I would like to thank Edward Anders for the very important book he sent me about JEWS IN LIEPAJA/LATVIA, 1941-45
A DATABASE OF VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS
Edward Anders (originally Alperovitch) was born in Liepaja in 1926. His father Adolf was a grain exporter and his grandfather Israel (born in Kurenets d. 1934) was gabbai of the main synagogue. Edward and his mother Erika (b. Sheftelovich-Levental) survived the Holocaust by falsely claiming that she was an Aryan foundling raised by Jewish parents, but his father and 24 other relatives perished. Erika and Edward got to Germany in 1944 and emigrated to the US in 1949. From 1955 to 1991 Edward was Professor of Chemistry at the University of Chicago, where he did research on meteorites and lunar rocks (http://www.biograph.comstar.ru/bank/anders.htm). After his retirement he urged a survivors’ organization to recover the names of Liepaja Holocaust victims from archives in Riga, but when the organization showed no interest, he organized and financed the project himself.
About 7100 Jews lived in Liepaja, Latvia on 14 June 1941. (Our database contains about 6700 of them). Some 200 were deported to the USSR that day, a few hundred fled to the USSR after Germany attacked the USSR on 22 June 1941, and most of the remaining ones were killed during the German occupation that began on 29 June 1941. Most men were shot during the summer and fall; at first near the lighthouse, then on the Naval Base, and finally in the dunes of Shkede north of town. Women and children were largely spared until the big Aktion of 14-17 December, 1941, when 2749 Jews were shot. (Pictures of the shootings, taken by the Security Police and secretly copied by survivor David Zivcon, can be seen at http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/albums/palbum/p02/a0111p2.html). Killings continued in early 1942, and by the time the ghetto was established on 1 July 1942, only 832 Jews were left.
The ghetto was closed on 8 October 1943, when the survivors were taken to Riga. Young adults were generally spared, but in the next few months older people and women with children were killed locally or in Auschwitz. When the Red Army approached Riga in the summer of 1944, the survivors were sent to the Stutthof concentration camp near Danzig in several transports, from August to October 1944. Many died in the increasingly brutal conditions of this camp, especially on death marches in early 1945, and fewer than 200 survived. Of the deportees and refugees to the USSR, many perished, but some 300 survived.
For a detailed historical account of the Holocaust in Liepaja, see the following excerpt http://www.ej-anders.com/EZERG.PDF from Ch. 9 of Andrew Ezergailis, The Holocaust in Latvia, 1941-44. To view this document, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html as a free download. An excellent book on 20th century Jewish life in Latvia is Latvians and Jews between Germany and Russia by the journalist Frank Gordon, now living in Tel Aviv. It is available as a free download at http://vip.latnet.lv/LPRA/frank_gordon.htm
Families who originated in Kurenets:
Name Edvards Alperovichs [1], 4325
Birth 21 6 1926, Liepaja
Address1941 12 4 1937, Uliha 68-1
Occupation Skolnieks
Flags FalsePapers, Survived
Father Adolfs Alperovichs, 4322 (1897-1941)
Mother Erika Alperovichs, 4323 (1897-1992)
Name Adolfs Alperovichs [1], 4322
Birth 6 2 1897, Liepaja
Birth Memo New Style
Death 9 12 1941, Liepaja [3], [2], [79]
Death Memo Y1779502
Address Old 2 6 1933, Peldu 33/5 [2]
Address Old Memo abt 1920 Lorencha 8
Address 1941 12 4 1937, Uliha 68-1 [4]
Address 1941 Memo 11 1 1936 Toma 56
Occupation Eksportiers
Alias/AKA Aba [2]
FathersName Srol (born in Kurenets)[2]
MothersName Hena Ginsburg [79]
SpousesName Erika [79]
Flags Killed
Mother Hena Alperovichs, 1 (1869-1941)
Notes
Arrested 2 12 41, shot 9 12 41. "Liepajas apgabaltiesas prokurors ar
sh. g.
rakstu Nr. 74 pazino, ka atbildetajs Adolfs Alperovichs 1941. g. 9.
