Iosif was regimented to serve in the Latvian army after finishing the gymnasium. He told me that soldiers lived in barracks, but Jewish soldiers were allowed to go home on Saturday. After the army he entered the Electric Engineering Faculty of Riga University, where he studied radio equipment and telecommunications. In the summer students had practical training at enterprises. Iosif had his training at the Union radio factory in Riga for two years in a row. The factory produced radios and telephone equipment. Iosif finished the university course, but he never defended his diploma. However, he was a good specialist and had a relevant job.
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Ella Perlman
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When the war began, Iosif’s family didn’t want to evacuate. Henrich, his older brother, went to the Territorial Army, and from there he joined the Latvian division. The rest of the family ended up in the ghetto: Iosif’s mother, his sister Mary and her family, Henrich’s children, Henrich’s wife and two children and Benno and his family. Iosif’s father, Leizer Perlman, died in Moscow in 1941, shortly before the war began. He was buried in the Vostriakovskoye Jewish cemetery in Moscow. The rest of the family have no graves. There is only a memorial at the place where they were shot.
I went to work as a knitter at the Mara knitwear factory. Our shop specialized in gloves. I was to knit fingers on the knitting machine. My sister also went to work there. Our Jewish identity didn’t affect our employment. I’m sure this was an issue for doctors, engineers or key managers, but this fact didn’t matter for workers. However, after the war anti-Semitism was apparent. Even in the streets people could curse or hit a Jewish person, or even call him/her ‘zhyd.’ This wasn’t expressed by the Latvians, but by the Soviet people that had moved to Latvia after the war.
Routinely anti-Semitism was particularly strong shortly before Stalin died, during the period of the Doctors’ Plot [30]. It was clear that this campaign was directed against Jews. There were rumors that Jewish people were to be deported to Birobidzhan [31] in Siberia. This might have been the case, if Stalin had not died in March 1953. Many people cried after him, but for the most part they were those who had come from the Soviet Union. Latvian people weren’t so emotional about it. Of course, they didn’t express how they actually felt about this, but in truth, neither my relatives, nor I felt any sorrow. We remembered life in Latvia before its annexation to the USSR, and the comparison was not in favor of the Soviet regime.
My husband and I observed Jewish traditions. We spoke Yiddish and Russian at home, and our daughters knew both languages since early childhood. I wanted my daughters to speak their own language. So many Jews, particularly those, who came from the USSR, couldn’t speak their language. I’m very proud of knowing how to read, write and speak Yiddish. Speaking your own language is so much joy!
We celebrated all Jewish holidays at home. Our daughters knew everything about each holiday and what was to be cooked. I understood they might not apply this knowledge in the future, but I thought they had to know things. On Yom Kippur we fasted. Even when I was pregnant and breastfed the babies, I fasted. The Jewish law allows ill people and pregnant women to refrain from fasting, but I wanted to follow the rules.
My brother was good at music and wanted to continue his musical education after school, but life was hard, and he had to go to work. However, he played at the amateur orchestra in the evening and practiced playing at night. He was recruited to the army and served on the Soviet/Chinese border where he played in the regiment orchestra. He had one leave during his service. After his service in the army, Boris returned to Riga and went to work. In 1957 he married a Jewish girl from Riga. Her name was Ada. She was born in 1936. They had a traditional Jewish wedding with a chuppah at home.
My father died in 1956. We buried him at the Jewish cemetery in Riga according to Jewish traditions.
In 1957 my aunt Liebe and her family moved to Israel after her husband returned from the Gulag. Emigration to Israel wasn’t allowed in the Soviet Union, but Jews could go there from Poland. Aunt Liebe’s husband Mikhl Monchnik came from Poland. The family was allowed to move to Poland. From there some time later they moved to Israel.
My sister and her son also moved to Israel around the late 1960s. A couple of years later my brother and his family also moved to Israel.
I was thinking of moving to Israel as well. I knew our daughters would have a good future and prospects there. I was also young enough to start life from scratch. My sister sent us an invitation letter. Only relatives could invite the rest of their family to justify the departure. This was called ‘for the purpose of reunification of families.’ However, my husband couldn’t finally make up his mind. He agreed to what I was telling him, that we were to be all right, but he didn’t dare to make this step. He was afraid that if we were refused the permission for departure, we wouldn’t be able to find a job here. He was also concerned about living in a new country. He was afraid of everything. Perhaps, it was his age, or maybe it was the impact of the ghetto and concentration camps that made him so uncertain. So we delayed and delayed our departure till we stayed in the USSR for good.
I took another job. I went to work as a presser and then a seamstress at the knitwear shop. There was a choir in this shop and I joined it. I liked singing since I was a child, even though I’ve never studied singing. I’ve always sung Jewish and Latvian songs. I’ve preserved this love of singing.
