Remembering Those Who Lived And Were Murdered In Riga

Our four days is nearing its close, but there is one very important place yet to visit - Rumbula Forest, which became the mass murder site and grave of 25,000 Jews on November 30 and December 8, 1941 (10th and 18th of Kislev).   

Apart only from the Babi Yar massacre, this was the biggest two-day Holocaust atrocity until the operation of the camps.  About 24,000 of the victims were Latvian Jews from the Riga Ghetto and approximately 1,000 were German Jews transported to the forest by train.   Only three people who arrived at the Rumbula killing site escaped death.



Site Of The Great Choral Synagogue

En route to Rumbule, which startingly is only a few miles from the centre of Riga, we visit the site of the Great Choral Synagogue of Riga.
This was Riga's largest synagogue, begun in 1868 and completed in 1871.  Known as Die Greise Hor Shul, (lit."The Big Choral Synagogue") it was completely destroyed on 4 July 1941.

On that morning, about 300 Jews were rounded up and taken into the basement where nazis threw grenades at the shul's windows and burnt down the building, leaving no one left alive inside.

On 4 July 1988, a memorial was dedicated on the spot, which remains today as a memorial.  Nothing has been built on the site since the synagogue stood there.

There were two things which struck me at this site.
 
The first is that it is a memorial site in the first place.  It seems curious that neither the USSR nor the Latvians after them sought to build on what is a large corner plot; instead, in 1988, the Soviets built the large memorial on the site.
 

The second, in contrast, was the attitude of the local people.  This was probably not the best part of town and as we were there - a clearly Jewish group - one youth sought to urinate on a part of the large site, some distance from us.  

This was the only part of the Mission at which we felt a hint of antisemitism.  Perhaps given the reports one hears it was surprising this was the only place - but it was a reminder nevertheless.

Rumbula

We would gladly have spent more time at the memorial but time was itself now getting short and so we boarded the bus for what was a short ride to Rumbula - and followed the route of the march from the area around Die Greise Hor Shul (the Jewish area was obviously nearby) to the forest.

Arriving at Rumbule, the sun was beginning to set and the overall scene bore chilling resemblance to the Paneri Forest we had been in only a couple of days previously.  



Soviet Era Memorial At Rumbula

The one distinguishing feature of this place is that it was the only one in the entire Soviet Union that a memorial was ever erected to victims of the Holocaust.   It was erected in in 1964 by Riga Jews even though it includes the obligatory Yiddish reference to "Die Korbonos Fun Fascism".

Today, the area is tastfully set out as a memorial park - and as we approached firstly the massacre site and then the memorial we noticed that this was actually quite a busy site : a number of people were filing in and out, and there were a number of still-lit candles at the memorial.
 

Memorial Prayers At Rumbula


(Given the time of the day, there were also quite a number of midges at the memorial : if we returned any day, insect repellent would be a packable item).

The memorial itself is less than 20 years old.  It is a poignant menorah, made up of strands of cable in a way that resembles that the menorah has grown here, like a tree.   Around, are jagged rocks, many with names inscribed on them and placed in the shape of a Magen David.
We recite memorial prayers and light a candle, but again must then hurry back as our supper - and then our plane awaits.