Latvia won its independence from the former Soviet Union, Elli Wohlgelernter finds the remaining Jewish community there determined to honor its rich past and build for itself a hopeful future

It is a Friday night in Riga at the city's 98-year-old synagogue on Peitavas Street, where close to 100 elderly men and women are sitting down to what they call "kiddush," but which is really a mini-meal. Rabbi Nathan Barkan, chief rabbi of Riga and Latvia, walks up and down the rows of tables kibitzing, with this one in Yiddish, another in Russian, a third in Hebrew. There is soup, gefilte fish, chicken, and - no surprise - there is vodka, which the men pour into plastic shot cups and raise often to softly toast each other "l'haim."

To an outsider, it is a melancholy scene, a sad snapshot of yet another lost Jewish community from pre-war Europe, once thriving, now fading. It is not gone yet, as some 10,000 out of a pre-Holocaust Jewish population of 90,000 still live in Latvia, and there remains all the requisites of a mid-size Jewish community, including two schools, a community center, a burial society, even a museum, which documents the community's rich past and famous sons.

No one can say where the community is going, or what will be in 10 years, or 20, not unlike dozens of other cities and towns in the Ukraine, Belarus or Russia. The fall of communism opened the door for closet Jews to come forth and celebrate their religion in all those countries, or to emigrate to Israel, and the same is true in Latvia.

"I believe that Latvia will become a better and better place to live, as it was before the war," says Ruvin Ferber, head of the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Latvia. "Jews liked to live here, they enjoyed the place. So if it returns to the same shape, probably we will stay here."

WHILE Riga, where most of the country's Jews live, is not likely to return to its pre-war standing, there is nevertheless a determined effort by the government to preserve what remains, to teach the history of the Jews in Latvia, and to confront the country's past during the period of the Holocaust (see box).

As part of its efforts to teach Latvians about the country's Jewish history, the government has just opened a traveling exhibition entitled "History, Tragedy, Revival."

The exhibit, mounted on 20 panels, begins with the first presence of Jews in Latvia in the mid-1600s, and includes photographs of people and places illustrating Jewish life in Latvia in the 18th and 19th century; before World War I; Jews in the Latvian War of Independence 1918-1920; Zionism in Latvia before 1940; religious life; Jews who served in the People's Council and the Constitutional Assembly of Latvia; the Holocaust (as well as Latvian Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews); the revival of the Latvian Jewish community since the fall of communism; and the relationship between Latvia and Israel.

"We have devoted special efforts to ensure that in our history books, and in the teachings of our schools, our past, including the two periods of occupation, gets particular attention," said Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the president of Latvia.

"Holocaust education has taken a very important place in our history books, and this has caused a complete revision of the teaching material that one had in Soviet times - it wasn't mentioned, it didn't exist!"

The main audience for the exhibition are the schools in Latvia, said Armands Gutmanis, undersecretary of state at the Foreign Ministry, which sponsored the exhibition, with help from the Jewish Museum of Latvia, the Center for Judaic Studies at the university, and the History Commission of Latvia. The American Embassy in Riga also helped finance the exhibition.

"Anyone who reads about Latvian history knows that Jews have been here for a few centuries, and Latvian society today has to know the role of the Jewish community in Latvia's history," said Gutmanis, who is also a member of the three-year-old History Commission, which has been examining crimes against humanity during the Soviet and Nazi totalitarian regimes.

"Second, regarding the Holocaust, Latvian society has to study both sides - those Latvians who participated in mass murder, but also those others, like Janis Lipke, who saved Jews.

"Third, since the time of Riga's independence in 1990, we have again a Jewish community here in Riga and in other towns, and the Jewish community is well integrated and participates in all aspects of life."

The government's impetus for Holocaust education and commemoration is not just because Holocaust history is part of Latvian history, and that the freeing of the country from Soviet domination has forced the country to openly deal with that history. Latvia is also on the brink of joining the European Union, and becoming more Westernized demands a more forthright approach.