My husband and I did our best to raise our daughters to know they were Jewish. They knew Yiddish, Jewish traditions and religion. They studied in a Russian general education school. My older daughter didn’t want to continue her education after finishing the tenth grade. She went to work. She became an apprentice at the stock factory. She worked there before getting married.
Our daughter married Andris Tzelmale, a Latvian man. My husband was very upset about Bertha’s future marriage. Of course, we wanted her to have a Jewish husband, but this wasn’t the main thing about the marriage. There are good and bad people, and it’s also true about Jewish people. What mattered about my daughter’s choice was that she was happy. I’m happy that my daughter made the right choice. My son-in-law has made a good husband and a caring father, and also, he’s treated my husband and me well. He is always willing to help and support me. I love him dearly. Whatever has happened in my life, I’ve met great people. I am grateful to God for this.
We spoke Russian with our granddaughter, but when we wanted to talk in confidence, we switched to Yiddish. So it happened that our granddaughter could understand and even speak Yiddish before going to school. We sent her to a Latvian school. My daughter thought that if the girl was going to live in Latvia, she had to know the language and history of the country. When my daughter decided to move to Israel, Anna went to the fourth grade of a Jewish school. Before moving to Israel she had a good command of Hebrew. It was a good start. Now Anna can speak fluent Hebrew.
At first I didn’t care about perestroika [33]. I wasn’t interested in politics and didn’t believe the promises made by Soviet politicians. Then I saw that many things in our life were changing for the better. There was openness and newspapers wrote about the things that could have been only mentioned in a whisper and to close people before. During the Soviet rule there was a ban on religion. During perestroika the authorities stopped persecuting people for religious rituals. People could go to the synagogue or church without fear. The most joyful event for me was that we were allowed the opportunity to correspond with relatives and friends living abroad and there was no censorship, and we were also allowed to travel to other countries. I always wanted to go to Israel and I always knew that it could never become true. I prayed to God that He give me a chance to see Israel, and maybe my prayers have reached Him.
I’ve been to Israel twice. It’s a wonderful country. I made my first trip there in 1996. My brother’s wife was to turn 60, and I wanted to be there on this day. When our plane was approaching Tel Aviv and I saw the country through the window, I couldn’t hold back the tears of joy. This was probably the biggest joy in my life. I stayed a month that time. I went on tours all over the country.
Another good thing started during perestroika. The Jewish life began to revive, and this was very important for me. The Latvian Society of Jewish Culture, which was actually a Jewish community, was established. From the first days we knew how we needed it. There is a Jewish choir at the community, and I went there the moment I heard about it. Many people there didn’t know the language or Jewish songs. We had to recall the rhymes and search for them step by step, and we also sang the tunes for the accompanier to pick up the tune, until finally our choir generated a rather sufficient repertoire. We give concerts in the community, tour Latvia and have good receptions everywhere.
I went to Liepaja with the choir. This is the town of my childhood and my father’s home town, and also, my grandfather lived here. Then I went there for the second time. I attended the opening ceremony of the memorial to the Jewish victims. The memorial is grand and beautiful. In the community I found a book with the names of Jewish victims. There are quite a few people with the Greenfeld surname. They must be my father’s relatives. I counted eleven relatives, who died in Liepaja during the Holocaust. I didn’t know them, and their names don’t ring a bell to me, but they were all Greenfeld: Wolf, Mendl, Esther, Lumen, Rosa, Izia and others.
In 1991 the Soviet Union fell apart, and all former Republics, including Latvia, became independent countries [cf. Reestablishment of the Latvian Republic] [34]. I have no regrets about the breakup of the USSR. Each country should live as is best for its people. I think that in the Soviet Union we all lived like in a huge shared [communal] apartment [35], where everything happened as Moscow dictated.
Why does Russia complain that Russians are persecuted in Latvia? They came here uninvited, and they forced the Baltic countries to be annexed to the USSR, and now they oppose the requirement that Russians have to study the Latvian language. How can it be otherwise? Can they live in the country without knowing its language? They should have no bad feelings about the fact that each country wants to have its own apartment and life, and it does not appreciate uninvited guests.
However, I don’t agree with the aggressive nationalism directed against anybody, who is different than you are. Once I was in a bus with my neighbor. She moved to Latvia after the war. She had lived in Belarus and was in captivity in Germany during the war. She doesn’t know Latvian and she will probably never learn it, considering her age. We spoke Russian and one passenger commented loudly, ‘You’re in Latvia, and you are supposed to speak Latvian here.’ I replied that we were free to speak any language we chose. He shifted his attention to me and told me rudely to get out to Israel. I replied that I would go when and where I wanted, and that I didn’t need his permission and that his hands were in Jewish blood up to his elbows, if he dared to say this to me. I felt hurt.
