Latvijas Vēsturnieku komisijas raksti - 23.sējums

Aigars Urtāns. Ebreju slepkavošana Madonas apriņķī
several civil parishes of Madona District were brought there. There were approximately
150 Jews in total who were convoyed by Latvian self-defence men in lorries to Smecere
forest in the territory of Lazdona civil parish near Madona. The manslaughter was fulfilled
by a 40-man-team from Riga lead by Viktors Arājs.
Gulbene – Litene
At the beginning of July 1941, the German troops in Gulbene scooped several Jewish
refugees having failed to evacuate eastwards. These people together with the Jews – residents
of the town, as well as the detained Jewish refugees, were arrested and settled in
the territory of Gulbene railway station storehouses. There were more than 150 Jews,
accordingly; their slaughter was held a day after the extermination of Madona Jews, on
9 August.The place of slaughter was chosen to be a former Latvian army shooting-range in
Litene. The Jews were taken to Litene in early dew in two railway transportation carriages.
By this time a group of Arājs team had arrived and during some hours shot the Jews from
Gulbene and some tens of the Jews, inhabitants of Litene civil parish.
Civil Parishes of Madona District
A small number of Jews lived in many civil parishes of Madona District before the war.
Arrests of them started simultaneously with those in Madona and Gulbene – approximately
in the middle of July – and continued till the end of the month and the beginning of August.
The arrestees were convoyed to Madona and Gulbene where Jews were settled and
slaughtered accordingly in Smecere and Litene forests. However, in some civil parishes
(e.g. Jaungulbene, Odziena) after the arests the Jews were slaughtered by the local selfdefence
men.
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