"Latvians understand much more today that by moving into the European Union, back into the orbit of democratic society, they are coming to an understanding that this is a society which is very open, very frank, and this is a society where people ask questions and demand answers," says Abraham Benjamin, Israel's ambassador to the Baltic countries, who is stationed in Riga.

"They are finding that very often the questions come from the young people. It's no longer possible, as it was under the Soviet Union, to sweep things under the carpet - this was the policy of the Soviet Union. Now that Latvia is no longer part of the Soviet Union and is going Western, then the questions will be asked and the answers have to be given," says Benjamin.

That move toward Westernization is also why the Center for Judaic Studies was started at the University of Latvia in 1998. It is not a formal university department, and there is no degree in Jewish studies, but the center serves as a unit to initiate interdisciplinary courses in Jewish studies from the different faculties.

"A component of higher education in Europe has to have Jewish studies to some extent, because it's common in all the northern countries, as in Sweden and Denmark," says Ferber, director of the center. "And since the Baltic states want to be part of Europe, and all countries in Europe, more or less, have it, we do too. Moreover, Jewish history is a very important part of Latvia, so this is not the history of only Jews, it is the history of Latvia itself."

Students sign up for a course of Jewish studies, and are lectured by professors from the faculty of history or philosophy or theology, in courses designed by the center.

One class given is on the history of Jews in Latvia from the 16th century, which exposes students to the rich life of the Jewish community over the past 450 years. Famous personalities who were born or lived in Latvia include Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, who was rabbi in Bausk before emigrating to Palestine; Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz; Sir Isaiah Berlin, Mordechai Dubin, chairman of the Riga Jewish community and a deputy of the Latvian Parliament; Mordechai Nurok, chairman of the Mizrachi party, deputy in the Latvian Parliament and later a minister in David Ben-Gurion's government; Simon Dubnow, preeminent Jewish historian who was murdered in the Riga ghetto; opera singer Joseph Schwartz and sculptor Nahum Aronson.

INDEED, when the worldwide organization of Jews from Latvia met this past summer in Riga, President Vike-Freiberga hosted a reception at the presidential home, and spoke of some of those noted Jewish sons of Latvia.

"One of the suggestions I put to them, is that we would like to have more books about the contribution to culture in this region of the Jewish community," the president told The Jerusalem Post. "There have been very many distinguished members of that community who have gained fame, like Isaiah Berlin - of course, after leaving his birthplace, having spent just his childhood and adolescence here.

"The contribution of the Jews here in Latvia [is significant], their life in the various small towns, the small shopkeepers and the ordinary people living here, their history, their records, the old Jewish cemeteries in various small towns, many families going back several centuries; there are some very fascinating stories that would be interesting to look up in the archives. These would be interesting projects for the survivors, books of memories, memoirs of their life here, and their childhood, that should be here in Latvia in the Latvian libraries.

"In other words, not just the tragic events of the past, but also the happy events, and the community's positive contributions," she said.

The university's two-semester course on Jewish history has had 40 students for each of the three years it has been taught, mostly non-Jewish. One wonders why they would be interested in taking the course.

"On their final exam we ask them why they signed up for the course, and we get very different answers," says Ferber. "They are curious, as historians, to know about Jewish history - what are Jews? Some are theologians learning biblical studies, and are eager to know more.

"The course starts with a visit to the synagogue on the first day. Rabbi Barkan tells them about Judaism, about Jews, what is kosher food. He shows them the Aron Kodesh (Torah scroll repository), so they can touch it. Some want to know the differences between a synagogue and a church. They ask about Jewish music, cantorial music, the niggunim (melodies). So their eyes are opened.

"Then there was the answer from one student from the theology department, a Christian. He said: 'I just feel I should take the course because my grandmother was Jewish,'" Ferber recounts.

Latvia's Jewish community, together with its neighboring Baltic countries Estonia and Lithuania, annually send 700 to 800 immigrants to Israel, a number that has been holding steady for the past few years. Some of the Jewish emigration is to Germany, parallel to the emigration of other young Latvians who are driven by economic considerations.

What Vike-Freiberga and Benjamin would both like to see is an increase in economic ties between the two countries.