Why does Russia complain that Russians are persecuted in Latvia? They came here uninvited, and they forced the Baltic countries to be annexed to the USSR, and now they oppose the requirement that Russians have to study the Latvian language. How can it be otherwise? Can they live in the country without knowing its language? They should have no bad feelings about the fact that each country wants to have its own apartment and life, and it does not appreciate uninvited guests.
However, I don’t agree with the aggressive nationalism directed against anybody, who is different than you are. Once I was in a bus with my neighbor. She moved to Latvia after the war. She had lived in Belarus and was in captivity in Germany during the war. She doesn’t know Latvian and she will probably never learn it, considering her age. We spoke Russian and one passenger commented loudly, ‘You’re in Latvia, and you are supposed to speak Latvian here.’ I replied that we were free to speak any language we chose. He shifted his attention to me and told me rudely to get out to Israel. I replied that I would go when and where I wanted, and that I didn’t need his permission and that his hands were in Jewish blood up to his elbows, if he dared to say this to me. I felt hurt.
He died in August 1997, two months before his 96th birthday.
However, there is a record of his story. Shortly before my husband died a journalist from Moscow visited us. She videotaped my husband’s story about his life in the ghetto and concentration camps for the Spielberg Fund [USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education], to have it for future generations. After my husband died we received a videotape of my husband’s interview from America. My older grandson made copies of this video for us.
However, there is a record of his story. Shortly before my husband died a journalist from Moscow visited us. She videotaped my husband’s story about his life in the ghetto and concentration camps for the Spielberg Fund [USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education], to have it for future generations. After my husband died we received a videotape of my husband’s interview from America. My older grandson made copies of this video for us.
We buried my husband at the Jewish cemetery in accordance with the Jewish tradition. Our rabbi conducted the ceremony. The men gathered for a minyan requiring at least ten men. We made an engraving on my husband’s gravestone in three languages: Hebrew, Yiddish and Latvian.
My friends visit me. I participate in the Jewish life in Riga, and I find it very interesting. I go to the synagogue every day. It’s become a necessary thing for me. I’ve made quite a few friends in the community. I have friends in the choir, in the gym and those I talk to, when we get together with our rebetzen. I often see her. She is a wonderful lady. She’s arrived here from Israel with her son and husband. We recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of their life in Riga, Latvia. She tells me stories about the history and traditions of the Jewish people. She’s established the ‘Jewish Mom’ society. She invites Jewish people from all over the world. We discuss whatever Jewish news we’ve read in newspapers and share all kinds of news. Thanks to this society I read Jewish newspapers and magazines from France and the USA.
When our rebetzen heard that I could read in Yiddish, she gave me a magazine. I read each and every page of it and found it very interesting. Our rebetzen made arrangements for me to have this press delivered to my home. Once I knew that a Jewish magazine was published in France, I wrote to this magazine in Paris, and they also arranged for me to receive it at home. I enjoy reading these newspapers a lot. They write about the life of Jews all over the world. I’ve read in these newspapers that nowadays many non-Jewish Americans study the Jewish language. It’s the same here. There are non-Jewish students at the Department of Judaic Studies at the Latvian State University. I’m very happy about it. The more people learn the Jewish history and Jewish traditions, the less anti-Semitism will exist. This is what I believe.
The Rahamim social center supports me a lot. They pay my heating bills during the heating season. They also provide medications that are very expensive here. I also have medical insurance for free. The synagogue bought me two trips to the recreation center. I had free treatment and massages there. This is all very important, considering that my pension is not sufficient to cover all expenses. It’s also very important for me to know that I’ve not been abandoned and that there are people remembering and caring about me.
I observe Jewish traditions at home. We celebrate Jewish holidays in the Jewish community, but I also celebrate them at home. I go to the synagogue and then my daughter, her husband and their sons visit me, and we sit at the festive table. I light candles and pray on Friday.
I read a lot about the Holocaust. It’s scary to read about it, but I believe, people should know and remember, or it may be repeated in the future. On 4th July we go to the memorial at the place where fascists burnt the choral synagogue with many Latvian Jews inside. This is the day of mourning and memory. Old people and young people come there. The memory goes from generation to generation.
Mama was a shop assistant, and my father did his shopping in this store. He must have liked her, coming to the store more and more often. They got to know each other and got married in 1924. They had a traditional Jewish wedding.
Boris had his brit milah at home. This was a big ceremony, and my father invited his friends and acquaintances. When Lipman was born, Mama had to stay in hospital a little longer, and Lipman had his brit milah in the hospital. I remember that many people attended the ceremony, including Borowskiy, my father’s employer.
We spoke Yiddish at home and learned German and Latvian playing with children in the yard.