decembri
mirisÅ " [
Name Erika Alperovichs [1], 4323
Birth 30 12 1897, Liepaja
Death 17 7 1992, Chicago
Address1941 12 4 1937, Uliha 68-1
Occupation Majskolotaja
Alias/AKA Erika Alperovichs
Flags False Papers, Survived
Father Arons Ore Sheftelovichs-Meirans, 366 (1857-1941)
Mother Zhenija Sheftelovichs-Meirans, 367 (1861-1941)
Name Arons Ore Sheftelovichs-Meirans [1], 366
Birth 18 10 1857, Liepaja
Death 23 9 1941, Liepaja [79]
Death Memo Y1293886
Address1941 1 9 1915, Dika 5-1
Occupation Bez nodarboshanas
Fathers Name Jakob [79]
Mothers Name Amalia Freidberg [79]
Spouses Name Ette Jenny [79]
Flags Killed
Notes
Arrested while praying at window on Rosh Hashanah [
Name Zhenija Sheftelovichs-Meirans [1], 367
Birth 16 4 1861, Jelgava [1], [79]
Birth Memo 1862 in Ref 79
Death 16 12 1941, Liepaja [15], [79]
Death Memo Y1819028--15 12 41
Address1941 1 9 1915, Dika 5-1
Occupation Majsaimniece
Alias/AKA Ete Sheina
Maiden Name Fraenkel
Fathers Name Aron [79]
Mothers Name Sabine Kallmeyer [79]
Spouses Name Aron
Flags Killed
Name Hena Alperovichs [1], 1
Birth 29 7 1869, Daugavpils
Death 15 12 1941, Liepaja [2], [79]
Death Memo Shot; Y1817968
AddressOld 27 8 1928, Toma 56/2
AddressOld Memo Graudu iela
Address1941 27 8 1928, Toma 56/2 [1]
Occupation Majsaimniece
Alias/AKA housewife [79]
Maiden Name Ginzburgs [2]
Fathers Name Abrams
Spouses Name Israel [79]
Flags Killed
Name Georgs Alperovichs [1], 4324
Birth 25 8 1924, Liepaja
Death 14 1 1944, Liepaja [2]
Address1941 12 4 1937, Uliha 68-1
Occupation Skolnieks
Flags FalsePapers, Killed
Father Adolfs Alperovichs, 4322 (1897-1941)
Mother Erika Alperovichs, 4323 (1897-1992)
Name Keile Alperovichs [1], 2
Birth 1875, Vilna
Death 11 1941, Liepaja [2], [79]
Death Memo Y1779488--41, Liepaja
Address Old 5 9 1923, Toma 56/2
Address Old Memo Graudu iela
Address 1941 5 9 1923, Toma 56/2
Address 1941 Memo Graudu iela
Occupation majsaimniece
Fathers Name Ovsey [79]
Flags Killed
Notes
Arrested while standing in line at Jewish grocery store. Single.
Name Vulfs Alperovichs [1], 2777
Birth 25 7 1877, Kurenec
AddressOld Barenu 13
Address1941 7 4 1941, Darza 7-1
Occupation Gramatvedis
Mendel Kastrels
b. 1874, Kurenec Belarus
d. abt 1941, Liepaja
Occup. Chemical engineer
1941. Liepaja
OldAdd.
Alias.
KZ.
Flags. Killed
b. ? 1884, Vilnas guberna, Lietuva
d. abt 1941, Liepaja
Occup. housewife
1941. 7 1941, Peldu/Vittes 56/12-3
OldAdd. bef 7 1941, Vitolu 13-13
Alias. Tania Kastrel/Kostrelis
KZ.
Flags. Killed
Leibs-Jehuda Kastrelis Rachele Kastrelis
b. 1872, Kurenec Belarus
d. 7 1941, Piedruja
Occup. Wholesale merchant
1941. Barenu 13
OldAdd.
Alias. Leiba Yehuda Kastrel
KZ.
Flags. Killed b. 1878, Gorodok, Minska, Baltkrievija
d. 7 1941, Piedruja
Rachele Kastrelis
Occup. housewife
1941.
OldAdd.
Alias. Kastrel/Kostrelis Rachel
KZ.
Flags. Killed
Children; Meirs Kostrelis
b. 18 6 1910, Liepaja
d. 24 7 1941, Liepaja
Occup. Ekonomists-gramatvedis, sabiedriskos darbos
1941. 27 3 1941, Alejas 22-2
OldAdd. Barenu 13
Alias. Meier Kastrel/Kastrelis
KZ.
Flags. Killed
Name Lija Kostrelis [1], 721
Birth 23 7 1905, Vilna
Death 15 12 1941, Liepaja [68]
Address Old Barenu 13
Address 1941 27 3 1941, Alejas 22-2
Occupation Medmasa
Flags Killed
Nav atgriezies no darba 24.07 [1]
Children Dina, 722 (1926-1941)
b. 25 10 1911, Liepaja
d. 24 7 1941, Liepaja
Occup. Clerk
1941. Liepaja
OldAdd.
Alias.
KZ.
Flags. Killed
Name Vulfs Alperovichs [1], 2777
Birth 25 7 1877, Kurenec
Address Old Barenu 13
Address1941 7 4 1941, Darza 7-1
Occupation Gramatvedis
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