This was a personal journey to discover more about my father’s family and particularly my grandfather, who left Windau (now Ventspils) in Courland around the turn of the 19/20th centuries. Courland (or Kurzeme) was then in the Russian Empire and is now one of the five provinces of Latvia. I found far more family history and connections than I had ever hoped. But that’s only incidentally the story here.
This blog presents photos from Riga, where we began, and Windau/Ventspils, including monuments to the destruction of Latvia’s Jewish population. Latvian history is one of conquest, occupation and struggle and it has been independent for just two periods, between 1918-1940 and since the end of Soviet rule in 1991.
Under German occupation from June 1941-1945 the Holocaust began immediately and 70,000 Latvian Jews were murdered between 1941 and 1944, representing about three-quarters of the pre-war Jewish population. Including foreign Jews deported to the Riga Ghetto, the total death toll of Jews in Latvia during the Holocaust is estimated at nearly 90,000. In addition, these photos portray diverse aspects of Latvian contemporary life, culture and history.
Across the Daugava River, RigaPromenade along the riverMonument to the 1905 Revolution Fruit market, RigaStreet towards the Powder Tower, RigaCircle K building, Riga. Can you see the seagull?Freedom Monument, Riga. Honours soldiers killed in War of Independence 1918-20. Inscription ‘For your land and freedom’Jungendstil, Riga. Many buildings were designed by Mikhail Eisenstein (1867-1920) father of Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein.Jungendstill, Albert St., RigaJugendstill, family home of philosopher Isaiah Berlin (1909-97)Doorway, Riga.Stairwell, Jewish Museum, Riga. Looking upRaining on the International Folklore Festival Baltica, RigaCafe, RigaRiga Central Market. Housed in five former Zeppelin hangers organised by types of goods. Square, Riga Old TownRiga. Square with Latvian Red Rifelmen monument. The statue is controversial and seen by some as a symbol of the Soviet era.Bar on Riga backstreetNarrow street, Riga Old TownPeitav-Shul Synagogue, Riga. Built 1905 in Art Nouveau style. Escaped Nazi destruction and was one of few functioning synagogues in Soviet times.
Holocaust Commemoration in Riga
Entrance to Rumbula Massacre memorial
Memorial to Rumbula massacre November 30 and 8 December 1941. 25,000 Jews murdered in the forest.Memorial site of the Rumbula Massacre. After Babi Yar in Kyiv, this was the largest massacre of Jews by shooting in the Holocaust. The site highlights the complex relationship between photography and the real. This is a site of trauma and attrocity but we see monuments and forest glades, evacutated of human presence but profoundly affected by human action. The memorials point to things that cannot be shown. There is a sense of arriving too late and in vain. Although the menora made of stone depicts vines or ivy growing from roots, suggesting renewal and rebirth.The Soviet era monument to the Rumbula Massacre. The only Soviet monument that refers to Jewish victims, installed by Jewish activists in 1961. Other Soviet monuments referred to ‘victims of fascism’ rather than Jews, illustrating the contested nature of Holocaust commemoration. Memorial to the Great Choral Synagogue, Riga. Burned down 4 July 1941 by the Nazis, with 20 Lithuanian Jews in the basement. Reconstructed basement of the Grand Choral Synagogue
Detail from truck transport for deporting Jews to camps. In Riga Holocaust Museum
Detail fom list of names of Jews murdered by Nazis and collaborators. Riga Holocaust and Ghetto Museum. The page contains my family name, Jacobsohn.Tree of Hope, Memorial for Riga Ghetto. On each leaf is incribed the name of someone who saved Jews
Windau/Ventspils
Riga Bus Station. View of hangers on the right. From here to Ventspils….Wooden buildings, VentspilsWooden buildings, VentspilsStreet where my grandfather lived. The house is no longer there. But some houses remain.Ventspils PortCow, Ventspils PortDramatic square and monumental building, VentspilsArt Nouveau building, Pils Street, Ventspils. Formerly used by Jewish Youth Association Baltic architectureThe Old Synagogue, Ventspils. Here my grandfather would have attended. Sad to see it is so delapidated. Jewish Cenetery, Windau. Detail on Grave, Windau Jewish Cemetery. Inscription ‘PeTav’ – Here is buried. The Kohanim Hands indicate a male descendant of priestly KohanimGraves, Windau Jewish Cemetery
