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State of the Union
“Behind these gates, the land groans” - Line from a poem by a former prisoner and survivor
My grandfather, and his brother came to America, leaving their parents, 5 sisters, and all their extended family behind in Latvia, near Salaspils. My grandad enlisted in the military soon after, and ended up sending part of his pay back home to his eldest sister, who was taking care of the family.
Russia had already taken ownership of our family business- ship yards and ship brokering in Riga, and St. Petersburg. However, as the Nazi’s entered the country, conditions became too severe, and as I understand it, they switched gears from supporting the family, to working on helping them defect.
They didn’t work fast enough.
The last communication regarding the family was from their neighbor, telling my grandfather the nazis had come.
My family was not Jewish, they were Rroma. No Lotfitka, as our vitsa (tribe, for lack of a better translation in English) is called, that were still in Latvia by the time the nazis arrived, are known to have survived. My entire culture was wiped out in 2½ years. The…
