Latvia listed a large Jewish community until the Second World War. In some cities, over 60% of the population was Jewish. Today, the community represents 0.4% of Latvian population. The decimation and immigration are the two factors of the disappearance of Jews in Latvia. At the beginning of the German occupation, the Jews of Riga were herded into a ghetto. Despite the resistance efforts of residents, they were exterminated in 1943. Today, these are just a few commonplace streets. History has left no trace but in Salaspils, a sculpture was erected in the forest. The sandstone slabs are assembled and engraved with the names of victims. From above, we find the map of the ghetto.
Salaspils, not only is a sculpture, but also is a place full of memories. To visit the Nazi concentration camp "Kurtenhof" I take the train and arrive in the middle of the forest. The ground mourns its ashes and with the layout, I imagine the most heinous designs.
Between 1941 and 1944, approximately 45,000 Jews from Riga and 55 000 prisoners were murdered. They came from Latvia, Belarus, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany and among them, 7,000 were children.
After a walk in the woods - images of shootings come to my mind - I arrive on a 40 hectares land. At the park entrance, an inscription of the Latvian writer Eizens Vevinis, imprisoned and killed. "Behind these doors, the earth groans".
Only a bunker used as a museum and sculptures punctuate the space. A stone giant with a metronome beat recalls the human heart and life. I wander among the aisles. It is difficult to imagine in the middle of the green meadow, a smoking concentration camp.
The location leaves me pensive, indeed there is a memorial but is there a duty of remembrance in Latvia? The Soviet occupation would have completely erased the traces of a religious conscience? Young Latvians, do they see the future by forgetting the past? These are questions that I have no real answers. Only historical data are accessible to me.
After thousands of murdered victims, the Nazis, eager to destroy evidence of genocide, made reopen the graves. The bodies were burned and they killed the prisoners in charge of operations not to leave a trace. When, in October 1944, the Soviets came in Riga, almost all Jews of the town had been exterminated.
Today, the country has 10,000 Jews. The atmosphere Salaspils recalls a tragedy of the twentieth century and the atmosphere is heavy and traumatic.
