In June 1941 Latvia was invaded by Nazi Germany as part of Operation Barbarossa - code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union. In December the same year my grandmother married Arturs Abeltins and they set up home together in newly occupied Riga. Like many Latvians they initially welcomed the Germans who they perceived as ‘friendly invaders’ in place of the hated Russians. I imagine it was a case of the lesser of two evils in their eyes but nevertheless it can’t have been easy to witness your country taken over by a foreign power, Nazi uniforms in the street, new regulations to adhere to, an atmosphere of suspicion and fear everywhere.
Identity photo of my grandmother, photo of my grandmother in 1941, photo inscription ‘Mother’, map of Riga
I found a short documentary made by the Latvian State Broadcasting Corporation about the Nazi occupation here. It is in Latvian but with English subtitles and shows actual footage of life in Latvia at this time. I hadn’t realised how widespread the damage had been in Riga city centre - the famous old church of St Peter’s was completely destroyed and many buildings shelled. Although the Germans were initially feted as liberators, feelings about them soon changed. There was widespread rationing, a thriving black market, property which had been nationalised by the Soviets in 1940 was then declared property of the Reich and of course rounding up of Jews and dissenters, executions and deportations. As the narrator says, ‘there are no good and bad occupiers, there are just occupiers’ and ‘liberators do their good deed and leave, not make themselves comfortable in your home and trample all over you’. …
I often wonder whether my family ever gave a thought to the establishment of a notorious concentration camp outside Riga? They can hardly have been able to ignore the thousands of Jews who had to go about their business in the early days of the occupation made to walk in the gutter with a yellow Star of David sewn on their clothing as an identifying mark. When pressed about this my mother always brushed it aside with a vague statement that they didn’t really know what was going on. I do remember a story she told on a number of occasions about being asked by a German soldier to leave a shop as she looked Jewish but a neighbour stood up for her and said he was able to vouch for this child not being Jewish. My shame at this story never disappeared - I would have expected some empathy for their plight but she never really expressed any and it led to many arguments. How prevalent was this attitude? Quite widespread I suspect. Maybe they were just so concerned with keeping themselves safe they had little time to worry about such atrocities. In any case the history of resistance in Latvia is very complex with different groups resisting the various occupying powers at different times. You can read a short history of the Nazi Occupation here
My grandmother looking stylish from the rear in a Riga park, summer 1941
My mother, right, and her cousin Olga, Riga 1943
…..and from the front
Inscription on the rear 1945 - from Olga to my mother and her friend Gloria as a reminder of happy days
There are few photographs in the family archive to remember these troubled times in Riga. I only came across a couple of my grandmother striking a stylish pose in a Riga park in the summer of 1941 and one of my mother and her cousin Olga in early 1943. Olga subsequently emigrated to Canada - they often wrote but never met again. I often wonder what life was like for my Latvian family at this time. It is something difficult to imagine for a person who has never experienced war, but I do wish that I had tried to be a bit more understanding and less judgmental……