"For some reason, this area is beyond the horizon in Israel; people are not aware of the three Baltic states," says Benjamin. "Somehow they are out of sight, and I'm not quite sure why."

NATIONAL Infrastructure Minister and Yisrael Beitenu head Avigdor Lieberman recently brought a delegation of Israeli businessmen to Latvia to learn more about economic opportunities. With Latvia on the verge of entry into the EU, investments in Latvia - where the labor force and the general costs of setting up a plant or factory is cheaper - will automatically give such business ventures a foothold throughout Europe.

"Any trade with Latvia gives entry to the European common market," says Vike-Freiberga. "So you are not dealing with just a country of under two and a half million, but access to 100 million customers, all from the EU. Latvia is as good an entry door as any other."

Benjamin says that the Lieberman delegation saw firsthand the opportunities that await them by expanding trade.

"For the first time many of them got a feel for the area," says the Israeli ambassador. "And they understood - those same businessmen who are doing business say, in Poland, or Hungary or Romania - that they could do business here as well.

"I would like to see Latvia and Israel moving closer, moving within sight of each other, because the relationship could be mutually beneficial. They are a small country, and we are a small country, although they are much bigger than us - we're only a third of the geographical size of Latvia and Lithuania. Estonia is twice as big. In combined population, they are a bit more than us. But we have something in common with the Baltic states, which includes a rich Jewish history."

Relations between Israel and Latvia on the political level are excellent, Vike-Freiberga and Benjamin maintain, with the Latvians "very positive in international forums," the ambassador says. "They have spoken out very positively, very sensibly, on issues of great concern to us," although as a potential EU member, they tend to vote along with the EU.

"We have always felt that Israel is an important player in the Middle East, and this is why it was considered a priority for us to establish relations with Israel," says Vike-Freiberga. "We have an embassy there, which for a small country, and for a place so far away, is an important step, and indicates the importance that Latvia attaches to the relations with Israel. We have offered mutual support in international votes at the United Nations and elsewhere.

"At the Durban conference I represented Latvia, and I had occasion at the time to object against the idea of including Zionism as racism. I felt this was an important statement that I had to include in my general call for tolerance and a general fight against prejudice, racism and discrimination in every shape and form."

Vike-Freiberga's view of the Middle East, and her solution to the Israel-Palestinian problem, is typically European in outlook, with an added dimension from her own childhood experiences. In her case, Vike-Freiberga says, when the Russians took over Latvia after World War II, "my parents, who were plain, ordinary folk, fled because my mother was a Christian and she couldn't possibly tolerate the atheistic propaganda, and neither of them could tolerate the tyranny they had seen in 1940-1941. They fled, first to Poland, then to Germany where we lived in refugee camps. We then went to Morocco, and when Morocco became independent we went to Canada. So it was a journeying through many countries, across three continents."

"As a former refugee, I can sympathize with people who have been refugees, who have left their homeland and live in uncertainty for decades," she says, referring to the Palestinians. "This is a situation that has been going on for decades, and I think it needs a political solution. It appears to me that the Palestinian claims for an independent territory are simply not going to go away. It is going to be a thorn in Israel's side; it's going to remain a thorn in the Middle East, a festering sore that can't be healed. I think it has to be lanced, the wounds have to cleaned, and it needs a political solution," she says.

Vike-Freiberga believes the solution to the Middle East problem is first to stop the violence, and then both sides must accept certain compromises, "even though it must be painful to both sides because each side would have to give up something they hold dear, that they feel is important to them. The alternative is continued violence."

Latvia's Holocaust lapse - As part of the acculturation of Latvia to becoming more European on the eve of its joining the EU, the country is facing head-on the history of the Holocaust on its own turf. Towards that end it set up a History Commission on November 13, 1998, to "organize research and production of a report on the theme of 'Crimes against Humanity Committed in the Territory of Latvia under the Two Occupations, 1940 - 1956.'"

