Latvijas Vēsturnieku komisijas raksti - 23.sējums

372 Atmiņas
and people to the front. No one thought of civilians and their evacuation. In fact it was
considered that the war will be on the enemy’s territory.
Memoirs of respondents revealed the reasons that had forced them to flee. These were
bombings by German aircraft, stories by Polish and Lithuanian Jewish refugees about the
Nazi’s atrocities, the attitude of neighbours to Jews. At the same time not all Jews were
well-informed on the actual events in Poland, Germany, Lithuania and about the fatal
threat posed by fascism. There were a number of settlements in which there were even
no attempts to leave at all.
Undoubtedly, the mood of the Baltic citizens was affected by the friendship treaty
between Germany and the USSR and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. These agreements
delayed the war between USSR and Germany, but they also created an illusion within the
population about friendship between the countries. Thousands of Jews paid with their lives
for this. Certainly nobody expected that the German army would invade Latvia so quickly.
Placement of the Jewish refugees from Latgale had casual character. The majority of
them settled in republics of the Volga region: Tatary, Chuvashiya, Mordovia, Gorki, Kirov,
Novosibirsk region, and also in the republics of Central Asia mainly in Uzbekistan and
Kazakhstan. A number of refugees between 1941 and 1945 repeatedly changed their place
of residence. With the desire that the south would be warmer they hurried to the south
(“Tashkent – the city of grain”), however in reality the life conditions appeared tougher than
those in a mid strip of Russia. The main problem for the refugees was starvation. People
were suffering from starvation in the republics of Volga region, Central Asia, Siberia, cities
and villages. At times it was easier to survive in the countryside. In the cities the refugees
found it hard to find work which meant that they could not get “bread cards” to receive
bread. Jews from the cities of Latgale were not prepared for agricultural work and found it
especially tough in the first year, with the severe winter of 1941/42. Later, however, Jews
adapted to the new conditions of life. Many families lost members during those years from
starvation, illnesses or too tough life conditions. This left a painful mark in the consciousness
of the Latvian civilians including Jews.
It is necessary to note that the deportation of Jews on 14 June 1941 to Russia also
generated caution and worry in some deportees. “What would await us there?” On 14 June
1941, dozens of commodity echelons normally used for the transportation of cattle were
used to dispatch people to the east. Therefore, they could not be aid in the rescue of people
in Latgale. Be they on the territory of Latvia the destiny of thousands of refugees would
be different. Refugees appeared to be hostages of Stalin’s policy. Latvians, Lithuanians,
Estonians, Russians who had no time to escape were able to survive on the occupied territory
in case they were not communists or the Soviet workers. The Jews who had no time
to escape were doomed to death. In fact, Jews were stuck “between two fires”. As a rabbi
from Dagda figuratively noted, “from a wolf to a bear”. Jews who severely suffered from the
Soviet authority faced a choice: to stay or run? But the same country which deprived Latvia