Latvijas Vēsturnieku komisijas raksti - 23.sējums

Atmiņas par Latgales ebreju bēgļu likteni. 1941–1945
from its independence and the Jewish people of their individuality, properties and relatives
was the same country that rescued them from a total destruction and from the Holocaust.
Work and life conditions were various and were defined by the specificity of the place.
Much depended on mutual relations with the local population. In many cases the Russian
population had vague representations about Jews, even medieval ones: they considered
Jews as something distinct from other people. At the same time, often the local residents
assisted refugees. Their help and kind attitude happened to rescue Jews from starvation.
An overwhelming part of Jewish men – refugees of military age – were summoned to the
Red Army. Many were lost and killed in battles near Narofominsk and Staraya Russa.
The constant feelings that the refugees experienced were worries about their relatives
left behind in Latvia. “What has happened to them? How are they?” The majority were not
informed about the total annihilation of Jews on the territories temporarily occupied by the
Nazis. Only at the end of the war, information about the atrocities of fascist armies (recent
friends of the USSR) appeared. Not all the villages had radio or newspapers. It is hard even
to imagine the shock that the former refugees experienced after coming back to Latvia and
learning about the fate of their families, relatives and friends. Everyone was shocked that
horrible annihilations of Jews had been frequently carried out by their neighbours. “How could
this be? We were friends to them, helped them” – this is from the memories of an eye-witness.
Not only Jewish refugees from Latgale were exposed to reprisals. For speaking out
the truth about “bourgeois Latvia” people were sentenced under the Soviet Criminal Code,
section 58, and sent to Siberia. In the situation when the country was on the edge of
destruction the repressive machine continued to work smoothly. Probably, the totalitarian
system always requires victims of reprisals. The people subjected to repression came back
home only during the political “thaw”.
Returning home was complicated for the refugees. Documents were required proving
that they were from Latvia. Therefore, the return some times was delayed for months and
some people came back in 1946. In most cases their properties were destroyed, robed or/
and used by neighbours. It was impossible to get something back or prove their ownership.
Certainly the years spent in Russia were years of loss, pain and suffering. But on the
other hand, they were years of salvation. Jews sometimes only had known their town,
district or state, and now they had received enormous social experience. They had got
acquainted with the lives of various national minorities and had an opportunity to compare
the standards of living in Russia and Latvia. Many were amazed about the wildness and
backwardness in a number of areas in Russia and the republics of Central Asia. Communist
paradise so much spoken and dreamed of appeared to be not at all attractive.
Working with the memoirs of the former refugees has allowed me to discredit a myth
about an organized evacuation created by the Soviet propaganda. But Jewish people should
always remember that the escape to the East saved many of them from death.
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Prepared for publication by Josifs Ročko