The commission is divided into four task forces, focusing on the Soviet occupation 1940-1941, the German occupation, 1941-1944, the Soviet occupation 1944-1956, and the "Holocaust in the territory of Latvia, 1941 to 1944," which includes investigating, among other things, the collaboration of Latvians with the SS and Einstatsgruppen.

While the aims are laudable, the commission has drawn criticism from Jewish organizations since its beginnings. Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, quit the commission shortly after being named to the panel. In a letter to Latvia's President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Foxman said his decision was due to the "intermingling and confusion" of the Holocaust and the Soviet occupation of Latvia.

"While I acknowledge the suffering of many Latvians at the hands of the Soviets and Latvia's desire to investigate this history, as a Jew and a Holocaust survivor, I am deeply offended by the intermingling and confusion of these two very different experiences," Foxman wrote. "I am deeply concerned that Latvia is not yet ready to truly examine and confront the experience of Latvian Jews during the HolocaustÉ As you surely know, over 90 percent of Latvia's Jewish population were murdered as part of Hitler's deliberate and systematic campaign to annihilate the Jewish people. In far too many cases, ordinary Latvians facilitated the Nazi effort."

Vike-Freiberga dismissed the criticism, and defended Latvia's record both in the implementation of the commission's mandate, and in the job of the prosecutor's office in tracking down German collaborators.

"Mr. Foxman objected to the fact that we were studying anything other than the Holocaust in the History Commission, and this was clearly not an acceptable position, because we established it for historical events as they happened - it so happens that we had two totalitarian occupations, and both committed crimes against humanity.

"By the way, in the deportations of 1940, there were 9,000 Jews who were deported by the Communists, before the German occupation. So it's not [as if] you can cut it up to 'crimes against Jews, crimes against Latvians,' and the ones that are important and others are not - the Communists committed crimes against both, against Jews as well as Latvians, and the Nazis committed crimes against both - Latvians were killed in concentration camps, [although] not in the same numbers; of course, there's a disproportion in numbers. But let's be clear about it, these totalitarian regimes did not spare anybody, and neither are we going to spare or exonerate any of them, under any account. We are looking at everything that happened - how it happened, why it happened, what happened."

FOXMAN says Vike-Freiberga's remarks "only reinforces my judgment to have resigned, because to this day it seems that they really are not seriously, consciously, interested in facing up to the history of the Shoah, and are very much interested in facing up to the history in terms of the communist period. Which I understand, but one of the reasons I wanted two separate commissions was that I felt it [the Holocaust investigation] would get lost, and it is being lost now. And it [the commission] isn't serious."

Foxman does say Latvia should be commended for its work in Holocaust education, research and commemoration, which has been thorough and extensive, including the translations of works by Elie Wiesel and Simon Wiesenthal, contributing to the International Fund for Needy Victims of Nazi Persecution, giving state accreditation to the Jewish museum and documentation center, the restoration of memorial sites, and paying tribute to Latvian rescuers of Jews in the Holocaust, including Janis Lipke, who saved 55 Jews from death.

"That's fine, and they should be applauded for it," says Foxman. "But they are not dealing seriously - which they said that they would - with plenty of collaborators, plenty of people who took part who are walking around scot-free."

Dr. Efraim Zuroff, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Israel office, feels less concerned about the dual-purpose commission than the failure of the state prosecutor's office to actively pursue and initiate cases against guilty Latvians.

"The sad truth is that since Latvia became independent, the Latvian prosecutors have never initiated a single investigation of a Latvian Nazi war criminal of their own volition," says Zuroff. "Even worse, Latvia granted rehabilitations [pardons] accompanied by various financial benefits to at least 41 men who were convicted by Soviet courts for active participation in the persecution and/or murder of civilians. I presented a list of those names to the Latvian authorities in 2000, but absolutely nothing has been done in response to our findings.

"If the Latvian prosecutors had invested a fraction of their efforts in prosecuting communist criminals to trying to bring Nazi war criminals to justice, I am certain that concrete results could have been achieved. As it stands at the moment, there has never been a case of a Latvian Nazi war criminal being tried in independent Latvia, and I very much doubt whether such a trial will ever take place."