NCSJ Baltic Trip - September 2002

Latvia

The visit to Riga took place in the week preceding the parliamentary elections.  Riga is a bustling city, increasingly becoming a center of arts and commerce.

Latvia has a grim Jewish history.  In November 1941, the Nazis marched thousands of Latvian Jews from the Riga Ghetto into the nearby forests of Rumbula and Bikernieki and shot them. Only 1,000 of Latvia’s 90,000 Jews survived the war.

(l.-r.): Dr. Judith Wolf; Arkady Suharenko, Chairman of the Jewish Community of Latvia; Lesley Weiss

One issue with which Latvia struggles is how to integrate thousands of non-Latvians who remained after the Soviet collapse. In 1994 the Latvian Parliament granted citizenship to ethnic Latvians and to “historical minorities” – those who resided in Latvia before the Soviet occupation of June 1940, and their descendants.  Those who are not considered “historical” are mostly Russians who migrated to Latvia during the postwar Soviet era.  Because of their lack of Latvian citizenship, the right to vote and certain professions are denied to about four thousand of Latvia’s 10,000 Jews. The issue of citizenship and integration into Latvian society remains a problem, although the number of Jews obtaining citizenship is increasing with the approach of the EU accession summit in late 2002.

Lesley and Judy met with Arkady Suharenko, Chairman of the Jewish Community of Latvia and Chairman of Rietumu Bank.  His focus is on strengthening the community and building appropriate memorial sites. He would like to unite the Jewish leadership into one confederation to plan for the community as a team.  There are 200 Jewish businessmen on the Board of Trustees.  He is looking to these leaders to increase their local sponsorship of Jewish services. 

One project is rebuilding the Dubnov Jewish school.  The Riga City Council gave the community property in a prime location, and financial support is being sought from various sources. Another project under consideration is housing for the elderly in Jurmala.  Suharenko plans first to identify local sponsors, and then find managers who are trained in elderly services. He also would like to build a museum or educational memorial on the ruins of the Choral synagogue where 300 Jews were burned to death on July 4, 1941.  

The Riga Jewish Community Center, Alef

Victoria Gubatova, Director of the Riga Jewish Community Center (Alef), spoke about the programs of the Center.  Created in September 2000 with the support of JDC, the Center provides educational and cultural programs for children, youth, and families.  There is a cinema club, musical club, and sports program.  Chana Finkelstein, director of welfare assistance to the elderly, described the meals-on-wheels program. She spoke of the growing problem of elderly homelessness in Riga.  Landlords are evicting elderly tenants, forcing them to live on the street; the limited shelters in the city close at 9:00 am.  Chana said she knew of at least five elderly Jewish women who have no place to live and she appealed for assistance in addressing this problem.

Dr. Arkady S. Gandz is the Executive Director of Bikur Holim Jewish hospital.  Located in the former Jewish Ghetto, the hospital was established in 1924.  During the 1930s, Bikur Holim physicians were well known and respected throughout Eastern Europe.  In 1940, the hospital was nationalized by the Soviets and renamed the Third City Hospital of Riga.  During 1941-45, almost all the physicians, employees and patients perished in the Holocaust. In 1991, the hospital was returned to the community.  Lesley and Judy attended ceremonies marking the 10^th anniversary of its return.  Since 1991, the hospital has worked aggressively towards restoring its prewar status as the premier healthcare provider in Eastern Europe.

During the last five years, specialists of Bikur Holim have improved their skills at universities, medical centers and hospitals in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Holland, and Israel.  The American International Health Alliance had a health-care partnership, funded by USAID, with BJC Health System and the Washington University Medical Center in St. Louis, Missouri, and coordinated by the St. Louis Jewish Community Relations Council.  USAID is currently funding a partnership between the St. Louis Jewish Family and Children’s Services (an agency of the St. Louis Federation) and the Jewish Community Center in Riga.  The Los Angeles Jewish Federation Valley Alliance is also considering medical exchanges between Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles and Bikur Holim.

According to Dr. Gandz, in order for the hospital to develop further, it would need to have a contract with the state to receive state insurance. As the only Latvian hospital that does not receive this insurance, it seeks NCSJ assistance in this matter and new projects with international partners.

Avraham Benjamin, the Ambassador of Israel to the Baltic States, provided an overview of Jewish community life in the three countries and relations with Israel.  He explained that the Baltics are more heavily influenced by Scandinavian rather than Slavic culture.  These countries are fairly neutral concerning Israel, but their proposed accession to the EU has caused some friction in the wake of anti-Israel efforts by European states at the UN’s 2001 Anti-Racism Conference in Durban.  However, Latvia strongly condemned that effort at the Conference. 

According to Ambassador Benjamin, the general public is not educated about Middle East issues – there is very little commentary on such issues in the local media and generally no public opinion polling.  The citizens do respond, however, when they feel they are under attack, as was the case after the Simon Wiesenthal Center announced its “Operation: Last Chance” project, offering rewards to those who turn in Nazi collaborators. According to the Wiesenthal Center, Latvian prosecutors have done little to initiate and pursue cases against guilty Latvians. There still exists a feeling in the Baltics that the West is guilty of ‘selling them out’ to the Soviet Union in the 1940s.  The “Operation: Last Chance” project did rekindle the collaboration issue in Latvia.  This part of Latvia’s history is only just beginning to be addressed. Many Latvians regard World War II as a war against the Soviets with the Germans as their liberators.

A memorial to victims of the 1942 Holocaust massacres in the Bikernieki Forest was dedicated in November 2001.  A memorial of similar design will open in November 2002 to mark the mass graves in the Rumbula forest.

As is the case in the other Baltic States, Latvia’s Holocaust history commission is responsible for two contentious and often competing missions:  researching and pursuing both Nazi and Soviet crimes against humanity.  The Latvian Historical Commission was established under the sponsorship of President Vaire Vike-Freiberga in 1998, and has drawn criticism because of its seemingly contradictory nature.  The government dismisses the criticism, stating that both the Communists and Nazis committed crimes against Jews as well as against Latvians, and that all of the crimes need to be studied and recognition given to those who saved Jews. The Commission conducts research and seminars, including a conference on Holocaust research held in November 2001.

In April 2001, the exhibition “Anne Frank – A History for Today” opened at the Riga Jewish Community Center, with President Vike-Freiberga attending. The President also spoke on July 4, 2001 at the 60^th anniversary commemoration of the Jewish genocide in Latvia.

A memorial to the victims of the Holocaust was recently opened in the Bikernieki Forest.  Another extensive memorial being built at the mass graves of Rumbula is scheduled to open November 29, 2002.  The United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad provided some of the funds to complete the memorials.  Steven Springfield, President of the Jewish Survivors of Latvia (based in New York), is also very active in the building of Holocaust memorials, engages in political advocacy, and operates welfare programs for the Latvian community. 

In 1995, 1998 and 1999, the Riga synagogue was bombed, causing extensive damage to the synagogue and to surrounding buildings.  The Latvian government issued statements deploring the violence and now there is a police booth situated next to the synagogue for round-the-clock surveillance.  Rabbi Nathan Barkan is the Chief Rabbi of Riga and Latvia.  There are two Jewish day schools – the secular Dubnov School and a Habad private school housed in the building that was used for the Jewish Council during the time of the Riga Ghetto.  Close to 500 students are studying in the two schools. In addition to a new building, the Dubnov School is in need of a new school bus.

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Part III - Estonia